Father Joseph Delka celebrates his first Mass in his home parish

Friday, Jul. 03, 2015

HYDE PARK — Father Joseph Delka celebrated his Thanksgiving Mass at Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish in Hyde Park June 27, the day after he was ordained into the priesthood.

Fr. Delka considers St. Thomas Aquinas Parish his home; he was fully received into the Catholic Church there before he graduated from Utah State University in 2009. 

“It was during that time that I began to discern a vocation to the priesthood, and now here I am six years later, ordained a priest, celebrating my first Mass for all of you today,” he said in his opening remarks during the Mass. He added thanks for the congregation’s prayers, sacrifices and support over the years, and he asked for their continued prayers. 

“This is not the end, this the beginning of my ministry; I have my whole life ahead of me,” he said.

Being a priest is “surreal,” Fr. Delka said following the Mass. “It is surreal that all of this has happened. Even during the ordination last night, it suddenly hit me, ‘I am a priest, a priest.’ It is a gift beyond words. I have received this wonderful gift and all I can do is say ‘thank you.’ It is a tremendous blessing to be able to come back [to St. Thomas Aquinas] and be a part of this parish once again because the parishioners really have been supportive from the start and have been with me on this journey.”   

The parish pastor, Father Francisco Pires, said celebrating his first Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas “with the warmth of the community was very important for Fr. Delka as he starts his ministry and is something he will never forget.” 

Jesuit Father Larry Herrera, spiritual director of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, who came to Utah for the ordination, said, “We are all so proud of Fr. Delka for his courage and his perseverance and for his faith and his dedication. We are so happy to see him come home; it’s a wonderful thing to see him come full circle to where he was converted and allow that process to continue in everybody else’s life. … He will be a wonderful priest in this diocese wherever they assign him.” 

Many of the parishioners expressed their appreciation for the new priest.

As a Eucharistic minister, Fr. Delka “radiated with God’s love, and I prayed he would become a priest,” said Kristen Moulton. 

“It is a great joy for us to bring forward this fine priest; he speaks well and what he has to say is even better than the way he says it,” added Linda Bradak.  

“He is spiritual and passionate about being a priest; it’s dear to us,” said Mary Veronica Kolesar.

Amanda Schultz, a college friend of Fr. Delka’s, came from New York to attend the ordination. “There was a group of us from the Newman Center that were a family,” she said. “We weren’t surprised he became a priest; he is very devout.”