Ordinations at the Austrian Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz

"First Mass of New FSSP Priests"

Click HERE to see the very nice post over at New Liturgical Movement.

"Australia: Significant increase in ordination of Catholic priests"

From Spero News

Six new priests ordained in Sydney and others ordained in Melbourne in 2010; a significant increase in seminarians throughout the country... These are the figures that make up the "miracle that occurred in the Year for Priests," says Fr. Brendan Lane, Rector of Corpus Christi Seminary in Melbourne, noting that the phenomenon goes against the trend of decline in vocations and priestly ordinations in recent years. "Twenty years ago, we may have thought we were headed into extinction," he said, but now the prospects are quite different.

The Australian Church is experiencing this moment of joy that offers new hope for the future. The Catholic community in Sydney is preparing for the ordination ceremony for six new priests, which will coincide with the closing of the Year for Priests, Friday, June 11 at Saint Mary's Cathedral, presided by Cardinal George Pell. The Archdiocese also has 63 seminarians, a significant increase considering that in 2000 there were only 17.

Six new priests will be ordained in Melbourne, home to more than 50 seminarians from the states of Victoria and Tasmania. In Brisbane, where a new seminary was built in 2008, the number of seminarians has doubled in two years, from 16 to 32 today. The same phenomenon is noted in the Seminary of Wagga Wagga (which houses 20 students) and in the two existing seminaries in Perth (with around 40 students).

The figures show great hope for the future of the Church. "Confronted by a postmodern world lacking in beliefs and values, many young people are seeking something solid and I would like to think they find it in the Catholic faith," said the rector of Sydney's Good Shepherd seminary, Father Anthony Percy. "I also think Pope John Paul II and the World Youth Days inspired this generation," he said.

Ordination to the Priesthood – The Church’s Physical Link to Christ and the Apostles is “Hands On”

By Msgr. Charles Pope
From the Archdiocese of Washington

We are entering the season for ordinations. And perhaps a worthy reflection is to recall that one of the great glories of the Catholic Church is her historical link to Christ and the Apostles. The Catholic link to Christ himself and the apostles is not merely some moral unity, or a kind of invisible union, it is not merely a knowledge through books and historical data, precious those these things are. No indeed, there is more at work here. There is also an actual physical union through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. In this sacrament, there is a laying on of hands that stretches right back to the Apostles and Jesus.

Unique to the Catholic and Orthodox Churches – Only the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches can make the claim that they historically go back right to Christ and the Apostles. Every other Christian (Protestant) denomination lacks this antiquity. They were all founded less than 500 years ago, some even less than 100 years ago. Further, they literally severed the physical, hands on connection to Christ by casting aside the ministerial priesthood and hence the laying on of hands that signifies this sacrament. They have ministers, but not priests. The Anglicans are an exception, in that they consider their ministers to be priests. Yet they are not considered by the Catholic Church to have valid orders since they went through a long period wherein they did explicitly abandon the intent to hand on the priesthood, hence the link was severed.

Biblical and Patristic roots – It is clear in the Acts of the Apostles that when the apostles chose successors and co-workers to share in their apostolic ministry they “laid hands” on them. Paul and Barnabas had hands laid on them for their work as Apostles (Acts 13:3, 1 Tim 4:14 etc.). Paul later counsels Timothy to be careful on whom he “lays hands” when appointing bishops and deacons (1 Tim 5:22 etc). All the earliest documents of the Church such as the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch make it clear that this laying on of hands continued. This laying on of hands came to be known as “ordination.”

Every valid priest has “connections” – The Catholic Church through this laying on of hands actually preserves a physical link to Jesus himself and the Apostles he chose. History for us is a “hands-0n” kind of history, a “hands-on” link going back 2000 years. Every validly ordained Catholic bishop has this physical as well as spiritual link to the apostles. Every Bishop is a successor to the apostles. The priests share in this office and this link (though not in its fullness) for they too have hands laid on them by the bishop. I am often humbled to think of the “connections” I have with the early Church.

The Faith is literally handed on – So fellow Catholics, “stay connected” and rejoice in our “hands on” historical heritage. Now you know why it is said that the faith is “handed on.”

