Wednesday Update, June 10, 2020

Please note: The Diocese of Tucson and St. Augustine Cathedral Parish offices are closed to the public until further notice because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While our offices are closed, Pastoral Center employees are checking email messages and voicemail hourly. When you call a Pastoral Center employee, please leave a message with your phone number so your call can be returned.

  When Covid-19 called us to suspend our liturgical celebrations with the community in our churches, we hoped it would be a short time and allow us to return within weeks. We know the reality now. Finally on Pentecost, some of our parishes were able to open for public Mass with limited numbers and new protocols. On June 5th and June 6th, we were able to celebrate at St. Augustine Cathedral in a limited way the Mass of Chrism and the Priesthood Ordination Mass.

The Chrism Mass, usually held on Monday of Holy Week, was moved to June 5th. Seventy priests gathered to renew their priestly promises, to pray together and to bless and consecrate the Holy Oils. The Mass was followed by a very simple gathering to honor our priests celebrating Jubilees this year. Read more about them later in this update. Our COVID-19 phase one protocols prevented the beautiful choir music, presence of the assembly and processions that are usually part of this liturgy. You were all remembered in our prayers with the hope that we will gather for this beautiful celebration in the coming years.

CHRISM MASS ORDINATION MASS 2020  Ordination DoT Credit:Fr. Arnold Aurillo 2020 Chrism Mass DoT Credit:Ofelia James

Ordination of Fr. Peter Pedrasa
On Saturday, June 6th, I was privileged to ordain Father Peter John Pedrasa, as a priest for our Diocese of Tucson. Fifty priests and sixty invited guests were able to be present for this important day for Father Peter and for our Diocese. We were able to live-stream the Mass so that Father Peter’s family and friends in the Philippines were able to be with us. Once again, we missed the overflowing church and the beautiful music and procession of all of our priests. Father Peter offered his first blessing to me and to Bishop Kicanas (who accepted him into seminary formation more than seven years ago). Let us continue to pray for our seminarians and for abundant vocations to the priesthood each day. Congratulations, Fr. Peter!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR PRIEST JUBILARIANS
We are grateful for their faithfulness in their service to the Church. Brief biographies are at the end of this update.

25th Anniversary

• Reverend Nathaniel Mma – July 1, 1995

40th Anniversary

• Reverend Ivan Marsh OCarm – May 17, 1980
• Reverend Robert Rankin (Byzantine) – May 17, 1980
• The Right Reverend Mitred Protopresbyter Andriy Chirovsky SThD (Ukrainian) - June 8, 1980

50th Anniversary

• Reverend Antonio Camora – March 31, 1970
• Reverend John Friel – September 12, 1970

70th Anniversary

• Reverend Thomas Butler OCarm – June 6, 1950.

TO ALL OUR PRIESTS CELEBRATING THEIR ORDINATION ANNIVERSARIES THIS MONTH:

Rev Jay Luczk 6/6/1992 Rev John Arnold JCL, JD 6/6/1998 Rev Alan Valencia 6/6/2015 Rev Gonzalo Villegas 6/6/1992 Rev Marco Carrasco 6/7/2014 Rev Jose Manuel Padilla 6/7/2003 Rev Msgr Todd O'Leary 6/7/1958 Rev Eamonn Boland 6/7/1969 Rev Robert Nathan Castle OP 6/7/1985 Rev Edward Lucero VF 6/7/2008 Rev Bardo Antunez Olea 6/7/2003 Rev Adolfo Martinez-Escobar 6/7/2003 Rev Matthias Crehan OFM 6/7/1975 Rev Emilio Chapa 6/7/2008 Rev Robert Rodriguez 6/7/2008 Rev Justin Agbir VC 6/8/2019 Rev Msgr Thomas Cahalane 6/8/1963 Rev Msgr Albert Schifano 6/9/2001 Rev John Gibbons OFM 6/9/2001 Rev Harry Ledwith 6/9/1974 Rev Richard Boyle SJ 6/10/1975 Rev Robert Gonzales 6/10/1978 Rev Ariel Lustan VF 6/10/1994 Rev Raymond Palcisko 6/10/1958 Rev Liam Leahy 6/10/1972 Rev Richard M Kingsley 6/11/1983 Rev John Paul Forte OP 6/11/1993 Rev Justin Whittington SJ 6/12/1999 Rev Arthur Espelage OFM 6/12/1971 Rev John Martin 6/12/1965 Rev Eduardo Lopez Romo 6/12/2003 Rev Peter Neeley SJ 6/13/1981

