Five men of the Diocese of Trenton will mark another step on their journey toward the priesthood when they are ordained to the transitional diaconate by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, May 16 at 10 a.m.

A video of the Transitional Deacon Ordination will be available in about 48 hours. Thank you for watching the live stream and pray for our newly ordained.

Ordination as a transitional deacon generally occurs after a seminarian has completed at least three years of study in theology and takes place usually one year prior to priestly ordination. As deacons, they will be ordinary ministers of Baptism, and will be able to preside at weddings, assist the priest at Mass, proclaim the Gospel and preach, as well as preside at wakes and funeral services.

As men who are committed to becoming priests, transitional deacons, make a promise of celibacy.

This year’s class of transitional deacons includes: Gregg Leo Loreno Abadilla, Christopher J. Colavito, Richard M. Osborn, John Michael Patilla, and Daniel McKee Price.

Gregg Leo Loreno Abadilla

Though he admitted, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d come to America,” seminarian Gregg Leo Loreno Abadilla has diligently worked toward a future of service in the Diocese of Trenton.

Abadilla was born Sept. 29, 1986, in Mabini, Jovellar Albay, Philippines, to Cleofe Loreno Abadilla and the late Gregorio Sr. He is the brother of Frances Gay, 26; Gregorio Jr., 22, and Camille Rose, 18.

He was educated in the Philippines, first in Jovellar Central School in Jovellar Albay, then attended St. Gregory the Great Seminary in the country’s Panal Tabaco City. Due to his father’s illness and financial challenges, Abadilla reluctantly took a leave from the seminary. He moved to Manila, enrolled in a community college to study marine transportation and even worked as a coffee barista in a Starbucks.

While rooming with high school classmate Carlo Calisin (now parochial vicar in Our Lady of Perpetual Help - St. Agnes Parish, Atlantic Highlands), Abadilla learned the Diocese of Trenton was accepting seminarians from the Philippines. He moved to the United States in 2009, then earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities from St. Mary Seminary and University, Baltimore, in 2011.

Abadilla’s summer assignments have included Sacred Heart Parish, Trenton; Corpus Christi Parish, Willingboro; St. William the Abbot Parish, Howell; St. Alphonsus Parish, Hopewell, and Ascension Parish, Bradley Beach. His hobbies include reading, singing, playing basketball and working out.

He will be vested as a transitional deacon by Father Vicente Magdaraog, parochial vicar, St. Veronica Parish, Howell. He will serve his transitional diaconate year assignment in St. Mary Parish, Barnegat.

Christopher J. Colavito

As Christopher J. Colavito approaches his ordination as a transitional deacon, he says he considers himself “blessed to have been called to serve the people of the Diocese of Trenton.”

Citing himself as an example of what can happen when young men are open to the call of a vocation, he urges them to “keep their hearts and minds open to the will and possible call to service by our Lord.”

For, as Colavito happily notes, with a resume leaning more toward the public square than the pulpit, “this was never part of my plans for life.”

Born Jan. 25, 1979, to Ernest and Nancy Colavito, he grew up in Toms River along with his brother, Michael, 33. He attended Cedar Grove Elementary School there and graduated from Toms River High School East in 1997.

Colavito went on to Ocean County College where he earned an associate’s degree in liberal arts in 2000. He pursued studies in Rutgers University and completed a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2002. In 2011, he was awarded a master’s degree in American history from Monmouth University, West Long Branch.

During those years of study, he worked as a consultant for local, county and political campaigns as a field operations director between 1998 and 2003. From 2003 and 2008, he was employed as a personal assistant to a commissioner in the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. From 2008 to 2010, he managed the Manahawkin office of the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles.

In 2010, in a profound change of direction, he responded to the call for the priesthood and began formation in St. Mary Seminary and University, Baltimore, where he is pursuing a master of divinity degree and a master’s degree in theology.

As a seminarian, his summer assignments have been for the New Jersey Catholic Conference in Trenton, his home parish of St. Barnabas, Bayville, in 2013 and Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Moorestown, 2014.

His vesting priest at ordination will be Father Stanley P. Lukaszewski, pastor of St. Barnabas Parish.

“I look forward with great anticipation to serving as a transitional deacon for our parishes here in the Diocese as well as my assignment parish when I return to school in Baltimore,” said Colavito, who asked that the “people of the Diocese continue to pray for me and all our seminarians.”

He will serve his transitional diaconate year assignment in St. Aloysius Parish, Jackson.

Richard M. Osborn

As he approaches ordination as a transitional deacon, Richard M. Osborn reflected on the gifts bestowed on him by God.

“I feel blessed to be about to be ordained a transitional deacon,” said Osborn. “God has been so good and generous to me,” he said, adding that he “hopes to be an instrument of God” when, “God willing,” he is ordained to the priesthood next June.

A shore native who will turn 28 on Aug. 31, Osborn was born to Richard L. and Debra Osborn. The family worships in St. Jerome Parish, West Long Branch. He went to West Long Branch public schools and graduated from Shore Regional High School there in 2006. He went to Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, then transferred to Richard Stockton College, Galloway, where in 2010 he earned a bachelor of arts degree in history with a minor in political science.

He began his priestly formation in 2010 and the coming academic year will be the last of his studies in St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood, Pa. He will receive his master of divinity degree from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary a few days before his transitional diaconate ordination.

