Fr. Giles Maria Barrie, CFR, was ordained to the priesthood May 27 at St. Patrick’s 
Cathedral in New York by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, but he returned to his native Kankakee and St. Patrick’s Church to say one of his first liturgies, a Mass of Thanksgiving, with parishioners.
The special Mass occurred on Father’s Day, where he thanked his parents, Associates Ken and Michelle Barrie, as well as the Viatorian priests who had brought him up in the faith and all of the members of his home parish.
Fr. Barrie is a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, an order in the Capuchin Franciscan tradition which was started in 1987 in New York and whose Friars are dedicated specifically to service of the poor and evangelization.
Fr. Giles, right, completed an internship with patients at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York
Specifically, Fr. Barrie completed training through the Dominican Friars’ Health Care Ministry of New York, and he will collaborate with other Friars to bring the healing presence of Christ to sick men and women at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, and the Hospital for Special Surgery.
In a profile published by the Catholic New York newspaper, Fr. Barrie pointed to a mission trip to Mexico, taken with his parents and their youth group from St. Patrick’s, that opened his eyes to the poor and a future calling as a priest.
Associates Ken and Michelle Barrie
Fr. Barrie entered the Franciscan Order of the Renewal in 2006 and he took his final vows in 2011.
“I know what I received from God and I really feel called to help others receive his mercy,” he said, “especially through the sacrament of reconciliation. Honestly, everything about the priesthood is awesome and awe-inspiring.”