Before ordaining the five newest priests of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington who came from Maryland and from three Latin American countries, Cardinal Robert W. McElroy first thanked them for giving the greatest gift they could to Christ and the Church.
“It is Jesus Christ to whom you dedicate your lives this day, and it is Jesus Christ in the life of the Church whom you will serve by giving the greatest gift you can give – the gift of yourselves,” Washington’s archbishop said at the Mass of Priesthood Ordination on June 20, 2026 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
The cardinal ordained Father Brendan Basil Parlett, Father Federico José Mariano, Father Pedro Antonio López Berrios, Father David Ezequiel Narváez Vargas, and Father Jessiah S Rojas.
The Ordination Mass opened with the five men about to be ordained joining a dramatic procession that included 110 priests, a visiting archbishop, three bishops and a bishop-elect, and three cardinals. The thousands of people in the congregation included the families of the men about to be ordained, laity from parishes across the archdiocese, seminarians, and women religious.
In his opening remarks, Cardinal McElroy called it a day of great joy, and “a wondrous moment in the history of our archdiocese, as we welcome five splendid new men into the priesthood in service to our local Church.”
He thanked the five men “for the journey which has led you to this day,” and he thanked their families, noting that “they are truly the foundations of love and faith in your life.”
Along with priests of the Archdiocese of Washington, the concelebrants at the Mass included Cardinal Wilton Gregory and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who are both archbishops emeritus of Washington; Archbishop Valerian M. Okeke of Onitsha, Nigeria; Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, the bishop-designate of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, who has served in recent years as an auxiliary bishop of Washington; Washington Auxiliary Bishop Juan R. Esposito-Garcia; Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., an auxiliary bishop emeritus of Washington; and Bishop-elect Robert P. Boxie III, who will be ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Washington along with Bishop-elect Gary Studniewski on July 7.
The Rite of Priestly Ordination began with the calling of the candidates by name, and they came forward and were presented to the cardinal, who approved the candidates, and the congregation responded with applause.
Then in his homily, Cardinal McElroy reflected on the personal journeys that had led the five men to answer the call to priesthood.
“Each of you has traveled a different path to come here, but all of you stand here at this moment, ready to serve God in the Church for the rest of your life,” he said.
The cardinal noted how Deacon Pedro López, a native of Nicaragua, had been inspired after hearing a Scripture reading of God’s call to Abram to leave his life behind and follow God “as a missionary priest willing to go anywhere in the world.”
Washington’s archbishop pointed out how Deacon Federico Mariano had been moved by witnessing the “sense of freedom and joy” of missionary priests in his native Argentina, and then after a retreat with his Neocatechumenal Way community, he stepped forward to become a “missionary of Christ.”
For Deacon Jessiah Rojas – a native of Silver Spring who attended St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown – his call to priesthood was spurred by his experience as a football coach at Ave Maria University in Florida, the cardinal noted.
“You realized that in coaching there was a great capacity to form the hearts and souls of the young men on your team. And in a beautiful moment of insight, you realized that in priesthood that vocation of forming hearts and souls could be immensely amplified in the service of God,” Cardinal McElroy said.
Reflecting on a transformational moment in the life of Deacon David Narváez, a native of Ecuador, the cardinal pointed out how he had been studying industrial engineering and planning to work in his father’s business, but during a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2013, Deacon Narváez “came to realize that the Father you were actually being asked to join in your life’s work was God in the priesthood.”
Cardinal McElroy noted how Deacon Brendan Parlett – a native of Washington who grew up attending Sacred Heart Parish in Bowie – had been considering the priesthood, and then during a pilgrimage to Mexico City, he discerned that priesthood was not only his desire, but also God’s desire for him. In a vocations reflection, Deacon Parlett wrote that “I knew I could trust in my loving Father, that He had a plan for me.”
Summarizing their vocation journeys, the cardinal said, “Five separate pathways, one destination.”
Later in his homily, Cardinal McElroy encouraged the men about to be ordained to be guided by three key foundations of the priesthood.
