Conventual Franciscan Father Richard Rome was ordained June 8 at St. Casimir in Canton, joining the Our Lady of the Angels Province as its newest priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. Father Rome, who holds a master’s degree from Towson University, recently completed his diaconate service at St. Casimir.
Atlanta Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, also a member of the same religious community and a former principal at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, presided at the ordination.
Father Rome was ordained a deacon Oct. 6, 2023 at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City. In May 2024, he completed his Master of Divinity at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Friar Rome’s first priestly assignment will be to continue to serve as an associate at St. Casimir.
“As a Franciscan bishop, it is a unique privilege to ordain a Franciscan priest,” Archbishop Hartmayer said in a media statement issued by the Our Lady of the Angels Province. “When I called down the Holy Spirit upon Richard Rome, laid my hands upon his head, and anointed his hands with sacred Chrism it was an extraordinary and humbling moment. It is during this ancient rite, that the Catholic Church and the Franciscan Order will proudly welcome a new priest.
“He is called to serve and not to be served. He will be forever changed. It is truly an honor for me to ordain a brother friar to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. This special event is a precious gift from God to the Mystical Body of Christ.”
Friar Rome spent his postulancy year in Chicago followed by his novitiate at Arroyo Grande, Calif. His post-novitiate studies were performed in Silver Spring, followed by an apostolic year in Shamokin, Pa., and post-novitiate studies in Silver Spring.
“After spending a year ministering to God’s people as a friar deacon, Friar Rich is well prepared to continue his servant ministry as a friar priest,” said Minister Provincial Conventual Franciscan Father Michael Heine in the media statement. “Friar Rich’s gentle ways and deep love of the Lord will serve him well as a friar-priest. A gifted homilist, he will touch the hearts of his listeners and lead them closer to Jesus.”
Father Rome, a native of Norfolk, Va., is the son of Sharon and retired Navy Capt. Kenneth Rome. He grew up with his parents and brother, Jim, in the Military Archdiocese and lived in Virginia, Maryland, Rhode Island and Italy.
Father Rome earned his undergraduate degree from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., and earned his master’s in Supply Chain Management at Towson before entering the Franciscan Friars Conventual. He also spent eight years as a United States Army civil servant working in logistics.
“After I was ordained a deacon, I saw Holy Orders as being given the grace and mission to serve the Church in a particular way: to proclaim the Gospel, to teach, to preach, to baptize,” Friar Rome said in a media release. “It was a calling to be ‘for them’ in a special way. Now, as I receive Holy Orders as a priest, the meaning is still the same, but the mission’s scope is broadening. I will still be called to proclaim the Gospel, teach, preach, and baptize. But added to that will be the grace and mission to feed the Church through the Eucharist, and to heal it through reconciliation and anointing.”
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