WobLog

Rocco makes note of the recent ordination of twin brother priests in the Diocese of Erie (Pennsylvania) [although Rocoo mistakenly identifies them as identical twins]:

(Update: I'm told the brothers are identical twins)

Their parents never had to force them to go to daily Mass at 6:30 a.m.

"It wasn't an obligation for us, but rather something we saw as cool," Joseph Campbell said.

So it's no surprise that the 26-year-old Erie twins are being ordained priests tonight, together, at St. Peter Cathedral.

"It's the work of God," Dolores Campbell, their mother, said.

She and her husband, John Campbell, named their 12th and 13th children for Monsignor James Joseph Gannon. The late priest was the family's pastor at St. Andrew Catholic Church, just two blocks from the home where James, who is older by 15 minutes, and Joseph grew up.

Priests were always part of their lives.

James Campbell remembers not only the men who "offered the sacraments that we valued so much," but also the priests who showed their human side when sitting in his parents' living room....

Joseph Campbell admired the selfless care of the men who helped in times of sickness and financial need.

Over the years, the twins were inspired by too many priests to name. But the boys knew at an early age that it was a group of men they wanted to join.

I encountered half of the brother-priest duo during the events surrounding the election of Benedict XVI last spring. Joseph Campbell, who was a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, appeared on EWTN's Life on the Rock when it aired live from Rome last April. He seemed like an impressive young man back then, and the details of his and his brother's story back that impression up.

Pray for the Fathers Campbell!