PUBLIC MASSES
I know we’re all anxious to be back in our parishes but the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths has unexpectedly increased in Arizona. I very strongly encourage all those in the CDC vulnerable categories [especially those age 65+ or with a chronic health condition] to remain at home and let the Church come to you via technology. Just a few more weeks might make all the difference. Some of our parishes have started opening for public Masses. I thank those of you who have had the opportuntiy to attend for your patience as we work through these new protocols to ensure the health and safety of all - our priests, lay ministers and the attending public. Seek the common good and continue to wear masks, wash your hands and use hand santizer. Please remember that I have lifted the obligation to attend Sunday Mass until further notice. HOPE (Helping Our Parishes Endure) FUND

Our Catholic Foundation still has its online giving site that allows all of us to support our parishes – all of which have suffered loss of weekly offertories to keep them in operation. As this pandemic continues, the loss of your weekly or monthly support to your parishes is reaching critical levels. If you would like to give to your parish online, visit our HOPE FUND WEBSITE. In addition, the Foundation has been providing COVID-19 emergency grants to parishes. My thanks for any support you are able to give! 25th Anniversary:

Father Nathaniel Mma – July 1, 1995
Father Mma was ordained July 1, 1995, in Nigeria for the Diocese of Makurdi, but was later assigned to the newly created Diocese of Gboko. He arrived in the US in 2014, and after a brief stay at St. Augustine Cathedral, his first assignment was as parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception in Yuma. In 2017, he was named administrator at Holy Cross, Morenci and Sacred Heart, Clifton. In 2019, he became pastor at those parishes. 40th Anniversary:

Carmelite Father Ivan Cormac Marsh - May 17, 1980
He was born in 1937 in Iberia, Louisiana to Robert and Beulah Marsh. In 1967, as a Christian Brother, he was assigned to St. Mel High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, teaching religion, serving as Junior Class moderator and director of the Glee Club. In 1978, he joined the Carmelites of the Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, of Darien, Illinois. He was ordained May 17, 1980. He was placed in residence with the Carmelite community at St. Cyril’s, Tucson in 2007. He was involved in diocesan Black Catholic Ministry, which regularly celebrated an annual Mass. He wrote this in an article in 2009: “While they may have come to the faith through many different doors, they know they are one in faith in Jesus Christ and in His Church. This is what they celebrate when they gather.” In 2013, he published “The Thirty-Day Retreat in the Carmelite Tradition,” intended for men preparing to make solemn vows, but able to be applied to anyone living a Carmelite spirituality.  Over the years, he has been involved in parish ministry, Carmelite retreat ministry and as spiritual director. Father Ivan lectures, gives retreats to laity and clergy around the United States, and has also taught in Canada in the area of spiritual direction.

Father Robert Rankin (Byzantine) – May 17, 1980
Father Robert Rankin was raised in the Roman Catholic Rite and was introduced to the Byzantine Catholic Rite at an early age by his godparents. He experienced the Divine Liturgy at SS. Peter & Paul Byzantine Catholic Church in Peekskill, New York, and SS. Peter & Paul Byzantine Catholic Church in Endicott, New York. As a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington, he studied at the Jesuit University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania and St. Pius X College Seminary in Dalton, Pennsylvania, where he specialized in Eastern Christian studies and Greek Patristics. After graduation in May 1976, he entered St. Charles Seminary Overbrook in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, also attending St. Tikhon Orthodox Seminary, South Canaan Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, as an exchange student. After his family relocated to Los Angeles, he was ordained a priest for that archdiocese on May 17, 1980. For 22 years, he served at parishes throughout the archdiocese. He received bi-ritual faculties in 1984 and assisted at the Byzantine Proto-Cathedral of St. Mary Protection of the Mother of God in Sherman Oaks, California for 18 years before transferring to fulltime ministry in the Byzantine Rite Eparchy of the Western United States. Father Rankin has been the pastor of St. Melany Byzantine Catholic Church in Tucson since 2002. He specializes in marriage and family counseling. His other roles include evangelization, faith formation, sacramental preparation and religious education.

