Bishop William P. Callahan poses with Fr. David Kelly, left and Fr. Jason Welle. (Submitted photo courtesy Franciscan Friars Assumption B.V.M. Province)

WIND LAKE — Bishop William P. Callahan ordained Franciscan friars David Kelly and Jason Welle, members of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Province of the Order of Friars Minor, to the Roman Catholic priesthood in a Saturday, Jan. 23 ordination Mass at St. Clare Catholic Church. Fr. Kelly, 48, a Chippewa Falls native, attended St. Charles Borromeo Parish and entered the Order of Friars Minor in 1999, professing solemn vows in 2005. He earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Loyola University in Chicago, before earning his master’s from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 2009. He was ordained a transitional deacon shortly after graduation when he left for a diaconate internship in parochial ministry.

Fr. Kelly served his diaconate at St. Stanislaus Parish in Cleveland, Ohio, and will serve in parochial ministry in the Diocese of Green Bay.

Fr. Welle, 31, attended Seven Dolors Parish in his native Albany, Minn. As an undergraduate, Fr. Welle studied at St. Olaf College and earned a master’s degree at the University of Notre Dame before entering the Order of Friars Minor in 2003, and professing solemn vows in 2008. He also earned his master’s from the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, in 2009 and was ordained a transitional deacon shortly after graduation when he left for a diaconate internship in parochial ministry.

He served his diaconate at four parishes in the Mississippi Delta while residing at St. Francis of Assisi Friary in Greenwood, Miss., and will serve in parochial ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago. For more information on the new ordinands, visit www.ofm-abvm.org.