At the heart of an ordination is silence. The silence is solemn, pregnant, heavy with mystery, tense with promise, hard-won. In this silence, the bishop places his hands on the head of the candidate to priesthood, holding them there in the ancient gesture of blessing and commitment, pressing, praying, silently invoking the Spirit, then letting go. He steps back, and other priests may move up to repeat his gesture; soft music begins; and life's sounds resumebreathing, whispering, shuffling in the pews. Soon, with a prayer invoking the Spirit, the official words begin again.
The ordination liturgy is full of sounds. Processional hymns, official prayers, scripture readings, homily, instructions to accompany ritual gestures and promises, applause of approval, a litany that calls upon the heroes of the tradition to be with the new priests in their future ministryall lead up to the silence and the bishop's hands placed on the new priests' heads. Following it are a greeting of peace, petitions, and familiar words of eucharist and blessing spoken now with new voices.
The ordination celebration goes beyond the official liturgy and brings its own chorus of sounds. In many Jesuit provinces, the practice has grown up in recent decades of bringing everyone together for the ordination weekend from their distant cities and varied works to share in conversation, maybe a formal talk or two, discussion, prayer, time together, and words from the provincial superior.
The sounds of this weekend easily flow from months of phone calls and discussions to put all the arrangements in place, from years of classroom preparation in theology and philosophy, in spirituality and in prayer. They flow from a lifetime of birthday songs, encouragement, cheers at sixth-grade baseball games, teenage arguments, questions, hints, jokesthe life sounds that have brought these young men to this point of commitment. They flow from a tradition of sacred words that reaches back to Jesus and his disciples, to Moses and the prophets, to the Word spoken to get our story started at all. Ageless sounds have led up to this brief moment of silence.
After the ordination liturgy, a reception will follow, filled with congratulations and best wishes. Families and Jesuits mingle with other guests, meeting for the first time, renewing old friendships, sharing storiesbridging circles of relationships that are usually confined to separate realms of life. In some of the Jesuit provinces a large dinner may follow the ordination liturgy, complete with entertainment, acknowledgments, and more words from the provincial.
Then ministry begins, new ministry with new rhythms, new music, new words,
words of Eucharist, words of forgiveness, words of healing and of blessing, words of
challenge and of hope. But all these beautiful, powerful new sounds draw purpose and
strength from the core of the ordination rite, the invocation of the Spirit in a brief
moment of thundering silence.
  Fr. Mark Bandsuch, 38, from Cleveland, with a bachelor's degree in accounting and a law
degree from Cleveland-Marshall, taught business and law at John Carroll University. He
served as a hospital chaplain in Cleveland and worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service in
assessing immigrant situations in prisons in the Bay Area in California, where he also
served as a prison chaplain. (Detroit Province)
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 Fr. Bernard Barry, 38, from Kansas City, has a degree in accounting from Creighton
University. He taught at St. John's College in Belize and is working in campus ministry at
Saint Louis University, which four of his relatives currently attend. He will be ordained
at St. Francis Xavier in Kansas City, where he was baptized; this fall he will continue in
campus ministry. (Missouri Province)
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 Fr. Thomas Benz, 35, from Buffalo, has a bachelor's in foreign service from Georgetown
and a master's in European history from Notre Dame. He taught and gave retreats at St.
Peter's Prep in Jersey City and served as director at Jesuit Family Retreats in Blue Ridge
Summit, Penn. He was deacon at a parish in Somerville, Mass. This fall he will teach
religion at Fordham Prep in the Bronx. (New York Province)
|  Fr. John Butler, 37, from Atlanta, eceived BAs in religious studies and philosophy from
St. Thomas University and an MA in religious studies from Providence College. He was
a counselor at Loyola College in Baltimore, where he had a fellowship and was a
teaching assistant He has done gang ministry in the Bronx and was an RCIA teacher at
Immaculate Heart in Towson, Md. (New England Province)
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 Fr. Sean Carroll, 34, from Weymouth, Mass., has a BA in history from Stanford. He
worked in campus ministry at a Jesuit school in Montevideo, Uruguay, taught history and
coached swimming at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, and helped run an after-
school tutoring program in East Los Angeles. He will be associate pastor at St. Patrick's
Church in Oakland, Calif., this fall. (California Province) |
 Fr. Thomas Cwik, 37, from Evergreen Park, Ill., was business manager at St. Ignatius
Loyola in Denver and helped found the Miguel Pro Jesuit community in Denver. He has
a master's in economics from the University of Illinois in Springfield. After ordination
and after attending some rodeos in Colorado this summer, he will become coordinator of
the social apostolate for the Missouri Province. (Missouri Province) |
 Fr. Rocco Danzi, 39, from Atlantic City, has a BA in history from St. Joseph's University
and an MSEd in social studies from Iona College. He served at St. Ignatius Parish in
Brooklyn where he initiated a summer program with the children of the neighborhood.
