June 5, 2009
Washington to celebrate ordination of native son to priesthood
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Wednesday morning. Deacon Dennis Hilderbrand lets out a small but happy yell when asked about the rapidly approaching event of this Saturday. Ryan Hilderbrand, the son of Deacon Dennis and Terri Hilderbrand of Washington, will be ordained a priest for the Diocese of Evansville.
“It’s the good Lord who has brought us through it it,” said Deacon Dennis. “There have been some bumps along the way, but we’re nearing the end.”
As is the reality in most situations, the end is in fact another beginning. Father Ryan Hilderbrand will be the newest priest of the diocese, the only one to be ordained this year.
The new priest will be ordained by Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger at 10 a.m. CDT in St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville, then return to Washington to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 5 p.m. EDT at Our Lady of Hope Church. A reception will follow at the Knights of Columbus hall.
In his column, the Bishop’s Forum, prepared for next week, Bishop Gettelfinger praises the man who will be a priest as “the son of a faith-filled family and of a faith-filled parish community” who will be making an unconditional and unself-ish commmitemnt to the Church.
(Another family in the parish is already celebrating an ordination: Father Josh McCarty, the son of Greg and Cynthia McCarty, was ordained by Bishop John McRaith for the Diocese of Owensboro, May 30.)
Ryan Hilderbrand was ordained a transitional deacon in 2008, and since that time he and his father — a permanent deacon have held that relative distinction of both being deacons. On Saturday, Dea-con Dennis’ son will become “Father Ryan.”
In a previously published article in the Message, the younger Hilderbrand acknowledged the impact of his family and of the Catholic community.
“We’ve always been blessed in Wash-ington with good priests,” he said. “I had a lot of respect for them. They were men who commanded respect, and they were people I wanted to be like.”
Staff writer Mary Ann Hughes reported in that article that Ryan had “attended Washington Catholic schools for 12 years, and made a Teens Encounter Christ [TEC] weekend while he was in high school. Once again, he came away with a new understanding of priests and their lives. While watching Father Tony Ernst during the TEC weekend, Ryan saw priesthood as an option for himself.”
When he talked with his parents about his calling, “They always kind of knew, and they were not surprised when I said that I was going to seminary.
“They never introduced me as ‘this is our priest’ and they never put any pressure on me, because they knew it was between me and God and the Church.”
The younger Hilderbrand completed college studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and theolgy studies at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Ill. He spent six months in pastoral practice at St. Joseph Church in Jasper.
The new priest’s appointment is ex-pected to be announced shortly after his ordination.