As families watch and celebrate, priests ordained

As families watch and celebrate, priests ordained

By Raymond Cleaveland
Contributor

Joanne O’Connor beamed as she watched from the front pew of Holy Name Cathedral. O’Connor, of St. Michael’s Parish in Orland Park, was there to see her son, Father William McFarlane, ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal George May 21.

“I feel excited, I feel humbled and very blessed. He’s the first priest in our family,” O’Connor said.

Many parents and relatives echoed her sentiments.

Amelia Rodriguez of Guadalajara, Mexico, traveled to Chicago to see the ordination of her nephew, Father Armando Morales. “I am very happy and very proud,” she said.

Morales chose to come to Chicago to serve the burgeoning Latino community. Like many Hispanic Catholics, Rodriguez expressed concern for the influx of Latino immigrants.

“We need many priests, especially Spanish-speaking priests because there are very few here [in the United States],” she said.

The class was the largest in the United States this year and the 16 men ordained for the Archdiocese of Chicago was the largest group since 1985.

The new priests come from Ecuador, Mexico, Poland and, of course, the United States. Noting that Chicago has always been a city of immigrants, O’Connor was pleased with the ethnic diversity of the ordination class.

“I think that’s wonderful. The versatility of the class is wonderful, and they all get along very well. Bill has a lot of respect for all of his classmates,” she said.

For William Hearne of St. Jude the Apostle parish in South Holland, the ordination of his son, Father James Hearne, was the answer to a mother’s prayers.

“My mother always wanted a priest out of one of her sons,” said Hearne. “Jim is the youngest of 47 grandchildren. So she’ll have to settle for a grandson,” he said.

Hearne said that the new priests make him confident about the future of the church. “I think this whole group is a breath of fresh air. I think they will do marvels for the archdiocese,” he said.

Though some traveled farther than others, none seemed to mind. Rodriguez said she doesn’t mind being separated from her nephew by thousands of miles.

“It’s good. He is serving God and his neighbor. They gave him the opportunity to come to Chicago but he would do well anywhere,” she said.

The newly ordained each came with their own stories of the path to the priesthood.

For Father Brendan Lupton, of St. Mary, Lake Forest, the journey involved a suffering family.

He still remembers being asked, “Have you ever suffered,” during an interview for a chaplain’s position at Loyola University Health System three years ago.

His honest answer was “no,” but that would dramatically change.

Lupton’s younger sister, Eileen, was one of 13 young people who died in the Lincoln Park porch collapse June 29, 2003. She was 22 and had just graduated from nursing school at Villanova.

“That ripped us apart. It ripped our hearts out,” recalled Brendan’s father, Patrick.

Perhaps no one suffered more than young Brendan, just two years away from priesthood.

“They were extremely close,” said Therese Lupton, Brendan’s mother. “He was her counselor—her spiritual director.”

The tragedy evoked an outpouring of sympathy of the Lake Forest community. More than 400 people attended Eileen’s funeral in July 2003 and the family has since established the Eileen Shea Lupton Memorial Foundation to provide scholarships for nursing students.

Brendan’s influence on his two younger sisters was marked, recalled his parents. From a young age, he was the family’s spiritual leader.

“I always felt like he was a little shepherd in our own family. He did many things that were unusual for someone growing up,” said Therese Lupton. “He brought the rosary into our home and brought it on car trips. There was something special about him—we saw it early on.”

He was originally scheduled to be ordained last May, but decided to take some time off to pray and discern what God wanted of him. After working for a year at St. John of the Cross Parish in Western Springs, Lupton felt reaffirmed in his calling to the priesthood.

Though his son’s journey to the priesthood has been challenging, Patrick Lupton said that the loss of his sister will help him identify with those who suffer.

“Now he is going to be a stronger priest because when he has to do the sad side of being a priest, he knows what these people are thinking, where they’re coming from, what the state of their heart is,” his father said.

Visit the Eileen Shea Lupton Foundation at www.eileenlupton.com. Cleaveland is a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Seattle. He is studying at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.