Pentecost Vigil Welcomes Three New Priests to the Archdiocese of Detroit

On the vigil of Pentecost, Sunday, May 19, a full church at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in the Archdiocese of Detroit witness the Holy Spirit’s powerful work. The Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron, archbishop of Detroit, ordained two Sacred Heart Major Seminary graduates, Fr. Mark Livingston and Fr. Christopher Muer, along with Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary graduate Fr. John Maksym.

“All of your gifts — your gift of using language, your gifts of practical and theoretical intelligence, your gifts of energy and charm and integrity and zeal, even the limits you feel about those gifts — by the imposition hands and the consecration prayer, all of this is given to the mission. Nothing is held back. It all belongs to this great task of preaching the good news to all creatures and advancing the kingdom of God,” Archbishop Vigneron said in his homily.

During the ordination rite, Archbishop Vigneron asked Msgr. Todd Lajiness, rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, to confirm the three candidates' readiness to enter the priesthood. Following his confirmation, they each promised faithfulness and obedience and laid prostrate during the litany of supplication. This action symbolized a death to self as each man embraced his new life as a priest.

After the Archbishop laid his hands on them and ordained the new priests, they were vested with stole and chasuble. He anointed their hands with the Holy Chrism and presented them with the gifts of bread and wine, finishing the rite of ordination.

Fr. John Maksym spoke in closing on behalf of his newly ordained brothers.

“We thank Almighty God for calling us to tend to the vineyard and to endeavor daily to protect the eternal souls of his wonderful people,” Fr. Maksym said. 

Fr. Mark Livingston will serve at St. John Neumann Parish in Canton, Fr. Christopher Muer will serve at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Waterford, and Fr. John Maksym will serve at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Lake Orion.

Sacred Heart is a regional seminary, educating and forming tomorrow's priests for dioceses within the state of Michigan, throughout the U.S. and internationally. Beside the Detroit ordinations, two more April graduates of the seminary became priests this spring. They are:

Fr. Alex Colautti, CC, for the Companions of the Cross (May 5), and

Fr. Joshua Erickson for the Diocese of Steubenville (May 18).

Upcoming presbyteral ordinations include:

Deacon Adam Maher for the Diocese of Saginaw (June 1), 

Deacon Dustin Larson for the Diocese of Marquette (June 1),

Deacon Thế Hoàng and Deacon Brian Mulligan for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (June 8),

Deacon John Machiorlatti for the Diocese of Lansing (June 9), and

Deacon Fadie Gorgies and Deacon John Jaddou for the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas (June 30).