Five men will be ordained to the priesthood at a 10 a.m. Mass May 31, with Archbishop Bernard Hebda presiding at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.
As a child, Deacon Zachary Ochsenbauer imagined becoming a pilot. A natural idea, considering his father, Tom, has been flying commercial planes for Delta Air Lines since before the 26-year-old seminarian was born.
Growing up in Anoka and attending St. William in Fridley, Deacon Benjamin Eichten had an appreciation for the priesthood as being a great witness to Christ. At a young age, he wanted to grow up to be a priest. But his journey to his May 31 ordination was a “whirlwind” in which the Lord brought him to many different places.
Deacon Stephen Boatwright’s journey to his May 31 ordination as a priest was marked by 44 years of marriage with a loving wife, 33 years as a permanent deacon and 13 years in retirement.
Thirteen men will be ordained to the priesthood at a 10 a.m. Mass May 25, with Archbishop Bernard Hebda presiding at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.
Deacon Christopher Yanta’s journey to the priesthood began at the altar when he was an altar server at his home parish of St. Timothy in Maple Lake. The experience of altar serving kindled his desire to spend his life close to the Eucharist.
Deacon Joseph Wappes said that growing up in St. Anthony Village and attending St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, he saw “the witness of many joyful, and oftentimes young, priests and seminarians.”
When Deacon Nick Vance arrived for a semester in Rome seven years ago as an undergraduate at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, pursuing the priesthood was not in his plans.
Deacon Alexander Rasset, 26, began his path to priesthood — which will come to fruition on May 25 when he is ordained in the Cathedral of St. Paul — when he was in middle school and attended a youth group at his home parish, St. Francis Xavier in Buffalo.