USSCB site hosts pictures of class of 2009 Priests

Click on the image above to see the Ordianation Class of 2009!

NY PRIEST - Ordination 2009

The lastest from Grassroots films...

"Hail Mary: Former Defiance football stalwart seeks priesthood"

From Crescent News.com

By Jack Palmer

Photo at left: Mark Walter (center), a 1992 graduate of Defiance High School, was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana on June 6. He will continue his religious studies at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland and is scheduled to be ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest in 2010. Walter is pictured with his parents, Mike Walter and Letty DeLeon-Silva, both of Defiance.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- During his high school years, Mark Walter loved to knock heads with opposing linebackers.

Now he operates from a different play book.

Walter, a 1992 graduate of Defiance High School, was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana earlier this month. His ordination into the Roman Catholic priesthood is tentatively scheduled for June 12, 2010.

"I am most looking forward to offering Mass and dispensing God's grace through the sacraments and sharing in the lives of the people God called me to serve," said Walter, now 35.

"I would really like to work with teen-agers and young adults. That's an age when people sway away from the church and I certainly fall into that category. It's an important time to provide spiritual support and encouragement."

Walter is the son of Michael Walter and Letty DeLeon-Silva, both of Defiance. He has a younger sister, Molly, who resides in Colorado.

"My parents and sister have been very supportive," he stated. "So have my uncles and aunts and cousins. Father Tim (Kummerer) at St. Mary's (in Defiance) has also been a big influence. Both the St. Mary's and St. John's parishes have been very supportive. I know they pray for me a lot."

Many area football fans may recall Walter as a bruising running back on a strong Bulldog squad which recorded a sparkling 9-1 mark in fall 1991.

"Mark was one of our senior captains that year," said DHS football coach Jerry Buti. "He and Eric Rodriquez were the featured running backs. Our only loss was at St. Marys and they were state champions."

Following high school, Walter attended the University of Dayton and University of Cincinnati, originally intending to major in medical technology. Looking back, he says his interest in religious studies was piqued by two religion courses he took at UD.

"That was my first year in college when I was taking general courses to figure out what I liked," he said. "One of them was taught by a Catholic priest. It was about how the church makes saints and how saints lived their lives."

Walter returned to Defiance in 1998 and worked at a heating and air conditioning business, paint store and large building materials retailer. But he never forgot those religion courses and how they had sparked his interest.

"It was 2001 and I still hadn't found something I wanted to do, something that I was really passionate about like I was with football," said Walter. "That was the first time I started thinking about religious studies."

He enrolled at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne where he began discerning a call to the priesthood. While serving as student chaplain at Lutheran Hospital, he met a former seminarian who introduced him to other priests.

"They were very encouraging," said Walter. "I began thinking this was something I was called to do, but I still had some doubts about committing my life to the priesthood."

After earning a degree in ministry studies from USF, he entered seminary at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Md., in fall 2004.

"I went there thinking I would give it a year and see what happened," said Walter. "I still wasn't sure if being a priest was for me. The seminary's director of spiritual formation and the spiritual director both took me under their wing. With their help and through prayer, I found the affirmation to continue in seminary."

For the past two years, he was chaplain of Mount St. Mary's Division I baseball team and active in intramural flag football and softball. He will remain there to finish his sixth and final year of seminary.

"I'm preaching a homily almost every day for daily and/or funeral Masses," he said. "It really takes time to prepare a homily. You start reading the lessons a week ahead of time and then take them with you throughout the week. The hardest part is making them relevant and practical to every day living. Faith is not just in the head, it has to be lived."

After his ordination as a priest, Walter will be assigned to a parish in Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana, which covers north central Indiana.

"Mark becoming a priest doesn't surprise me, he is a great kid," said Buti. "He was very disciplined and never a problem. His parents were very involved and supportive.

"It's too bad he's not around here," added Buti. "He could be our team chaplain."

