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"Thou Art a Priest Forever"

Three from the Class of 1999 Ordained to the Priesthood

(Summer 2007 Newsletter)

Among the many good fruits with which Thomas Aquinas College has been blessed over the years is the relatively large number of vocations to the priesthood and religious life among its alumni. This past spring, three graduates from one class were ordained to the priesthood, bringing the total number of Thomas Aquinas College priests to 47. At the same time, there are 35 young men in seminaries around the country and abroad, and 20 fully professed nuns and brothers in a variety of religious orders.

Our three new priests all met at Thomas Aquinas College as members of the Class of 1999. Two of them spent four years together at the College, and both discerned vocations to the Order of Preachers. Fittingly, on June 2, 2007, they were also ordained to the priesthood together, with a number of alumni and faculty of the College in attendance.

Rev. John Thomas Mellein, O.P. ('99)

The son of the College's administrative facilities manager, Mr. Thomas Mellein, Father John Thomas Mellein came to the College in 1995 having been raised with his nine brothers and sisters in the nearby city of Ventura, California. At the College, he was introduced to the Dominican Order and was drawn to it by their community life, their devotion to the choral office, their attention to preaching, and their emphasis on the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, which he was eager to continue studying.

Thus, the summer after his graduation from the College, he entered the Western Province of the Order of Preachers. He took his solemn vows on May 28, 2005, and was ordained to the deaconate at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on January 7, 2006, in Washington, D.C. This past June, a year and a half later, he was ordained to the priesthood by the Most Reverend Allan Vigneron at St. Dominic's Church in San Francisco.

Fr. Mellein's formation has included a wide variety of studies and ministries that have taken him to the San Francisco Bay Area, Alaska, Utah, Oregon, Washington, D. C., and Peru. He says of his preparation, "I find that ministry, study, and prayer mutually enrich each other in our life. Study informs our ministry, and ministry gives direction to study. The whole is supported and in turn deepens our life of prayer." Fr. Mellein's first assignment is Parochial Vicar at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage, Alaska, where he served for a time during his formation.

Rev. Michael Hurley, O.P. ('99)

Fr. Mellein's classmate Fr. Michael Hurley is the first of five siblings. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he attended St. Peter's parish in Pacifica and graduated from Alma Height Christian Academy there.

While attending Thomas Aquinas College, he discerned a call from Our Lord to enter the Dominican Order with the help of Fr. Bart de la Torre, one of the College's chaplains at the time. Attracted to the Order for its intellectual character and its emphasis on preaching, Fr. Hurley, like his classmate, Fr. Mellein, entered the Western Province of the Dominicans in the summer of 1999, just after his graduation from the College.

His formation since then has included a number of years of study in philosophy and theology. In addition, during the summer of 2003, he studied Spanish while living in Oaxaca, Mexico, with the Dominican friars located there.

Fr. Hurley was ordained to the diaconate at the Dominican Order's Holy Rosary Parish in Antioch, California, by the Most Reverend Allen Vigneron on January 21, 2006. On the first weekend of this past June, he was ordained to the priesthood at St. Dominic's Church, also by Bishop Vigneron. Fr. Hurley's first assignment is Parochial Vicar at this San Francisco parish named for the Order's saintly founder.

Rev. Matthew McNeely, F.S.S.P. ('99)

Born in British Columbia, Canada, Fr. Matthew McNeely is the second of twelve children. Though he grew up in Ottawa, his family eventually settled in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Upon graduating high school, Fr. McNeely came to Thomas Aquinas College. After completing his second year at the College, the strong desire to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor took hold of him. So, he left the College and for the next three years took up pre-med studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

His plans for a medical career were interrupted, however, when the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter opened its North American seminary dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Denton, Nebraska, in 2000. Not long after, Fr. McNeely was drawn to discern a vocation at the new seminary. On May 12, 2007, he was ordained to the priesthood by the Most Reverend Fabian Bruskewitz, Bishop of Lincoln, with his fellow Thomas Aquinas College alumnus, the Rev. John Berg ('93), now the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, assisting.

During his years as a seminarian, Fr. McNeely assisted several times at Sacred Heart summer camp at St. Stephen the First Martyr parish in Sacramento, California, which is served by priests of the Fraternity. Fr. McNeely's first assignment is at this parish where he is serving both as Parochial Vicar and an instructor in the parish's 7th-12th grade academy. He will be working under another Thomas Aquinas College alumnus, Rev. Robert Novokowsky, F.S.S.P. ('93), the director of St. Stephen Academy and pastor of the parish.

-- Qtrly Newsletter, Summer 2007