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 ‘Keep your eyes on Him’

HUNTERSVILLE — The Diocese of Charlotte gained six new priests on Saturday, June 14, as they were ordained by Bishop Michael Martin at St. Mark Church in Huntersville.

The new priests are Father Christopher Angermeyer, Father Anthony del Cid Lucero, Father Nicholas Kramer, Father Kolbe Murrey, Father Andrew Templeton and Father Joseph Yellico.

About 1,300 people packed the church and overflowed into the parish hall to see the six men begin their new lives of service to Christ, His church and the faithful. The ordination also drew more than 200 people who watched the livestream of the event, including the family of Father Lucero, who watched from Guatemala.

At the start of the ordination rite, the six men stood in front of Bishop Martin and declared their willingness to be ordained and take on the duties of the priesthood.

Bishop Martin offered a homily that focused on the importance of having a clear vision in priestly ministry. He described the stresses of taking a recent eye exam, including the challenge of repeatedly choosing which of two nearly identical lines of type was clearer. “What’s more clear, one or two?” he said the optometrist repeatedly asked him.

Seeking a clear vision of what God wants will be their new life’s mission, he told the men.

“The rest of your life will be a journey of clarity. Will you see clearly through the haze and the fog that sometimes our world presents?” he asked. “Your vision in this moment is not just important for you, but it’s important for the entire church now. Because where you will lead because of what you see is where others will follow.”

Bishop Martin said important lessons about clarity in ministry could be found in the day’s readings. The first reading from Ezekiel focused on the image of a shepherd seeking out sheep in his flock, including the strays, the injured and the weak. He urged the men to recognize the brokenness of the world and the importance of reaching out to all those they are called to serve.

“Ezekiel talks about going out and looking for, seeing, the lost sheep, the broken sheep, the injured sheep,” he said. “You have to see them, too, and be willing to go out and bring them back, walk with them back, let them know that they are seen, and they are known and they are loved,” he said.

The second reading from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews focused on the beauty of obedience through suffering, and the perfect example of Christ’s obedience shown through the crucifixion.

“Your obedience will be made manifest in your own crosses, the difficulties of life that you will have to endure,” he said. “He talks about this call to obedience through suffering as a call from God. It is. What you are embarking upon today is a call from God.”

He continued, “No one would choose what you said yes to on your own. Realize that you’re being called by God to sacrifice. Let that reconfirm every single day in the midst of the difficulties, in the midst of the challenge. Realize that this (the priesthood) is what I’m called to do, and I embrace it.”

Bishop Martin urged the men to keep their vision focused on Christ much as a farmer must focus on a spot on the horizon to keep the furrows straight when plowing a field.

“My brothers, the spot on the horizon is clear. One or two? It’s only one. There’s the spot on the horizon. It’s Jesus Christ, the high priest, crucified, for you and me” he said.

“Keep your eyes on Him, and let him pull you and all of the sheep you will serve following in behind to a new heaven and a new earth where the harvest is rich and bountiful and beautiful.”

When the homily concluded, the men lay prostrate during the Litany of Supplication. The bishop then laid his hands on their hands and prayed over them. A long line of priests who attended the ceremony then laid hands on the men as a symbol of priestly unity.

The six were then vested with their stole and chasuble by priests who had played meaningful roles in their lives. They were anointed with sacred chrism and received bread and wine as a symbol of their new ability to celebrate Holy Mass. They then received the fraternal kiss of peace from Bishop Martin and the other priests in attendance.

The St. Mark’s choir offered a beautiful assortment of chants and hymns to accompany the ceremony, and the choir from Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte sang Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise” during the laying on of hands.

After the Mass, the new priests’ families gathered in the sanctuary to take pictures with Bishop Martin. As they waited in line for their turn, some of the parents reflected on the day.

“It’s a great joy to be able to offer my son to the Church,” said Sarah Kramer, mother of Father Nicholas Kramer. “I hope that his ministry is soaked in beauty and truth.”

Carlton Murrey, the dad of Father Kolbe Murrey, said it was an honor to be able to see his son ordained.

“This felt like the end of one journey and the beginning of another,” Carlton Murrey said. “My son is moving into a life of service and sacrifice to the church.”