"Banking on priesthood: Broker leaves behind a lucrative career to become a man of the cloth"

From the National Post

By Katherine Laidlaw

In Thomas Lim's last job, he earned a six-figure salary, lived in an expansive home and managed the bustling operations of Sun Life Financial, a brokerage firm. He was a high roller on an upward career trajectory.

On Saturday, he starts a new job: one without material luxuries and the fast-paced intensity of the stock market. He is becoming a Catholic priest.

Eight years ago, Mr. Lim was assistant vice-president of Sun Life. He had it all: money, power, relationships, upward mobility. And yet, he says he was intensely unhappy.

Now 40 years old and after six years of study, he is being ordained at St. Michael's Cathedral.

The Catholic Church doesn't require priests to give away their savings when they enter the seminary, but he has left his financial investments in the hands of his brother, who is also a banker. He doesn't miss working in the business world. "There were moments in the past where you'd be obsessed with every tick up, every tick down," Mr. Lim said. "I don't feel like I'm shackled any more."

Between about five and 10 men have been ordained each year for the past five years in the Greater Toronto Area, according to the Archdiocese of Toronto. Seven are being ordained this Saturday.

Many come from diverse backgrounds, such as Mr. Lim, seeking spirituality they cannot find in the pressures of everyday life.

Frank Portelli, a 33-year-old once far more interested in clubbing, left his job working with the federal government's bankruptcy regulator to become a priest.

"During my undergrad [at the University of Toronto], it was more about drinks, smoking, dancing, girls, not studying," he said. He reluctantly applied to the seminary after being encouraged by a priest he knew.

Likewise, Eric Rodrigues was completing a master's in biostatistics at McGill University in Montreal when he realized his dreams of being a doctor were eclipsed by a call from God. "Deep down I know that it was a desire to serve people and help people who are suffering."

In Mr. Lim's case, he ignored his first push toward the priesthood, which came a long time ago when he was attending De La Salle College, a prestigious private school run by the Roman Catholic Lasallian brothers.

The nudge came from Brother Benedict, a short, bespectacled man who patrolled the locker hallway. "I had the fourth or fifth locker from the chapel," said Mr. Lim, whose older brother, also a student at De La Salle, was thinking of entering the monastery. Brother Benedict came down the hallway to ask Mr. Lim if he would be following suit. "I kind of laughed and said, 'Are you crazy? I want to make money,' " said Mr. Lim. "I think he thought he could get two for the price of one."

Instead, attending De La Salle left Mr. Lim with a burning desire to be wealthy. He grew up in the Regent Park housing complex, one of Toronto's most destitute, crime-ridden neighbourhoods, where he lived with his mother, father and seven brothers and sisters in a small, four-bedroom home.

He attended the private school on a scholarship. "People did look at you a little strangely. You know, you're coming home in your blue blazer and tie to Regent Park," Mr. Lim said.

"After being in that environment, with those kids who had so much, I came up with a plan. That plan was to make as much money as possible."

After high school, he went on to the University of Toronto's business school. After graduating with a bachelor of commerce, Mr. Lim took a job at Toronto-Dominion Bank, where he was made manager of the mutual funds division before moving to Canada Trust and then to Sun Life. His parents were devout Catholics. But Mr. Lim turned his back on his faith and refused to practise for 12 years. "I found out later, [my mother] prayed for my return each day," he says, voice cracking.

Eight years ago, Mr. Lim had broken up with his last girlfriend, a Catholic who attended church regularly and had encouraged him to attend as well. One Saturday, he wandered into St. Justin, Martyr, a parish in Unionville. Standing at the back of the church, Mr. Lim says he was "overpowered" by the pastor's homily. He listened while the priest spoke about encouraging those who felt lost to return to the church.

Soon after, Mr. Lim was ringing Rev. Michael Busch's doorbell, asking to speak to him about his sermon. Instead, Rev. Busch says, they talked about their lives.

"He was what we call a 'walk-in off the street'," Rev. Busch said. "I always say to him, my first impression of him was anger, bitterness, dissatisfaction."

The description is a stark contrast to the soft-spoken man he knows now, he says. "He's a lot calmer. The man that was before, sometimes those are the qualities that come out when we're searching or when we're frustrated."

