USA, Muskegon<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div> July 26, 2015<\/p>\n<\/div> The weekend of July\u00a025-26, the Marian Fathers celebrated the ordination of Fr.\u00a0Allen Alexander,\u00a0MIC. We share with you the highlights of the weekend and the homilies below. Also, check out\u00a0our photo gallery<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Friday, July 24<\/strong> We gathered for a Holy Hour, as is the habit of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, to intercede on behalf of one of their number: Deacon Allen Alexander,\u00a0MIC. Tomorrow, July\u00a025, he’ll become Fr.\u00a0Allen Alexander,\u00a0MIC. But for today, it was enough to pray.<\/p>\n Deacon Allen offered a meditation ahead of his ordination, reflecting on the story of Abraham and Isaac on the way to Mount Moria, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only begotten son. Deacon Allen said that his walk toward the priesthood had involved a similar sacrifice.<\/p>\n He’d looked around one day, he shared, and realized, like Isaac, “Where was the lamb for the sacrifice?” And then Deacon Allen realized that sacrifice was him.<\/p>\n He was to become a sacrifice, a lamb of God, offered for the good of the flock, an\u00a0alter Christus<\/em>, a priest who would stand\u00a0in persona Christi<\/em>. He, like all priests, would be called in his Holy Orders to be crucified with Christ, to be joined in a special way to Christ’s priestly ministry and serve as priest and victim on behalf of all the Church.<\/p>\n And so the people gathered beforehand with him to pray in his home parish in Muskegon, under the patronage of the captain of the heavenly host, interceding for one who would give his life in intercession and sacramental service for them; a priest like all other priests. An ordinary man, conformed to Christ in an extraordinary way by an exceptional grace, drawing all people and things into God with every Mass.<\/p>\n The most recently ordained Marian, Fr.\u00a0Thaddaeus Lancton,\u00a0MIC, heard confessions during the Holy Hour. At the end, those gathered (including Deacon Allen’s friends, family, brother Marians, and Marian Helpers) prayed over him, asking God’s grace and help to him.<\/p>\n Please join us in interceding for him as Deacon Allen is ordained a priest.<\/p>\n The Church and the Congregation of Marian Fathers has a new priest this weekend because of the generously offered prayers, sufferings, and financial support of people like you. Visit\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to help provide for the needs of the many, many young men discerning a vocation with the Marian Fathers today.<\/em><\/p>\n Saturday, July 25, the feast of St. James, Apostle<\/strong> Bishop Walkowiak welcomed the congregation to “this momentous event. I\u00a0believe this is the first ordination that has been held at St.\u00a0Michael’s. Hopefully not the last!”<\/p>\n View the bishop’s homily:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>USA, Muskegon, Mich.: Allen Alexander, MIC, is ordained to the sacred priesthood<\/h1><\/div>
\nAt 4\u00a0p.m. in St.\u00a0Michael the Archangel Parish, Muskegon, Michigan, the faithful set to work for one who will give his life working for them.<\/p>\n
\nFather Allen Alexander,\u00a0MIC, was ordained a priest on July\u00a025, the feast of the Apostle St.\u00a0James, by the Most Rev.\u00a0David\u00a0J. Walkowiak, bishop of Grand Rapids, Michigan, at Fr.\u00a0Alexander’s life-long home parish, St.\u00a0Michael the Archangel in Muskegon, Michigan.<\/p>\n