Five men to be ordained to the Catholic priesthood
A third brother ordained a Father, a former Wall Street Journal writer, and an electrical engineer are among the five men being ordained priests for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington this Saturday by Washington Archbishop, Cardinal Robert McElroy.
Mass of Ordination
Saturday, June 21, 2025
10:00 a.m.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
400 Michigan Avenue, NE, Washington, DC
More than 2,000 priests, family and friends are expected to fill the Basilica for the ordination. The men are among 59 who are preparing to become priests for the archdiocese; seminary studies typically take five or more years.
Chukwuma Odigwe, 29, from Oxon Hill, MD graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, then went to work for the FAA for a year, but the feeling he was being called to the priesthood that he first felt in high school, stayed with him, through school, college and work. After a year of work, he entered the Saint John Paull II Seminary in Washington.
Daniel Morrison, 26, from Silver Spring, MD is no stranger to the priesthood as his two brothers, Fathers James and Nicholas Morrison, are already priests for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. One of their three sisters also followed her vocation to become a religious sister with the Dominican order. Daniel began considering the priesthood at a very early age. There were often priests at their family dinner table growing up, where he witnessed their joy and camaraderie, and he entered the seminary right after high school.
Louis McHale, 26, from Olney, MD grew up in a Catholic family with four brothers and four sisters. He was inspired by the priests he knew growing up who “possessed the happiness and peace of life that I desired for myself.” He first considered becoming a priest at age 15, while attending The Heights School in Potomac, MD, and entered the seminary after graduating from high school.
Marco Cerritelli, 32, from Bethesda, MD spent four years doing campus missionary work in Austria and Virginia after graduating from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied theology and philosophy. He had considered the priesthood as early as 4th grade, when he was an altar server at his parish, but became more inspired by the Benedictine monks at St. Anselm’s Abbey School. Marco is a dual national (US-Spain) as his mother is from Spain and he grew up in a culturally Spanish household with his four siblings.
Gerard Gayou, 31, from St. Louis, MO is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Italian. After graduating from George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs and Chinese Language and Literature, he moved to China for two and half years, working as a Princeton in Asia Fellow and as an editorial assistant writer for the Wall Street Journal. During his college years, Gerard alternated between total commitment to his faith and resistance to it but “When I was 23, God helped me understand that only one mission was big enough to satisfy my desire: His,” he said.
Information about the five men who will be ordained can be found on DCPriest the website of the Office of Priest Vocations of the Archdiocese.
Media are welcome to attend. For more information or to schedule an interview with any of the newly ordained priests or vocations staff, please contact [email protected].
This Mass will be available later for viewing on the YouTube channel of the Archdiocese or at ADW.org.