Wieck, Elzner Ordination Mass Set For Saturday, June 2

Amarillo—For the second year in a row, Bishop Patrick J. Zurek will ordain a Transitional Deacon to the Priesthood and ordain a diocesan Seminarian to the Transitional Diaconate.
 
Deacon Shane Wieck, a seminarian for the Diocese of Amarillo, will be ordained to the Priesthood during a Mass Saturday, June 2 at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1200 South Washington. During the Mass, Bishop Zurek will also ordain Seminarian Taylor Elzner 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; online at www.kdjw.org; and, on a low-power FM station in Nazareth, KHFN-LP, at 105.5FM, beginning at 10:20am.
 
At this time, plans were being finalized to live stream the Ordinations Mass. When those plans are finalized, they will be announced on the diocesan website, www.amarillodiocese.org; on St. Valentine Catholic Radio, 1360-AM; and, via Flocknote.
 
A native of Amarillo, Deacon Wieck, 27, is the son of Bernard and Diane Wieck, parishioners at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Amarillo. He recently completed his Theology studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston.
 
In a conversation in The West Texas Catholic, Deacon Wieck was asked what he looked most forward to about his ordination to the Priesthood:
 
“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 advice would Deacon Wieck have for a young man hearing the call to the Priesthood?
 
“The first thing is to pray, to cultivate a life of prayer,” he said. “I would have a hard time believing anybody who said that they were not called to the priesthood if they were not praying. We have to ask God what He desires in matters so important as how we should spend our lives! Sit before His gaze, encounter Him in the silence of prayer! That is the way to discern.
 
“The second thing is to not be afraid to commit to something. I think this is a big temptation today, to be enthusiastic about something, but not commit to it, because of a fear of missing out on something else. ‘Put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch!’, the Lord said to Peter (Lk. 5:4). Commitment, vulnerability, Faith, perseverance…these are all a part of discernment; they are all a part of authentic love. Yes, making a choice ‘narrows your options’, but at least you are going somewhere! Do not be afraid to take the first step.”
 
The newly-ordained Father Wieck is scheduled to celebrate his First Mass on Sunday, June 3 at 3:00pm at his home parish of St. Thomas the Apostle Church. The Mass will be preceded at 1:30pm with a Holy Hour for Vocations, also at St. Thomas.
 
A native of Dumas, Elzner, 29, is the son of Jim and Brenda Elzner of Sts. Peter and Paul Church. He recently completed his third year of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston.
 
In a June 17, 2012 interview in The West Texas Catholic, Elzner was asked when he received his call to the Priesthood:
 
“As far back as I can remember I have felt a subtle pull towards ‘something,’” he said. “It was only through a period of intensive and active discernment in college, including the discernment of marriage with a young Catholic woman, that I was able to clarify that this was a call to be totally conformed to Christ and serve His Bride the Church as a priest.”
 
In that same conversation, Elzner was asked what words of wisdom he could offer someone discerning their vocation:
 
“There is an analogy for discernment I really like,” he said. “Discerning one’s vocation is like captaining a sailboat boat at night, where you cannot yet distinctly see the destination you are to arrive at. Instead of sitting stationary, moving the rudder back and forth, and squinting into the darkness, hoping to see both your destination and the entire journey it will take to get there, it is much better to surrender your false sense of control into God’s hands, open your sail in full trust to His leading and strive to be united to and cooperate fully with His will daily. This daily ‘opening of your sail’ entails making adequate time for prayer, study and surrender of all that gets in the way of your total belonging to Him.”