Ordination Mass For Two Set For Saturday, June 3

Amarillo—Deacon Grant Spinhirne, a seminarian for the Diocese of Amarillo, will be ordained to the Priesthood by Bishop Patrick J. Zurek during a Saturday, June 3 Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1200 South Washington.

During the Mass, Bishop Zurek will also ordain diocesan Seminarian Shane Wieck to the Transitional Diaconate.

The Mass is open to the public and scheduled to begin at 10:30am. The Mass will be broadcast on St. Valentine Catholic Radio, 1360-AM, KDJW, and online at www.kdjw.org, beginning at 10:20am.

Deacon Spinhirne, 29, is native of Vega. The son of Charlie and Nancy Spinhirne of Immaculate Conception Church, Vega, he was ordained to the Transitional Diaconate on July 2, 2016 by Bishop Zurek at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Deacon Spinhirne recently completed studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston.

In a Dec. 21, 2014 profile in The West Texas Catholic, Spinhirne said through some of his ministry assignments, he has had the opportunity to get a glimpse of the priesthood.

“It has been really rewarding to see people get excited about learning about their Faith and inspired to learn more,” he said. “As a priest, I will be able to continue to get people to know more about their Faith through the celebration of the Sacraments.

“I think that working with the people of the parish is the most appealing aspect of the priesthood. As a priest, I will be able to help them to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of their Faith.”

Spinhirne was asked what is one thing every Catholic should know?

“As Catholics we have a great gift in the sacraments we have within the Church,” he said. “While some sacraments are sought out and celebrated with ease, there is one sacrament that is not used as much by Catholics. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a great gift given to us to rectify our sinful nature with God. We know that we have sinned and need to make reparations for our actions. But, to actually admit and name our sins to another person can make us uncomfortable. This often makes people skip getting the grace given through confession. Sin can often weigh us down and think that we are not worthy of receiving forgiveness. Through confession we have the burden of our sin lifted from us. This will enable us to make a conversion in our lives and begin living again according to the will of God.

“I would like to thank the people of the Diocese of Amarillo for all their prayers and support over the years. This has greatly helped me during my studies and formation toward the priesthood. I look forward to serving the Diocese of Amarillo as a Priest.”

A native of Amarillo, Wieck, 26, is the son of Bernie and Diane Wieck, parishioners at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Amarillo. He recently completed his third year of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston.

In an Oct. 19, 2014 profile in The West Texas Catholic, Wieck was asked what was the most important thing he had learned in the Seminary so far:

“The Lord has certainly been very generous to me and has blessed me profoundly with many important life lessons,” he said. “The greatest of these, if I had to choose, would be that suffering and struggle are not meaningless, but the precise place where God chooses to make us one with Him. I guess it is the lesson of the Cross: Jesus most fully revealed that he was God by choosing to lay down his life and by absorbing our suffering because there he showed that God is love. He descended to the lowest of depths so that God could be present precisely where we think he is absent.”

Wieck was also asked what he looked most forward to about becoming a priest:

“I think it a great privilege that a priest gets to be the presence of Christ in the lives of people,” he said. “To be His hand of mercy and forgiveness, to bring new souls into the life of grace, to usher old souls into the life of heaven, to bring hope to people in a dark world, to say those words that change the world: ‘this is my body, given up for you.’ To laugh with people, to cry with people, to be a presence of light in the night of suffering. I guess this is all just a long way of saying that I look forward to being a part of Jesus’ saving mission.”

What is one thing every Catholic should know?

“At your Baptism, God the Father said to you, as he said to Jesus: ‘behold! this is my beloved son (daughter), in whom I am well pleased.’ (Mk 1:11) In other words, that day, you were adopted as a son (daughter) in the Son, a member of the Body of Christ,” Wieck said. “This is the meaning of everything. St. Athanasius said that ‘God became a man so that man might become God,’ living in his one eternal life. That is why Jesus gave us the sacraments: because by them he makes us one, truly one with him. We become what we receive in the Eucharist and we come back to this union through Confession. This is the Church, the Body of Christ. How awesome.

“I am greatly humbled and profoundly grateful for all of the prayers and support that I have received in my life, from my family to people I have not had the privilege to meet. I ask for your continued prayers, that I may be a holy and wise servant of God.”