Ubi Petrus

Today we pray for Rev. John Mahoney and Rev. Steve Lepine.

Fr. Mahoney was ordained in 1990 and currently serves the Diocese as a Tribunal Judge.

Fr. Lepine was ordained in 2006 and is associate pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish, St. Margaret Mary’s Parish, St. Bernard’s Parish and Mary Queen of Peace’ Parish, all in Keene.

May they draw closer to the Sacred Heart of Christ in everything they do, and my our mother Mary ever lead them on their way to her Son.

Today we pray for Rev. Marc Montminy and Rev. Paul Montminy.  (Yes, they’re brothers.)

Fr. Marc Montminy was ordained in 1977 and is pastor of Sacred Heart Parish and Ste. Marie’s Parish in Manchester.  He also is the former Diocesan Vocations Director.

Fr. Paul Montminy was ordained in 1978 and is pastor of St. Catherine of Siena’s Parish in Manchester.  He is also the Spiritual Director for the Cursillo Movement in New Hampshire.  Oh, and he’s also my pastor.

May they lead their parish flocks forward unto the Lord, guided and guarded by a life of prayer.  May Mary, Mother of Priests, draw them close to her Immaculate Heart and lead them ever closer to her Son.

Today we pray for Rev. Maj. Kevin Cody and Rev. Richard Kelley.

Fr. Cody was ordained in 1993 and is currently serving as a Chaplain in the U.S. Air Force.

Fr. Kelley was ordained in 1972 and is currently pastor of St. Christopher’s Parish in Nashua.

May the Lord watch over them in their ministries and draw them closer to Himself.  May Mary shelter them in her mantle and lead them to a greater love of her Son and His Church.

Today we pray for Rev. Deacon Edmund Hilston and Rev. Deacon Russell Morey.

Deacon Hilston was ordained in 1983 and serves Blessed John XXIII’s Parish in Nashua.

Deacon Morey serves St. Joseph’s Parish in Laconia; his ordination date is not on file with the Diocese.

May they find renewed strength each day in their ministry of service and may they always look to St. Stephen, Deacon and Protomartyr for their example.  May Mary always look after them and show them the way to her Son.

Today we pray for Rev. Robert Biron and Rev. Jason Jalbert.

Fr. Biron was ordained in 1974 and is pastor of Our Lady of Fatima’s Parish in New London.

Fr. Jalbert was ordained in 2003 and is the Diocesan Director of Vocations as well as the Diocesan Director of the Office for Worship.

May they seek each day to be ever more conformed to Christ in all they think, say and do.  May Mary draw them to her and through her to the Sacred Heart of her Son.

Today we pray for Rev. Richard St. Louis and Rev. Michael Griffin.

Fr. St. Louis was ordained in 2000 and serves as pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Newport.

Fr. Griffin was ordained in 1949 and serves as Chaplain of the St. Ann Healthcare Center in Dover.

May they seek each day to serve the Lord and His Church in ever deeper ways.  May Mary, Mother of Priests, shelter them in her mantle and draw them to her Immaculate Heart and through her to her Son.

Today we pray for Bishop Francis Christian, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Manchester.

Bishop Christian was ordained to the priesthood in 1968 and to the episcopate in 1996 as Auxiliary Bishop of Manchester, a position he holds to this day.

May he grow as successor of the Apostles and may he every day strengthen the flock of the Diocese and be strengthened to help our Bishop lead us all to Heaven.  Mother Mary, Queen of Bishops, watch over him.

[Ed. Sorry for the delay in getting these out.  Too busy at all the wrong times of late.]

Today we pray for Rev. Roland Montplaisir and Rev. Robert Goodwin.

Fr. Montplaisir was ordained in 1940 and is currently retired, having served inter alia, as pastor of St. Peter’s Parish in Auburn.

Fr. Goodwin was ordained in 1957 and is also currently retired.

May their retirements be simultaneously peaceful and productive, and may they grow always in their love of the Lord.  May Mary watch over them always and draw them closer to her Son.

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr for the faith.  Following St. Peter and Evodius he became the third Bishop of Antioch and was martyred for his faith during a persecution under Trajan.  On his way from Antioch to Rome to face his martyrdom he wrote seven letters to churches in different cities: Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna and to Polycarp directly.  I have to admit, he’s one of my favorite saints and most likely because of this particular part of his letter to the Christians in Rome:

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way.  I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness.  Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God.  I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread.  Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

It takes one who has fully identified with Christ to call efforts to avert his martyrdom “untimely kindness”.  And again, how poetic he is, “I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread.“  It is examples like this which inspire the saying attributed to Tertullian, “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”  May we all seek to be God’s wheat, ground by the teeth of our lives that we may become Christ’s pure bread and seed for Christians to come.  St. Ignatius of Antioch, ora pro nobis!

Today we pray for Rt. Rev. Matthew Leavy OSB and Rev. James Perez LC.

Abbot Leavy took vows as a Benedictine Monk in 1968, was ordained to the priesthood in 1975 and was elected the fourth Abbot of Saint Anselm Abbey in 1986.  He also serves as the Chancellor of St. Anselm College.

I am unfortunately unable to find any information on Fr. Perez at this time.  If anyone has any, please feel free to leave a note in the combox.

May they lead others to Christ in their example and in their lives draw ever closer to Him.  Mother Mary, draw them to your Son.