BY SUSAN STEVENOT SULLIVAN

When Rev. Mr. Richard Zivic processed down the aisle July 16, he was surrounded by the people who helped bring him to this crossroads in his journey.

Four generations of his family were present at the Cathedral Of Christ The King for his priestly ordination, from his 87-year-old grandmother, Rosalia Zivic to his nine-week-old second cousin, Mark Zivic.

More than 25 family members from the Atlanta area and more than 40 from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, New York, Colorado and Florida were also in attendance.

The pews behind the family members were filled with more than 40 friends from out of state and busloads of parishioners from St. Pius X in Conyers, where his parents live and Transfiguration in Marietta, where he has been assigned as parochial vicar.

"I can look out on this group of people and see every moment of my life represented in one way or another," Rev. Mr. Zivic said before the ordination "It's such a humbling thing -- that this is the church that calls you forward -- that many of these people have nothing in common but their relationship with me."

The eldest of seven children of Rosemarie and Richard Zivic, he has the last of the family to make a lifetime commitment.

"This is our final 'wedding,'" his father said before the liturgy. "I think there’s been more preparation and planning with this one than the other weddings."

"It's just overwhelming," Rosemarie Zivic said, dabbing tears with a tissue. "It's something, that God could be so good to our family and ask for one of our children."

Family support took a very tangible form in the effort of one of his aunts, Louise Egler of Milton, Fla., who made the vestments to be used for his first Mass.

"I have never made vestments before," Mrs. Anglers said of the white silk garments with Jerusalem crosses embroidered in gold metallic thread. "It took a couple of months. I used hand stitching for the crosses. They were made with lots of prayer."

The clerical influences of his life were represented in the sanctuary by priests from parishes where he has served and included a Franciscan friar, Father Paige Polk, from Rev. Mr. Zivic’s days as a Franciscan brother.

The first reading was proclaimed by sister Barbara Baker, MHSH, pastoral associate at Transfiguration Parish. Judy Blumbul, with whom Rev. Mr. Zivic worked during his pastoral year at St. Gail Parish in Chicago, proclaimed the second reading.

In his homily, Archbishop John F. Donoghue spoke of the command of Jesus to love one another.

"Family and friends show this love by expressing the pride and the joy they feel in seeing someone about whom they care finally reaching a high point of success -- a culmination in a way of years of support, interest, care, concern, and most importantly -- prayer," the archbishop said.

"... just by knowing this ordained person, we perhaps feel a little safer," he continued, "a little more protected in this world which can be so savage to the souls of persons, and so cynical about hopes and ideals."

The voices of the cathedral choir and those of his family and friends blended to envelope the candidate in prayer during the litany of the saints as he lay prostrate on the marble floor of the sanctuary.

His back heaved with the depth of his breathing while the names of the saints echoed into the soaring space above, where sunlight illumined their portraits in stained glass.

Later, father Zivic was helped into his vestments by his parents and Father Donald Kenny, chancellor and vocations director for the archdiocese.

It was a beaming Father Zivic who invited those attending to a reception given by the Serra club following the Mass.

At the reception Father Zivic's brother, David said that the gradual formation process his brother needed resulted in the family nickname "Father Brother Reverend Rick" used over the last five years.

"I could see changes in his life over the last few years," David Zivic said. "I'm really excited about this (ordination day). I really admire a man and who can take his life and dedicate it to the Lord. I can see it in his eyes. It's very exciting."

Frank and Mary Jo Zupsic had traveled from Cincinnati, Ohio, for the ordination. Frank Zupsic, a former Franciscan brother, was raised with Father Zivic's father and the couple enjoy "aunt an uncle" status in the Zivic family.

"I was so confident he had an early vocation," Zupsic said. "It took time for him to get the idea of this was what he was called to do."

"Rick stayed in Cincinnati to attend U. C. (The University of Cincinnati) after his parents moved," Mrs. Zupsic said. "He spent a lot of time at our house. He and Frank spent hours talking."

"This family is like one big unit," she continued. "They are so close. I noticed that the first time I met them. Those that marry in become just as close. It's like one great big circle."

"All of these people will be remembered in my intention in my first Mass." Father Zivic said. The ones that could be here, and the ones like my 97-year-old grandmother, who could not. Who else can I offer my first Mass for? "

Father Zivic, 41, is an active member of Pax Christi. He has served as a retreat director, pastoral associate and a catechist. He is especially interested liturgy and evangelization.

"I'm excited by the intensity of the parishioners and the ministerial involvement at Transfiguration," Father Zivic said.