Like Mr. Lim, Rev. Busch left behind a lucrative career in advertising to become a priest. "It was the same kind of thing: young, had it all, going in a certain direction but not happy," Rev. Busch said.

"It's something that's very prevalent among young people today. They're really searching for that kind of spirituality."

Seeing in Mr. Lim many qualities he remembered in himself, Rev. Busch told Mr. Lim he should consider joining the priesthood.

"I more or less threw it at him," he said. "I knew it was a bit of a shock for him. I could see he was reaching a point where his questions were leading in a very specific direction."

"Pope ordains priests, warns of worldly spirit in the church"

From Catholic News Service
By John Thavis

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI ordained 19 priests and urged them to make sure their ministry is not contaminated by a worldly mentality.

Priests should dedicate their lives to prayer and service, and never lose sight of the self-sacrifice of Christ, the pope said during the lengthy liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica May 3.

The Mass marked the annual celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The new priests, who will serve in the Diocese of Rome, included 13 from Italy and six from other countries on four continents.

After prostrating themselves on the floor of the basilica as a litany of the saints was chanted, each of the candidates knelt before the pope as he imposed his hands on their heads, part of the ordination rite.

In his sermon, the pope quoted the First Letter of John, who contrasted the spirit of the Gospel with the spirit of the "world," a term he used to refer to all that is hostile toward God.

St. John said that "the world does not know us" because it did not know God, a lament that remains true today, the pope said.

"It's true, and we priests experience this: the 'world,' in John's meaning of the term, does not understand the Christian, does not understand the ministries of the Gospel. In part because in fact it does not know God, and in part because it does not want to know him," he said.

Accepting God would place this worldly attitude in "crisis," the pope said.

"Here we need to pay attention to a reality: that this 'world,' in the evangelical sense, threatens even the church, infecting its members and the ordained ministers themselves," he said.

"The 'world' is a mentality, a manner of thinking and living that can pollute even the church, and in fact does pollute it, and therefore requires constant vigilance and purification," the pope said. The Christian vocation, he said, is to be free from evil and different from the world, though living in the world.

The pope emphasized the centrality of prayer in the life of each priest. This prayer should be Christ-centered, and its highest form is the Eucharist, he said. From prayer comes the effectiveness of all other priestly ministry, he said.

"The priest who prays often and prays well becomes progressively expropriated from himself and increasingly united with Jesus, the good shepherd, and the servant of his brothers," he said.

The pope, who recently turned 82, looked good during the two-and-a-half-hour Mass. It was his last major liturgy before his departure May 8 on a weeklong pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Afterward, at his noon blessing, the pope urged the entire church community to pray for priestly vocations.

The pope recently proclaimed a year for priests that will run from June 2009 to June 2010. In recent years, Vatican statistics have shown that the number of priests and seminarians in the world is increasing somewhat, but not as fast as the general Catholic population.

Franciscans of the Immaculate Ordinations

J.P. Sonnen has posted extensive photos from the recent Franciscans of the Immaculate ordinations in Italy. The pictures are beautiful and many - too many to reproduce here. Take the time to go to his blog, Orbis Catholicvs, and check them out.

If you're viewing this later, below are direct links to the posts:

Pictures of the Church

Processing into the Church

Ordination

Ordination

Ordination

Recessional

"A good red-blooded American boy"

From The Catholic Sentinel
By Ed Langlois
Photo by Kim Nguyen

Hundreds of weathered and pained faces appealed to him from the pews of Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro Church.

It was the year 2000, on a warm afternoon in the oceanside fishing town of Chimbote, Peru. David Jaspers, an American lay missionary fresh out of college, stood next to a white coffin. The agonizingly small box held the remains of an 8-year-old boy who had been run over by a truck.

The pastor was away, so the duties of leading the funeral fell to the outgoing 23-year-old from Eugene. He nervously got through the prayers and felt as if he’d plunged into the suffering of the people.

Now, six months before he will be ordained a priest, he remembers the warm grip of the grieving mother’s hand. It was then he learned what it means to serve.

