I do want to say this for young people: Please notice how happy we are with our vocation!
Earlier this month, a special Mass was held at The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY to mark the 50th Anniversary of the priesthood of four men who have been friends since high school.
The celebration on Saturday, June 11th, was to honor the priests who entered the novitiate for the Redemptorists together in 1964 and went on to complete their studies in the seminary together.
Father Manuel Rodriguez Delgado currently assigned to the Vatican as the Executive Secretary of the General Secretariate for Formation of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) and Father James Gilmour were ordained on June 20, 1971. Because of covid, their 50th-anniversary celebration was postponed from last year.
Father Norman Bennett and Father Francis Skelly (who was unable to attend due to a family wedding) were ordained on June 18, 1972. Father Bennett began the Chinese ministry at Our Lady of Perpetual Help 25 years ago.
They have served the Church so far under the papacy of seven Popes, starting with Pope Pius XII to the present. Father Manuel Rodriguez Delgado said,
I was delighted to celebrate my 50th Anniversary Jubilee of priestly ordination with Fathers James Gilmour, Francis Skelly, and Norman Bennett. The four of us have been friends since our adolescent days, and we will be ministering together again in the Redemptorist Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Brooklyn. After my family moved from Puerto Rico, I grew up in Brooklyn. When I finish my ministry in Rome in November of this year, I have been assigned by my superiors to the Parish of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. I was raised in this and the neighboring Parish of St. Michael´s. I am convinced that God in His plan has prepared me for the dynamic intercultural ministry of this Parish
Father James Gilmour stated in his homily recalled,
I do want to say this for young people. Please notice how happy we are with our vocation! We felt the stirrings of our vocations when we were very young, and we are still happy and joyful in the vocation that we are living out even after half a century of mission. Any young person who feels the stirrings of God calling them, follow that instinct! That’s what we did when we were 14 years of age.
Together the four priests have given over 200 years of the priesthood to the Church!
Watch the video and photos of these Priests’ 50th Anniversary Mass at OLPH, courtesy of DeSales Media.
VIMEO: https://vimeo.com/
Photo #1 – Father James Gilmour center, Father Manuel Rodriguez Delgado (left), and Father Norman Bennett (right) during the celebration of Holy Eucharist at the Mass honoring their 50th Anniversary of ordination to the priesthood.
Photo #2 – (Left to Right) Father Norman Bennett, Father James Gilmour, and Father Manuel Rodriguez Delgado.
4 thoughts on “Friends Since High School, Four Priests Celebrate 50 Years Since Ordination”
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Very inspiring, thank you.