This week on “Connecting the Diocese”, Fr. Sam Martin speaks with Bishop Gerard Battersby and vocation director Fr. Steven Weller about the meaning and spiritual power of priestly ordination, ahead of Deacon Kyle Lang’s priesthood ordination at the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman on Saturday, June 27 at 10:00 a.m. They reflect on key moments of the rite—especially the candidate being declared “worthy” and the prostration during the Litany of the Saints—as signs of dying to self, an exchange of hearts with Jesus, and being conformed to Christ for sacrificial love. The conversation also covers seminary formation as discernment and growth in freedom, the influence of holy priests and saints, the role of families and the Eucharist in nurturing vocations, and concludes with a brief Mass-reading reflection for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

00:45 Why Ordinations Move Us

02:55 Worthy to Be Slain

06:31 Prostration and Exchange of Hearts

09:57 Families and the Mystery of the Floor

11:43 Degrees of Holy Orders

13:39 Seminary Formation and Discernment

17:34 PPF6 and Freedom in Formation

21:11 Learning You’re Loved

23:45 Mentors and Priestly Eyes

28:29 Seeing with Faith Like Magic Eye

30:29 Deacon Ordinations Update

30:52 Raising Vocations at Home

32:56 Eucharist Forms the Heart

34:48 Saintly Gaze and Love

37:30 Priest Role Models

40:27 Trust God in Weakness

42:11 Mass Readings Reflection

45:30 Remember Who You Are

48:40 Worship Versus Hurry

51:21 Jesus Moved With Pity

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