Posted on 05/24/2007 9:31:25 PM PDT by Coleus
After three blissful Italian vaca tions, the striking scenery of Sor rento had settled snugly into Carmen Buono's memory. Glorious sunsets off the hotel balcony. Stun ning cliffs of the Amalfi Coast. The woman he loved -- his wife, Barbara -- at his side. Then, in 2002, at age 63, Buono returned to Sorrento with friends, one of them a Franciscan monk. He again inhaled the coastal beauty, aching more than a little as he thought of Barbara, who had died two years earlier. And he felt drawn, for the first time, to voice what had been on his mind for months.
He wanted to become a Roman Catholic priest.
The monk replied Buono was too old to join the order. But once home in New Jersey, Buono spoke with Paterson Diocese clergy, who seemed open, and in 2004 he entered a specialized seminary. Now, on Saturday, he will be ordained, becoming one of a small number of Catholic priests with children. And apparently the oldest new Catholic priest in the country. The Church is ordaining 475 priests in the United States this year. In New Jersey, the Paterson Diocese will ordain four; the Newark Archdiocese, 13; the Trenton and Camden dioceses, five apiece; and the Metuchen Diocese, one.
Buono's age -- he turns 69 on June 17 -- makes him an anomaly among priests even in a Church where the ages of newly ordained priests have been rising. The average age is 35 this year, up from 28 in the 1960s and 26 in the 1940s. As a national shortage of Catholic priests has worsened, bishops have come to rely more on "second-career priests." Buono, a retired therapist and public school principal who raised a family in West Caldwell, says he decided to become a priest be cause he
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
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be cause he wanted to exert his energy in a meaningful, spiritual way after his wife died.
Just had to finish that sentence.
Neat story.
God bless Father Buono! Best of luck in your ministry.
Seems humble, which always a good thing.
dedicated priests, no matter their age = a good thing!
May God Bless him with a long(er) life.
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