Bishop John Dolan celebrated the annual Mass of Thanksgiving for Priests and Seminarians on Wednesday (June 3) in the Virginia G. Piper Chapel at the Diocesan Pastoral Center (DPC) in downtown Phoenix. The standing-room-only celebration included DPC staff, 12 priests who support the bishop in a variety of capacities at the diocesan level and 36 of the Diocese of Phoenix’s current 52 seminarians including Dcn. Nathan Blanchard, Dcn. Paul Graupmann, F.H.S., Dcn. Simon Ortiz and Dcn. Jeff Pooley, who will be ordained to the priesthood on Saturday, June 6. Bishop Emeritus Thomas Olmsted, Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Nevares and Auxiliary Bishop Peter Dai Bui were concelebrants of the Mass.
During the liturgy, Miguel Soto, a Diocese of Phoenix seminarian, was accepted into the candidacy, a formal step into the final stage of formation before ordination. His family was also in attendance.
Priests were honored for the number of years they have been ordained, ranging from Nazareth Seminary Formator Fr. Joseph Nguyen (2 years) to Bishop Olmsted (53 years), at a luncheon following the Mass. Several celebrated significant anniversaries including Director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Ministries Fr. David Loeffler (10 years), Judicial Vicar Fr. Chris Fraser (25 years) and Bishop Nevares (45 years). Between the 26 priests recognized, they have lived a combined total of 542 years of priesthood in service to the Diocese of Phoenix.
