Msgr Moroney's Blog: Rite of Candidacy

03 May 2017

Rite of Candidacy

Last Sunday more than a dozen of our brothers were accepted to Candidacy for Holy Orders by Bishop Robert Reed in Saint John's Chapel. Our congratulation to them all! Here is an excerpt from the rite:

Bishop: Beloved sons, the pastors and teachers in charge of your formation, and others who know you, have given a favorable account of you, and we have full confidence in their testimony. In response to the Lord’s call, do you resolve to complete your preparation so that in due time through Holy Orders you will be prepared to assume ministry within the Church?
Together, all the aspirants answer: I do.

Bishop: Do you resolve to prepare yourselves in mind and spirit to give faithful service to Christ the Lord and his Body, the Church?
Aspirants: I do.

Bishop: The Church accepts your resolve with joy. May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.
All: Amen.

Monsignor James P. Moroney, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester for forty four years, is Pastor of Saint Cecilia Parish in Leominster. He served for many years as Executive Director of the USCCB Secretariat for Divine Worship in Washington D.C., as Rector of Saint John's Seminary in Boston, and as Pastor of Mary Queen of the Rosary Parish in Spencer and as Rector of Saint Paul's Cathedral in Worcester. Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict both appointed him as a Consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome and as Executive Director of the Vox Clara Committee. He is author of THE MASS EXPLAINED (Catholic Book Publishing) which is being published in its third edition this Spring.