A listener named Matt wonders about the timing of priesthood ordinations. Matt asks, “In different states, why is the ordination of the priests different and not all the same?”
Father Dave begins by noting that the dates of ordinations vary not just by different states, but in each diocese and religious order. “It’s not as if it were a calendar feast day or a liturgical season. None of the sacraments are limited to being celebrated at a specific time,” he says.
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He explains that ordinations are most often held in late spring to coincide with the end of the academic year. “Studying for the priesthood involves many things, but one of the most significant elements of preparing for that Sacrament of Ordination is what essentially amounts to a master’s degree,” Father Dave says.
“For instance, I went to the Catholic University of America for my seminary studies. While the seminarians and the theology classes are a separate department or separate school, we’re still running on the schedule of the entire university, and the entire university has its graduation in May,” he continues. Additionally, if an American diocese sends a seminarian to study in Rome, the ordination date may be later to accommodate their different schedules.
Father Dave details, “We have in the United States a document called the Program for Priestly Formation, which lays out some of the particulars in our culture and context about what the requirements are. …There’s nothing theologically that would require that you have a diploma first, but this procedures and protocols document would say that typically you get the degree first.”
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The next element that impacts the date of priestly ordination is the availability of a bishop. Father Dave notes that his religious community, the Paulist Fathers, does not have any bishops. “We invite bishops from the various dioceses that we serve,” he says. “We’re missionaries and serve all around the country. In honor and reverence to the bishops that we serve in various places, we invite those bishops to come to our mother church in New York and celebrate the sacrament of ordination.”
The availability of a bishop is a factor for diocesan ordinations as well. “Let’s say the ordinary of your diocese has a big feast, or a 100th anniversary of a parish that’s very significant, or something major going on the Saturday that you typically hold the ordination. You might have to move it by a week in order to accommodate that, because you do need the bishop.”
