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Question: Do you remember your own ordination?
Answer: My diaconate ordination was at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, during my five-year course of graduate studies there. To be kneeling right behind the papal altar on the floor was very humbling. I was ordained to the priesthood on June 24, 1995, at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh, my hometown. Last year was my 25th anniversary as a priest. It was a beautiful Saturday morning. We had a holy hour at the seminary, then we drove to the cathedral. My first assignment was only for the summer, because I had to go back to Rome to complete my final year of graduate studies.
Q: When did you decide to become a priest?
A: I never even thought of the priesthood, really, until I was out of high school. In my first years of college, I thought I was being called to be a teacher. I was very involved in my parish as an altar server, lector, extraordinary minister of holy Communion, youth group. The parish was an extension of family – if I wasn’t at home, I was at the parish. People around me kept saying, “You should think about the priesthood.” That’s important. Lay people need to keep their eyes open and identify the young people in the parish who have some of the characteristics (of a future priest) and then encourage them, because on my own, I wasn’t thinking of it. Halfway through college, I transferred to the seminary.
Q: Do you have a favorite part of the Ordination Mass?
A: There’s a moment at the beginning of the actual rite where the entire church is asking the saints to pray over the candidates. When that’s happening, you’re lying facedown on the cathedral floor (prostrate). Hearing the whole cathedral praying for the saints to pray for us – to hear that echo throughout the cathedral – was very moving!
Q: Why is chrism used?
A: There is no chrism used during diaconate ordination, only the laying on of hands. Chrism is used to anoint the hands of those being ordained to the priesthood, because the hands being consecrated will be touching the host, lifting up the chalice, extending to forgive sins during confession and anointing the sick and dying. The hands are consecrated with oil because the priest is standing in the place of Jesus. It’s really Jesus who’s baptizing, who’s forgiving sins, who’s lifting himself up as the high priest, but we stand in his place. During a bishop’s ordination, chrism is placed on the head.
Q: How do seminaries prepare men to be deacons and priests?
A: It takes six to eight years to become a priest! We look at each candidate four ways: 1. Human Formation. Who is this person and how does he use his gifts to lead people? We also encourage him to take care of his (literal) human body through exercise, sports, fraternity and other healthy habits. 2. Prayer. What relationship does this man have with Jesus? Each seminarian has a spiritual director to help him take the church’s 2,000-year treasury of spiritual tradition and determine what works best for him. With that, he also receives training in how to baptize babies, how to hear confessions, how to celebrate the liturgy, how to preach and communicate. 3. Pastoral. This covers things like what the priest should do in the hospital ER; how to respond to a couple who wants to get married; how to advise young people who want to be confirmed; how to reach out during a pandemic or some other crisis. 4. Intellectual. They have to know the Bible inside and out. They also have to know some of the moral issues of our world and how the church can speak to people in a way that draws them closer to Christ. Seminarians are on campus 30 weeks of the year; the other weeks, they’re out in the field in hospitals, prisons, parish ministry, language immersion, retreats.
Q: What promises are made by ordinands?
A: Celibacy (he will not marry; in the case of a permanent deacon who is already married, this promise implies that he will not remarry, should his wife precede him in death). Obedience (he will make himself available to the bishop for whatever ministry is assigned to him). Prayer (he will pray at least five times a day). Deacons, priests and bishops also promise to teach, sanctify and lead, but each is expected to do these in different ways. The deacon lives out these three promises for the purpose of charity and justice – so, he might be asked to work with St. Vincent de Paul or help with marriage prep. The priest does the same things, but because he’s consecrated, his “teaching” is at a different level, and his “sanctifying” literally means absolving sins, confecting the Eucharist and anointing the sick, which deacons cannot do. The bishop does the same things as priests, but only he can ordain deacons and priests. His leadership is going to look different because he’s governing the church. His teaching is under the authority of the pope, so the bishop is the authentic, authoritative teacher of the faith.
Q: What are some misunderstandings about the sacrament of holy orders?
A: Two come to mind:
• At baptism, we are all baptized into the common priesthood of Christ, so every layperson should understand his or her own priestly vocation to teach, sanctify and lead people to Christ. We all are called to do that! The ordained priest also does this, but he is set apart to do it for the people. So, while laypeople are getting married or living the single life, our job is to help them live out their own priesthoods as they’re raising their families and living life out in the world. In short, the layperson’s priesthood is to sanctify the world; our job (as ordained priests) is to sanctify laypeople so they can sanctify the world!
• Another question I hear is: “Is it boring being a priest?” Are you kidding me? The priest is involved in every stage of a person’s life, from baptizing a baby, to first holy Communion, to the young couple getting married. He’s also there during some of the tragedies – in the hospital, ministering to the person who’s now widowed, in times of family division. The life of a priest is never boring! We’re there in the joyful moments, the exciting moments and the very difficult moments. That’s why we pray five times a day. It keeps the day rooted in prayer so we don’t lose sight of what the priesthood’s all about: being a bridge between Christ and his people.
Q: Finally, what strikes you about Christ’s institution of the sacrament of holy orders during the Last Supper?
A: “This is my body; this is my blood.” The fact that we can, with our own lips, say those same words which, after 2,000 years still connects us as a church. The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity; it’s what binds the whole church together. The fact that the priest, with his own human lips, gets to say those words is very humbling. It’s an awesome experience, and to get to celebrate Mass every day with seminarians who are aspiring to that same vocation is also very humbling!
– Interview by Beth Donze, Clarion Herald
Father Wehner will relinquish his role as rector-president in June 2022. NDS is one of 41 major (graduate-level) seminaries in the U.S., boasting an enrollment of 154 seminarians from 22 dioceses in eight states. On May 22, four men will be ordained to the transitional diaconate for the Archdiocese of New Orleans; on June 5, five men will be ordained to the archdiocesan priesthood.