thanksgiving

Michigan diocese celebrates new priests after ordinations moved out of cathedral #Catholic ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, ordained four men to the priesthood on June 6 at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing after the crowd was too big for St. Mary’s Cathedral, the mother church of the diocese. In the packed church, Boyea told the ordinands: “You have been spending years being with Jesus. He’s calling you as he called those 12 so many centuries ago. Today, as you are consecrated by the Church for a sacred ministry, consecrate yourselves to drink the cup which the Lord gives and take in the word which the Spirit is providing. Though weak vessels that we are, we will not let that prevent us from following the calling we have received.”Now 75 and due to retire from his duties in Lansing, Boyea has ordained 45 priests during his 18 years of leadership of the diocese in Michigan’s capital. The diocese, one of seven Latin-rite dioceses in Michigan, is currently sponsoring 29 seminarians, and last year’s ordination class was the largest in nearly 50 years.Fathers Joshua Bauer, Jacob Derry, Ryan Ferrigan, and Peter Randolph, ordained by Boyea, all attended Sacred Heart Major Seminary of the Detroit Archdiocese. Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, washes the feet of one of the four men he ordained to the priesthood on June 6, 2026, at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing, Michigan. | Credit: Valerie Hendrickson Before their ordination, the men were interviewed on video, displaying the chalices they will use as priests.Ferrigan, 28, said his antique sacred vessel had been left behind at the now-shuttered St. Michael Parish church in Flint, Michigan, established more than 170 years ago. Inscribed on its base are the words of an anonymous donor: “In reparation from a friend of the Sacred Heart.”“You know, it’s a paradox because this chalice has a long history, and I don’t know who the priests are who used it in the past,” he said. “They offered the Holy Sacrifice using this vessel for over 100 years, and I get to continue faithfully offering the Mass and praying for the salvation of the world every day.”In his thanksgiving address to the congregation, Ferrigan said of his priesthood: “It’s all about the glory of God and the salvation of souls!”In an interview with EWTN News, the new priest said: “In being ordained, the palpable joy they could see in me was there because in ordination, I am seeing the purpose for which God created me coming to fruition. I have become what the Lord created me to be.”“The day of my ordination was the best day of my life. Lots of friends and family were there to support me. The Lord has blessed me and is very good to me. I’m still adjusting and realizing that I’m really a priest now and have the privilege of offering the Mass every day. This is my commission and what the Lord wants me to do for his praise and the salvation of the world. It is still sinking in,” he told EWTN News. From left to right: Fathers Peter Randolph, Ryan Ferrigan, Jacob Derry, and Joshua Bauer at their ordaination on June 6, 2026, in East Lansing, Michigan. | Credit: Valerie Hendrickson Ferrigan celebrated his first solo Mass that same day at St. Martha Parish in Okemos, near Lansing. He was able to distribute the Eucharist for the first time in both instances to his mother. He will serve at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Ann Arbor, which is close to the University of Michigan campus and known for its music and solemn liturgies.“I’m excited to be going there, and I expect to serve about three years at St. Thomas,” he said, adding: “I’m excited about learning to be a parish priest and diving into ministry. This is how the Lord wants me to feed his sheep.”Randolph, 27, reflected in the video about his journey to the altar, which has included profound loss. “The emphasis of this chalice upon the humanity of Christ and about receiving the chalice, and then living it out to the fullest extent, both in pain and suffering, and full self-abandonment and full self-emptying and glory, means a lot to me, because my [18-year-old] brother Xavier died less than a year ago. And the Lord has really promised me that he’s going to meet me in the place of my pain,” he said, adding: “He’s not going to leave me alone. But it’s going to come in my very broken humanity. In my humanity that is now broken in a particular way in grief.” Peter Randolph prepares for his ordination to the priesthood on June 6, 2026, in East Lansing, Michigan. | Credit: Valerie Hendrickson Randolph’s father and grandfather serve as deacons in the Lansing Diocese. At the July 2025 funeral for Xavier, hundreds of friends and parishioners of the close-knit Christ the King Parish in Ann Arbor were on hand to support the Randolph family with the same solidarity shown at Randolph’s ordination. He has been assigned to St. Patrick Parish in Brighton, Michigan, which is known for its healing services and charismatic liturgies.As Boyea consecrated Randolph, the newly ordained young man openly sobbed in the presence of his many friends and family members. “I want every day of my priesthood and every time that I offer Mass in this chalice, to be able to say, like, ‘Accipiam calicem,’ right, I accept the chalice,” Randolph vowed. Paraphrasing Matthew 26:42, Randolph said: “Father, I accept this chalice, and I will drink it to the dregs with your Son.”
