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Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

ORDAINED IN PUERTO RICO

When Andrew Sullivan was the very first subject for this column in 1999, this El Cajon native was studying theology in Rome. Fresh out of the seminary, Father Sullivan was ordained six weeks ago, August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, in Ponce, Puerto Rico at the city's pro-cathedral.

"I made a fifteen day Ignatian retreat before ordination, so I had a lot of time to think seriously about what I was doing. A lot of people will get married or ordained amongst a lot of distractions because of all the activity around them. For me, that just wasn't so. It was a deeply spiritual experience."

Ordained in the Miles Jesu order, Father Sullivan was right at home at the ceremony, even though it was in Puerto Rico. "It was actually our own parish, the parish of our order. It was an ordination of about 60 priests, with about 1300 people in the church. It was packed, standing room only. Even though it was in the evening, it was almost 115 degrees in the church. I felt like I was cooking inside of there!"

After spending six years studying in Rome, Father Sullivan will be returning to Rome for one more year of study, to obtain a licentiate in Dogmatic Theology from the Santa Croce. "It's a new pontifical university. It's more popularly known as the university for Opus Dei."

Like all priests of his order, Sullivan will be bi-ritual, although he is not yet and can only offer the Latin rite by himself. "I really prefer the liturgy of the Byzantine rite. I think it's more conducive to prayer. It's done with a great amount of reverence and it helps move you to communicate with Our Lord. Although you can do the Latin Mass with as much reverence, it's less common to see it done reverently. I think the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom has more and deeper theological concepts. As you go through the liturgy and think about what you are saying, there's just more there. It's longer and more ornate. The Latin rite is progressively losing people to the Byzantine rite."

Sullivan will soon be able to offer the Ukrainian rite, one of many Byzantine variants, based on the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. "In 1990, when the Berlin Wall fell, we [the order] went to help in Eastern Europe and one of those countries was Ukraine. The rite that was predominant there was the Ukrainian Byzantine rite, so we decided that if that's their rite, we will adapt ourselves to it.

Sullivan is anxious to go wherever his order sends him. "We do quite a bit of work in the Ukraine. I've learned Ukrainian, though I'm not an expert at it, but I can get by in it. I can read the Ukrainian characters."

In his first News Notes interview, Father Sullivan initimated that he didn't bother contacting seminaries that were not committed to the Holy Father and the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church. He admits that included San Diego's St. Francis Seminary. "It's not that I even had enough contact that they would even know my name. I knew about people who were as orthodox as I was and ... well, I just knew I would have problems here, so why begin?"

For Sullivan, there is a difference between being a lay member of Miles Jesu and an ordained priest. "I joined our community in '79 and worked as a layman for 16 years before studying for the priesthood. During those years I've worked all kinds of apostolates, music, retreat work, public speaking, lecture ... all kinds of things. One thing I noticed immediately is that while all of those things are good, necessary, and effective, when you're a priest, you're dealing with a new power that far surpasses what any of those other things are able to do. When you have the sacramental power to consecrate the bread and wine and make it the body and blood of Christ, I'm finding that that's the peak of being able to help others."

Those interested in finding out more about Miles Jesu can write to: Miles Jesus Seminary Program, c/o Joan Sullivan, 8242 N. Poinciana, El Cajon, CA 92021.

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