Auxiliary Bishop Michael Woost accepted eight candidates who are in their first year of theological study and priestly formation at Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology as candidates for ordination as deacons and priests during a Mass Sept. 14 at the Center for Pastoral Leadership in Wickliffe.
Seven of the men are from the Diocese of Cleveland. The eighth is from the Diocese of Youngstown.
(See photo gallery above.)
The newly admitted candidates for the Cleveland Diocese and their home parishes are:
- Thomas Byrne, St. Christopher Parish, Rocky River
- Gregory Hovan, St. Rita Parish, Solon
- Daniel Liberatore, St. Gabriel Parish, Concord
- Nathan Menkhaus, St. Monica Parish, Garfield Heights
- John Scantling, St. Sebastian Parish, Akron
- Connor Trout, St. Basil the Great, Brecksville
- Christopher Villarreal, St. Sebastian Parish, Akron
The candidate from the Youngstown Diocese is William Martzaklis, St. Paul Parish, North Canton.
The bishop, who returned recently from attending the canonization Mass in Rome for St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis, asked the men to consider a series of questions as they discern their priestly vocations, including. “Does your life experience resonate with that of this saint?”
St. Pier Giorgio, who died from polio at age 24, wrote a letter to a friend expressing his desire to “follow the straight and narrow path,” acknowledging that he trips and falls with every step. “That is why I ask you to pray for me whenever you can, until, God willing, I reach the end of the difficult but straight and narrow path,” the saint wrote. He also noted that he was mixing his studies “with the marvelous writings of St. Augustine; never before have I found such endless enjoyment because in reading St. Augustine’s powerful Confessions, we get a glimpse of the joy reserved for those who die under the sign of the cross.”
Bishop Woost again asked the seminarians if they recognized something in their own lives from that of the newly canonized saint.
“If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions I have asked, then you are on the path, the journey has begun and you are moving along the way of saints,” he said. The Church has two more questions, he told them, asking if they resolve to complete their preparation so that in due course they are ready to undertake ministry through holy orders and if they resolve to form their minds and hearts so that they will be able to faithfully serve Christ and the Church.
“These questions and your responses determine the path on which Christ has invited you to walk,” Bishop Woost said, asking them to declare their intention.
“This is your Gospel journey with Jesus to holiness of life. This is your road to becoming saints … Through this declaration and God’s grace, may your life be saintly, signifying the triumph of the cross and the exaltation of Jesus Christ as Lord,” the bishop said.