June 18, 2021

At the end of a discernment and formation period that generally lasts about 14 years, Legionaries of Christ are traditionally ordained together as a cohort every spring at a basilica in Rome. This year, the COVID 19 pandemic and related restrictions currently in place in Italy prevented a traditional group ordination. Instead, 37 Legionaries who are concluding their time as transitional deacons this summer will be ordained in different places around the world, generally in the countries and cities that they grew up in.

In the North American Territory four new American priests were ordained between April and June. They are Fr. Seth Sabata, LC, from Lincoln, Nebraska, Fr. Vinh Pham, LC, from Fountain Valley, California, Fr. Michael Sester, LC, from Rogers, Minnesota, and Fr. Russell Ward, LC, from Flint, Michigan.

Fr. Seth Sabata, LC, was ordained to the priesthood on April 10^th, 2021, by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz in Lincoln, Nebraska. Born in Lincoln and raised in a rural area outside of Omaha, where he attended school and was an alter server at St. James’ parish, Fr. Seth heard God’s call to the priesthood while studying biochemistry as a first-year college student at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He first met Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ on a mission trip to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. “I was in my first year of college and had gone to New Orleans on a mission trip a year after Hurricane Katrina. My fellow missionaries and I were at a Regnum Christi family’s house for dinner after a week of missionary work and a few Legionaries were there also. One of the Legionaries was telling us his own vocation story. He recounted how he had all he desired when he was in college; good friends, a car, a solid major with a scholarship, and a girlfriend. Yet, the Lord called him and he left everything to follow that call. As I listened to his story, I started checking off the boxes in my head of all those good things that he mentioned; I had great friends, the car, I was studying my preferred subject, I had the scholarship and a girlfriend. Then, I clearly felt in my heart the Lord asking me, “And why not you? Have you thought about the priesthood?” Several months later, at the end of his first year of college, Fr. Seth shared that, “I finally had the courage to say to the Lord, “Okay Lord, whatever you want of me, I want to do that.”  Within two weeks he attended the Legionaries of Christ’s Candidacy Program in Cheshire, Connecticut, and entered the novitiate that fall.

Fr. Seth now begins his first priestly mission in Manila, the Philippines, working with high school and college students.  The video of Fr. Seth’s ordination is available here. You can read his personal testimony and more about his ordination here. The photo gallery from his ordination is available here.

Fr. Vinh Pham, LC, and Fr. Michael Sester, LC, were ordained to the priesthood together on May 29^th, 2021, by Bishop Ned Schlesinger at Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Church in Atlanta, Georgia, with Fr. John Connor, general director of the Legionaries of Christ, in attendance. 

Fr. Vinh Pham, LC,  is the first American born member of his family. His parents fled Vietnam in 1982 and settled in Orange County, California, where he was born. He moved to Georgia after high school and earned an associate degree in automotive computers and worked two years for Mercedes Benz. At a silent retreat during Holy Week in 2009, Fr. Vinh experienced Christ’s call in a deep way and wrestled with what it meant. He recalls, “On Holy Saturday I felt a voice in prayer: ‘Come follow me.’ My conviction still stood: ‘I’m not here for a vocation. I will not say yes to the vocation, but I will say yes to the next step. I don’t know many things in life but one thing I know for sure; I know that I never want to live the rest of my life without this joy that you’ve revealed to me. God, I’ll give you one step, one ‘yes.’” That one “yes” led to another and another and another… three months later Fr. Vinh entered the Legionaries of Christ at the age of 25. “The next twelve years flashed like the blink of an eye and now I stand at the threshold of an eternal change. ‘One step at a time,’ I said, ‘only one step.’ That was the best first step of my life. I pray to be his faithful priest for the rest of my life, to expand his kingdom and bring all souls to know, love and imitate Christ.”  

Fr. Vinh serves the ECYD youth sections in the Washington, DC, area. The video of Fr. Vinh’s ordination is available here. You can read his personal testimony and more about his ordination here. The photo gallery from his ordination is available here.

Growing up in Rogers, Minnesota, Fr. Michael Sester, LC, dreamed of becoming a husband and father. As he discovered the pathway to his priestly vocation in prayer, he joined the Novitiate of the Legionaries of Christ and began his journey of formation. He recalls a moment during those years when he was working in Mexico. “I lived in Mexico for two years between theology and philosophy working in a school with adolescents.  It changed my life.  It was like all my desire for fatherhood was filled to overflowing.  And I realized that the priest is called to love with all he is, only that he is called to do it with God and with an open heart. Jesus was the face of the Father and the priest is configured to Jesus.  I hope and pray to be able to show God the Father to those around me.  I remember looking at the kids and thinking ‘God loves you so much! You have no idea! I know it!’ It was just that I felt so full in those moments.” God did indeed grant Fr. Michael’s desire for fatherhood, but in a way completely different from how he had imagined it as a child. 

