June 13, 2008

Diocese celebrates ordination of three new priests

Andy Telli, Tennessee Register

Three new priests for the Diocese of Nashville were ordained on Friday, May 30, with Bishop David Choby exhorting them to “always remember the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve, and to seek out and rescue those who were lost.”

Father Nicholas Allen, Father Anthony Lopez and Father Mark Sappenfield, with family, friends and their brother priests watching, received the signs of their ordination – the anointing of the hands and the laying on of hands – before a large crowd at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville.

It was the first time since 1997 that more than one man was ordained a priest in the diocese at one time, the first time since 1985 that three men have been ordained in the same year, and the first time since 1970 that three men were ordained on the same day.

The ordination of these three men brings the total of diocesan priests serving in ministry in the diocese to 29. Counting the priests unassigned, assigned outside the diocese or retired, the total of diocesan priests is 45. The rest of the priests serving the diocese are either from another diocese or members of a religious order.

At the end of the Mass, Bishop Choby thanked the new priests “for making a gift of themselves” and thanked their families for nurturing the seeds of their faith and vocation.

“It’s been a road full of tricky turns and slippery slides but through it all God has been faithful, God has been sure, God has been truth,” Father Lopez said of his journey to the priesthood. “This is his day. I feel privileged to share this day for his honor, for his glory.”

Father Lopez moved to Nashville from Colorado, where he grew up, in 1984 and worked in the ophthalmology business. But in 2001, he responded to God’s call to become a priest.

His ordination came in the church where as a parishioner he would attend Mass twice a day, he said, praying to be admitted to the seminary. “This is home,” he said of the Cathedral.

“The rite was very moving,” said Father Sappenfield. “What stood out for me the most was the anointing of the hands” and realizing the authority the anointing brings, Father Sappenfield said. As each of the new priests knelt before Bishop Choby, he anointed their palms with chrism and prayed: “The Father anointed our Lord Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. May Jesus preserve you to sanctify the Christian people and to offer sacrifice to God.”

After the rite of ordination was complete, each of the priests concelebrating the Mass greeted the new priests with a sign of peace in the form of a warm embrace. “The sign of peace was a real sign of solidarity,” Father Sappenfield said.

For Father Allen, any nervousness he was feeling before the Mass quickly evaporated, he said. “Once I got on the altar I was fine.”

It was harder for his mother, Cindy Allen, to keep her emotions in check. “I was crying most of the time,” she said during the reception in the Cathedral’s Fleming Center after the ordination Mass.

While her son was a teenager, Cindy Allen said, she had a sense he might be called to the priesthood. “He can get along with people of all ages, little kids, teenagers, the elderly,” Allen said. “That was kind of a sign that he might be cut out for the priesthood.”

She and her husband Michael Allen let their son follow his own path to the priesthood, while simply encouraging him to remain open to God’s call wherever it led him, she said.

Besides his family’s support, Father Allen received support from the family’s parish at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church. “It helps to have that sense of community around you.”

For Ann and Dick Sappenfield, it was the second time to watch a son ordained as a priest. Father Sappenfield’s brother, John, was ordained in 1998.

“It’s just as exciting as the first time,” Ann Sappenfield said.

She and her husband taught all their six children that God calls each person in different ways, Sappenfield said. “I’ve always encouraged my kids to trust and accept whatever calling he has for them. His plans for them are better than their wildest dreams.”

With their ordinations, each of the new priests received their first assignments. Father Allen will serve as associate pastor at St. Matthew Church in Franklin and as part-time chaplain at Father Ryan High School.

“I’m really glad to be going back to St. Matthew,” said Father Allen, who served at the parish while a seminarian. Over the years, he has worked with St. Matthew pastor Father Mark Beckman with the diocese’s Search program for teens, and Father Beckman vested Father Allen during the ordination.

“I like working with kids. I was hoping to have a parish with a school. I ended up with an elementary school and a high school, so be careful what you pray for,” Father Allen joked.

Father Sappenfield has been assigned associate pastor at St. Rose of Lima Church in Murfreesboro. Father Sappenfield said he was “very excited and very optimistic” about his assignment.

During the annual retreat for priests in the diocese, which was held the week after the ordination, Father Sappenfield had the chance to meet and talk to St. Rose pastor, Father James Kallarackan, OFM. “It’s certainly a rapidly growing area so there’s a need for ministry there,” Father Sappenfield said.

Father Lopez was assigned as an associate to Father Fernando Garcia at Our Lady of Guadalupe Center in Nashville and as coordinator of Hispanic ministry in Maury and Lawrence Counties.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Father Lopez said. “The Hispanic community brings so much love and vitality from their culture.”

Born and raised in the United States, Father Lopez, who speaks both English and Spanish, said he can trace his family “all the way back to Spain.”

“With influx of Hispanics in Tennessee, they need someone who can identify with their culture,” Father Lopez said. “I’m grateful the bishop saw fit to use me in this ministry.”

Father Lopez also thanked Bishop Choby for his support to him and all the seminarians of the diocese. “We feel secure, we feel much loved and protected,” Father Lopez said. “He truly loves his seminarians.”

In the Prayer of Ordination for the three new priests, Bishop Choby asked God: “May they be worthy co-workers with our Order, so that by their preaching and through the grace of the Holy Spirit the words of the Gospel may bear fruit in human hearts and reach even to the ends of the earth.

“Together with us, may they be faithful stewards of your mysteries, so that your people may be renewed in the waters of rebirth and nourished from your altar; so that sinners may be reconciled and the sick raised up. May they be joined with us, Lord, in imploring your mercy for the people entrusted to their care and for all the world.”

Photos by Rick Musacchio

Photo 1: Bishop David Choby presents the newly ordained Father Nicholas Allen with a chalice after he ordained him, along with Fathers Anthony Lopez and Mark Sappenfield to the priesthood at the Cathedral of the Incarnation on May 30.

Photo 2: Father John Sappenfield, left, helps his newly ordained younger brother, Father Mark Sappenfield put on his vestments. Father Mark Sappenfield’s first assignment will be at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Murfreesboro.

Photo 3: The newly ordained Father Anthony Lopez concelebrates Mass with Bishop Choby on May 30. Deacon Gregory Meinhart, center, assisted with the Mass. Fathers Nicholas Allen, second from right, and Mark Sappenfield also concelebrated Mass.

Photo 4: Father Michael Baltrus, associate pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Clarksville, who was ordained to the priesthood last year, embraces Father Mark Sappenfield after the ordination. Fathers Anthony Lopez, center, and Nicholas Allen greet other priests.

Photo 5: Father Nicholas Allen blesses Deacon Jim McKenzie, director of the Diaconate Formation Program for the Diocese of Nashville, after the ordination Mass.