Rev. Mr. Jaspers, 31, was ordained a deacon last year and has been preaching and teaching during the weekends at Christ the King Church in Milwaukie. In June, he will become a priest with a class of eight other men, one of the largest ordination classes in years for the Archdiocese of Portland.

The future priest grew up at St. Paul Church in Eugene, attending the parish school. He was a regular kid who wanted to be a professional football player, listened to hip-hop, and pocketed candy when others weren’t looking. Alongside that standard mix of experience, family members say, young David always sensed when someone was hurting and needed help.

His mother, who worked part time as a nurse, read bible stories to the Jaspers children. David was the fourth of five siblings. The youngsters also heard recorded stories about faith. Their father, a U.S. Forest Service employee, was a lector at Masses.

“I came to know Jesus as a kid,” Rev. Mr. Jaspers says. “As long as I can remember, I knew I was part of God’s family.”

He went on to Marist, where he got top grades and became a respected offensive lineman. Girls interested him mightily. He imagined some day becoming a school principal and having a family.

During a retreat, the leader asked youths if their religion was making a real difference in their lives, guiding relationships and choices. Young David resolved then to live in a way that integrated his faith; it simply seemed like the honest thing to do. He openly talked about his faith.

He worked at a Baptist summer camp, prompted by the urge to want to spread the love of God. About that time, he heard a tape from Catholic evangelist Scott Hahn. He thought to himself, “What a terrific job.”

At 6-foot-2 with broad-shoulders, he went on to Pacific Lutheran University, where he studied Spanish and history, ran track, played football and dated.

He took part in ecumenical bible study during college. That helped him both admire scripture and embrace his Catholic identity.

During his sophomore year, he studied in Granada, Spain. In that ancient crossroads of Muslim and Christian culture, he opened himself to the possibility of priesthood.
In what is now a culturally Catholic land, he walked the paths saints had trod and learned stories of faith rooted in the very soil. When he saw an open door at one of the hundreds of churches, he entered. A prompt soul, he showed up for Masses that, in the Spanish mode, started long after they were scheduled. Consequently, he had plenty of time to kneel alone in God’s presence.

In one of those quiet moments, he read a book that mentioned the Eucharist and his heart beat with joy. Always one to share his personal treasures, he quickly wrote to friends to describe his deep consolation.

He became linked with a group of young Catholic laymen who prayed and discussed great matters of belief and morals. He tutored youths on faith. At the same time, he entered the social life, staying out talking with groups into the wee hours. He felt magnificently free.

During a spring break trip to Rome, he saw Pope John Paul with 3,000 other young adults. On a bus ride during the pilgrimage, a priest asked the gregarious young American if he’d considered going to seminary. Well, yes, Jaspers said. But he also thought it would be nice to wake up each day with a wife, a lifelong companion. The older priest said that he, too, yearned for family life, but had chosen celibacy and would choose it again if he had it to do over.

Tears welled up in the young man’s eyes. It struck him: priests can be men who are like everyone else, men who like to play soccer or football, laugh over a pint and find women attractive.

“You don’t need to be abnormal to be a priest,” he says with a chuckle.

He decided to attend Mount Angel starting in 2002, just about the time the clergy abuse scandal became national news. The reports were painful to hear, but they did not deter him. In fact, they filled him with resolve. The church continues to need good, holy men, he told himself. Since his ordination as a deacon, Rev. Mr. Jaspers has felt unburdened in the matter of celibacy. He knew before that God had given him total freedom to choose married life, so with fascinating women he met, he had to ask himself, “Is she the one?” But now that he has made his choice, he no longer has to worry about what to choose. The result, he says, is joy.

“Real freedom is living out the commitment,” he explains.

He realizes he stands on the shoulders of priests he’s known over the years. He recalls meeting his father’s cousin — Maryknoll Father Mike McKiernan — who spent 50 years as a missionary in China, including a stint in a communist prison. When Rev. Mr. Jaspers was in high school, Father David Cullings set up a visit to Mount Angel Seminary for him, sensing a vocation.

