"A New Priest's Homecoming"

After Training in Rome, Clergyman Says His First Mass at His Childhood Parish

From the Washington Post
By Jenna Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer

Photo by Linda Davidson

PICTURED: Rev. Patrick Riffle (center) smiles during the ceremony. He is flanked by Rev. Mr. Jeremy Rodrigues (left) and Deacon William Kyte (right).

A t his first Mass as an ordained priest last Sunday, the Rev. Patrick Riffle kept reminding everyone: Today is not about me, it's a celebration of priesthood.

But that was difficult for his mother, Pamela Riffle, to remember as her 26-year-old son presented her with the cloth used during his ordination. Or his father, also named Patrick Riffle, as he posed for photos with his son. Or his four younger siblings, who supported his decision to become a priest even when kids at school didn't. Or the more than 300 people who traveled from just down the road and as far away as Rome to be at the country church.

For many of them, the day was more a celebration of Riffle -- the kid who grew up on a tobacco farm in Charles County, attended Immaculate Conception Church in Mechanicsville and started thinking about becoming a priest in fifth grade.

"When you're in fifth grade, you have a lot of thoughts, but usually you have ADD and move onto something else," Riffle said last week. "Plus, I didn't know where priests came from. For all I knew, they popped out of telephone booths. . . . But priesthood came up again and again in my heart and my head."

Read the rest of the article HERE.