Bishop Deenihan Ordains Rev. Anthony Kerr to the Priesthood

On Saturday 29th November, Bishop Tom Deeniahn ordained to the priesthood Reverend Anthony Kerr, a native of Navan, Co Meath, during 2.00pm Mass in the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar.

Father Anthony received his early education at Saint Oliver Plunkett National School before continuing to Saint Patrick’s Classical School, Navan. He later pursued a degree at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. A post primary teacher by profession, Father Anthony taught Religion and Irish, sharing both his faith and love of language with his students.

During his years in education, Father Anthony became increasingly aware of a call to priesthood. Encouraged and supported by Father David Jones, he discerned this vocation and went on to begin his formation at the Beda Pontifical College in Rome. Anthony is the eldest of the Kerr Family, son of Esther and Patrick, and brother to Niall, Louise and Alyson.

The Diocese of Meath has a further three students in Seminary formation and two more undertaking a Propaedeutic experience. Bishop Deenihan, in congratulating Anthony and in thanking the Vocations Team for their work and encouragement, said, "It is my hope that Anthony’s ordination would give confidence to other men in the diocese who may have a calling to priesthood.

ORDINATION HOMILY DELIVERED BY BISHOP DEENIHAN
Can I offer a word of welcome to you again to the Ordination of Anthony Kerr. A particular welcome to his family and friends from Navan and his formators and colleagues from the Beda College in Rome, and from Saint Parick’s College in Maynooth, where he undertook his Pastoral Year.

I want to congratulate Anthony on his Ordination and I want to say how delighted that we all are that he has accepted the call of Christ to follow him in the Priesthood. That generosity and determination is a source of joy and hope for the diocese as a whole and, particularly, for us, priests of the diocese.

An Ordination is a sign of hope. It means that Christ is still calling men to the ministerial priesthood, it means that some of those who hear that call have the faith to respond to it and, for us priests, it means fellow workers, new colleagues and, to some extent, a validation of our work and proof, despite all the prophets of doom and our own efforts at times, that Priesthood is still a valid and valued calling.

For those in the Parishes of this Diocese, it means another priest who will work with and for the people in those parishes, who will celebrate the Sacraments with, and for them, and who will become a member of their faith community.

In the years ahead, we will have parishes in this diocese where people will fear the loss of their resident priest. That was very much the context of my recent Pastoral Letter, and was very much to the fore in the Synodal discussions in the diocese a while ago. Anthony’s ordination is welcome and good news for them in particular.

An Ordination is also a reminder to pray for, encourage, support and motivate those who may be considering a vocation to priesthood. Thankfully, after Anthony’s ordination today, we have three more seminarians in the Diocese at various stages of formation, and two more in their pre-seminary or Propaedeutic year. We need more. Perhaps there are some here today who have heard that whisper? If you have, have courage!

Today is the last day of the liturgical year and, tomorrow, we begin to celebrate the season of Advent, a period of joyful waiting. Anthony’s waiting, be it joyful, anxious or impatient, ends today and we share the joy of an Ordination with him.

Anthony chose for his Gospel today Christ’s calling or commissioning of Peter as His disciple. The outstanding feature of that calling is the threefold questioning, ‘Do you love me?’ In some ways, that questioning is repeated today in the questioning of Anthony that will follow this homily. Are you resolved to celebrate the mysteries of Christ faithfully?; To exercise the ministry of the word worthily and wisely?; To consecrate your life to God for the salvation of his people?; and, the promise of obedience to the bishop of this diocese. The answers to those questions are the proof that the answer to the question ‘Do you love me’ is correct. One clarifies the other and there is always an outreach from our relationship with Christ. It is never personal, exclusive or insular.

Christ's response to Peter’s answer was the line ‘Feed my sheep.’ That itself is echoed in the homily of Pope Leo XIV to Ordinands in Rome last May. Pope Leo said that, ‘as the rite of Ordination highlights in several passages, the relationship between what we are celebrating today, and the People of God, is fundamental’.

