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Last Saturday, December 7th, was a great day for the Diocese of Jefferson City. We celebrated our second priestly ordination of this calendar year. Priests, deacons, religious, and lay people from all over the Diocese of Jefferson City, and from outside of the Diocese, gathered at the Cathedral of St. Joseph to celebrate the priestly ordination of Father Gregory Clever, who was ordained a transitional deacon back in June of this year, at the same time that Father Hoffmann was ordained a priest. If you missed it, the video from the live-stream of the ordination Mass is still available on the Facebook page of the Diocese of Jefferson City.

At ordination, a man’s life is dedicated entirely to the service of the Church, and in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, through the imposition of hands and prayer invoking the Holy Spirit, the bishop calls down upon him the graces necessary for that service. Every priestly ordination truly is a celebration for the entire diocese, and therefore for every parish of the diocese. The ordination rite itself reflects the fact that a priest is consecrated for service to the whole diocese under the direction of the bishop in several ways. Among the questions that the candidate is asked by the bishop before his ordination, we find, “Do you resolve, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to discharge without fail the office of priesthood in the presbyteral rank, as a worthy fellow worker with the Order of Bishops in caring for the Lord’s flock?” and “Do you resolve to be united more closely every day to Christ the High Priest, who offered himself for us to the Father as a pure sacrifice, and with him to consecrate yourself to God for the salvation of all?” and “Do you promise respect and obedience to me and my successors?”

For diocesan priests, this means that we do not determine on our own which parishes or ministries we will be assigned to. When we promise obedience to the bishop, we are given the freedom to accept the assignments that are given to us and to know that we are sent where we are needed, when we are needed. Ordinarily this does occur in dialogue between a priest and the bishop, who also consults with his Priest Personnel Board, but at the end of the day the bishop has been entrusted with the pastoral care of the whole diocese and must discern where the priests of the diocese can best meet the needs of the whole. The promise of obedience that we make as diocesan priests is a true mortification of our own will, which means that it is often challenging, but when lived generously it can bring tremendous freedom.
For his first assignment as a new priest, Bishop McKnight has appointed Father Clever as Associate Pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish here in Pettis County. He will arrive shortly before Christmas, on December 21st. What a blessing that there will be three priests here in Pettis County for our celebrations of Christmas! We are very excited for Father Clever to join our parish community, and we trust that he will receive a warm and enthusiastic welcome. I believe that St. Vincent de Paul Parish will be a great assignment for Father Clever as a new priest, especially because of the diversity of our parishioners, the variety of ministries that are active in our parish, and our lively school community.

As excited as I am for Father Clever and for our parish, this announcement is bittersweet for me, because it means that my own time as the Associate Pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish and the Director of Faith Formation at Sacred Heart School will soon be coming to an end. In the first days of the new year, on January 6th, I will be leaving Pettis County to move to Jefferson City, where Bishop McKnight has assigned me to live at the Cathedral of St. Joseph and work full-time at the chancery, in order to devote myself more completely to the ministries of serving as Judicial Vicar and Master of Ceremonies for the diocese. I am at peace with the change, because I trust that Bishop McKnight has prayerfully discerned these assignments. At the same time, I will be sad to leave Pettis County and I will greatly miss this parish and school community, which welcomed me so enthusiastically when I arrived last October. I want to express how grateful I am for the time that I have spent here at St. Vincent de Paul Parish and for the love and kindness that our parishioners and school families have shown me. I have been tremendously blessed by my time here, and my priestly ministry has been enriched in ways that I will carry with me into future ministries in our diocese.

I would like to ask for your prayers as I prepare to make this transition, and for your prayers for Father Clever and the community at Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City that he will be leaving behind as he comes to minister here in Pettis County. Please be assured of my prayers for you, as well!