Two to be ordained to priesthood

PATERSON  Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney will ordain two men as priests of the Diocese on Saturday, May 29 at 10:30 a.m. in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here during the Mass of the Rite of Ordination.

Taking the final step to the priesthood that day will be two transitional deacons: Rev. Mr. Francis Hamilton Balfour Lennie IV of St. Pius X Parish in Montville and Rev. Mr. Joseph Anthony Mactal, originally of the Philippines and now a parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle in Oak Ridge/St. John Vianney in Stockholm.

For the ordination, due to pandemic restrictions, a limited number of well-wishers — family, friends, priests, and religious of the Diocese and beyond, and members of the home parishes of the two men — will be invited to attend as a sign of encouragement to the transitional deacons on their vocation. The rest of the faithful are invited to watch the Mass livestreamed on the diocesan website, www.rcdp.org.

Rev. Mr. Lennie recently told The Beacon that he is “excited” to be ordained a priest of the Diocese.

“This is the stepping stone that’s finally arriving — something that I’ve been working toward for eight years,” Rev. Mr. Lennie said.

Born in Dover, Rev. Mr. Lennie is the son of Frank and Coleen Lennie and has a 25-year-old brother, Raymond. He was baptized at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Flanders, and received his first Holy Commun­ion and then his Confirmation at St. Pius X Parish as a high school sophomore. It was then that he first felt on fire with the Holy Spirit as his first inspiration toward a priestly vocation.

Rev. Mr. Lennie was graduated from the former St. Pius X School and DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne. At DePaul, two priests on staff — Father Peter Clarke, former chaplain, and Father Michael Donovan, former president — helped him consider that God might be calling him to a priestly vocation instead of his original career aspiration: joining the U.S. Marines. As a high-school senior, he earned the Father Sylva Award for Service for helping set up for school-wide Masses. He said “yes” to the two priests’ suggestion to enter St. Andrew’s College of Immaculate Conception Semin­ary in South Orange.

Rev. Mr. Lennie’s vocation journey took a different turn, when he left St. Andrew’s before the end of his freshmen year, because he felt he had a lack of discipline and confidence in being able to handle the coursework. For the next four years, he continued discerning, while holding down jobs, including in construction and day care. He also started volunteering with St. Pius’ youth ministry.

“I had to make my faith my own. I had to be more deliberate — waking up on my own and deciding to pray. I started seeking Christ instead of Christ seeking me,” said Rev. Mr. Lennie, “I grew as a teacher. I was able to present the faith at the kids’ level. People were telling me that I had a gift for bringing people to Christ,” he said.

Rev. Mr. Lennie returned to St. Andrew’s in 2014, after Msgr. Raymond Kupke, pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Hawthorne, and diocesan archivist, boosted his self-confidence and helped him recognize his gifts and talents that could serve him well as a priest. After he earned a bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University in South Orange, he entered Immaculate Conception Seminary, where he recently completed his priestly studies.

Rev. Mr. Lennie’s apostolic experiences include working at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Paterson and at St. Pius X Parish. In the seminary, he has served as a sacristan, been part of the school’s cantorum, and served as its vice president. As a transitional deacon for his fourth and final year at Immaculate Conception, he served St. Joseph Hosptial where he continued his ministry of spending time with patients, and St. Pius X, where he performed baptisms, delivered homilies, and helped the parish with social media and livestreaming liturgies.

“The hospital ministry to patients gave me more confidence to become a priest. I originally asked myself, ‘Why am I here? I’m not healing anyone.’ But then I realized that it’s about a ministry of presence and listening to people,” said Rev. Mr. Lennie.

Rev. Mr. Mactal told The Beacon, “I’m contented and happy with becoming a priest.

“It will be the beginning of something good: the life that I have been preparing for more than the past 14 years. As I’ve done since then, I will let the Lord do the rest,” Rev. Mr. Mactal said.

Rev. Mr. Mactal discovered his religious vocation in his native Philippines. He was born in Manila to Benjamin Antonio Mactal Jr. and Araceli A. Mactal. Many priests at his parish of St. Joseph in Manila influenced him to consider a priestly vocation, especially pastors Father Bong Guerrero and Father Nestor Gungon.

“I wanted to talk like them and walk like them. They inspired me,” Rev. Mr. Mactal said.

Rev. Mr. Mactal graduated in the Philippines from Immaculate Conception Academy in 2002, Colegio De San Juan de Letran in 2007, and San Carlos Seminary, 2011. Mactal’s apostolic work included having served as head of vocations promotion at the Archdiocese of Manila and a faculty member and basketball coach of St. Mary Academy in Caloocan City in the Philippines.

In the U.S., Rev. Mr. Mactal recently completed his priestly formation at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. As a seminarian, he taught at St. Joseph School, Hanover, Pa., and served as campus minister at Delone Catholic High School, McSherrystown, Pa.

In his fourth and final year of seminary studies, Rev. Mr. Mactal served as a transitional deacon at St. Benedict’s Parish, Baltimore, and also at St. Thomas/St. John Vianney Parish. He enjoyed serving St. Benedict’s, which serves a “diverse population — different people but all the same souls I’m called to save.” He cited its pastor, Salesian Father Morano, as another inspiration of priesthood.

As a transitional deacon at St. Benedict’s and St. Thomas/St. John Vianney, Rev. Mr. Mactal performed baptisms, delivered homilies and assisted at Mass through livestream in the COVID-19 lockdown and later in person, he said.

“I feel more prepared for the priesthood because as a transitional deacon, I got better at dispensing the Sacraments and proclaiming the Word — reading the Gospel and delivering homilies,” Rev. Mr. Mactal said.