Ordination to the priesthood 19 Sptember 2020

 No homily today.  Spent much of yesterday shooting the ordination of two Jesuit priests and eight deacons.  The two priests were added onto the diaconate ordination when they were unable to get home to Congo and Nigeria for the ordinations that were scheduled for July.  The new Fr. Reginald from Nigeria is my spiritual directee.  He will return home next May or June at which point there will be a major celebration.   The ordination was live-streamed to Africa.  

Ultimately I took about 700 photos.  HIs first Mass is this evening.  More shooting planned  

Last phone call before life changes forever. 

Ca't resist shooting through what is called a 'natural frame.'  Especially when it works well in black and white.

At the beginning each candidate for ordination, either to priesthood or diaconate, responds to his name by saying 'present.'  The congregation signals its approval via applause.  

Prostration during the litany of the saints, one of the most moving parts of the rite of ordination.  I've never gotten through the chanting of the litany without tears.  

Cardinal O'Malley, who ordained me in the same church (The Church of St Ignatius of Loyola) thirteen years ago.  

This is the shot I planned for for weeks.  One of the rules of shooting is that if you take every shot standing you are doing it wrong.  There was a lot of up and down, kneeling, squatting, sitting on a prie-dieu, and so on.  Felt as if I'd run the Boston Marathon by the time it was over.  

Prayer over the two men who wil be vested as priests in moments. 

Vesting.  The vesting priest removes the deacon's stole and then vests the newly ordained.  George Murray SJ, MD, who trained me as a psychiatrist, also vested me.  A deeply moving moment for both.  

The chasuble and the vesting is complete.

Anointing the priest's hands with the sacred chrism. 

Being instructed in the liturgy and how to conform his life. 

Now ordained, the men assume their place at the altar as concelebrants.

A newly ordained priest's first blessing is bestowed on the ordaining prelate.  This was one of the parts of the liturgy during which I almost became unglued. 

Reginald with Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston 

The Church of St. Ignatius in Chestnut Hill, MA.  When the three of us were ordained 13 years ago the church was packed.  Before the invention of social distancing.  

At some point I ducked into a confessional to rest.  Nothing much was going on photographically.  Saw this bit of sun penetrating a window of thick blue stained glass.  The sort of find that makes photography deeply satisfying. 

Some friends and family living in the U.S.  They began chanting and dancing.  Father got into the dancing.  The role of singing and dancing cannot be minimized when talking about the African Catholic Church.  Alas, what I've been subjected to as  "liturgical dance" in the U.S. is a combination of bad Martha Graham and even worse Isadora Duncan, artificial rather than endogenous.  

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD