New priests feel Lord`s grace during ordination

June 19, 2015
Tennessee Register 1
June 19, 2015
| A Voice of Tennessee Catholic Life since 1937 | www.dioceseofnashville.com
Photo by Rick Musacchio
‘That you may sanctify the Christian people’
Bishop David Choby hands over the bread and wine to Father Andy Bulso during the ordination rite on Friday, June 12, at the Cathedral of the
Incarnation. Fathers Bulso, Ben Butler, Emmanuel Dirichukwu, Austin Gilstrap and Eric Johansen were ordained by the bishop before a full church of
family and friends. The latest ordinations bring the total number of diocesan priests ordained by Bishop Choby to 26 since he became bishop in 2006.
See the story and photos from the ordination on page 13. A video of the ordination Mass is available at www.dioceseofnashville.com.
All creation sings God’s praise, but people are silencing it, pope says
Cindy Wooden CNS
V
ATICAN CITY. The earth, which
was created to support life and
give praise to God, is crying out
with pain because human activity is
destroying it, Pope Francis says in his
long-awaited encyclical, “Laudato Si’,
on Care for Our Common Home.”
All who believe in God and all people of
good will have an obligation to take steps
to mitigate climate change, clean the
land and the seas, and start treating all of
creation – including poor people – with
respect and concern, he says in the document released at the Vatican June 18.
A lack of respect for creation is a lack
of respect for God who created all that
exists, the pope says. In fact, he continues, a person cannot claim to respect
nature while supporting abortion, nor
can one claim to be pro-life without a
commitment to reversing damage to
the environment.
With unusually blunt language for a
papal document, the pope decries centuries of exploiting the earth, exploiting
other people and acting as if the point
of human life is to buy and consume as
much as possible.
“The earth, our home, is beginning to
look more and more like an immense
pile of filth,” the pope writes in the
document.
While acknowledging science is not
the Catholic Church’s area of expertise,
Pope Francis says “a very solid scientific consensus” points to global warming and indicates “human activity” has
seriously contributed to it, threatening
the planet and all life on it.
Situating ecology firmly within Catholic social teaching, Pope Francis not
only insists that wealthier nations –
who contributed more to despoiling the
earth – must bear more of the costs of
remedying the damage, he also calls for
Continued on page 6
Pope approves procedures to investigate bishops … page 9 | Bishop re-consecrates diocese to Sacred Heart ... page 27
June 19, 2015
Tennessee Register 13
New priests feel Lord’s grace during ordination
Andy Telli
J
ust before the ordination Mass for
Father Austin Gilstrap and four
other men began on Friday, June
12, a young priest told him “that I
should open myself up to the graces of
God that’s about to happen.”
“That stuck with me,” said Father Gilstrap, who was ordained with Fathers
Andy Bulso, Ben Butler, Emmanuel
Dirichukwu and Eric Johansen. “I certainly felt the graces of our Lord.”
At the start of the Mass, celebrated
at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in
Nashville, Bishop David Choby noted
that all five of the men to be ordained
had talked of their vocation to the
priesthood as a journey. “This morning, they take another step in that
journey,” Bishop Choby said. “They
are embracing that call to serve the
church.”
In his homily, the bishop said, “That
living presence among us of the Lord
… in a special way is made present in
the gift of the priesthood.”
Christ chose his apostles to carry out
a priestly ministry in his name on behalf of mankind, Bishop Choby added.
“He was sent by the Father, and he in
turn sent the apostles into the world;
through them and their successors,
the bishops, he continues his work as
teacher, priest and shepherd.”
As priests, they are called to share
the word of God with all mankind, to
sanctify in the power of Christ through
the sacraments, and to shepherd the
faithful to God the Father, the bishop
explained.
The five new priests are part of a
boom in vocations in the Diocese of
Nashville in the last decade. During
his tenure, Bishop Choby has ordained
at least one new priest every year, and
with the latest ordinations, the total
number of priests he has ordained now
stands at 26.
This year’s class of five new priests
follows last year’s class of nine, the
largest number of men to be ordained
at a single Mass in the diocese’s history.
Among the new priests are three natives of Middle Tennessee – Fathers
Bulso, Butler and Gilstrap – three converts to Catholicism – Fathers Butler,
Gilstrap and Johansen – and a native of
Nigeria – Father Dirichukwu.