Rev. Mr. Jaspers does realize his status as a young guitarist and football player-turned priest could serve to inspire some young men to be open to a religious vocation. He’s willing. “We need more cool priests,” he explains. “That way, we can let cool guys know it’s alright to be a priest.”

“David is a fine, fine candidate for the priesthood,” says Benedictine Father Odo Recker, a monk of Mount Angel Abbey, home to the seminary.

“He is what we called in the old days ‘a good red-blooded American boy.’”

"Convert completes step toward priesthood'

From Savannah Morning News
By Dana Clark Felty

As a child, rural Missourian Scott Winchel saw himself becoming a mechanic or somehow working with numbers.

But on Friday, Winchel will come one step closer to something entirely different: the Catholic priesthood.

Winchel, a 40-year-old former aircraft mechanic and convert to Catholicism, will be ordained as a transitional deacon at a service at noon Friday at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

Bishop J. Kevin Boland will officiate.

The transitional diaconate represents the final stage in preparation for ordination to the priesthood. Winchel expects to complete his sixth and final year of study this spring at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. Afterward, he hopes to be ordained a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Savannah in June 2009.

The event comes only 11 years after Winchel became a Catholic at the age of 29.

Raised a Southern Baptist in the small town of Peculiar, Missouri, Winchel grew up knowing little about Catholicism.

He began studying the faith after befriending some Catholics while serving as an aircraft mechanic in the Marines.

"In my late 20s, I began to rediscover my faith, and I began looking into scripture and reading," Winchel said during a phone interview last week while traveling home for a few days. "I came to the conclusion, 'I think I have to become a Catholic.' "

Just four years later, Winchel began to feel called to the priesthood. In Missouri, he met Catholic theologian Paul Thigpen, who later moved to Savannah. Thigpen introduced Winchel to diocesan leaders who encouraged the Missourian to pursue the priesthood.

"It seemed like there were a lot of little coincidences and people mentioning things, and I really began thinking God was calling me to give it a shot," Winchel said.

Since enrolling in seminary six years ago, Winchel has taken each day in stride, waiting for a sign that the priesthood isn't the path for him.

But that message hasn't come.

"My prayer has always been, 'You know, Lord, if you don't want me to do this, just let me know and I'll go my merry way,' " he said.

"But at each step, it has seemed, the Lord has continued to call me forward."

"Catholics welcome three new priests"

From FIJI Times online
By Samuela Loanakadavu

Photo: Archbishop Petero Mataca blesses the hands of Donato Kivi during the ordination yesterday. Behind Fr Kivi are, partially obscured, Father Mikaele Marisi and Father Iosefo Brandon. Picture: ATU RASEA

The sacrament of Holy Orders was held for three new priests at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Suva yesterday.

Farther Iosefo Brandon from Namosi, Father Mikaele Marisi from Taveuni, and and Father Donato Kivi from Tokou, Ovalau, were yesterday ordained by His Grace Archbishop Petero Mataca into the priesthood.

Father Kivi told The Fiji Times after the ordination that he was happy with his achievement and was now ready for the work that he had been called upon, and dedicated his life to do.

"I have been studying for eight years and it's a big relief to have finally completed the program. It's a blessing to join the family of priesthood because all the good things in life are always difficult to achieve," he said.

Father Brandon, who had been doing his pastoral work in New Zealand last year, said that having achieved of being a Catholic priest was a dream that he had cherished and nurtured for a very long time.

"I am happy that I have come this far and I am now ready to serve the people," he said.

More than 300 people, from all over Fiji, among them family and friends, attended the mass at the Sacred Cathedral in Suva yesterday.

The feast for the new priests was later held at the Laucala Bay Parish hall.

"Number of Deacons Among Us Grows"

From The Florida Catholic

By Linda Reeves

Left: Deacon William Ferguson is vested with his stole by an attending priest and deacon during his ordination Sept. 6. The retired software engineer is a member of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Boca Raton. Photo by Jason Collins

The number of permanent deacons serving Catholics in the Diocese of Palm Beach continues to grow. What does this mean for the future of the local church?

