Pictured above from left to right: Fr. Jim Loughran, SA, The Most Reverend Donald J. Reece, Fr. Jose Delgado, SA, and Minister General Fr. Brian Terry, SA
Fr. Jose Delgado, SA, the newest Atonement Friar, realized a goal he has been pursuing for more than half a century when he was ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church at Graymoor on Thursday, April 25, 2019.
Fr. Jose served as a priest and then as a Bishop with the Hermanos Franciscanos de la Providencia, an Anglican Community based in Puerto Rico, from 1966 until 2018, when he officially entered the Society of the Atonement. During his 53 years serving as a Franciscan Anglican priest, he longed to be reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church, and continually looked for help with his petition. After many years of searching, Fr. Jose found his place with the Society of the Atonement, and like our founder, Servant of God Fr. Paul Wattson, SA, Fr. Jose looks forward to continued work towards the unity of the church as Jesus prayed in John 17: 21 “that they all may be one.”
For The Most Reverend Donald J. Reece, Emeritus Archbishop of Kingston, who presided over the ordination, it was a homecoming of sorts, since he began his service to the priesthood at Graymoor with the Society of the Atonement as a Brother in the 1950s. He left to pursue the priesthood in 1962, and after eight years of study at Catholic University of America, he began his first priestly assignment with his home diocese in Jamaica, West Indies. Over his many years serving as priest, bishop and archbishop in the Eastern Caribbean, he maintained his close connection to the Society of the Atonement, and has been blessed to serve at several ordinations for the community over the years. About this ordination in particular, Archbishop Reece said, “It’s a wonderful development and a true reliving of Fr. Paul Wattson’s journey.”
May God bless Fr. Jose Delgado, SA as he lives out his true calling of At-One-Ment.