Archdiocese of Baltimore celebrates ordination of six new priests

Members of the congregation applaud newly ordained priests June 22 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

The ordination of six men to the priesthood at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland June 22 combined the dignity and sanctity of an ancient rite with a generous seasoning of congregational cheers.

Joyous applause rang out during several moments in the nearly two-and-a-half-hour Mass, especially after the Communion prayer when nearly 2,000 people accepted Archbishop William E. Lori’s invitation to show their love for the newly ordained priests. The congregation obliged by offering a sustained standing ovation.

Archbishop William E. Lori anoints the hands of Father Zachary Essex Watson June 22 during an ordination liturgy at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

After recessional cheers receded, some enthusiastic encouragement started anew as the new priests visited four side chapels to administer their first priestly blessings to family and friends. Loved ones stood in long lines for the special blessings, kneeling before the newly ordained and celebrating the priests’ journey of devotion and service.

The event was as energetic inside as the 100-degree weather – the result of a dreaded heat dome – was stifling outside.

Ordained at the Mass, with their assignments as associate pastors beginning July 1, were:

Father Angel Acuña, to Sacred Heart Parish, Glyndon.
Father Daniel John Andrades to the Pastorate of St. Louis Parish in Clarksville and St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Fulton.
Father Franz Josef Basalo Belleza, to the Pastorate of St. Patrick Parish, Havre de Grace, and St. Joan of Arc, Aberdeen.
Father Michael Misulia, to Immaculate Conception Parish, Towson; he will also be the Catholic chaplain at Towson University’s Newman Center.
Father Lenin Andres Suarez, to St. Joseph Parish, Cockeysville, and St. Francis Xavier Parish, Hunt Valley.
Father Zachary Watson, to the Pastorate of St. Francis de Sales Parish, Abingdon, and Prince of Peace Parish, Edgewood; he will also be chaplain at The John Carroll School, Bel Air.

Archbishop William E. Lori confers the Holy Spirit upon Father Franz Josef Basalo Belleza as he is ordained to the priesthood, June 22 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Last year’s group of eight new priests was the largest in the archdiocese in more than 40 years; in 2022, there were five; in 2021 there had been just one.

In his homily, Archbishop Lori reminded the new priests that their primary work was preaching the Gospel.

“This is the message you are to preach and bear witness to,” Archbishop Lori said. “You are not offering happy talk, not a panacea, but rather the liberating words of Jesus Christ.”

He reminded the new priests that they would be preaching “not a philosophy, but a person,” which means they are ministers not of ideas but of realities, which include the “realities of Christ’s body broken and Christ’s blood poured,” he said.

“Our mutual friendship with Christ most characterizes our relationship – me as bishop, you as priests,” he concluded.

Prior to his ordination, Father Andrades spent an hour praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament, reflecting on this giant step in his life. His mission is to “serve the Lord and be his humble servant,” he said.

Father Andrades, originally from Karachi, Pakistan, called the ordination rite “surreal” and “so absolutely beautiful.”

“I am humbled,” he told the Catholic Review, “and very grateful for my vocation.”

He was a concelebrant at a morning Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore June 23.

Father Michael Misulia embraces a well-wisher at his June 22 priestly ordination at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Father Andrades’ mother, Maria, said that in their household, isolated as Catholic in the majority-Muslim Pakistan, her son always knew “to pray the rosary and go to Mass to find solutions to his problems.”

Father Andrades’ extended family includes women religious in the Franciscan and Dominican orders, and in India, the family’s original home, “it’s a big blessing to have a child join a religious order,” Maria Andrades observed.

“My husband (Jerome) and I were very happy and excited” when Daniel informed them of the call he felt, she said. “We think this is the right vocation for him.”

Brett Watson, Father Watson’s father was also moved by the ordination liturgy.

“But those were tears of joy, I guess,” he said.

From left: Father Lenin Andres Suarez, Father Zachary Essex Watson, Auxiliary Bishop Adam J. Parker, Father Franz Josef Basalo Belleza, Archbishop William E. Lori, Father Daniel Andrades, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Denis J. Madden, Father Andrés R. Ángel Acuña, Auxiliary Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, CSsR and Father Michael Misulia pose for a photo following a June 22 ordination Mass for six new priests in Archdiocese (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Father Watson’s mother, Doretta, added, “It’s hard to put into words. He’s very happy and we’re happy for him.”

Father Belleza’s mother, Luz, thought she saw a foretelling of his priesthood during his first Communion in their hometown of Cebu City in the Philippines.

“You know how little children, when they come into the church as a group, always look around to see if their parents are watching?” she told the Catholic Review. “His eyes never looked at us. Like he was glued to the Lady of the Miracles.”

She remembered, “I could feel his devotion at that time. I think my son is chosen to be a priest.”

Each of the new priests had groups of up to 250 family and friends to witness the ordinations; one had a group that arrived in a chartered bus.

Six priesthood candidates prostrate themselves in the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen during their June 22 ordination. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

As part of the rite, the candidates prostrated themselves in the sanctuary as those in the cathedral invoked the saints.

Archbishop Lori laid his hands on their heads, conferring the gift of the Holy Spirit, and priests from across the archdiocese and from religious orders did the same, each praying for their newly ordained brothers. Following the prayer to “renew in them the spirit of holiness,” priests selected by the newly ordained men vested them with stoles and chasubles.

After the archbishop anointed the hands of the new priests, he presented each a paten and chalice. He then embraced them, a gesture repeated by all the other priests.

Father Daniel Andrades offers a blessing following his June 22 ordination to the priesthood. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Prior to the start of the liturgy, Father Steven Roth, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said it is difficult to put into words the magnitude of what happens at ordination. He called it a kind of miracle.

“As we look to these six men, God has called one of them to leave medical school,” Father Roth observed. “He’s called another one to turn down a scholarship to law school. He’s called two men to leave their home countries, all for one reason: to serve this local church of Baltimore as a priest.”

Father Roth said it’s “certainly” not by luck or by chance, but it is God’s providence.

“I hope we gather together today as we witness this miracle, that it instills in us a deeper sense of faith and trust that God is active and alive,” Father Roth said.

Click the navigation arrows below to view a slide show of photos taken by Kevin J. Parks. More photos are available for viewing and purchase on our Smugmug page here. Watch a recorded livestream of the ordination here.