This is a day of celebration for all of us in the Diocese of Helena, a day to celebrate the mysterious work of the Lord in the lives of God’s Holy People, and in the life of our brother, Richard Anthony Kluk.

Richard was born on Feb. 12, 1953, the son of Polish-born parents, the late George and Helen Kluk. He was baptized in Lincoln, Ill., and attended Catholic grade school from 5th to 8th grade. In 1971, Richard graduated from Chicago’s Marist High School. He attended college both in Arizona and Illinois, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Loyola University in 1975. In the ensuing years, he received his Master of Science degree from DePaul University, focusing on computer science. He then plied his highly honed computer skills in the defense industry, until the Lord “tapped him on the shoulder,” and stirred deep within his heart a call to Catholic priesthood.

In the autumn of 2003, after brief associations with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Vincentians, Richard was welcomed into seminary studies for the Diocese of Helena. The bishop placed him in the formation program at Mount Angel Seminary, south of Portland, Ore. There he entered wholeheartedly into a program of formation—human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral, and successfully completed his course of studies with a recommendation from the formation faculty that he be advanced to holy orders. I have accepted their recommendation and our brother is now ready to take this momentous step, for which he has prepared long and well.

Richard Kluk is described by his friends and colleagues as a caring and compassionate person, easygoing and affable, well-suited for the rhythm and rigor of parish life. He is described by many as a servant-leader who is humble and helpful, prayerful and service oriented, and everopen to acquiring new pastoral skills to serve the people in the Diocese of Helena.

The preface of the Chrism Mass provides for us an expansive understanding of Catholic priesthood: “Christ gives the dignity of a royal priesthood to the people He has made His own.” In a word, all who are baptized are “consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that through all their works as Christian people they may offer spiritual sacrifices.”

It is from the community of the baptized that God chooses men to share his sacred ministry by the laying on of hands. Again the words of the Second Vatican Council describe the ministerial priesthood of ordained ministers as those called “to form and govern the priestly people and to offer in their name the Eucharistic sacrifice to God in the person of Christ.”

Pope John Paul II regularly described this life-giving and symbiotic relationship between priest and people he is called to serve: “The priesthood is not an institution that exists alongside the laity or above it.” The priesthood… is “for the laity and precisely for this reason possesses a ministerial quality, that is to say one of service.”

Our brother Richard Kluk has chosen Luke’s Gospel for the ordination liturgy, which underscores the ministerial and service dimensions of priesthood. That gospel responds to the argument among the disciples about which of them should be regarded as the greatest: “Let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant, concluding with the example of Jesus himself—`I am among you as one who serves.’”

In his book titled “Called to Communion,” then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger set the groundwork for holiness and happiness in the life of every priest in every nation and in every era. “The essential foundation of priesthood is a deep personal bond with Jesus Christ. The priest must be a man who knows Jesus intimately, who has encountered him and learned to love Him. The priest must be above all else a man of prayer, a truly spiritual man.” The Holy Father concludes his commentary with this profound conclusion: “Without a strong spiritual substance [the priest] cannot long endure his ministry.”

Priestly spirituality is centered on the celebration of the Eucharist, which is called by the Fathers of the Council “the source and summit” of the life of the Church. It is through the Eucharist that Christ builds up the Church, nourishes it and remains present among the people, transforming their lives and ours, and furthering our common call to holiness each and every day.

None of us, Richard, is worthy of the great privilege to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice in the name of Christ and the Church, but this is the profound reality to which you are called.

Make St. Paul’s admonition to all of us your own, “rekindle daily the gift you have been given,” and ensure that your life is formed and reformed daily through a commitment to prayer and sacramental celebration.

Among the many responsibilities you will have as a priest, few are as important as the ministry of the Word, which also serves as a source of nourishment for yourself as well as for God’s people. I ask you to faithfully re-present the teachings and spiritual treasures of the Church to the people, but also let the same teachings form, re-form, and transform your life.

The people of God have been very clear in their desire for faith-filled and dynamic preaching. In his own inimitable way, Pope Benedict wisely counsels priests that “we should not allow ourselves to be guided by the little window of our personal cleverness, but by the great window that Christ has opened on the whole truth.” On this day of ordination, I ask you, Richard, always to remain a student of the Church, to think with the Church, and to open up for the people the Word of God as He speaks to us through the Sacred Scriptures.

Finally, the model of priestly life is found in the example of servant-leadership that Jesus Christ provided for the apostles and disciples of every age. The fourth Eucharistic Prayer states succinctly, “that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him.” The Holy Father has written that “the priest is not in the business of building himself an interesting or comfortable life, or setting up for himself a community of admirers or devotees, but is working for another and it is He who truly matters.” In the words of Scripture, “He must increase and I must decrease.”

It is this attitude of servant-leadership that will allow you to have a particular solicitude for the poor and humble. Jesuit Father Herwig Ars wrote: “People in need are in a special way a tabernacle in which God dwells in an eminent way.”

Dorothy Day wrote that “Christ made heaven hinge on the way we act toward Him in His disguise of commonplace, frail, ordinary humanity.”

It is easy, even tempting, for priests to seek the company of successful and affluent people in the parish. But every priest must have the heart to make room for everyone in the sanctuary of his soul, with special attention to the marginalized, the lowly and the poor. With the heart of the Good Shepherd, you must constantly ask, “Who is not at the table?” And like the Good Shepherd, seek out, invite, and embrace those who live in the shadows of Church and society.

Be present, Richard, at the bedsides of the dying, the jail and prison cell, the halls of the hospital and the homes of the homebound and elderly. Always have, in the words of Paul VI, “a preferential option for the poor,” making special connections between the altar and justice, liturgy and compassion, worship and service, or in scriptural terms, love of God and love of neighbor.

It is my hope, indeed our hope, that you, soon to be Father Richard Kluk, will live the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection in such a way that you will be a living reflection of His life and love, and the silent joy in your life will invite others to know Him, love Him, and serve Him.

On this holy day, Richard, I thank you for laying your life down in loving service to God’s holy people in the Diocese of Helena. May you always know that special joy that comes to those who know, love and serve the Master, Jesus Christ, who is ever-present among us “as one who serves.”

Bishop George Leo Thomas delivered this homily during the Dec. 10 ordination of Richard Anthony Kluk at the Cathedral of St. Helena.


Related: