Three deacons of the Congregation of Holy Cross were ordained priests in the United States on Saturday, April 6, 2013. The Ordination Mass took place in the Basilica of Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. 

The Most Rev. Daniel R. Jenky, Bishop of Peoria, Ill., presided at the Mass and conferred the Sacrament of Holy Orders on the Rev. Mr. Brian C. Ching, C.S.C., the Rev. Mr. Mark F. DeMott, C.S.C., and the Rev. Mr. Jarrod M. Waugh, C.S.C.

The newly ordained are members of the Congregation's United States Province, and they were presented for ordination by their Provincial Superior, Rev. Thomas J. O’Hara, C.S.C.

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"All of us in the Province are enormously proud of these three young Holy Cross men. Our prayers and support are with them as they prepare for this most sacred day,” said Fr. O’Hara, C.S.C. “Each will be a blessing to God's people whom they will serve as priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross."

The following day, Divine Mercy Sunday, all three celebrated Masses of Thanksgiving. Fr. Ching and Fr. Waugh returned to the parishes in South Bend, Indiana – St. Joseph and Christ the King, respectively – where they have been serving as deacons for the past year. Fr. DeMott, who has been working at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon, celebrated the 11:45 Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

In their homilies, the newly ordained all spoke about the power of God's mercy to transform lives and how as ordained priests they were to be special stewards of that mercy.

"[Pope Francis'] homily from the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday reminded ordained priests – and all the baptized – that our anointing is meant for the poor, for prisoners, and for the sick, for those who are sorrowing and alone," preached Fr. DeMott. "This truth can never be forgotten. It is at the core of what it is to be a Christian. We belong to one another. Our salvation is bound up together."