Deacons from South Orange, Belleville ordained

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Four deacons, including three from Essex County churches, officially became priests on May 27 at Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

“This year’s ordinandi are a great bunch of guys, and they represent a great diversity of backgrounds and experiences that will help them in their ministry,” said the Rev. Eugenio de la Rama, director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Newark. “The priesthood is not a job — it’s a participation in Christ’s healing, mercy, and love for his people. And I’m confident that these men will grow in that mission every day through prayer and their good works.”

The three with Essex County ties are:
JuHyun Andrew Lee, who had been serving as a transitional deacon at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in South Orange;
Frenel Phanord, who served as a transitional deacon at St. Peter’s Church in Belleville; and
Bernardo Garcia, a parishioner at St. Peter’s in Belleville who served as a transitional deacon at St. Aloysius Church and St. Benedict Church in Newark.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, ordained the three plus a fourth man, Deacon Robert Burkot, during the Rite of Ordination.
As their loved ones looked on, the four priests-to-be were called forward one by one as Cardinal Tobin prayed over them and ordained them as priests.
After they were given their stoles and chasubles and had their hands anointed with sacred chrism oil by Cardinal Tobin, the five distributed Communion to the faithful for the first time as priests. Then, once the ordination concluded, they offered their first blessings to many of those gathered.

Following the ordination, the new priests immediately began serving their assigned parishes, where they will shepherd the faithful while celebrating Mass and the sacraments as parochial vicars. Father Burkot is at St. Paul of the Cross Church in Jersey City, Father Garcia is at Sts. Bernard of Clairvaux and Stanislaus Kostka in Plainfield, Father Lee is at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in South Orange, and Father Phanord is at St. Mary Church in Plainfield.

Burkot, 59, has worked as a catechist, helped his widowed sister raise her children, and acted as a caretaker and legal advocate for his sister after she was stricken with cancer. Burkot was not inspired to become a priest until having a dream in which Mary pushed him into Jesus’ embrace.

Garcia, 29, intended to graduate from college with a business degree, take over his father’s recycling company, and get married. But after seeing the joy among the priests while attending a Chrism Mass at the Cathedral Basilica, he realized giving himself to God might fill the emptiness he felt in his life. Now, after spending nine years in the seminary, he knows becoming a priest was always God’s plan for him.

Lee, 27, experienced poverty and developed a desire to help others who are struggling like he did. Immediately after graduating high school, the South Korean native entered the seminary to pursue his dream of becoming a priest.

Phanord, 31, grew up in the Turks and Caicos Islands with a lot of tough questions about the purpose of his life. He believed he might find answers in the seminary and joined thinking he might last a year or two. He never left.