Priesthood
On May 16, 1981, McFadden was ordained a priest by Cardinal John Krol at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul. His first assignment was as a parochial vicar at St. Laurence Church in Highland Park, where he remained for one year. From 1982 to 1993, he served as administrative secretary to Cardinal Krol. He was named an Honorary Prelate of His Holiness on May 29, 1991.
It was during McFadden's service as a secretary to Cardinal Krol that Krol is believed to have excused and enabled the sexual abuse of hundreds of children within the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
In 1993, McFadden became the first president of Cardinal O'Hara High School in Springfield. During his eight-year tenure, he increased the school's enrollment from 1,540 students to 2,000 students, and initiated the "Laptops for Learning" program. From 2001 to 2004, he served as pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Downingtown. In addition to his academic and pastoral duties, he served as chaplain to the Serra Club (1987–2001) and the Ancient Order of Hibernians (1986–95), spiritual director of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, and director of the archdiocesan pilgrimages to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
Read more about this topic: Joseph P. Mc Fadden
Famous quotes containing the word priesthood:
“The priesthood in many ways is the ultimate closet in Western civilization, where gay people particularly have hidden for the past two thousand years.”
—Bishop John Spong (b. 1931)
“The priesthood is a marriage. People often start by falling in love, and they go on for years without realizing that that love must change into some other love which is so unlike it that it can hardly be recognised as love at all.”
—Iris Murdoch (b. 1919)