Religious vocations run deep in the family of Father T.J. Hart. On June 30, Father Hart became the latest in a line of family members who chose to become a priest, brother or sister. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Little Rock by Bishop J. Peter Sartain, who left Arkansas in June 2006 to lead the Diocese of Joliet.
Patricia DeSalvo Hart, the new priest’s mother, has witnessed many of her relatives make a lifelong commitment to the Church. Two of her brothers, Father Raphael DeSalvo, who died June 23, and Brother Tobias DeSalvo, joined Subiaco Abbey. A sister, Sister Marie Rose DeSalvo, is a member of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith.
“Today, once again and there is a long history of this, the DeSalvo family gives the gift of a vocation to the Church in Arkansas,” Bishop Sartain noted in his homily.
The death of Father DeSalvo, who was the former abbot at Subiaco, was punctuated during the Mass. His name was listed in the program as one of the priests who would help Father Hart put on his new vestments during the liturgy.
The deaths of Father Hart’s father, Russell, and brother, Paul, were also noted.
The extensive DeSalvo family, many who are members of St. Joseph Church in Center Ridge, along with other family members packed the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock for the two-hour ordination Mass. Only one of Father Hart’s eight siblings was unable to attend.
“It was my first ordination,” said Father Hart’s aunt, Clara Granger of Edmond, Okla. “It was certainly the most remarkable ceremony I have ever attended.”
Also attending the ordination were three cousins who are ordained or professed. They include Sister Elizabeth Rossi of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, Father Greg Luyet of West Memphis and Father Raymond Rossi of Hot Springs.
The DeSalvo family continued the celebration with a family reunion at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Morrilton Saturday night for about 125 people and at Father Hart’s first Mass the next day at Sacred Heart Church, also in Morrilton.
Donna Hart, a sister of Father Hart, said she has been waiting for the ordination day since 2000 when her brother returned to their mother’s house in Center Ridge after attending a Youth 2000 weekened in Morrilton.
“It was like you could see the Spirit. I knew then he had been transformed, all to do something else. You could see it,” she said.
Watching her brother being ordained, Donna Hart said, “I knew he was giving his Spirit up. I knew he was truly giving himself up to the Lord.”
Patricia Hart said she noticed her youngest son’s interest in the priesthood when he was an altar server.
“Since he was small, I saw how he looked at the priest,” she said.
Because ordination Masses include several special prayers and rites and are becoming rarer in the Catholic Church, the liturgy was emotional for many members of the packed congregation.
Following his ordination, Father Hart told Arkansas Catholic that he was most moved when Bishop Sartain and then the 64 priests in attendance laid their hands on his head as a sign of unity in the priesthood. During the rite, the cathedral choir chanted in Latin.
He said being prostrate on the cathedral floor while the congregation prayed the Litany of Saints was also an important moment for him.
“This is really happening for me,” he recalled thinking during the Mass. “I was giving thanks to God.”
While Father Hart’s ordination was the reason for the Mass, many parishioners were obviously interested in seeing Bishop Sartain and welcoming him back to the diocese. He stood after Mass for more than 30 minutes greeting religious of the diocese and friends.
Shortly after Bishop Sartain moved to Illinois, Father Hart requested that Bishop Sartain celebrate the ordination.
“I have a great respect of him,” Father Hart said in May. “I think we have a deep friendship still. He was my bishop the whole time I was in the seminary.”
At beginning of Mass, Bishop Sartain told parishioners what he missed about living in Arkansas.
“Everything,” he said, “and that includes all of you.”
During his homily, Bishop Sartain looked directly at the 37-year-old man he was about to ordain and instructed him in how to lead the best life as a priest.
“T.J., devote yourself to constant prayer that God will make you holy,” he said. “Seek understanding of everything in your life through the prism of prayer because it’s through prayer that God shines his light on us. … The people of the Diocese of Little Rock want you to be holy. … Put to death whatever in your life is sinful. … T.J., it is easy to become preoccupied with ourselves. Show us the way of forgetfulness of self.”
The bishop told a story from the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe to inspire the new priest as he begins his first parish assignment. The saint was killed in 1941 during World War II at the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz. As Father Kolbe was forced to close a monastery in Poland in 1939, he was bidding farewell to the other friars. To each man he said, “Don’t forget love.”
“Of all of things you have learned and all of the things in parish life that will distract you … remember those words of Maximilian Kolbe. Do not forget love,” Bishop Sartain said.
Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert, diocesan administrator, resolved one of the most frequent questions presented to the new priest by announcing he was assigned as associate pastor of St. John and St. Mary churches in Hot Springs as part of the “pastoral team.” He will also celebrate Mass at St. Joseph Mercy Health Center and the Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge.
“I am happy to announce his first assignment; in other words, ’Get to work.’ … I am expecting to see all of Hot Springs, and indeed all of Garland County, converted soon,” said Msgr. Hebert, a native of Hot Springs.
Father Hart was obviously listening to the administrator’s directions and was ready to go to work.
“I am hoping to bring much conversion and bring people closer to God. And to be at their service,” he told Arkansas Catholic.