Two men, with plenty of life experience, on path to priesthood [Archdiocese of Portland, OR)

Two men, with plenty of life experience, on path to priesthood

Rev. Mr. Tom Layton and Rev. Mr. Fred Anthony stand as ordination candidates.
Sentinel photo by Kim Nguyen

A 63-year-old former Federal Aviation Administration worker and a 54-year-old retired Air Force officer were ordained deacons Saturday on their paths to becoming priests for the Archdiocese of Portland.

Rev. Mr. Tom Layton and Rev. Mr. Fred Anthony both spent their youths in Coos Bay, were married, and after their careers entered a special seminary for older men.
“Both Tom and Fred have been filled with genuine Christian hope as they not only looked forward to ordination but also as they have been sustained over the years with an unshakable confidence that, in the providence of God, everything would work out well and God’s plan for them would be fulfilled,” Archbishop John Vlazny said in a homily at the ordination Mass, held at St. Mary Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The archbishop said that some might consider the men too old to be ordained. But he expressed confidence in them, a vote that was echoed by officials at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Wisconsin.

“In God’s gracious providence, when all is said and done, it won’t be the quantity of ministerial service that you provide God’s people that is important, but the quality,” the archbishop said. “As I have come to know you, quality control will be no problem for those who will be privileged to benefit from your lives of service.”

Rev. Mr. Layton was born in 1944 in Lawrenceville, Ill. He attended St. Monica and Coos Catholic schools in Coos Bay, and graduated from Marshfield High in 1962.
He attended Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Md., earning an associate’s degree in computer science in 1971, and then worked for the Federal Aviation Administration. He entered Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corners, Wis., in January 2004 and completed a bachelor’s degree in religious studies in 2006.

Rev. Mr. Layton’s ministry training has included assignments at St. Cecilia Parish in Beaverton, and at St. James Parish in McMinnville.

Rev. Mr. Anthony was born in 1953 in Coos Bay. He attended elementary school at Coos Catholic and graduated from Marshfield High in 1972.

He then served in the Air Force for 20 years.

He entered Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corners, Wis., in the fall of 2003 and graduated from Cardinal Stritch University in 2007 with a bachelor of arts degree in religious studies.

Rev. Mr. Anthony’s ministry training has included assignments at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Portland, St. Mary Parish in Corvallis, field placement at Repairers of the Breach, a homeless shelter, and clinical pastoral experience at the University of Colorado Hospital.

Both men will now continue with their studies and preparations at Sacred Heart Seminary as they work toward ordination as priests.

On Saturday, Archbishop Vlazny told the men that in being ordained they were receiving “a wonderful gift.” The ministry of deacon is focused on service, he reminded them.

“When you serve, let it be with the strength that God supplies,” the archbishop said. “And when your service includes preaching, let it be with the words of God and not just your own.”

The archbishop recognized that “these are not the easiest times to accept a call to ordained ministry in the church.”

He then urged them to the Advent virtue of hope, which he said “is based on a religious belief that no matter how harsh reality may be today, all will eventually be well and someday, somewhere, there will be the fulfillment of God’s plan.”

The archbishop called the ordinations “a true blessing not only for themselves and their families, but also for this local church.”

Results of a survey released in the spring show that half of the 475 men ordained priests in the U.S. in 2007 were age 32 or older. Thirty-six percent of men ordained for dioceses were between the ages of 25 and 29. Three percent were 60 or older. The youngest in the class of 2007 was 25 and the oldest was 68.