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Michigan diocese celebrates new priests after ordinations moved out of cathedral #Catholic ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, ordained four men to the priesthood on June 6 at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing after the crowd was too big for St. Mary’s Cathedral, the mother church of the diocese. In the packed church, Boyea told the ordinands: “You have been spending years being with Jesus. He’s calling you as he called those 12 so many centuries ago. Today, as you are consecrated by the Church for a sacred ministry, consecrate yourselves to drink the cup which the Lord gives and take in the word which the Spirit is providing. Though weak vessels that we are, we will not let that prevent us from following the calling we have received.”Now 75 and due to retire from his duties in Lansing, Boyea has ordained 45 priests during his 18 years of leadership of the diocese in Michigan’s capital. The diocese, one of seven Latin-rite dioceses in Michigan, is currently sponsoring 29 seminarians, and last year’s ordination class was the largest in nearly 50 years.Fathers Joshua Bauer, Jacob Derry, Ryan Ferrigan, and Peter Randolph, ordained by Boyea, all attended Sacred Heart Major Seminary of the Detroit Archdiocese. Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, washes the feet of one of the four men he ordained to the priesthood on June 6, 2026, at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing, Michigan. | Credit: Valerie Hendrickson Before their ordination, the men were interviewed on video, displaying the chalices they will use as priests.Ferrigan, 28, said his antique sacred vessel had been left behind at the now-shuttered St. Michael Parish church in Flint, Michigan, established more than 170 years ago. Inscribed on its base are the words of an anonymous donor: “In reparation from a friend of the Sacred Heart.”“You know, it’s a paradox because this chalice has a long history, and I don’t know who the priests are who used it in the past,” he said. “They offered the Holy Sacrifice using this vessel for over 100 years, and I get to continue faithfully offering the Mass and praying for the salvation of the world every day.”In his thanksgiving address to the congregation, Ferrigan said of his priesthood: “It’s all about the glory of God and the salvation of souls!”In an interview with EWTN News, the new priest said: “In being ordained, the palpable joy they could see in me was there because in ordination, I am seeing the purpose for which God created me coming to fruition. I have become what the Lord created me to be.”“The day of my ordination was the best day of my life. Lots of friends and family were there to support me. The Lord has blessed me and is very good to me. I’m still adjusting and realizing that I’m really a priest now and have the privilege of offering the Mass every day. This is my commission and what the Lord wants me to do for his praise and the salvation of the world. It is still sinking in,” he told EWTN News. From left to right: Fathers Peter Randolph, Ryan Ferrigan, Jacob Derry, and Joshua Bauer at their ordaination on June 6, 2026, in East Lansing, Michigan. | Credit: Valerie Hendrickson Ferrigan celebrated his first solo Mass that same day at St. Martha Parish in Okemos, near Lansing. He was able to distribute the Eucharist for the first time in both instances to his mother. He will serve at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Ann Arbor, which is close to the University of Michigan campus and known for its music and solemn liturgies.“I’m excited to be going there, and I expect to serve about three years at St. Thomas,” he said, adding: “I’m excited about learning to be a parish priest and diving into ministry. This is how the Lord wants me to feed his sheep.”Randolph, 27, reflected in the video about his journey to the altar, which has included profound loss. “The emphasis of this chalice upon the humanity of Christ and about receiving the chalice, and then living it out to the fullest extent, both in pain and suffering, and full self-abandonment and full self-emptying and glory, means a lot to me, because my [18-year-old] brother Xavier died less than a year ago. And the Lord has really promised me that he’s going to meet me in the place of my pain,” he said, adding: “He’s not going to leave me alone. But it’s going to come in my very broken humanity. In my humanity that is now broken in a particular way in grief.” Peter Randolph prepares for his ordination to the priesthood on June 6, 2026, in East Lansing, Michigan. | Credit: Valerie Hendrickson Randolph’s father and grandfather serve as deacons in the Lansing Diocese. At the July 2025 funeral for Xavier, hundreds of friends and parishioners of the close-knit Christ the King Parish in Ann Arbor were on hand to support the Randolph family with the same solidarity shown at Randolph’s ordination. He has been assigned to St. Patrick Parish in Brighton, Michigan, which is known for its healing services and charismatic liturgies.As Boyea consecrated Randolph, the newly ordained young man openly sobbed in the presence of his many friends and family members. “I want every day of my priesthood and every time that I offer Mass in this chalice, to be able to say, like, ‘Accipiam calicem,’ right, I accept the chalice,” Randolph vowed. Paraphrasing Matthew 26:42, Randolph said: “Father, I accept this chalice, and I will drink it to the dregs with your Son.”

