Massachusetts man becomes the 11th person in the USA to become an ordained Catholic priest

From WBZ radio in Boston:

BOSTON -- A deaf man who grew up in western Massachusetts was among six men ordained as Catholic priests by Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley.

The Rev. Shawn Carey called it a miracle that he had persevered through his many struggles to reach the priesthood, the Boston Globe reported.

"It's been a long journey for me as a deaf seminarian and a deaf man," Carey said in sign language. "And becoming a priest -- I never thought it would come this fast."

He is only the 11th deaf person ordained as a Catholic priest in the United States.

During Saturday's two-hour ceremony at Holy Cross Cathedral, O'Malley told the gathering he was pleased to be bringing into the priesthood such a diverse group -- which also includes a Vietnamese refugee and a widower from Pennsylvania entering his second career.

"A century ago in this cathedral, there would have been 50 men, but those huge ordination processes did not begin to reflect the diversity of . . . today's class," O'Malley said. "This is a microcosm of the church today."