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A week after returning home and some visits to M.D. Anderson, my 22-year-old sister Erika was able to get around somewhat slowly. She had cancer in various places in her body, and this aggressive kind of ovarian cancer was almost unheard of for a young lady. The doctors were baffled at the various cancer manifestations, and they were unable to give a good diagnosis, much less prognosis. Despite all this, Erika was able to be one of the readers at the ordination Mass on June 23. As I looked upon my little sister as she read from the prophet Jeremiah, all I could feel was deep fear and grief, believing that hers would be the first funeral I would have to do as a priest.

It was then that I felt the profound reality of the gift God had given me, that is, the Gift of ordained priesthood. I realized, then, that my primary family was no longer limited to my parents and sister. What I had learned in my intellect was now a deeply real and essential part of my heart. I realized in that moment that I was now a very real and intimate part of a larger spiritual family. My bride, now, was the Bride of Christ; the Bride of Christ is the Church. Although I wished to stay with Erika, the girl I warmed baby bottles for when she was in diapers, my bride was now calling me in the form of an elderly Catholic nun who was about to go into a potentially fatal surgery. During the few minutes of sacramental time with the beautiful nun, I heard other voices from other people in the background: "Father! Father! Father!" I was hopping from here to there, and I was sad that there are not more priests. And so began my life as an ordained priest of God.

Paul Sullins, a professor at the Catholic University of America, said the average age at ordination has risen by 10 to 15 years since the 1970s — part of a national trend toward increased education and later-life commitments.

“An increasing proportion of priests today are entering their second or third careers,” said Sullins, adding the trend may help relieve the shortage of priests in the U.S.

Monsignor Paul Showalter, vicar general of the Peoria Diocese, agreed. Showalter said, in general, the trend toward older priests is beneficial.