Pictures by John McElroy
On Monday 14th September, on the the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.Frank Drescher was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Dublin by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in St Mary’s Pro Cathedral Dublin.
In his homily Archbishop Martin said, “I remember Frank the first time that we met. It was in a suburban parish and I noticed you as one of the few younger lay people present. You were a successful young man in a promising employment situation. Yet I learned that there was something in your heart that seemed to be asking you to move away from that worldly security and to take that leap of faith to serve the Lord.
“It is a challenging task, not least in the challenging times in which we live. I entrust you and your life to the Lord as you begin your ministry as a priest, just as I draw near the end of my ministry as Archbishop of Dublin and indeed towards the twilight of my life. You represent a new generation and I have confidence in your generation but I am also very much aware of the challenges you and the confreres of your generation face.”
you are called to be a priest
and exercise your ministry
in the culture of today.
Speaking on the kind of ministry Father Frank is likely to encounter, Archbishop Martin, describing the kind of ministry that Fr Drescher is likely to encounter said, “Frank you are called to be a priest and exercise your ministry in the culture of today. It is not that you simply align yourself with everything that is present in that culture. It is not that you reject modernity. It is not that you feel satisfied with vague cultural Catholicism. As priest, you are called, like Moses, to lead the men and women of our time, the men and women you will encounter, to look upwards and seek the signs of God’s presence that will lead them towards a path of life …. The priest must be one who can help the men and women of our time to seek the deeper meaning of life and within the ambiguities of modern life to find Jesus.”