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Bishop Earl Boyea ordained four new priests at a local Lansing parish, urging them to “drink the cup which the Lord gives” as they begin their ministry.

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Catholic film star becomes first Christian chief minister of major Indian state #Catholic CHENNAI, India — The Catholic Church in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is celebrating after Joseph Vijay, an actor-turned-politician raised in the Catholic faith, was sworn in as the stateʼs chief minister on May 10.“This is a historic development. We hope it will lead to positive changes as the chief minister has already promised,” Archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras and Mylapore told EWTN News on May 13.Vijayʼs new political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which translates to Victory Party of Tamil Nadu, was founded in 2024. In its electoral debut, the party stunned the Dravidian parties that had held power for nearly six decades between them, winning 107 seats in the 234-member state assembly.Acknowledging the mandate, five smaller parties withdrew their support from the ousted DMK and opposition AIADMK coalitions to back TVK, pushing it past the 118-seat majority mark and prompting the state governor to invite Vijay to form the government on May 9.The Vijay government won a crucial vote of confidence on May 13 with 144 votes, with a section of the AIADMK also voting in his favor.‘I wonʼt touch public money’“I wonʼt touch public money,” Vijay declared soon after his swearing-in on May 10, promising a “corruption-free” administration. Within hours, the new chief minister signed three orders subsidizing electricity for the poor, establishing a task force for womenʼs safety, and setting up anti-narcotics units to curb the drug menace.Welcoming “the steps the CM has promised,” Antonysamy said, “We cannot judge a person in a few days. Everything will depend on the performance. Vijay himself is new to government administration, and his legislators too, as most of them hail from his fan base.”Catholic identity in the spotlight“We are really rejoicing that we have a Catholic chief minister,” Father Vincent Chinnadurai, spokesperson of the Tamil Nadu Catholic Bishops' Council, told EWTN News.“Vijay is known as a popular actor. But his Catholic background came into public attention after the Hindu nationalists tried to polarize the voters, saying that Vijay is a Christian with the first name Joseph,” explained Chinnadurai, who is also the rector of the Santhome Basilica in Chennai, adjacent to the archbishopʼs residence.The Santhome Basilica is built over the traditional site of the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle, who according to tradition was martyred at Mylapore in present-day Chennai in A.D. 72. It is one of three basilicas in the world built over tombs traditionally associated with apostles, along with St. Peterʼs Basilica at the Vatican and the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.“The people here are very happy, as we are privileged to be the first big state in India to have a Catholic chief minister, and at a time when Christians are facing troubles in different parts of the country,” Chinnadurai added. He is a former chairman of the Minorities Commission of Tamil Nadu.With approximately 77 million people, Tamil Nadu is the seventh most populous of Indiaʼs 28 states.The archbishop also acknowledged that “Vijay is not known much as a Catholic. But during the election time, it came out in a big way.”Hindu nationalists and the ‘Joseph’ factorThe name “Joseph” stood out prominently on the large stage at the Nehru Indoor Stadium during the swearing-in ceremony, which was broadcast live by major national television channels.When Hindu nationalists tried to brand Vijay as a Christian in the run-up to the election held on April 19, Chinnadurai pointed out that “he did not back off.”Instead, Vijay publicized a Christmas program in which he made a speech linking himself to the Old Testament figure of Joseph, who looked after his brothers even after they had thrown him into a well, while he was the ruler of Egypt. In the speech, Vijay also asserted that “Tamil Nadu is a mother; all children are equal,” promising to care for all, including those who opposed him.In the state, where popular film actors have massive fan followings with organized clubs, The Hindu, a national daily based in Chennai, noted in its May 10 edition that although Vijay set up TVK only two years ago, the party was built on more than 80,000 fan clubs established from 2009 across the state, carrying out social work and social campaigns.Faithful throng Marian shrineThousands of Vijayʼs fans thronged the Marian shrine of Vailankanni, known as the Lourdes of the East, about 200 miles south of Chennai, from the night of May 1, expecting him to visit the shrine on the morning of May 2 in thanksgiving after voting.The fans waited through the night and loudly chanted “TVK, TVK” inside the church premises before church authorities asked them to calm down. Vijay canceled the visit after hearing about the commotion at the shrine.“Vijay is an alumnus of our college, and his mother used to come to our college for Mass regularly,” Professor Gladstone Xavier of Chennaiʼs Loyola College told EWTN News.With Vijayʼs Catholic identity now public, Xavier hopes that “Vijayʼs performance as the chief minister should make the community proud.”
