Dear Faithful of the Ordinariate,

During this Advent Embertide, when we pray especially for vocations to the priesthood, I give thanks for the gift of our seminarians. In addition to those of us who are converts from Anglicanism, the Lord is raising up young men from among our Ordinariate communities to be formed for the sacred priesthood to serve our churches. They are an answer to these Embertide prayers.

As the Director of Vocations, it is a particular joy to pray for them each day and to assist them to the altar beginning with the very first conversations about their discernment until the day of their ordination, and then to share with them the gift of priesthood. This Saturday, we will gain a new deacon on the path to the priesthood. Bishop Lopes will ordain Mr. Brian Wehrle to the Diaconate, here at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham. Brian is a seminarian from Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Ordinariate community in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a seminarian at St. Mary’s Seminary, here in Houston, where Deacon Christian Francke, Deacon Andrew Yaremko, Michael Ullrich, and Preston Shaver are currently in formation. We get to see them often when they have free weekends or they attend events here at the Chancery or Cathedral.

Vocation Directors are expected to make annual visits to the seminaries where seminarians are in formation. These visits include meetings with the seminary faculty responsible for formation and with the seminarians themselves. In November, I visited Christopher Ullrich, Ian Calkins, Joshua Culhane, and Luke Westerman at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. During that visit, I celebrated Mass according to Divine Worship for the seminary community and our seminarians served the Mass. In October, I travelled to Rome to visit our seminarian, Luis Araiza, at the Pontifical North American College. While there, he and I were among the throngs in St. Peter’s at the Mass on All Saints’ Day when Pope Leo XIV named St. John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Universal Church.

As we think of vocations to the priesthood, St. John Henry Newman is a model priest. As an Anglican, he personally visited all his parishioners in their homes and kept a diary of his visits. As a Catholic priest, he loved the Mass and the priestly fraternity that he shared in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri that he founded. He is renowned for his sermons that are spiritually vibrant, intellectually engaging, and pastorally accessible. He was a spiritual director, confessor, and friend to many. In his writings, whether meditations and verse, history, theology, philosophy, autobiography, fiction, or personal letters (of which there are 32 published volumes), his concern was to witness to the kindly light of truth for the conversion of sinners and for the education of the laity.

As we commemorate these Advent Ember Days, let us implore the intercession of St. John Henry Newman for our seminarians and for those discerning a vocation to the priesthood.

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his—if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.

-Saint John Henry Newman

Very Rev. Richard Kramer

Vicar General | Director of Vocations and Clergy Formation

Ember Days follow an ancient practice of the church to pray for vocations to the priesthood. December 3, 5 and 6 are Ember Days of Advent this year. Please pray for our seminarians as they continue to respond to God's call.

Prayer for Embertide:

O ALMIGHTY God, look mercifully upon the world, redeemed by the blood of thy dear Son, and incline the hearts of all whom thou dost call to offer themselves for the sacred ministry of thy Church; that there may never be wanting a supply of fit persons to preach thy Word, and dispense thy holy Sacraments; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Deacon Christian Francke

Saint Mary's Seminary
St. Thomas More, Scranton, PA

Deacon Andrew Yaremko

Saint Mary's Seminary

St. Thomas More, Toronto, ON, Canada

Brian Wehrle

Saint Mary's Seminary

Annunciation, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Michael Ullrich

Saint Mary's Seminary

Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX

Luis Araiza

Pontifical North American College

Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX

Preston Shaver

Saint Mary's Seminary

Christ the King, Towson, MD

Ian Calkins

Pontifical College Josephinum

Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX

Christopher Ullrich

Pontifical College Josephinum

Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX

Joshua Culhane

Pontifical College Josephinum

Our Lady of the Atonement, San Antonio, TX

Luke Westerman

Pontifical College Josephinum

St. Barnabas, Omaha, NE

Worship Office

Winter [Advent] Embers - 2025

Traditionally, the Embertide is a time to give thanks for the harvest. In spring, we gave thanks for the renewal of the earth and the gift of light as the days grew longer. In summer, we thanked the Lord for the gift of wheat, and in autumn again for the grape harvest. Now as winter approaches, we pray in gratitude for the olive crop.

From these harvests will come the bread, the wine, and the sacred oils that will nourish and strengthen us in the Sacraments. We recall the prayers of the Offertory (Form II), as the priest presents the bread and wine at the Altar of God, that these are “fruit of the earth and the work of human hands”. And so, as we give thanks for these harvests we also give thanks for the abundance of grace poured out in the divine mysteries of our faith.

