By Father Bryan Stitt
Diocesan Vocation Director

During my time in high school, it was popular to use the suffix “-palooza” to describe a great party or festival that lasted multiple days.  So it wasn’t a surprise to me when I heard friends describing the last weekend in May as “Ordinationpalooza.” 

If you have been keeping score at home, you know that Mr. Scott Belina will be ordained a deacon on Friday evening May 25 and that Rev. Mr. Thomas Higman will be ordained a priest the very next day.  Scott’s ordination will take place in his hometown of Watertown (at St. Patrick’s Church). Deacon Tom will become Father Tom Higman at our beloved Cathedral in Ogdensburg. 

Tom and Scott have known each other for years.  Tom Higman entered the seminary seven and a half years ago right after graduating from high school.  Scott followed him there two years later after completing a degree at Clarkson in Biomolecular Science.  They have studied together (both have attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, PA), traveled together (they took part in our diocesan pilgrimages to World Youth Day in 2005 and 2011), and worked together (both have been counselors at Camp Guggenheim).  So it is needless to say, their lives are very interconnected, and they both have many mutual friends. 

Those friends are in for a very very memorable Memorial Day weekend.  On Thursday evening there will be the rehearsal for Scott’s diaconate ordination.  (Yes, just like for weddings, we need to have rehearsals for ordinations!)  Then I’m sure that there will be a dinner with family and friends afterwards.  Then, of course, there will be the ordination itself on Friday evening.  Follow that with a reception. Then there will be a trip from Watertown to Ogdensburg Where we’ll have another rehearsal. (This one for the priestly ordination.)  Then I will try to get some sleep, but not too much because we’ll be up bright and early on Saturday to make the final preparations for the ordination of Father Thomas Higman. 

If you’ve never been to an ordination, I would encourage you to do so this year.  You will see the Church’s liturgy in all its splendor. The music and church will be beautiful. Likewise the bishop will pull out all the stops for his homily. And hopefully at this ordination, I won’t drop anything.  (Ask someone who was at Bishop LaValley’s Episcopal ordination, if you don’t understand this reference.) But most importantly we will witness the laying on of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the ordinandi. This brings us right back to the same faith and actions of the Apostles (cf. 2Tim 1:6; Acts 6:6; Acts 13:3).  Absolutely beautiful.

On a sentimental note: one of the greatest parts of the celebration at the cathedral will be that Deacon Scott Belina will be assisting at the ordination of his good friend.  What a special moment that will be to witness. 
After another reception there will be more driving.  This time we’ll be heading from the cathedral to Father Higman’s home parish (St. James in Carthage). There he will celebrate Mass with Deacon Belina assisting, and with all of his family, friends, and parishioners.  And after that, knowing the people at St. James, I expect that there will be yet another reception!

Now maybe you understand why Ordinationpalooza is a pretty fitting name. It has been too long since our last priestly ordination here in Ogdensburg.

Please pray for these two men.  May they be faithful and strong deacons and priests. May they lead long and inspiring lives close to the heart of the Church.  And may they inspire others to bravely respond to the call of the Lord to “Follow Me.”

We could use a few more ordinationpaloozas in our world.

Deacon Tom Higman, left, and Father Bryan Stitt, diocesan vocation director, are shown during last year's Ad Altare Dei discernment retreat after a Mass in the Adirondacks.