Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 6, 2025 / 17:57 pm (CNA).
On Wednesday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., seven Dominican brothers were ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Anthony Fisher, OP, who leads the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia.
“We are overjoyed at the ordination of seven of our brothers to the priesthood of Jesus Christ,” Father Allen Moran, OP, prior provincial of the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph, told CNA.
“I, and all the friars of the Province of St. Joseph, look forward to the good work that God will do through them in our parishes, campus ministries, intellectual apostolates, hospital chaplaincies, and digital evangelization efforts.”
The newest Dominicans joining the community as priests are Louis Mary Bethea, Gregory Marie Santy, Bertrand Marie Hebert, Basil Mary Burroughs, Titus Mary Sanchez, Nicodemus Maria Thomas, and Linus Mary Martz.
“May God bring the good work he has begun to completion,” Moran said at the June 4 ordination. “Thanks be to God for the gift of these seven new priests!”
Fisher ordained the priests in a three-hour-long Mass and ordination ceremony. “Now seven of Dominic’s sons will become the fantastic seven,” Fisher said. “All part of a team of 400,000 priest presbyters sanctifying our world.”
Fisher served as the ordaining bishop and was joined by Archbishop James Green, who ordained Pope Leo XIV a bishop in 2014.
Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala of Washington and Archbishop Borys Gudziak, the metropolitan archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, also concelebrated the Mass.
At the end of the liturgy, Fisher asked for “a word of thanks” for all “who have influenced and supported the priests on their vocational journeys” and those “who have helped them in discernment and formation.”
“Seven is a very Catholic number,” Fisher continued.
“Not just for clergy but for sacraments, virtues, hills of Rome, and deadly sins,” he joked.
“You can work out which of our new priests is best identified as Father Baptism or Father Confession, and the rest. And who is Father Prudence, or Father Temperance, Father Hope. Which is more aventine or escaline. But of course none of them would be Father Gluttony or Father Sloth,” he continued.
“Dominican Province of St. Joseph and the Church universal rings out with joy today; the Church has seven new priests,” Fisher said. “Yet the flock of Jesus Christ needs many new shepherds if we are to fulfill Christ’s injunction to lead the sheep and nurture the lambs. So I ask you all to pray for more like these.”
Fisher offered a message to the young men of America: “People are crying out for words of life and sacraments of grace to transfigure their hearts and lives. You might be the very one by God’s grace to offer them this as a Dominican priest.”
“May our new priests inspire you to give yourself over to God’s plan for you,” Fisher said.
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Archbishop Fisher ought to be made a cardinal in the next consistory. In fact, as an orthodox moral theologian in a time beset with ethical challenges he would make the perfect replacement for Cardinal Fernandez as the Prefect for the DDF.
Moreover, being a friar from a mendicant order he would be a valuable and compatible consultant for our Augustinian Pope Leo XIV on how to govern the Church with a form of synodality that need not be confused with the Bergoglian model that resembles a Jesuit free-for-all debate society that seems to give equal voice to both believers and unbelievers while pushing aside the rightful and traditional role of the bishops in a true Synod.
I’m sorry Archange but I will have to be parochial and disagree with you.Archbishop Fisher is a great man and deserves a red hat but he is our No.1 prelate here in Australia and we cannot afford to lose him.
Hearty congratulations to Reverend Louis Mary Bethea, Reverend Gregory Marie Santy, Reverend Bertrand Marie Hebert, Reverend Basil Mary Burroughs, Reverend Titus Mary Sanchez, Reverend Nicodemus Maria Thomas, and Reverend Linus Mary Martz. God bless.