Three ordained

By Tanya Connor

Family, friends, priests and bishops were among those rejoicing as three more men were ordained for the Worcester Diocese Saturday at St. Paul Cathedral. They were Fathers Dario Acevedo, 32, John F. Hamm, 55, and Mark Rainville, 43.
Bishop McManus spoke of rejoicing with their families and friends and praying to the Holy Spirit to encourage them in their service to God’s people.
He said one of the greatest privileges a bishop has is ordaining others to the priesthood. He thanked their families and the Serra Club members, who foster vocations, for their prayers and asked the congregation to pray for vocations.
He also thanked the choir. Ray Yu, director of sacred music at St. Paul Cathedral, said it was made up of 40 people from different parishes, including members of St. Paul’s adult and children’s choirs. She said that to put together a choir for the ordination she had called all the parishes that had an affiliation with the men being ordained, and sent an e-mail to diocesan musicians.
This year Bishop McManus welcomed three bishops to the ordination Mass – Bishops Reilly and Rueger, retired ordinary and auxiliary of the diocese, and Archbishop Michael W. Banach.
Before Mass he had introduced Archbishop Banach to the priests, deacons and the seminarians and aspirants serving the Mass. The new archbishop, a Worcester diocesan priest who has served in the Vatican diplomatic corps since 1994, was home on vacation while preparing for his new assignment as apostolic nuncio to Papua New Guinea. He lingered at the reception after Mass, visiting with people here.
Bishop Rueger reached out eagerly to the new priests and Bishop Reilly beamed during the welcoming into the Order of Priest, the point in an ordination Mass at which bishops and priests embrace the newly ordained.
“You can see the love that our priests have for each other when they hug the newly ordained,” said Cecile Sauro, of Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish in Spencer, who has a special ministry of praying for the diocese’s seminarians. “It’s so wonderful. That’s my favorite part.”
“I think it’s just a great showing of priestly fraternity,” said Father Robert Ianelli, of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, as he waited with the other priests for Mass to begin. He knew Father Rainville at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa. Life has suddenly changed for this man he’s known for eight years, though he still remains the same, as grace builds on nature, he said.
“Out of Christ’s love for us he choses men for his priestly ministry,” he said.
“Mark was two years behind me” at St. Charles Borromeo, said Father Michael Farrell, of the Boston Archdiocese. “To see your friends in seminary reach ordination – it’s a blessing.”
Victor Main, Father Hamm’s godson, said the ordination was unexpectedly emotional for him.
“I could feel what he was feeling by looking at his face,” the young man said. “It was very clear to me how jubilant he was.”
John F. Hamm, said he and his wife, Catherine, were “very proud” of his son. Father Hamm’s mother, Bernadine, died in 1993.
“Just this whole thing – awesome,” added Catherine Hamm, speaking of her stepson’s formation. “It’s just starting now – a new life.”
Sister Jeanne Richard, a Sister of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin who does adult faith formation and evangelization at St. Brigid and Our Lady of the Assumption Parishes in Millbury, praised God that Fathers Hamm and Rainville have reached this goal. Each served in Millbury as seminarians.
Father Acevedo was the focus of priests and laity from the Brazilian communities at St. Stephen Parish in Worcester and St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Milford. They gathered around him after Mass for photos and blessings. The next day he celebrated one of his Masses of Thanksgiving with them at St. Stephen’s.
Renata Domingos, who teaches confirmation students for St. Stephen’s Brazilian community, expressed her appreciation for the ordination Mass and said many Brazilians had come.
“I met Dario when he first came up from Colombia,” said Robert Huffor, of St. Patrick Parish in Whitinsville. “I view him as one of my good friends, so to see him ordained is a great joy to me.”
He said he knows Father Hamm from St. Gabriel, the Archangel Parish in Upton, which he has also attended.
He said he met Father Acevedo at a diocesan vocations retreat.
“To see them finally be ordained – it makes me look forward to, God willing, when I get to that,” said the man hoping to join the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.