New priests feel gratitude and peace following ordination May 28 at Cathedral 

Tommy Pham brought about 30 young people to the ordination Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul May 28.

A parishioner of St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien in Minneapolis, Pham, 27, is president of the local chapter of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement. About 20,000 young people are part of the movement nationwide, Pham said. “Our mission is to guide youth to become better Christians and better Catholics,” he said, “and also to be contributing members of society.” 

Father Joseph Nguyen, 26, one of the ordinands, was a member of that youth movement growing up, Pham said. “We really wanted to be here to support him and show him our love and appreciation, to take the next steps for his calling to the priesthood,” he said.  

Pham, who joined the group at age 7, said he grew up with Father Nguyen and they were altar servers together. “We definitely love him and we are so very excited that he took the steps to the priesthood,” he said, calling Father Nguyen humorous and someone who really loves the Church. 

Father Nguyen was one of five deacons ordained to the priesthood during Mass that lasted more than two hours. Also ordained priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis were Father Samuel Gilbertson, Father Connor McGinnis, Father Michael Selenski and Father John Utecht.  

More than 2,000 people filled most of the Cathedral on a day that started with light rain early but broke into sunshine and light clouds by the time Mass began at 10 a.m. 

Archbishop Bernard Hebda opened his homily with a mention of the recent shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, “that left all of America wounded.”  

“It was precisely into a world of such darkness that both Christ and his Church were born,” he said. “Our heavenly patron, St. Paul, shared with the Corinthians in this morning’s reading that the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ shines in the hearts of Jesus’ disciples to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God displayed in the face of Christ.” 

St. Paul understood that those who are willing to preach not themselves, but Jesus, can bring his divine light and encouragement into a hurting world that carries tragedy.  

“How wonderful that Christ would have a plan for sustaining that light throughout the centuries,” Archbishop Hebda said, “a plan that would forever remind us of the love that radiated from the face of Christ, a plan that would enable us to remain in his love so that his joy could be in us, and our joy be complete.” 

In every generation, Jesus calls “very ordinary men” to serve as his priests, he said, to hold his treasure in earthen vessels, and to dispense that treasure with the magnanimity and mercy “that we see time and time again” in Jesus’ ministry, he said. 

In his gentleness, the Lord invites, but never compels, Archbishop Hebda said. 

“Today we celebrate the free response to that invitation of five sons of this archdiocese, five men who have been inspired to generosity by your witness, the witness given day after day and week after week in the parishes and schools of this local Church,” he said. 

Of the five newly ordained priests, Archbishop Hebda said they are young but already men of considerable accomplishments and promise.  

“No two of them are the same,” he said. “Their interests and experiences are broad. I trust that they, as true fathers, will build up this archdiocesan Church …, touching hearts that by God’s design, they were uniquely created to touch.” 

During the Mass, mothers of the five priests carried sacred vessel— paten, chalice, cruet and ciboria — to the altar.  

Billy Utecht, 20, was thrilled for his brother, Father John Utecht. “I know he’s been waiting for this day for a long time, and it’s just so beautiful to see someone who is following the Lord’s call,” he said. “And we’re just so confident that this is what God wants him to do, and I know he is as well.” 

Utecht, of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings, said it’s incredible to think that, through his brother, the Lord will forgive people of their sins, bring people into matrimony, and turn bread and wine into Christ’s flesh and blood. “It’s just really exciting and I’m really proud of him.” 

Paul Foley, 34, and his wife, Theresa, attended the Mass with their four children, ages 2, 5, 6 and 8, to support their friend Father Michael Selenski. Paul Foley got to know Father Selenski while studying in Rome in 2008 with the University of St. Thomas’ Catholic Studies program. He also knew Father Selenski in Boston when Father Selenski served as a missionary with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, or FOCUS.   

“It’s super important to support him and know that he’s got a ton of supporters behind him, and we’re proud of him,” Foley said of attending the ordination with his family.  

Foley said Father Selenski will bring the gift of joy to the priesthood. “He attracted a lot of people just by his joy and his welcoming nature,” Foley said. “I think he’ll be able to attract a lot of people to our Lord just by his outgoing personality. He was super personable in college.” 

Barb and Ray Truzinski, both 73, of Nativity in Cleveland, used to live in South St. Paul and never traveled the four miles to the Cathedral, but now that they live 75 miles away, they have attended about six or seven ordinations. They did not know any of the new priests personally, but, Barb Truzinski said, “We have wonderful priests, and we just love and want to support them.”   

“It’s important,” she said. “We enjoy supporting our priests and would just like to show our gratitude for them saying ‘yes.’” 

Father Michael Reinhardt, 44, parochial vicar of All Saints in Lakeville who was himself ordained at the Cathedral one year ago, said his memory from last May is a bit of a blur but that there was “a fittingness to it.”  

“We’re never going to be totally prepared, but there’s something real that comes with that grace of orders that I experienced,” he said. “And I’ve been really blessed this past year to exercise that ministry. I’m really excited for these guys.” 

Following ordination, Father McGinnis, 25, a lifelong parishioner of All Saints in Lakeville, said it was a huge honor and he has “a lot to be grateful for.” “I’ve got a whole cast of people behind me,” he said. 

Father Gilbertson, a Faribault native, said after the ordination that he holds a lot of gratitude in his heart for the gift of Christ’s priesthood and for the new priests to be able to share “just a deep peace, a lot of peace and a lot of joy,” he said.  

“The tears haven’t started running yet but they will,” he said. “A lot of thanks and peace are the emotions that are in my heart right now.” 

New priests receive first assignments 

The newly ordained priests recently received their first assignments, as follows. 

Father Samuel Gilbertson, St. Michael and St. Mary in Stillwater 

Father Connor McGinnis, St. Michael in St. Michael 

Father Joseph Nguyen, St. John the Baptist in New Brighton 

Father Michael Selenski, St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park Osseo 

Father John Utecht, Our Lady of Grace in Edina