Bishop encourages diocese’s new priests to emulate St. Joseph

ASBURY — On the eve of Father’s Day, four new fathers were ordained to the priesthood for the diocese at a shrine dedicated to the Blessed Mother.

Calling the June 19 event “a day of grace for our diocese,” Bishop James F. Checchio ordained Rev. Mr. Jun Joseph Querubin Alquiros; Rev. Mr. Ariel Robles Bautista Jr.; Rev. Mr. Timothy Mark Eck II; Rev. Mr. Gregory Joseph Zannetti to the priesthood before hundreds of family, friends and clergy at the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. The bishop advised the men to form a close bond with St. Joseph, “a worthy intercessor for so much of what a priest does each day.”

Father Mauricio Tabera-Vasquez, director, diocesan Office of Vocations, made a public affirmation that the four candidates were prepared to take up their priestly ministries, and each of the four echoed that he had come willingly and faithfully to the priesthood.

“Relying on the help of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we choose these men, our brothers, for the Order of the Priesthood,” Bishop Checchio declared as the congregation’s thunderous applause filled the amphitheater.

In his homily, the bishop reminded the men they were being ordained in the Year of St. Joseph as declared by Pope Francis, and that the saint would watch over them with a father’s heart. Being a father, he continued, means sacrifice for the good of the family while giving up his own wants, desires and wishes. St. Joseph’s humble and selfless servitude is a model for the priesthood.

“If you desire to be true, spiritual fathers, you need to take a cue, maybe 20 cues, from St. Joseph,” Bishop Checchio advised the newly ordained men. “Joseph, for me, was and is an example of the priesthood — someone who humbly, selflessly and obediently lived and worked for the good of others. I need this example in my life and I hope you do, too.”

During the Rite of Ordination, deacons Alquiros, Bautista, Eck and Zannetti declared their willingness to undertake the tasks and obligations of the priesthood. The men knelt before the bishop to profess fealty to him and his successors; they lay prostrate before the altar to symbolize their unworthiness for the office to be assumed as well as dependence upon God and the prayers of the Christian community as a schola led the congregation in the timeless chant “Litany of the Saints.”

The last notes of the litany faded, and the four men arose to approach Bishop Checchio, who laid his hands on their heads, one after the other, in silent prayer to invoke the Holy Spirit. One by one, their fellow priests filed from their seats into the sanctuary to bless their new brothers in faith in the same manner.The vestments of a deacon the four wore were replaced by a stole and chasuble, the garments of a priest. They knelt once again before Bishop Checchio as he anointed their palms with Holy Chrism. After each new priest was embraced by the bishop and their fellow clerics during the Kiss of Peace, they jointed the prelates at the altar to consecrate the bread and wine during the Liturgy of the Eucharist for the first time.

Bishop Checchio announced the four priests’ parish assignments as parochial vicars: Father Alquiros at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, Metuchen; Father Bautista at Immaculate Conception Parish, Annandale; Father Eck at St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Skillman, this summer before returning to Rome to complete his License in Liturgical Theology degree; and Father Zannetti at St. James Parish, Basking Ridge.