In the Ordinariate, the Advent Embers are celebrated in the first week (rather than the third) in order to preserve that other wonderful liturgical practice of the O Antiphons (Sapientiatide), which begin in the third week of Advent.

EMBER Wednesday IN ADVENT

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that the coming festival of our redemption may obtain for us the comfort of thy succour in this life, and in the life to come the reward of eternal felicity; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

EMBER FRIDAY IN ADVENT

STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power, and come among us: that we, who put our trust and confidence in thy mercy, may speedily be delivered from all our adversities; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

EMBER SATURDAY IN ADVENT

O GOD, who seest us to be sore afflicted by reason of the frailty of our mortal nature: grant, we beseech thee, that we may be relieved by thy gracious visitation; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The St. Gregory Prayerbook has a number of wonderful devotions to pray gathered in the home around the Advent Wreath and the Christmas Crib. Here are blessings for the season that may be said by the head of the household.

Blessing of a Family Advent Wreath

The head of the house blesses the wreath, saying:

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick;

and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

V. Our help is in the Name of the Lord.

R. Who hath made heaven and earth.

V. O Lord, hear our prayer;

R. And let our cry come unto thee.

Let us pray.

O LORD Jesus Christ, who art the true light that lightest every man that cometh into the world: bless, we pray thee, this wreath and its candles which we shall light in preparation for thy coming; and so enkindle our hearts with the fire of thy love that we may receive thee with joy and gladness, and evermore stand fast in the faith; who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.

Blessing of a Family Christmas Crèche

The head of the house blesses the crèche, saying:

Whilst all things were in quiet, and night was in the midst of her swift course,

thine almighty Word, O Lord, leaped down out of heaven.

V. Our help is in the Name of the Lord.

R. Who hath made heaven and earth.

V. O Lord, hear our prayer;

R. And let our cry come unto thee.

Let us pray.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who [as on this night] didst cause thine only-begotten Son to be born of the blessed and glorious ever virgin Mary for our salvation: vouchsafe, we beseech thee, so to bless this crib, wherein are shown forth the wonders of that sacred birth; that all those who, beholding the same, shall ponder and adore the mystery of his holy incarnation, may be filled with thy heavenly benediction unto life eternal; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessing of a Family Christmas Tree

The head of the house blesses the tree, saying:

All the trees of the wood shall rejoice before the Lord;

for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth.

V. Our help is in the Name of the Lord.

R. Who hath made heaven and earth.

V. O Lord, hear our prayer;

R. And let our cry come unto thee.

Let us pray.

O GOD, who hast caused this holy season to shine with the brightness of the Light of Life: deign to bless this tree, which we have decked with ornaments and lights in honour of him who hath delivered us from darkness and the shadow of death; and grant that our souls may in such wise be adorned with the ornaments of good works, and make the light of virtue so to shine in us, that we may draw all men unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

To celebrate St. John Henry Newman being named a Doctor of the Church, Fr. Nathan Davis recently offered his five-part "Intro to Newman" lecture series to the faithful of the Ordinariate. All of the lectures were recorded and can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/@bnathand

2025 Holy Year Plenary Indulgence

During the Jubilee Year 2025, all the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin, who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the Holy Year, purified through the sacrament of Penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins. The Jubilee Indulgence can be obtained in the following ways:

By making a pious pilgrimage to any designated Jubilee Site (in the Ordinariate: the Cathedral, Mt. Calvary Parish, and St. John the Evangelist Parish). A pious pilgrimage means: attending Mass there, participating in a celebration of the Divine Office or the Stations of the Cross, praying the rosary there, by going to Confession, or by praying in that church the pilgrimage prayers prepared for the Jubilee Year.
By visiting one of the four papal Basilicas in Rome: St. Peter’s, The Basilica of the Holy Savior (St. John Lateran), St. Mary Major, or St. Paul Outside the Walls.
By visiting one of the major Basilicas in the Holy Land.
By participating in a parish mission, retreat, or formation class sponsored by the diocese or parish.
By visiting for an appropriate amount of time someone in need or difficulty (the sick, elderly people, disabled people, prisoners).
By undertaking a concrete act of charity or volunteer service for the benefit of others.

(The Holy Year will conclude in dioceses on Holy Family Sunday, December 28, 2025 and in Rome on Epiphany, January 6, 2026.)