He is currently working in Santiago, Chile as a youth work director and as high school formation instructor in the Everest School.The video of Fr. Michael’s ordination is available here. You can read his personal testimony and more about his ordination here. The photo gallery from his ordination is available here.

Fr. Russell Ward, LC, was ordained to the priesthood on June 12, 2021, by Bishop Earl Boyea at St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing, Michigan. Fr. Russell was raised in Flint, Michigan, the oldest of seven children. He experienced the desire to discern the priesthood while visiting the Legionaries of Christ’s apostolic school in New Hampshire at age 14, and finished his high school there before joining the novitiate in Cheshire, Connecticut. He reflects on how God worked in his soul from that time onwards, “This was the start of a long journey of intentionally trying to open my heart to God’s overwhelming grace, to be led by him wherever he would take me. And what an adventure it has been! I am amazed looking back how Our Lord has gradually dilated my heart, revealing more every day what he is calling me to as a Legionary priest. Put simply, I have found that God fills us with deep desires in our hearts and, if we let him lead us, he will undoubtably begin to fulfill all of these desires in unexpected ways.” As Fr. Russell continued his studies in Rome obtaining a Master’s in Philosophy and a Bachelor’s in Theology, he also discovered a personal love for academics and teaching. He is currently studying for a Master of Theology at Notre Dame University. After this, he hopes to pursue a doctorate to teach seminarians in the Legionary university in Rome.

The video of Fr. Russell’s ordination is available here, and you can read his personal testimony  and more about his ordination here. The photo gallery from his ordination is available here.

Fr. Russell Ward, LC, was ordained to the priesthood on June 12, 2021, by Bishop Earl Boyea at St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing, Michigan. Fr. Russell was raised near Lansing in Flint, Michigan, the oldest of seven children. He first experienced the desire to discern a potential vocation to the priesthood while visiting the Legionaries of Christ’s apostolic school in New Hampshire at the age of 14. He enrolled and finished his high school there before joining the order’s novitiate in Cheshire, Connecticut.  

As Fr. Russell continued in his formation, he relates in his personal testimony,  he realized that “This was the start of a long journey of intentionally trying to open my heart to God’s overwhelming grace, to be led by him wherever he would take me. And what an adventure it has been! I am amazed looking back how Our Lord has gradually dilated my heart, revealing more every day what he is calling me to as a Legionary priest. Put simply, I have found that God fills us with deep desires in our hearts and, if we let him lead us, he will undoubtably begin to fulfill all of these desires in unexpected ways.”

After the COVID 19 pandemic made it necessary to cancel the traditional group ordinations that the Legionaries of Christ had planned in Rome for April 24^th, 2021, Fr. Russell turned to the bishop of his hometown diocese, Bishop Earl Boyea of the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, who warmly invited him to be ordained along with two diocesan seminarians on June 12^th.  To Fr. Russell this was a meaningful act of Providence. At his ordination he noted that receiving both the anointing of confirmation and the anointing of the priesthood by the bishop of Lansing emphasized to him that he has a spiritual home and deep roots in the diocese, no matter where in the world he is sent on his mission as a priest of the Legionaries of Christ.

During the homily for the ordination Mass, Bishop Boyea encouraged the new priests to remember the source of the light that they are to bring into the world, and to live their ministry with deep humility, “Even as Paul recognized that the ministry he received was not his own, so you must acknowledge the true origin of the light that you are to be. Paul refers to God’s edict of light at the beginning of the book of Genesis to point to the true source of any knowledge of Jesus Christ that we might end up having. And so, since God has chosen to say, ‘Let there be light,’ and he says that in you today, it does not change the fact that we are truly only earthen vessels. The light is not us, but is always of the one who says, “Let there be light.” It is ascribed to St. Augustine to “pray as though everything depended on God, work as though everything depended on you.” 

To emphasize the attitude of humility of heart and generous service the new priests were to live, Bishop Boyea concluded his homily by washing their feet, inviting them to join him in following the example of Jesus Christ as they begin their priesthood.

At the end of the Mass each of the new priests gave a few remarks.  Fr. Russell shared his gratitude to his family, his home diocese and bishop, to the Legionaries of Christ, and especially to Our Lady, who gave him the particular grace of being ordained on the solemnity of the Immaculate Heart, a heart in which he said he felt “embraced and cared for, sheltered under her mantle of protection.”

