Three Seminarians to be Ordained into Priesthood Today

Bishop Michael J. Sis will ordain three new priests for the Diocese of San Angelo at a 10:30 a.m. Mass, Saturday, May 30, 2015, at Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Angelo.

Deacon Felix Archibong, a seminarian at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Deacon Adam Droll and Deacon Ryan Rojo, seminarians at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago, will be ordained at the Mass.

Archibong, 34, is a native of Calabar, a coastal city in southeastern Nigeria.

“My desire to become a priest began when I was a little boy. I was about seven years old when I had feelings to be a priest in order to serve God’s people,” Archibong said. “My father was quick to notice this interest in me and did all he could to nurture it.”

Droll, 26, and Rojo, 27, both hail from West Texas. Droll, nephew of Msgr. Larry Droll, pastor at St. Ann’s in Midland, was born in San Angelo. Rojo, a native of Odessa, grew up in St. Joseph Church on the city’s south side.

“Each of us has a vocation,” Droll said, “and I praise God that he has shown me mine. He didn’t show me my vocation by a revelation or in a booming voice. He has guided me this far by putting good people in my life to encourage me to follow God’s will, even when it is hard.”

“I was always told that I should consider the priesthood by many parishioners, priests, and religious at my home parish of St. Joseph’s,” Rojo said. “I consider the ‘call from the faithful’ to be a good sign of a vocation to the priesthood. The importance of a disciplined spiritual life is something I've found essential for the well-being of a seminarian and priest.“

Droll and Rojo, both of whom began their seminary training at Conception Seminary in Missouri, will return for another year of graduate level Theology at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago this fall before beginning parish work in the Diocese of San Angelo in the summer of 2016. Archibong will begin his first parish assignment this summer at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Midland.

The Ordination Mass will bring to four the total number of priestly ordinations in the San Angelo Diocese in 2015. Fr. Bala Anthony Govindu was ordained January 3, 2015, and is currently serving at St. Stephen Parish in Midland.

Bishop Michael J. Sis said he is overjoyed with these dynamic new priests to serve the people of West Texas.

“God continues to call young men from many different backgrounds to serve as priests of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Sis said. “I encourage all our local youth to open their hearts generously to whatever God is asking of them."

The diocese currently has 13 seminarians studying for the priesthood. For more information about the Catholic seminary process, please contact Vocation Director Father Rodney White at 325-651-7500.