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from June 19, 2005
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More Photos of Father Joseph Irwin's Ordination

Father Joseph Michael Irwin
Ordained at
Cathedral of Our Lady

By Ray Dyer
The Sooner Catholic

OKLAHOMA CITY - The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City has a new priest. His name is Father Joseph Michael Irwin.

Hundreds of Oklahoma Catholics gathered inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help to witness and participate in the Eucharistic Celebration as Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran conferred the Sacrament of Holy Orders to Joseph Michael Irwin.

Dozens of priests joined in the Ordination as they welcomed Father Irwin as their brother priest. The Ordination took place the evening of June 3, the feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Throughout the day, meteorologists warned the Oklahoma skies could produce severe weather. But the storms never came. Not on this evening.

 "Joseph, I call you by name at the beginning of our service but at the end I will rightly call you "Father," Archbishop Beltran said in his homily. The archbishop said the late Pope John Paul II began his ministry as a young man when he was ordained a priest close to 60 years ago. "More than half a century later, as he closed his eyes in death, the world acclaimed him. I believe the tribute given him arose from his faithfulness to his priesthood.

"If there is any expectation that people have of priests, it is to be led to Jesus," Archbishop Beltran said.  "From the priest they ask for God. Through the priest they seek Christ, the Son of the living God."

Father Irwin's family was well represented in the Mass. His mother Cathy Irwin and his godmother Anna Voelker served as Readers, while the gifts of bread and wine were brought forward by Michael Irwin, his father; his brother, Benjamin; and his  grandparents, Bill and Martha Hampton. Archbishop Beltran accepted the gifts and placed them into the hands of the newly ordained priest.

Following the Ordination a reception was held in the Connor Center where newly Ordained Father Joseph Michael Irwin was surrounded by family and friends. He placed his hands on his well-wishers and loved ones and prayed for them. Many knelt before him while he prayed for them, his hands firmly placed on their heads.

On Saturday evening, Father Irwin celebrated his first Mass at Saint Joseph Church Norman, the parish in which he was raised.

Father Meinard Miller, OSB, Atchison, Kan. offered the homily.

"Christ does not lead us to the road of eternal life, Christ IS the road to eternal life," Father Miller said. "Our journey to eternity does not begin at death, it began at Baptism. We have been befriended by Christ, and only in this friendship, our Holy Father reminds us, do we experience what is good and free.

"Father Irwin, in every Mass you say, in every homily you preach, in every sacrament you celebrate, show the people of God that friendship in Christ is not only possible, it is what God intends. It is the true liberation the world has been seeking from the time of the prophets of old."