His summer assignments in parishes throughout the Diocese have included Holy Cross Parish, Rumson, 2012; St. Theresa Parish, Little Egg Harbor, 2013, and St. Ann Parish, Keansburg. His transitional deacon year assignment will bring him to St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Cinnaminson. He will serve in the parish during the summer and on weekends during the academic year.

At ordination, he will be vested by Deacon Anthony DiCesare of St. Jerome Parish.

A third degree Knight of Columbus and member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, he enjoys conversing about history, current events and the Catholic faith.

A member of the Alpha-Iota-Upsilon Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society, Osborn, who fenced during college and would like to resume the sport, said he enjoys spending time outdoors with family and friends, biking and swimming.

Osborn said that he is looking forward to serving the people of St. Charles Borromeo Parish this summer as a transitional deacon. He noted the connection he feels with the saint who is his Confirmation saint and the fact that the seminary bears his name. “He has been a major presence in my life,” said Osborn of St. Charles Borromeo.

“God willing, I will be ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ in June, 2016. I hope to be an instrument of God, to be a bridge for others to help them come to the realization of the goodness and power of God. I also hope to encourage young men to see if God is calling them to the amazing vocation of the priesthood,” Osborn said. “I ask for all those reading this, to pray for me and all my classmates.”

John Michael Patilla 

Born and raised in the Philippines, John Michael Patilla exudes happiness about preparing for the priesthood in the Diocese of Trenton and his ordination as a transitional deacon.

He expressed joy about his studies in St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Baltimore, and the parish experiences he has already had during his years of formation.

Patilla, 26, was born to Vic Maynard and Maria Patilla May 18, 1989, and he has two sisters, Monique, 27 and Maureen, 17. He attended Sulat Central Elementary School in Sulat, Eastern Samar, Philippines, and graduated from the Seminario De Jesus Nazareno High School in Borongan, Easter Samar.

He earned philosophy degrees from Nativity of Our Lady College Seminary, Borongan, in 2006 and St. Mary’s College Borongan, 2010, where he graduated cum laude. He continues his studies in theology begun in 2011, in St. Mary’s Seminary and University.

He spoke of how he was inspired by an uncle and cousin who were priests and “mostly all of my cousins on my mother’s side,” he said, and he “had it in mind to enter seminary. I started young, in high school at 14 and then went to college seminary.”

At one point, he decided to take a year off to discern his calling. “Even though I was working and happy, I was longing for something higher,” he said. “I decided the place I found my happiness was in seminary life” and returned to complete his studies.

Patilla expressed enthusiasm for his parish assignments in the Diocese. In the summer of 2012, he served in Epiphany Parish, Brick, where he was involved in liturgical events and vacation Bible school.

“I was assigned to St. James Parish, Red Bank, where I stayed for my pastoral year.  I worked in St. James Elementary School focusing on liturgical celebrations and catechesis. I also volunteered as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion in Riverview Hospital.”

He will be vested as a transitional deacon by Father Sheldon Amasa, parochial vicar of St. Rose of Lima Parish, Freehold.

An accomplished musician who performed in an alternative/rock band in the Philippines, his hobbies include playing music ranging from classical, to country, to inspirational to rock and pop and a broad range of reading from philosophy and theology to allegorical and fantasy novels.

For his diaconate year assignment, Patilla will serve in St. James Parish, Red Bank.

Daniel McKee Price

As a former long-distance truck driver, Daniel McKee Price has traveled many places througout the country. But it is his trip from Baltimore to Trenton to be ordained a transitional deacon that he is now focused on. Price, a native of Michigan who has also lived in Maryland and West Virginia, is eager to begin his ministry where he says “the people at the parishes I have served at, the priests I have met, the Bishop and all those associated … have been wonderful and very supportive.”

Price was born Aug. 4, 1971 in Traverse City, Mich., to Charles and Patricia Price. He is the brother to Julie, now 41. When young Daniel was two years old, the family moved to Maryland where Price attended Sts. Peter and Paul School, Easton, and Queen Anne’s County High School, Centreville. He graduated from Towson University, Towson, Md., in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in history.

Price worked a number of jobs after graduation: in the banking industry as a teller and operations clerk; a life insurance salesman; a long-distance tractor trailer driver who drove between Pennsylvania and Florida, and a delivery driver of medical and industrial gas in the Hagerstown, Md., area.

Price heard the call to the priesthood while his family was living in West Virginia. He entered seminary formation for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, but discerned West Virginia was not where he felt called to serve. Visits to the home of friend and fellow seminarian Christopher Colavito of Toms River “allowed me to see New Jersey and how beautiful a state it was,” Price remembered, and he realized the Garden State would be the place he would minister.

Following ordination, Price will serve his diaconate year assignment in St. Catharine-St. Margaret Parish, Spring Lake, and will continue with his seminary studies in St. Mary Seminary and University, Baltimore.  He expects to earn his master of divinity degree next year.

His summer assignments have included St. Paul Parish, Princeton; Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Hainesport, and St. Catharine Parish, Holmdel. He is a Fourth degree Knights of Columbus member of the Princeton Council and Bishop Griffin Assembly.

Price will be vested as a transitional deacon by Deacon Frank Crivello of St. Paul Parish, Princeton, “because he has a very giving and loving heart for the people he ministers to as a deacon,” Price asserted.