Father Bulso was ordained in his
home parish of the Cathedral, where
he had been baptized and where he
celebrated his first Mass on Saturday,
June 13. Growing up he was an altar
server, Eucharistic minister and lector
there. At the end of the last Mass in
which he was an altar server before
leaving for college, Father Bulso recalled, his pastor, Father Pat Kibby,
called him to the altar to announce to
the congregation that he was leaving.
Father Kibby said, “He’s sat in every
chair but this one,” pointing to the presider’s chair, Father Bulso said. “So he
sort of called it.”
“All of his friends (from Overbrook
School, Pope John Paul II High School
and the University of Notre Dame),
when he told them he was going to
the seminary, none of them were surprised,” said Kathy Bulso, Father Bulso’s mother. “No one was surprised.
They saw that love of God and that
Photos by Rick Musacchio
Five new priests lay prostrate before the altar at the Cathedral of the Incarnation as the Litany of Supplication is
sung during their ordination Mass on Friday, June 12. The new priests ordained were Fathers Eric Johansen, Austin
Gilstrap, Emmanuel Dirichukwu, Ben Butler and Andy Bulso. Fathers Johansen, Gilstrap and Butler will begin their
new assignments July 1. Fathers Dirichukwu and Bulso will return to school to complete their studies.
willingness to serve.”
“When I was praying about it last
night it struck me that this isn’t something I’m doing alone,” Father Bulso
said during the reception that followed
the ordination. He noted that he was
being ordained with four other men
and they were all entering a fraternity
of priests.
The moment in the ordination rite
when all the priests concelebrating the
Mass with the bishop lay their hands
on the heads of the ordinands, Father
Bulso said, “was almost like an image
of my vocation, all the priests who had
a part in that.”
At the beginning of the Mass, when
each of the men was called to the altar
and they answered “present,” Father
Bulso said, “My heart was really pumping.”
But as the ordination proceeded,
“there’s a sense of peace,” he said. “I
was trying to focus on what’s happening, I’m becoming a priest.”
“It was great,” Father Johansen said
of his ordination. “I’ve done a lot of
things but nothing like this.”
Father Johansen joined the church at
St. Edward Church in Nashville with
his late wife. After she died of cancer,
he felt a call to the priesthood.
Father Steve Wolf was the diocesan
vocations director at the time and met
with Father Johansen. Not only was
he involved in the life of the parish
Father Philip Breen, left, and Msgr. Owen Campion lay their hands on the
heads of the new priests during the ordination rite. Laying on of hands is an
ancient part of the ordination rite.
and was part of a faith-sharing group,
he used his time on his job as a truck
driver to pray, Father Wolf recalled. “I
was impressed with that.”
“It was just like being in a convent,”
Father Johansen said of using time as
a truck driver to pray. “You turn off the
radio and you have a lot of time to pray.
… That’s really how I made the deci-
sion to do this.”
When Bishop Choby laid his hands
on Father Johansen’s head during the
ordination, “It made it real,” he said.
“Some of the priests press fairly hard.
I was thinking they’re letting you know
the weight of what you’re about to do.”
“The entire liturgy was moving,”
Continued on next page
14 Tennessee Register
June 19, 2015
Photos by Rick Musacchio
The five new priests of the diocese receive a fraternal kiss of peace from the other priests of the diocese and visiting priests during their ordination at the
Cathedral of the Incarnation on Friday, June 12. This year’s ordination of five priests follows last year’s ordination of nine priests, the largest number of men
ordained at a single Mass in the diocese’s history.
New priests feel Lord’s grace during ordination
Continued from previous page
said Father Gilstrap, who worked in
restaurants for several years before answering a call to the priesthood. After
serving as a deacon at last year’s ordination, “It was wonderful to be on the
receiving end of all that grace.”
“It was very emotional and I was
very proud,” Father Gilstrap’s mother,
Donna Gilstrap, said of the ordination. She wasn’t surprised that her son
became a priest, Mrs. Gilstrap said.
“It’s what came natural for him. … You
could tell his faith was important to
him even as a young man.”
Father Gilstrap entered the church
with the rest of his family when he
was a teenager. He attended a small
Presbyterian high school. “He was the
only Catholic,” his mother said. And
his friends would sometimes challenge
Catholic teachings, she said. “He had
to defend his faith. If he didn’t have the
answer, he would find out. It made him
stronger in his faith.”
