In thanksgiving: Father Herman

Newly ordained Father Danny Herman celebrates Mass of thanksgiving

By Dan McWilliams

St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Mountain City likely never saw such a sight as what presented itself June 9.

The Mass of thanksgiving celebrated by Father Danny Herman following his priestly ordination the day before featured 10 priests, surely a record for the parish in the diocese’s northeastern-most corner.

And the family and friends of Father Herman, who filled three vans that traveled from Mountain City to Knoxville for the ordination, turned out in full for his first Mass as a gathering of 200 overflowed the nave and filled the narthex behind.

Concelebrants along with Father Herman were host pastor Father Jesús Guerrero, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua; homilist Father Rory Traynor of the Diocese of Manchester, N.H.; Father Alex McCullough of the Diocese of Springfield, Ill.; Father Matthew Millay of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky.; Father Anthony Armbruster of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis; Father Tony Cecil of the Archdiocese of Louisville; Father Guerric DeBona, OSB, and Father Jonathan Fassero, OSB, both of St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana; and Diocese of Knoxville priest Father Michael Maples.

Father DeBona and Father Fassero are monks at St. Meinrad and served as formators for Father Herman, who finished his studies for the priesthood at St. Meinrad School of Theology.

Deacon Joe Herman, father of the new priest, assisted at his son’s first Mass. Father Herman’s mom, Lucia, also attended, and both parents received a special presentation at the end of Mass.

“My brothers and sisters in the Lord, it is a joy to be with you all today as we give thanks to almighty God for the gift of the priesthood and certainly most especially for Father Danny Herman’s priesthood. We thank almighty God for that,” Father Traynor said to begin his homily.

Father Herman spoke at the end of Mass, his voice breaking several times as he talked about not only his family but also his fellow priests attending and the parishioners of St. Anthony of Padua who have known him since childhood. He began his talk by quoting baseball legend Lou Gehrig, who in his farewell speech to fans at Yankee Stadium called himself “the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”

“Today, my friends, I consider myself the most blessed man in all Christendom, because today I’m surrounded by all the people I love most in the world,” Father Herman said. “And what brings us together, as Father Rory said in his homily, is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Our Lord in the tabernacle.”

Father Herman went to the microphone with a slip of paper.

“Traditionally, the first Mass is always considered a Mass of thanksgiving, and that’s why I have a list here to make sure I don’t forget anybody,” he said to laughter.

He thanked all those who made their way to the Johnson County seat that Sunday.

“First of all, I want to thank all of my friends and loved ones who either aren’t Catholic or have never even heard of Mountain City before in their life if they are Catholic and who drove all the way here,” he said. “Thank you so much. It shows me your love, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me.”

Father Herman also expressed gratitude to the servers at Mass: Diocese of Knoxville seminarian Eli Holt, longtime St. Anthony of Padua parishioner Lily Berger, his cousin Froy Romo, and his brother Josh Herman, “who I love very much.”

“I want to thank my concelebrants, my brother priests,” he added. “I was telling them as we were proceeding in that I don’t think that St. Anthony has seen this many priests in the sanctuary at one time.”

He did not forget his formators, Father DeBona and Father Fassero.

“For four years, these men were my confessors, primarily. They were there to pick me up in my worst moments and put me back together and remind me that that was then, and this is now,” Father Herman said.

He gave special thanks to Father Traynor.

“You win. Last year, I had a chance to preach at his parish. He said that I did a great job, but he won today,” Father Herman said.

The new priest also thanked Father Guerrero.

“He has been our pastor for less than a year. He has been an incredible source of guidance for our parish moving forward, and the beauty of the liturgy has never been brighter at St. Anthony’s since I’ve been here,” Father Herman said. “It is absolutely incredible, the things that he’s done in such a short amount of time.”

Father Herman saluted “my St. Anthony of Padua family” and remembered the parish’s founding pastor, Father Tom Vos, OFM, and his successor, Father John Milewski. He also mentioned a former St. Anthony parishioner who traveled a long distance to see his first Mass.

“I was talking to a few of my brother priests, and they were asking me earlier, ‘What was there to do in Mountain City?’ I said, ‘We played sports. We played sports, and we also went to church,’” he said. “For the longest time, I’ve looked out and I see a lot of faces that I’ve seen since I was a little boy serving on this altar with Father Tom and Father John. I want to thank Rosemary Anderson, especially, for making the trip all the way from Michigan. She knew me when I was a little boy.”

Family members and friends also came to Mountain City from California, Mexico, Arizona, and Alabama for Father Herman’s first Mass.

“I want to thank all my family members, especially those who traveled all the way from Arizona and California. It’s not a quick trip,” he said. “Thank you, all of you.”

He also remembered family members who have passed away.

“We miss them a lot. We know that they were here with us in the Eucharist,” Father Herman said.

