A lifelong ‘yes’

Father Cornelius Deep was ordained to the priesthood May 30

Leading up to his ordination, Father Cornelius Deep said he expected to feel overcome with emotion on the actual day. Yet, as God often does, He had something different in store. Father described his experience as calm and full of peace, sharing that he was “just really resting my head on Jesus’ chest — very focused on the Lord.”

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse was filled with music and anticipation on the morning of May 30 as hundreds gathered to witness and welcome the diocese’s newest and dearly beloved priest. Bishop Douglas J. Lucia served as the principal celebrant, with Bishop Emeritus Robert J. Cunningham, Father John Kurgan, and Monsignor Neal Quartier as concelebrants.

Among those in attendance were newlyweds Nathaniel and Madison Erickson, married just last month. Father Cornelius officiated their wedding while serving as transitional deacon.

“I think the way he brings joy to everyone he meets is super inspiring, and the way he brings his faith into the amazing person that he is, just really makes him so gravitational, and it’s why everyone’s here today,” said Nathaniel.

“He’s going to do amazing wherever he is,” Madison added. “He’s such an amazing person.”

Seton seniors Colin Patterson and Ty McLaughlin traveled from Binghamton to watch their mentor and friend be ordained a priest. When Father was serving at St. Vincent de Paul Blessed Sacrament in Binghamton during his pastoral year, he was also mentoring students and teaching ninth- and 10th-grade theology classes at Seton Catholic. There, he would make a remarkable impression, spreading the Good News to the many kids he encountered that year. So much so that when his assignment ended, a group of students formed the “God Squad” to keep the faith alive and thriving in the school.

“He has been an invaluable person to have in our school,” said Patterson, a member of the God Squad. “He’s really brought the faith into the community, and like, brought it alive within not only the school, but within kids who have never been to church, never thought about God, and really carried that through the school and onto all the sports teams that he interacted with.”

McLaughlin, who made his Sacrament of Baptism this Easter, agreed. “I wasn’t a part of the God Squad, but ‘Corn’ was a big part of me growing my faith. He was a big part of my getting baptized.”

On the evening before ordination, the diocese held a special Holy Hour for Vocations offered specifically for the intentions of then-Deacon Cornelius before his ordination to the Sacred Priesthood. Fourteen high school and college-aged youth whom Father Cornelius met during his pastoral year in Binghamton served as altar servers. They also served at his ordination Mass and some even for his First Mass of Thanksgiving the following day. “I won’t ever forget that part of my ordination!” Father said. “Seeing the fruits of my labor.”

Another meaningful moment he recalled was during the laying on of hands, a central part of the ordination rite, when the bishop and priests silently lay their hands upon the head of the elect. “I had my eyes closed, and so I did not know who each priest was, but I found that I was saying in my mind, as many of them did it, ‘I love you, Christ,’ and it is fitting because each priest is an alter Christus (Latin for ‘another Christ’). It felt like Jesus was laying His hands on my head.” The phrase alter Christus emphasizes that the priest, through ordination, is configured to Christ and acts in His name in service to God’s people.

In his homily, Bishop Lucia reminded Father Cornelius that he has been “taken among the people and appointed on their behalf in those things that pertain to God,” urging him to “fulfill the ministry of Christ the Priest with abiding joy and genuine love, seeking not [his] own concerns but those of Jesus Christ.”

“Cornelius, let the holiness of your life be a pleasing fragrance for Christ’s faithful and a living Gospel for all people to hear …” the bishop continued. “Keep always before your eyes the example of the One who chose you and who, as the Good Shepherd, did not come to be served but to serve and who came to seek and save what is lost.” Bishop Lucia’s full homily can be found on page 3.

For Jeremiah Deep, Father Cornelius’ older brother, the ordination rite featuring the investiture with the stole and chasuble was the moment of realization, when it all became real for him. “He is a priest. My brother’s now a priest,” he said, “and then to see him get embraced by all the priests that were there and Father Joe O’Connor who got to vest him, and I know him very well … that was very emotional for me.”

Father O’Connor is the vice rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Before his current role, however, he served in vocations promotion and later as the director of seminarians for the diocese, appearing at pivotal moments throughout Cornelius’ path to the priesthood.

“I remember him coming to my elementary school … eating lunch with him in the cafeteria,” Father Cornelius said. “He would come into our classroom and teach us about vocations.

“The Lord just placed him in my life since I was little,” he added.

Father also shared that over the last six years in the seminary, Father O’Connor had been a steady source of support, while also pushing and challenging him in ways he said he needed and appreciated. “And he still to this day, he’ll challenge me, and I think that’s helpful,” he told The Catholic Sun in an interview a few months before his ordination.

The Mass concluded with Bishop Lucia announcing Father Cornelius’s first assignment as a priest. He has been appointed parochial vicar of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, St. Ambrose Church, St. Anthony of Padua Church, and St. Joseph Church in Endicott, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Vestal, effective July 1.

First Mass of Thanksgiving

The following day, the Deep family attended their son and sibling’s First Mass of Thanksgiving, held at their home parish, Mary, Mother of our Savior.

Jeremiah remarked, “To see my brother actually sit in [the presider’s chair] … I’ve seen him on the altar as a seminarian, and then even as a deacon, but now that he’s leading the whole Mass … it was a surreal moment. I kept pinching myself, like, wow, that’s my brother.”

Newly ordained priests often purchase or are gifted a chalice to mark the beginning of their priesthood. Father Cornelius found his at Adrian Hamers, a religious goods store in New York City, while shopping with his father. The baroque-style chalice, he said, was made around 1900 and had been sitting unused in the store’s vaults.

“It was never used by any priest,” he said. “In a sense, it’s an old chalice, but in another sense, it’s new at the same time.”

His parents’ names, Peter and Lucy, are engraved on the bottom of the chalice. Bishop Lucia consecrated it the day before the ordination, and Father Cornelius used it for the first time at his Mass of Thanksgiving the following day.

When asked about their son’s First Mass, Lucy and Peter described it as inspiring and joy-filled.

“We witnessed the fruits of Father Cornelius’s formation by God, Mount St. Mary’s seminary, the diocese, the parishes he has been a part of, and the people who have been praying for him,” they told The Catholic Sun. “[His] homily was thought-provoking, and we were able to learn and grow in our faith from his words. We are happy to share him and his God-given gifts with all of God’s people and feel honored and humbled to be his parents. God’s beautiful plan came to fruition.”