“The more deacons we have the better,” said Ana Daza-Jaller, coordinator of the Permanent Diaconate Formation Office, who pointed out that permanent deacons have a vital role helping parish priests, who have extremely busy jobs and large flocks that continue to increase here.

Eight men joined the ranks of the clergy as deacons Sept. 6 at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola during an ordination Mass with Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito presiding. The cathedral was packed.

WHO ARE THE NEW CLERGY?

In the south end of the diocese in Boca Raton, Deacon William Ferguson serves at St. John the Evangelist and Deacon Lon Phillips is at Ascension.

Out west in Wellington, Deacon William Jacobs is at St. Thérèse de Lisieux and Deacon Joseph O’Connell assists at St. Rita.

The central diocese has Deacon Richard Lyles at St. Francis of Assisi in Riviera Beach, Deacon Miguel Munoz is at St. Ignatius Loyola, Deacon Stephen Scienzo serves at St. Peter in Jupiter and Deacon Martin Serraes is at Holy Name of Jesus in West Palm Beach.

“Each of the eight men has exhibited the necessary qualities we seek in men serving in the diaconate and has demonstrated continued growth in all of the areas concerned,” said Deacon Dennis Demes, program director. “In addition to their duties in their respective parishes, each new deacon indicates an area of service to (take on in) the Diocese of Palm Beach as well, since a deacon is ordained primarily as a minister of the greater church.”

A deacon is to be “a servant in a servant-church,” according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In 1967, the Catholic Church restored the diaconate as a permanent order of ministry, returning to the practice of the early church. Prior to the directive from Pope Paul VI, the diaconate was only a transitional stage as men prepared to be priests.

The clergy member has specific duties including proclaiming Scripture, preaching and performing charity for others. Deacons also assist at marriages, preside at funerals and burial rites, and lead Communion and prayer services.

There are more than 14,000 permanent deacons in the United States, according to the bishops’ conference.

Here the diocesan formation program, in its seventh year, has graduated 25 permanent deacons, bringing the population of “active deacons serving locally” to 86, according to Daza-Jaller.

The four-year diaconate program has attracted faithful men from all walks of life and professional careers. Deacon Demes pointed to projections that if the brotherhood continues to grow, deacons might outnumber priests one day.

At this point, the priesthood is strong in the diocese. According to the chancellor’s office, 110 priests have official assignments in the diocese with 53 parishes and missions. This figure includes diocesan, religious and extern priests. Another 65 active and retired priests have faculties in the diocese and help in parishes and ministries.

At the present time, the diocesan formation program has 22 participants.

“We have five in the first year, eight in the second year, five in the third year and four in the fourth year,” said Daza-Jaller.

Deacon Lee Levenson of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Delray Beach completed the diocesan program and studies required at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach. He was ordained with 11 other men September 2006 during ceremonies at St. Patrick in Palm Beach Gardens.

“I recall quite vividly that all of us were very excited,” he said. “I personally felt very happy, but not at all sure that I was worthy of this wonderful sacrament. I expressed my concerns to a priest I was visiting in North Carolina just weeks before my ordination and he replied, ‘Lee, none of us are worthy to receive the sacrament of holy orders, but that being said, we must simply open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and let the Triune God fill us and guide us.’”

Great Ordination Photo Album

Hat tip to New Liturgical Movement and Traditional Vocations for highlighting the beautiful ordination photos from the recent ICRSS (Institute of Christ the King) Priesthood Ordination. Enjoy the pictures if you have a chance:

ICRSS Ordination Photo Album

Article on the Permanent Diaconate and the Twenty-Five Men Ordained in Indianapolis

From the Chicago Tribune

By KEN KUSMER/Associated Press Writer

INDIANAPOLIS - After resisting the idea for more than three decades, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis has ordained its first class of deacons, taking some pressure off overworked priests and giving a new role to men who keep one foot in the church and the other in the outside world.

"Everyone kept urging me: 'You've got the makings, you've got the spirituality,"' said Donald Dearman, 57, a Catholic convert and retired correctional officer who was among 25 deacons ordained by the archdiocese last month. "Someone told me they saw the Holy Spirit on the back of my head."