He also thanked Javier Valles, a seminarian from El Paso, Texas, who was master of ceremonies for his first Mass.

“He’s a brother to me,” Father Herman said. “My mantra this entire weekend was, I’m not going to worry about it because Javier’s there. And it was absolutely true. … If you enjoyed today’s liturgy, it’s all him. He did a wonderful job.”

Father Herman told the filled church that “you might be thinking there are two people I may have forgotten, but I promise you I’ve not forgotten them.”

He then called forward Deacon Herman, his father.

“Yesterday, when Archbishop [Shelton J.] Fabre ordained me to become a priest, he bestowed upon me the authority of Jesus Christ to confect the Eucharist and celebrate the sacraments,” Father Herman said. “A symbol of that authority given to me is a stole. A priest will wear a stole for every liturgical act that he does. It represents authority. It represents the authority granted to me to celebrate the sacraments. It also represents the yoke of Christ, because Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. This is because He helps us along the way in doing His work, and His help comes from the graces we receive in the sacraments, as Father Rory was saying in his wonderful homily.

“One of the sacraments I get to celebrate as a priest is the sacrament of reconciliation, confession. In that sacrament, I act in the person of Christ as both merciful father and judge, not in a judgmental tone but as a way of reconciling a sinner to God.”

Mr. Valles then presented a purple stole to Father Herman.

“This was the stole I wore when I heard my first confession, and traditionally this is a gift to the father of a newly ordained priest,” Father Herman said. “And the reason why is because a priest’s father is the man who teaches him to love justice and love mercy. You taught me many things. You taught me how to make a three-point stance. You taught me how to swing a bat and swing a golf club. You taught me how to be a man. But overall, Dad, you taught me how to be merciful and just and loving.”

He then presented the stole to Deacon Herman. When Deacon Herman passes away, that stole will be buried with him.

Father Herman then made a gift to his mother.

“Yesterday when I was ordained, the bishop anointed my hands with sacred chrism. Chrism is used by the Church to consecrate things that are set aside for sacred use,” he said. “In baptism, chrism is put on the crown of a newly baptized person’s head to mark the person as being consecrated. Chrism is used for confirmation, and the walls of [new] churches are anointed with it as well. My hands were also anointed with sacred chrism, and afterward I walked to the back of the sanctuary.

“I wiped off the oil, and I had to wipe off a few tears as well. And that article I wiped my hands on is called a maniturgium, which quite literally just means ‘hand towel’ in Latin. I wiped my face, like she did for me for many years. The tradition is that a newly ordained priest gives this maniturgium, which still has the chrism on it, to his mother, and it’s because a man’s mother is the first person on earth to know him and love him, both in the womb and throughout his life. It was your hands that cared for me, that fed me and nurtured me. Because of this, a mother is to safeguard the maniturgium she receives and is to be buried with it. And when Our Lord asks, ‘I have given you life—what have you given me?’ She says, ‘I gave you my son.’”

Each presentation to his father and mother was followed by a round of applause.

Father Guerrero said after Mass that Father Herman’s family “is well-known here in town. His family is very devout. He is well-known in the parish itself. Since he was a little boy, he was an altar server here, so everybody knows him.”

St. Anthony of Padua has about 100 families, Father Guerrero said.

“This is such a small parish,” he said. “That gives this parish a family feeling. Pretty much, everybody knows each other. Father Danny is part of everybody’s family.”

Deacon Herman said it was “emotional at different points” to serve at his son’s first Mass.

“I just tried to hold it together,” he said. “It was special. I think the words that he said to his mom and I at the end of Mass meant a lot, especially what he said to his mother because she is such a wonderful and beautiful wife, but she’s been a wonderful mother. The stole of his first confession, when I pass away, that will be in the casket with me.”

Deacon Herman talked of the emotion his son showed in his talk at the end of Mass.

“Danny—excuse me, Father Danny—is a very loyal person,” he said. “That’s his personality. He loves people. I mean, he is strictly business when he’s doing things, but he has a kind heart and a kind soul, and it showed when he was speaking about his brother priests.”

Celebrating his first Mass was “very humbling,” Father Herman said. “I had to rely upon the formation I had and to truly trust in prayer and trust that my emcees and my family had everything prepared for me here.”

He added that he was “very blessed” to have priest friends from seminary, his formators, Father Guerrero, and Father Maples with him at the Mass. He then spoke of the emotion he showed during his talk at Mass.

“It was very powerful because I’m nothing without God, and I’m nothing without the people He’s put in my life,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that I had an opportunity to give them thanks. When I was looking out from the pulpit to see all of them, it was truly humbling that not only would they show up but that they would drive multiple hours to a small, crowded church that is often forgotten, and that they would be there with smiles on their faces because of the love.”