Mitred Protopresbyter Father Andriy Chirovsky (Ukrainian) - June 8, 1980 Father Andriy Chirovsky is the pastor of the 50-member St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Tucson. Father Chirovsky was born in 1956 in New Jersey and was ordained a Ukrainian Catholic priest by the Confessor of the Faith Patriarch Josyf Slipyj in Castelgandolfo, Italy, on June 8, 1980. He studied philosophy at the Pontificia Università Urbaniana, in Rome, graduating with a bachelor’s in 1976. He earned a master’s in theology in 1981 from the University of St. Michael College in Toronto and a doctorate from the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois, in 1993. He began teaching as an adjunct lecturer at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago (1984-85). In 1985, he was named an assistant professor, becoming an adjunct assistant professor five years later and rising to an adjunct associate professor in 1994. From 1986-94, he also served as director of the school’s Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies. From 2004-10, he served as an adjunct professor in the department of Religious Studies at Arizona State University in Tempe. He was elevated to the rank of Mitred Archpriest in August 2005. He is married to Halyna (Pawlyshyn), and they have two children, Sophia and Alexander.  Father Chirovsky has a long history as an expert on Ukraine and Ukrainian Catholics. Father Chirovsky is the author of numerous articles and books, including “Pray for God’s Wisdom: The Mystical Sophiology of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.” (1992), and editor of “Following the Star from the East: Essays in Honour of Archimandrite Boniface Luykx” (1992).

50th Anniversary:

Father Antonio Camora – March 31, 1970 Fr. Tony is currently in residence at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Florence, Arizona. He is a priest of the Diocese of Borongan in the Philippines and has spent time in California and started serving here in the Diocese of Tucson just last year.

Father John Friel – Sept. 12, 1970 Father Friel was born March 8, 1942, to John F. and Catherine V. (O’Brien) Friel in Philadelphia. He attended West Chester State College, West Chester, Pennsylvania (1961-63); Niagara University, Niagara, New York (1966-67, summer 1968); and De Sales Hall School of Theology, Hyattsville, Maryland for theology (19567-71). He was ordained in Holy Innocents Church in Philadelphia on Sept. 12, 1970, by Bishop Edward J. Schlotterback, Vicar Apostolic of Keetmanshoop, Namibia, for the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. He spent three years as a chaplain at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma (1974-77). He returned to the Diocese in 1999 as the founding president of Yuma Catholic High School, after serving as a Navy chaplain in Monterey, California, with the rank of lieutenant. In 2003, he was named to the first of three six-year terms as pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in Yuma. He was incardinated in 2004. In 2007, at the invitation of Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, he served in a diocesan delegation studying the needs of Catholics in Yuma County and Sonora, Mexico. In 2008, he led the consecration for the new St. John Church. Two years later, a parish center was added. He retired from active ministry on July 1, 2019.

70th Anniversary:

Father Thomas Butler, O.Carm. – June 6, 1950 Fr. Tom Butler was a faculty member at Salpointe from 1956-1962. His duties included teaching religion and geometry, coaching track and cross country and moderating the Letterman’s Club. He, along with Carl Brunenkant, coached the cross country team to the school’s first League and Division championship in 1956. Fr. Tom was the athletic director when the gym was built and he was inducted into the Salpointe Catholic High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. Fr. Tom has held positions at Mount Carmel High School Chicago, IL (twice), St. Cecilia High School, Englewood, NJ, Crespi Carmeilite High School, Encino, CA, St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish in North Hollywood, CA, St. Leo Parish, Pittsburgh, PA, St. Albert Parish, Houston, TX, St. Bernadette Parish, Clear Lake, TX and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Louisville, KY. He came back to the Diocese on assignment to Sacred Heart Parish and Salpointe High School in June, 1998.