Emphasizing how Christ redeemed the world and transformed human history by His saving actions, the cardinal said, “The proclamation of the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ constitutes the very essence of what it means to be a believer, and for you what it means to be a priest.”
Cardinal McElroy advised them that, “In all of your preaching, you must be first and foremost witnesses… It means that you are called as priests to enflame your souls with the fire of grace unleashed by Christ crucified and Christ risen.”
A second foundation for the priesthood, he said, “is the joy of the Gospel.”
“The penetrating insight of Pope Francis in his first great call to the people of God was to reveal with power and depth the joy that we as disciples of Jesus Christ should have in our lives,” the cardinal said. “For you as priests, this is doubly true. For God anoints you in a definitive way today to bring the glad tidings of the Gospel to all whom you encounter with the joy that is always intertwined with the Gospel.”
Cardinal McElroy said the third and most important foundation for their priesthood is having “a tender, abiding love for the people you serve.”
Pointing to the example of the Risen Christ, the cardinal said, “The love of the Good Shepherd is total and without reserve, tender and courageous. This is the love you are called to have for the people of God whom the Church will entrust to your care through the priesthood.”
He underscored how as priests they will bring the real presence of Jesus to people through the celebration of the Eucharist, and in forgiving sins in the name of God and the Church through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, they will bring consolation to people who need healing.
“And in going out to the lost sheep, you exemplify the most poignant dimension of God’s love for us: the recognition that at moments all of us are lost in our lives and need God to tangibly reach out to us and draw us back,” the cardinal said.
Concluding his homily, Cardinal McElroy said, “Today you are ordained priests of Jesus Christ. In your ministry may you always be witnesses to the salvation we have received in Christ, agents of Gospel joy in the world and emblems of God’s tender love for all. May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.”
The Rite of Priestly Ordination continued with the examination of the candidates, and then a promise of their obedience to the archbishop and his successors.
In the dramatic invitation to prayer, the five men lay prostrate before the altar, as a litany of saints was sung, seeking their intercession.
During the laying on of hands, the cardinal placed his hands on each candidate, praying to the Holy Spirit to fill him with wisdom and grace. Moments later, the priests in attendance did the laying of hands on the candidates as they filed past them.
Extending his hands over the candidates, Cardinal McElroy said a prayer of ordination, and then each newly ordained priest was invested in a stole and chasuble.
In the next part of the rite, the cardinal anointed the hands of the new priests with chrism as they knelt before him.
After family members brought offertory gifts to the cardinal, he presented the bread and wine to the newly ordained to signify that they will be presiding at the Eucharist.
The cardinal, the participating bishops and some of the priests then offered a sign of peace to the newly ordained priests.
As the Mass continued, the five new priests stood beside the cardinal at the altar and joined him during the consecration, and they later helped distribute Communion.
The choir from the archdiocese’s Redemptoris Mater Seminary sang a song of Thanksgiving in Spanish after Communion.
After offering a closing prayer, Cardinal McElroy again thanked the families of the new priests, and also the concelebrating cardinals, bishops and priests, saying that they along with the people in the congregation were “celebrating in prayer and dedicating these new men to God for the rest of their lives.”
The five new priests offered a blessing to the cardinal, and then they stood together to offer a first blessing to the people gathered there, who responded with applause. As the new priests processed down the center and side aisles, they were greeted with joyful applause that cascaded through the basilica as they passed by each section.
Then the new priests went to separate chapels in the National Shrine to offer first blessings to people who lined up to congratulate them.
On the next day, fittingly on Father’s Day, the five newest priests of the Archdiocese of Washington would be celebrating their first Masses at Catholic churches in Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Links to updated profile articles on the five new priests with information on their first Masses:
https://www.cathstan.org/local/deacon-l%C3%B3pez-finds-joy-in-being-a-witness-of-christ-to-others
https://www.cathstan.org/local/future-priest-seeks-to-bring-gods-forgiveness-to-people