Like Father Gilstrap, Father Butler
came to the priesthood after working
in the secular world for several years.
He worked in the field of management
information systems and also worked
for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management fighting forest fires in Arizona. It
was there the Franklin County native
joined the church. And it was dur-
ing that process of conversion that
thoughts of the priesthood began.
Being ordained was “awesome,”
said Father Butler, who was the only
one of the new priests wearing black
cowboy boots. “Especially the litany of
the saints, hearing everybody ask for
the intercessions of the saints, is really
amazing.”
Father Butler’s first assignment will
be as associate pastor at St. Joseph
Church in Madison, where he also had
served a five-month internship after
being ordained a transitional deacon
last year. A large group from the parish
was on hand for his ordination.
“It was really good to see their support,” he said of his new parishioners.
“I like the sense of community that’s
there. … The way they’ve accepted me
was a blessing really.”
Father Dirichukwu’s ordination was
a reason to celebrate not only for the
diocese but for the Nigerian Catholic
Community in Nashville.
“It’s a big thing for the community,”
said Ogo Obi, the secretary of the Nigerian Catholic Community, which celebrates Mass together at St. Edward.
“This is the first time a Nigerian has
been ordained a priest for the Diocese
of Nashville.”
Since becoming a seminarian for
the Diocese of Nashville, Father Dirichukwu has been involved with the
Father John Hammond, associate pastor at Christ the King Church in
Nashville, who was ordained last year, lays his hands on the head of new
priest Father Austin Gilstrap. Awaiting Father Hammond is another of the
new priests, Father Eric Johansen.
June 19, 2015
Tennessee Register 15
Above photo by Andy Telli
Father Emmanuel Dirichukwu, above photo, blesses
Father Eric Fowlkes, pastor of Our Lady of the Lake
Church in Hendersonville, during the reception that
followed the ordination of Father Dirichukwu and
four other new priests on Friday, June 12. Father
Dirichukwu celebrated Mass at Our Lady of the Lake,
where he had served as a seminarian, on Sunday,
June 14. Bishop David Choby, photo at left, annoints
the hands of Father Ben Butler during the ordination.
Nigerian Catholic Community, Obi
said. “He’s nice, he’s gentle, he’s loving. He’s always there.”
Not only were members of the Nigerian community of Nashville on hand
for the ordination, but also Father
Dirichukwu’s father Aloysius and his
brother Harry, who traveled from
Nigeria for the ordination, Father Michael Sunday Sasa of the Diocese of
Lokoja, Nigeria, who vested the new
priest, and several Nigerian religious
sisters.
“I feel very good that so many Nigerians were there,” Father Dirichukwu
said. “I was kind of surprised with the
turnout” on a workday, he said. That so
many were there to celebrate with him
is “a memory I’ll have … for the rest of
my life.”
It was the first time Father Dirichukwu had seen his father and
brother since 2011. “I was so happy to
see them, to see how much they have
changed and they can see how well
I’ve been taken care of by my bishop,”
he said.
Seeing his son ordained made Father
Dirichukwu’s father “very happy,” he
said. “I thank the diocese.”
His brother’s ordination is “a dream
fulfilled,” said Harry Dirichukwu.
“He’s very faithful.”
During the laying on of hands, Father
Dirichukwu “felt the power of the Holy
Spirit, this is something significant,”
he said.
At the end of the Mass, Bishop
Choby congratulated the new priests.
“I’m glad you’ve persevered,” he said.
“I’ve got plenty of work for you to do.”
Father Butler has been assigned to
St. Joseph Church as associate pastor
and Father Gilstrap has been assigned
to work in the chancery with the
Diocesan Tribunal. Father Johansen
has been appointed a chaplain at Saint
Thomas Midtown Hospital. Father
Dirichukwu will return to Assumption
Seminary in San Antonio, Texas, to
complete his final semester of studies, and Father Bulso will return to
the North American College in Rome
where he is working on an advanced
degree in biblical theology. 
Priests from the Diocese of Nashville
and visiting priests watch the
ordination of five new diocesan
priests from the altar of the
Cathedral of the Incarnation. The
priests con-celebrated the ordination
Mass with Bishop David Choby.
To watch a video
of the ordination
of the Diocese of
Nashville’s five newest
priests, visit www.
dioceseofnashville.
com.