He has also visited Haiti and studied Creole; he looks forward to returning to St. Ignatius
parish as a priest. (New York Province) |
 Fr. Tri Minh Dinh, 35, from Saigon, received a BS in biochemistry from Rice University
and taught chemistry at Jesuit High in Sacramento. He directed workshops and retreats
for an organization that educates disadvantaged children in the Philippines and helped
adapt and direct Kairos retreats for Vietnamese students in California. He hopes to serve
in campus or retreat ministry. (California Province) |
 Fr. Patrick Fairbanks, 46, from Hamilton, Ohio, has a BS in English education from
Miami University in Ohio. He worked in AIDS ministry in Chicago and has been serving
a parish in Cambridge, Mass., as an RCIA team member, youth retreat director, and
catechist. The seventh of fourteen children, he hopes to serve at a province high school
after ordination and witness the solar eclipse in 2017. (Chicago Province)
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 Fr. Jerry Graham, 48, from Toppenish, Wash., has a BA in philosophy from Gonzaga and
an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alaska. He directed retreats for
parishioners at St. Francis Xavier in Missoula, Montana, and worked for two years at the
Jesuit Spirituality Center in Portland. He enjoys writing poetry and would like to better
integrate Ignatian spirituality with the arts. (Oregon Province)
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 Fr. Thomas Griffin-Smolenski, 47, from Bristol, Calif., has a BA in English from Villanova University and an MA from the American Graduate School of International
Management. He spent two years working at the Jesuit Media/Communications Center in
Taiwan. He hopes to continue in AIDS ministry, which he has done in Los Angeles, New
York, Berkeley, and Honolulu. (California Province)
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 Fr. Benjamin Hawley, 53, from Brookline, Mass., has a BA in British literature from
Tufts and an MA in regional planning from Cornell. He taught at the University of
Detroit Mercy and worked with homeless teens in Chicago and Portland, Oregon. A
singer, he has performed lead roles in some of Gilbert & Sullivan's operettas. In August
he becomes president of Brebeuf Jesuit Prep in Indianapolis. (Chicago Province)
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 Fr. J. Timothy Hipskind, 40, from Honolulu, with a BS in engineering from Notre Dame
and an MS in mechanical engineering from Purdue, has taught and worked in campus
ministry at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill., and was a dorm chaplain at University of
Detroit Mercy. He credits the Jesuits with drawing out his talent for singing; he plans to
do pastoral work and learn to play the guitar. (Chicago Province)
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 Fr. Robert Hussey, 38, from Baton Rouge, La., has a bachelor's in economics from
Louisiana State and a doctorate in economics from Duke. He taught economics at Loyola
College in Maryland and at a Georgetown Universitysponsored graduate program in
Santiago, Chile. He has been serving at St. Ignatius Parish in Chestnut Hill, Mass., since
he was ordained a deacon last spring. (Maryland Province) |
 Fr. Robert Mattingly, 34, from Leonardtown, Md., graduated from Mount Saint Mary's
College with a degree in psychology and was a counselor for a suicide hotline. He taught
at Gonzaga College High, where he also moderated forensics, lacrosse, and crew and
began a service program that linked Gonzaga with inner-city Jesuit parishes. He has
worked as a chaplain at Pennsylvania hospitals. (Maryland Province)
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 Fr. Chi Van Ngo, 35, from Saigon, the youngest of eleven, has a bachelor's degree in
civil engineering from Cal Poly. He taught religion and served in campus ministry at San
Francisco's St. Ignatius College Prep, where he also coached volleyball and basketball.
He has worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service in the Philippines, at a leprosy center in
India, and has spent summers directing Kairos retreats. (California Province)
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 Fr. Scott Santarosa, 33, from South Lake Tahoe, Calif., taught religion and coached cross
country at Bellarmine Prep after receiving a BS in civil engineering from Santa Clara
University. He works in a Jesuit parish near Mexico City, helping children prepare for
first communion and running a video club for youth. He hopes to continue doing work
where he can speak Spanish and English. (California Province)
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 Fr. Jose Antonio Vega, 40, from Orange Walk Town, Belize, has a BA in English from
Loyola University New Orleans and an MA in education from Saint Louis University.
Another of his academic interests is canon law. He taught Spanish, literature, and religion
at St. John's College in Belize and did parish work in Honduras. This summer he will
become headmaster at St. John's. (Missouri Province)
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 Fr. Neal Joseph Wilkinson, 45, from Oconomowoc, Wis., earned a bachelor's degree in
history from Gonzaga University in Spokane. He taught at Marquette University High
and worked as a chaplain at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution in Fox Lake, Wis., and
at the Milwaukee County jail. After ordination he will work at St. Agnes and Sacred
Heart churches in South Dakota. (Wisconsin Province)
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 Fr. Charles Wrightington, 34, has a degree in philosophy from Assumption College and
taught the subject at Fordham. He has served as a chaplain at hospitals in Syracuse,
Manhattan, and the Bronx, and he studied theology at Centre Svres in Paris. He
participated in a year-long workshop on spiritual direction and directed retreats at
Manrese spiritual center in Clamart, France. (New York Province)
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 Fr. Mark Zangrando, 42, from Chicago, graduated with a BA in political science from
Loyola Marymount. He was a theology teacher and a campus minister at Jesuit High in
Sacramento and was a hospital chaplain in St. Louis. He served as chaplain in campus
ministry at the University of the Philippines and has ministered to the Chinese Catholic
community of the University of California. (California Province)
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