Newest priest for Ordinariate to be ordained in California, June 24

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Rev. Mr. Glenn Gerrit Baaten will be ordained to the priesthood at 4 p.m. on Friday, June 24 at St. Therese of Carmel Catholic Church in San Diego, Calif.

The Most Rev. Robert W. McElroy, Bishop of San Diego, will ordain Deacon Baaten. The Most Rev. Steven J. Lopes, Bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, will concelebrate the Mass inaugurating the ministry of the new priest.

Deacon Baaten was received into the Catholic Church two and a half years ago at the Ordinariate’s Blessed John Henry Newman Catholic Community in Irvine, Calif. 

Deacon Baaten will be assigned to serve in Southern California, primarily at the Ordinariate's St. Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Community in Carlsbad.

He became a Christian in the 1970s and was pastor of a Presbyterian church in Ohio for 13 years. He then became a priest in the Anglican Church of North America and served at St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach, Calif. By 2013, he and his wife, Cathy, discerned they were called to fully embrace the teachings of the Catholic Church. 

“After much prayer and struggle, I gave up Anglican holy orders and became Catholic,” Deacon Baaten said. He was received into the Church on Christmas Eve of 2013. “We finally arrived home!” he said.

St. John Paul II was a source of inspiration for Deacon Baaten’s journey to the Church. “I began reading his writings and encyclicals while at seminary, and kept reading his writing all through my years in ministry,” he said. “St. John Paul II is a big part of why I call the Roman Catholic Church my home.”

Originally from Canada, Deacon Baaten is no stranger to California. He earned his bachelor’s degree from U.C.L.A. and a Master’s in Divinity from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo. He worked as Director of Facilities at Newport Harbor Nautical Museum in Southern California before his current position as Manager of Construction at the Santiago Retreat Center in Silverado.

At the Ordinariate's California communities of Blessed John Henry Newman in Irvine and at St. Augustine of Canterbury in Carlsbad, Deacon Baaten has served as a catechist and altar server. 

He and Cathy have been married 33 years and have two adult children. 

His first Mass will be Sunday, June 26 at 11 a.m. at the Santiago Retreat Center in Silverado. Bishop Lopes will preach at the Mass on June 26.
 

Media contact: Jenny Faber, [email protected] or 832-819-2686