Seven ordained for Toronto archdiocese

TORONTO - It’s not a job, it’s a mission. The seven Toronto men ordained to the priesthood May 10 were sent out on their respective missions even before Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins laid hands on them to make them eternally priests in service of the sacrament of the church.

“Vocation always reaches its fulfilment in mission,” Collins told a St. Michael’s Cathedral crowd packed to overflowing. “The gift of the Holy Spirit always impels us out to mission.”

Before the 10 a.m. rite of ordination, Collins told each of his new priests exactly where they were going to start exercising priestly ministry following the liturgy:

• Fr. Damian Christopher Young-Sam-You is going to Our Lady of Grace parish in Aurora;


• Fr. Donatello Iocco is at Blessed Sacrament in Toronto;


• Fr. Alan Glass has been assigned to St. John Vianney parish in Barrie;


• Fr. William Joseph Gorman will be preaching and practising at St. Ignatius Loyola parish in Mississauga;


• Fr. Francisco Javier Fernandez Siles finds himself at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Toronto;


• Fr. Edward Curtis goes to St. Joseph’s parish in Mississauga; and


• Fr. Kevin Patrick Belgrave takes on St. Luke’s parish in Thornhill.

Prior to the ordinations, Collins hosted a pre-ordination breakfast at the Marriott Toronto Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel. About 100 people gathered for an informal discussion on topics related to priestly ordination.

The seven new priests have been preparing for the priesthood for no less than five years. Among them are a former university quarterback, a mechanic, a theatre school graduate and a doctor of economics.

For more information on the new priests, see Becoming a priest