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Catholic film star becomes first Christian chief minister of major Indian state #Catholic CHENNAI, India — The Catholic Church in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is celebrating after Joseph Vijay, an actor-turned-politician raised in the Catholic faith, was sworn in as the stateʼs chief minister on May 10.“This is a historic development. We hope it will lead to positive changes as the chief minister has already promised,” Archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras and Mylapore told EWTN News on May 13.Vijayʼs new political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which translates to Victory Party of Tamil Nadu, was founded in 2024. In its electoral debut, the party stunned the Dravidian parties that had held power for nearly six decades between them, winning 107 seats in the 234-member state assembly.Acknowledging the mandate, five smaller parties withdrew their support from the ousted DMK and opposition AIADMK coalitions to back TVK, pushing it past the 118-seat majority mark and prompting the state governor to invite Vijay to form the government on May 9.The Vijay government won a crucial vote of confidence on May 13 with 144 votes, with a section of the AIADMK also voting in his favor.‘I wonʼt touch public money’“I wonʼt touch public money,” Vijay declared soon after his swearing-in on May 10, promising a “corruption-free” administration. Within hours, the new chief minister signed three orders subsidizing electricity for the poor, establishing a task force for womenʼs safety, and setting up anti-narcotics units to curb the drug menace.Welcoming “the steps the CM has promised,” Antonysamy said, “We cannot judge a person in a few days. Everything will depend on the performance. Vijay himself is new to government administration, and his legislators too, as most of them hail from his fan base.”Catholic identity in the spotlight“We are really rejoicing that we have a Catholic chief minister,” Father Vincent Chinnadurai, spokesperson of the Tamil Nadu Catholic Bishops' Council, told EWTN News.“Vijay is known as a popular actor. But his Catholic background came into public attention after the Hindu nationalists tried to polarize the voters, saying that Vijay is a Christian with the first name Joseph,” explained Chinnadurai, who is also the rector of the Santhome Basilica in Chennai, adjacent to the archbishopʼs residence.The Santhome Basilica is built over the traditional site of the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle, who according to tradition was martyred at Mylapore in present-day Chennai in A.D. 72. It is one of three basilicas in the world built over tombs traditionally associated with apostles, along with St. Peterʼs Basilica at the Vatican and the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.“The people here are very happy, as we are privileged to be the first big state in India to have a Catholic chief minister, and at a time when Christians are facing troubles in different parts of the country,” Chinnadurai added. He is a former chairman of the Minorities Commission of Tamil Nadu.With approximately 77 million people, Tamil Nadu is the seventh most populous of Indiaʼs 28 states.The archbishop also acknowledged that “Vijay is not known much as a Catholic. But during the election time, it came out in a big way.”Hindu nationalists and the ‘Joseph’ factorThe name “Joseph” stood out prominently on the large stage at the Nehru Indoor Stadium during the swearing-in ceremony, which was broadcast live by major national television channels.When Hindu nationalists tried to brand Vijay as a Christian in the run-up to the election held on April 19, Chinnadurai pointed out that “he did not back off.”Instead, Vijay publicized a Christmas program in which he made a speech linking himself to the Old Testament figure of Joseph, who looked after his brothers even after they had thrown him into a well, while he was the ruler of Egypt. In the speech, Vijay also asserted that “Tamil Nadu is a mother; all children are equal,” promising to care for all, including those who opposed him.In the state, where popular film actors have massive fan followings with organized clubs, The Hindu, a national daily based in Chennai, noted in its May 10 edition that although Vijay set up TVK only two years ago, the party was built on more than 80,000 fan clubs established from 2009 across the state, carrying out social work and social campaigns.Faithful throng Marian shrineThousands of Vijayʼs fans thronged the Marian shrine of Vailankanni, known as the Lourdes of the East, about 200 miles south of Chennai, from the night of May 1, expecting him to visit the shrine on the morning of May 2 in thanksgiving after voting.The fans waited through the night and loudly chanted “TVK, TVK” inside the church premises before church authorities asked them to calm down. Vijay canceled the visit after hearing about the commotion at the shrine.“Vijay is an alumnus of our college, and his mother used to come to our college for Mass regularly,” Professor Gladstone Xavier of Chennaiʼs Loyola College told EWTN News.With Vijayʼs Catholic identity now public, Xavier hopes that “Vijayʼs performance as the chief minister should make the community proud.”

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Church leaders in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu call the election of actor-turned-politician Joseph Vijay a source of pride in a country where Christians face growing persecution.

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