 — Christina Lee Knauss. Photos by Troy C. Hull, Aidan Creter and Will Creter

New priest assignments

Following their ordination, Bishop Michael Martin announced where each of the new priests will serve, starting July 8:

Father Christopher Angermeyer: St. Mark Parish in Huntersville

Father Anthony del Cid Lucero: St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Gastonia

Father Nicholas Kramer: St. Matthew Parish in Charlotte

Father Kolbe Murrey: St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Charlotte

Father Andrew Templeton: St. Luke Parish in Mint Hill

Father Joseph Yellico: Campus Minister at UNC-Charlotte

First Masses of Thanksgiving

Following their ordination, the new priests will offer first Masses at their home parishes on Sunday, June 15:

• Deacon Christopher Angermeyer: 2 p.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte. Homilist: Monsignor Patrick Winslow, vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte.
• Deacon Anthony del Cid Lucero: 11:45 a.m. Spanish Mass at St. Joseph Church in Newton. Homilist: Father Alphonso Gomez, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Lenoir.
• Deacon Nicholas Kramer: 2:30 p.m. at St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville. Homilist: Father Brian Becker, vocations promoter for the Diocese of Charlotte.
• Deacon Kolbe Murrey: 11 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Church in Tryon. Homilist: Father Matthew Kauth, rector of St. Joseph College Seminary.
• Deacon Andrew Templeton: 9 a.m. at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Gastonia. Homilist: Father Tim Reid, pastor of St. Ann Parish in Charlotte.
• Deacon Joseph Yellico: 9 a.m. at St. Mark Church in Huntersville. Homilist: Father John Putnam, pastor of St. Mark Parish.

Meet the priests 

Father Christopher William Angermeyer

Home parish: St. Thomas Aquinas, Charlotte
Birthplace and raised in: Charlotte
Age: 28

How do you feel like your parish contributed to your vocation and a rising number of vocations from St. Thomas Aquinas in Charlotte?

“It helped that the parish is diverse with people from all different backgrounds, so you get to experience the world-wide Catholic faith. One of the biggest things that shaped me was the prayers of the people. There are people who would pray the rosary every single week for vocations and that has led us to have a good amount of vocations come from St. Thomas Aquinas Parish.”

FatherAnthony del Cid Lucero

Home parish: St. Joseph, Newton
Birthplace and raised in: Hickory, N.C.
Age: 30

When did you first realize you had a call to the priesthood?

“My serious discernment began the year I graduated from high school. I knew that I was called to do great things in life. I always saw the love my parents had for Our Lord and the Blessed Mother and was something that I wanted to have from a young age. As a young adult outside of high school, I started to really ask God what He wanted from me. From there I noticed my profound longing for the Lord in prayer, service, and in the sacraments. The Blessed Virgin Mary was also always a guide through my discernment.”

Father Nicholas James Kramer

Home parish: St. Margaret Mary, Swannanoa
Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska
Raised in: Old Fort, NC
Age: 25

What is something someone would be surprised to learn about you?

“For a while in high school, I worked as a mountain bike mechanic in downtown Asheville. It was a really fun job. I always loved the mechanical aspects of things and mountain biking and riding. I got an opportunity later in high school to work as a mechanic, which in of itself was a lot of fun and then working downtown Asheville, was its own little adventure because the characters that frequented our shop were a lot of fun to hang out with.”

Father Kolbe Raymond Murrey

Home parish: St. John the Baptist, Tryon
Birthplace: Durham
Raised in: Mills River, NC
Age: 25

What's something people would be surprised to learn about you?

“Something people would be surprised to learn about me is that when I was in high school, I started keeping bees. I had a good friend who had kind of started doing that. I was like, ‘Oh, that's interesting. I guess I'll do that as well.’” The bees are still at his family’s house, he said, and his mom takes care of them while he’s been at seminary. Murrey said he doesn’t plan to bring the bees to his parish assignment, but he wouldn’t mind helping with the bees at St. Matthew. (Read that story here.)

Father Andrew Jeffery Templeton

Home parish: St. Michael the Archangel, Gastonia
Birthplace and raised in: Gastonia, NC
Age: 26

What's something people would be surprised to learn about you?

“Something that people would be surprised to learn about me is that I'm afraid of heights and I don't like roller coasters, but I want to learn how to fly a plane. It’s a bit of an ironic thing.”

Father Joseph Gerard Yellico

Home parish: St. Mark, Huntersville
Birthplace: Long Island, New York, moved to North Carolina in 2006
Age: 30

What role does music play in your vocation?

“Music always has been a source of consolation and comfort for me. It’s also helped me look at how faith and reason are not two separate things, but they're complementary to each other.

“You have the theory of music, which is more mathematical and abstract, and then you have the artistry of music. Both of those things work together. So, in the same way, in theological training, you have the abstract; the philosophical principles that you follow within that. But at the same time, there's just so much beauty that's just around that and a part of it.

“So music has really been a source of reflection of kind of a bunch of different aspects of reality.