ARTICLES

Ordination to the Priesthood brings joy

By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian

Photography by Jayne Hushen

Although both Daniel Beeman and Kevin Segerblom were well educated and had successful careers in their chosen fields, the Lord had different plans for them and they said yes.

In following that plan, both men “have found freedom and fulfillment in saying yes to Him,” said Father Michael Renninger, diocesan Vicar for Vocations, in his homily at the June 2 ordination liturgy for the two men.

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo ordained the two newest Catholic priests of the Diocese of Richmond at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. The families of the two men — including their parents, James and Elizabeth Beeman, of Tulsa, Okla., and Ronald and Bridget Segerblom, of Virginia Beach — sat in the front pew on each side of the long aisle of the Cathedral. Their pews were marked by the chausable which was draped on the wood ledge in front of the pews.

Although most people gathered at the Cathedral had come because of their relationship to the two men about to be ordained, Father Renninger pointed out that the center of attention is Christ Jesus.

“We thank God for Kevin and Dan this morning,” Father Renninger said. “But Jesus Christ is the heart of this celebration.”

He used the verbs “Take. Bless. Break and Give,” as symbolic of the actions of priests on the altar.

“At the Last Supper Jesus took bread and wine in his sacred hands,” Father Renninger said.” Just as he took bread, he takes us. He chooses us. Kevin, Dan, Christ has taken you. He interrupted the flow of your lives and he invited you to follow him in a new way.”

Recalling a remark from the late Msgr. Charles Kelly, who had been both rector of the Cathedral and diocesan director of vocations, who said, “if you see a priest who is truly living his vocation, he will look like a man who is in love.”

“Kevin, Dan, you have fallen in love with the One who took hold of your life,” Father Renninger said. “You have found your freedom and fulfillment in saying 'yes’ to him.

“As we celebrate your ordination, you remind us that Christ has taken hold of each one of us. He takes us down the road of discipleship so that we can be like him, and there we discover that we cannot find joy if we don’t say ‘yes’ to him.”

Father Renninger said that both men were richly blessed — and were a blessing to others.

But life ahead for them — as well as others who follow Christ — will not always be easy, the vocations director said.

“Our hearts get broken as we follow Christ,” he said. “Plans fall apart. Dreams don’t come true. Hungers of the heart go unfulfilled.

“We stand by hospital beds, helpless to change the course of a disease. We listen to a heartbroken parishioner, knowing that we have no magic words to make things better.”

But Father Renninger said that Christians must see disappointments and struggles “through the lens of the dying and rising of Christ...from which the healing of the world is born.”

In reference to the Litany of the Saints during which the two men were to lay face down on the floor with their arms outstretched, Father Renninger said this was a sign of them giving everything they had to God. Christ had given everything, he asserted, by giving his life on the cross and giving the bread of life to his friends.

“He is whispering the same thing to each of us,” Father Renninger said. “Our basic vocation as Christians is to love God and our neighbor.”

In perhaps revival of an ancient custom of the Church, the mothers of newly ordained Father Beeman and Father Segerblom went back to the sacristy after the ordination liturgy and received the cloths on which their sons had wiped their hands after they had been anointed with oil of the Chrism.

“According to custom, the cloths are kept by the mothers and are buried with them,” Mrs. Segerblom told The Catholic Virginian. She added another ancient custom is that the stoles worn by the newly ordained priests when they hear their first confessions were to go to the fathers and would be buried with them.

The mood of the congregation was one of joy and celebration. Among those who had come were Jerry and Judith Mullen, members of Epiphany parish in Richmond.

“We’ve followed them all the way through their formation,” Mr. Mullen said, explaining they were members of the Serra Club which supports vocations to the priesthood.

The Mullens’ had recently held a party at their home for seminarian Brian Capuano, who has a summer assignment at Epiphany.

“We had our Cursillo prayer groups over to introduce them to Brian,” Mrs. Mullen said.“Everybody was thrilled.”

“It’s been a whole loving experience,” said Florence Beeman, grandmother of newly ordained Father Beeman. “This is love for the Church, love for Christ and love for people.”

Father Beeman will be assigned to St. Pius X parish in Norfolk as parochial vicar. Father Segerblom will be assigned to the four Portsmouth cluster parishes as parochial vicar.

back to top