06/04/15
A Fort Hays State University graduate was ordained into the Catholic priesthood in the Diocese of Salina last weekend.

Father Andrew Rockers grew up in Hays and graduated from FHSU in 2007.

He was ordained Saturday in Salina and celebrated his first Mass Sunday at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Hays. His second Mass, one for his immediate family, was the very next day, at FHSU's Catholic Campus Center, where he lived in an upstairs apartment during his senior year at Fort Hays State.

Father Rockers will celebrate another Mass at the campus center, at the church's normal 9 a.m. time slot, on Sunday, June 7.

Another Fort Hays State alum from Hays, Andy Hammeke, also is a seminarian in the Diocese of Salina. Hammeke, a 2012 graduate of FHSU, will begin his fourth year at St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Ind., this fall.