Fr. Russell will now continue his studies for a Master of Theology at Notre Dame University. After this, he hopes to pursue a doctorate degree in order to teach seminarians in the Legionary university in Rome.

Links

Link to Fr. Russell Ward’s personal testimony

Link to the video of Fr. Russell Ward’s ordination

Fr. Vinh Pham, LC, and Fr. Michael Sester, LC, were ordained to the priesthood together on May 29^th, 2021, by Bishop Ned Schlesinger at Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Church in Atlanta, Georgia, with Fr. John Connor, general director of the Legionaries of Christ, in attendance. 

In a moving and reverent Mass attended by hundreds of family, friends, and members of Regnum Christi, the two deacons received their priestly ordination as the culmination of over a decade of priestly discernment and formation.  

Originally from Fountain Valley, California, Fr. Vinh Pham, LC, was born to parents who had risked all on a perilous journey to escape Vietnam as refugees, settling in the United States. His faith took root through a deeply devout Vietnamese Catholic experience, and grew into a vocational call he recognized at the age of 25 while working in the automotive industry in Atlanta. He attended a silent retreat over Holy Week during which discovered a profound personal friendship with Christ. He explains, “In that silence, along with the somber yet magnificently beautiful liturgies, I discovered Christ, the man… the friend.  The silence crushed me. In that silence I found life. I found meaning. I found God within me. The immense joy of this discovery left me begging for more. That Holy Week Triduum stripped me of everything I had thought I’d known. It was a rollercoaster ride of discoveries and emotions. One thing I knew for sure: I never want to live my life without God ever again.”

Fr. Michael Sester, LC, grew up in Rogers, Minnesota. As a child he dreamed of becoming a husband and father while God began to gently steer him towards the vocation that would fulfill him more deeply than he could imagine, serving the bride of Christ as a spiritual father, an Alter Christus, a priest. Just prior to his ordination he reflected, “I will be deeply configured to Christ.  He goes where I go.  He acts when I act even if I am weak, and most of all he wants to love through my love. ‘As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world… I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ (John 17:18) I think of my hands being anointed with oil, oil that consecrates, perfumes, heals, and illuminates.  Can my hands do that?  I think of his hands inside mine like gloves.”

During the homily of the Ordination Mass, Bishop Ned Schlesinger of the diocese of Atlanta gave the new priests pastoral advice and encouragement, telling them, “Vinh, Michael, rather than think about something happening to you today, think of your ordination as someone who is working in you, living and acting and transforming you. You are not ordained just to perform rituals, or do priestly tasks. You must strive, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to become a living image, or icon of Christ, the High Priest and Good Shepherd, and an image of God the Father….The people of God should not look at you as managers of a business. You are Alter Christus who are willing to become like Jesus, a victim, a sacrifice. A good shepherd, not a hired hand, who knows his sheep and calls them by name and lays down one’s life for them.”

Bishop Schlesinger went on to instruct the new priests to make their spiritual lives their first priority, “So important it is for priests to be men of prayer. St. Paul even advised Timothy to fan into flame, to stir into flame, the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. So watch over your prayer life. Guard it with barbed wire. Do not let this thief steal the treasure that is within you.”

Turning to the assembled congregation he encouraged the faithful not to lose hope as they face spiritual battles in a secular culture. “Beware of discouragement. And I say this not only to the priests today, but to all of you here today. We live in a very secular society. We live in a world where Christians seem to be out of step with the trends that are in the news today. We can become very discouraged that we’re losing the spiritual battle, and focus on numbers rather than the action of God in his church. You did not choose Christ, Christ chose you.”

At the conclusion of the Mass, Fr. John Connor, LC, general director of the Legionaries of Christ, gave closing remarks. Responding to the Bishop’s exhortation to be holy priests deeply rooted in Christ, he said, “As you know Bishop Ned, your Legionaries are very passionate about Jesus Christ. And we’re passionate about serving the Church. We share that passion with our brothers and sisters in Regnum Christi. And as you mentioned in your homily, the spirit of service, humble service, is the path of Jesus Christ and the example that the Church and the culture need. Our prayer is that we may be that example, with the grace of God.”

Following their ordinations, Fr. Vinh will continue his ministry to youth and young adults in the Washington, DC, area, and Fr. Michael will return to Chile as a formation instructor in a high school run by the Legionaries of Christ.

Links

Fr. Vinh Pham’s personal testimony

Fr. Michael Sester’s personal testimony

Link to Ordination Video

Link to transcript of the homily by Bishop Ned Schlesinger and closing remarks by Fr. John Connor, LC