Seven men were admitted to Candidacy for Ordination as deacons and priests for service to the Diocese of Cleveland and one for the Diocese of Youngstown on Sunday, September 14, 2025. The Most Reverend Michael G. Woost was delegated by The Most Reverend Edward C. Malesic to accept them. Their names are as follows:
Thomas Richard Byrne
Gregory John Hovan
Daniel Thomas Liberatore
William Spiridon Martzaklis*
Nathan Michael Menkhaus
John Kramer Scantling
Connor James Trout
Christopher Anthony Villarreal
These candidates are in their first year of theological study and priestly formation. During this liturgy, they will publicly announce their desire to bind themselves to the service of God and His holy people and to complete their human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral preparation. Bishop Woost accepted them as candidates for the Sacrament of Holy Orders, as they continue their discernment and formation for the diaconate and priesthood for service to the Diocese of Cleveland and the Diocese of Youngstown.
Having just returned from 6 days in Rome surrounding the canonization of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio, Bishop Woost focused on the day’s celebration of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the path to sainthood. “Let me ask you: Do you recognize something of your own life in that of Pier Giorgio’s? Does your life experience resonate with that of this saint? When you examine your own life, do you “get a glimpse of the joy reserved for those who die under the sign of the cross?” To live for Christ is to live for others. To live for Christ and others
is to die to self. To die to self is to embrace Christ’s Cross and his uncompromising selfless love. To embrace Christ’s Cross is to embrace Christ, to embrace Life and Love itself!
Today’s feast, the Bishop reflected, is not merely a commemoration of past events or places. “The triumph of the Christ’s Cross is most clearly seen in the lives of women and men journeying on the path of holiness. The Cross is exalted in the witness of saints selflessly dying in loving service of God and God’s People. Pier Giorgio knew this and lived it. He grounded his life’s journey in prayer, Eucharistic Communion and adoration, devotion to family and friends, extraordinary love of the poor, daily discernment of God’s will, and by fully, joyfully, and passionately embracing life as his confession that “…Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father” (Phil. 2:11).
“Thomas, Greg, Dan, Will, Nate, John, Connor, and Christopher, to these questions today, the Church will add two more for you: “…do you resolve to complete your preparation, so that in due course you are made ready to undertake ministry in the Church through Holy Orders?” And, “Do you resolve to form your mind and heart in such a way that you will be able faithfully to serve Christ the Lord and his Body, the Church?” “These questions and your responses determine the path on which we believe Christ has invited you to walk. This is your Gospel journey with Jesus to holiness of life. This is your road to becoming saints.”
“If you have answered “YES” to any of the questions that I have asked, then you are on the path, the journey has begun, and you are moving along the Way of saints.”
Please continue to pray for all the seminarians as they pursue the path to holiness and to faithful and joyful priesthood.