That is the point! We are not Ordained for ourselves, Ordination is not a step on the path to holiness but rather a sign of Christ's care for His Church. Feed my sheep!

That line is important also for those of us who are diocesan clergy. While reflecting on this Gospel, my mind turned to that other passage in Luke 10, where Christ visited Martha and Mary.

The scene is, in a way, amusing and perhaps common. The hard working Martha gets annoyed with the somewhat lazier Mary and, on the spur of the moment, loses control of her tongue, lashes out and appeals to the visitor to take her side. Martha feels that as a co-host, Mary should be doing something more practical than sitting and chatting.

Mary sat and listened to Christ and Martha fussed and made Him welcome. Christ tells Martha that her sister, Mary, has chosen the better part by sitting and listening.

In some ways, Mary and Martha represent the two traditions of religious life, the contemplative and the apostolic. And yet, it was Saint Therese of Liseaux, a contemplative herself, who said of this gospel passage that if Martha had copied Mary, Christ would have been hungry and went without his dinner! Diocesan Priesthood is firmly with Martha. We are the active ones, the fussers, the ones who staff what Pope Francis called the ‘Field Hospital’.

As diocesan priests, we must feed ourselves with prayer, sacraments and works of mercy and sacrifice. Like Mary, we must sit and converse with the Lord but, crucially, we must feed, minister to, respond and be generous with our time and effort with those to whom we minister. We are not contemplatives - that is a different calling - and in today’s Gospel, Christ emphasizes that point by telling Peter three times to Feed my Sheep. Had Peter copied Mary, and not taken a leaf from Martha’s book, the Church may never have spread.

There are different ways of serving God, of praying to God, of responding to God. And while there are absolutes and obligations, for diocesan priesthood, it must be active and self-sacrificing.

This concept of priesthood is alluded to by Saint Paul in his Letter to the Hebrews, ’It is the function of a priest to offer sacrifice’. In a strange way, the priest offers sacrifice and is himself a sacrifice, echoing Matthew's Gospel, ‘If a man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'

Again, Pope Leo told Ordinands in Rome this year to consecrate yourselves to the People of God ‘without separating, isolating or turning the gift your received into a privilege’. Pope Francis, he said, ‘warned us about this many times because self-centeredness extinguishes the fire of the missionary spirit’.

Today, in Anthony’s Ordination, we are celebrating that active self-sacrifice of Anthony in the service of the People of God, the Church and his future parishioners.

While that sacrifice, denying of one's-self and taking up of one's cross is a fundamental part of the symbols and rituals of the Ordination rite, best typified in the prostration for the litany, the promise of obedience and in the vesting of the chausable, the very living out of that sacrifice is daily. It is the sacrifice of answering door and phone, the sacrifice of going on a call, of giving time, the challenge of listening patiently, being reasonable in the face of what might appear as irrational, and the supreme sacrifice of holding one's tongue. The daily life of any of us in ministry must involve self-sacrifice and generosity as well as prayer and friendship with Jesus Christ which provides us with the anchor and, indeed, the conviction, the courage and the strength to carry out the task which Christ, the Good Shepherd, has given to us.

It is not, in any sense, an easy task and I hope, Anthony, that the memory of your Ordination today, which Pope Francis has often referred to as ‘a sweet memory’, will give you strength and renew your courage and commitment in the years ahead.

For those of us in ministry, we rejoice that the Lord has called you into his harvest, we assure you of our welcome, support and prayers and, like you, we appreciate and marvel at the Lord’s generosity to both you and ourselves in entrusting this task to ourselves.

May God give all of us who are Ordained the courage to reciprocate and reflect that generosity in our own lives, in our ministry and through our own commitment to our priesthood and, through God’s endless mercy, may we be counted among the blessed who yield a harvest and gain the reward promised to good servants.

Let me conclude, as I did at your Diaconal Ordination in Drogheda, ‘May your ministry be effective, rewarding and joyful and may you give long and joyful service of the Gospel in the Diocese of Meath’.