Indianapolis, like most U.S. Catholic dioceses, struggles to recruit enough priests to man its 151 parishes, spread across most of the southern half of Indiana. The number of diocesan priests fell 5 percent from 156 in 2001 to 148 last year. The archdiocese ordained only two new priests this year. Nationally, the number of priests has fallen 13 percent from 45,699 in 2000 to 40,580 in 2008.

At the same time, the number of Catholic deacons in the U.S. has grown steadily, from 898 in 1975 to 16,527 currently, including 13,647 who remain active, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

When Indianapolis first sought deacon candidates five years ago, it was overwhelmed with the response and had to turn away dozens of men interested in going through the four-year process.

Deacons can't fill the priest void completely; they cannot say Mass, consecrate the Eucharist or hear confessions. But they perform other duties that often fall to priests, including performing baptisms, presiding at marriages as long as they're not Masses, leading prayer services and conducting wakes and funeral services. During Mass, deacons can read the Gospel and deliver the homily, or sermon. Many deacons have careers that put them in the workaday world. The first Indianapolis class included a marketing professor, engineers, an insurance agent and a truck driver.

"With the shortage of priests, it's extremely important," said Joe James, among a handful of permanent deacons who were ordained elsewhere and moved into the Indianapolis archdiocese.

The 70-year-old retired psychologist said that very soon, the three parishes he serves in Richmond, Ind., will be sharing one priest.

Indianapolis' new deacons are members of what Catholics call the permanent diaconate. Candidates for the priesthood become deacons in a transitional step, while permanent deacons remain in that role for life.

Unlike priests and bishops, deacons can be married -- but only if they're married at the time they're ordained. Single deacons generally cannot take wives. Women are not allowed to become deacons.

All but a handful of the nation's 195 dioceses began using permanent deacons in the decades after the office was restored during the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, said Bill Ditewig of St. Leo University in Florida, former director of deacons for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Yet priests in Indianapolis resisted for a number of reasons, said the Rev. Donald Schmidlin, an archdiocesan priest for 50 years. Some didn't want another holy order that wasn't open to women, and others did not want to further emphasize the clergy over the roles of lay women and men who handle much of the ministry in a parish. Some felt the deacon option would erode the number of men wanting to become priests.

The occasional story from other dioceses about a deacon being poorly prepared or ill-suited for ministry provided further disincentives, Schmidlin said.

"We've benefited tremendously from the successes and failures of other dioceses," Schmidlin said.

To head off one potential area of conflict, the archdiocese developed a training program for deacons that also touched on working collaboratively with lay people on church staffs, said the Rev. Bede Cisco, diaconate director for the 230,000-member Indianapolis archdiocese.

"We've been very careful to tell our guys they are the new people serving in the parish and that they certainly need to respect and work well with those who already are serving," Cisco said.

After the archdiocese decided to accept deacon candidates, informational meetings drew 100 men, and the archdiocese received 52 applications for the first class of candidates in 2004, Cisco said. More than half were turned away for a variety of factors, including age and suitability for ministry.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

Hat tip to Deacon Kandra.

"Full life of faith for newest priest"

From the Parramatta Sun in Australia:

Andrew Bass became Sydney's newest Catholic priest when ordained by Bishop Kevin Manning in St Patrick's Cathedral, Parramatta, on June 27.

The 34-year-old, an assistant parish priest at the cathedral, is a former parishioner of Baulkham Hills where his family lives, and was born in Harare, Zimbabwe.

In the first 10 years of his life, Father Andrew also lived in South Africa, the United States and Saudi Arabia as his father Michael, an executive in the oil industry, was posted to jobs around the world.

The family arrived in Australia when Father Andrew was 11.

He said that living among the expatriate Christian community was "a transformative experience'' in his development as a Christian.

"We were part of a close-knit community, not unlike the earliest communities of Christians, mindful that under Sharia law all Christian worship is banned,'' he said.

"Despite the risks, my parents continued to practise their faith.

"They refused to bow to an idea that they couldn't practise their faith, so Mass was celebrated secretly in the homes of several families under the guise of social gatherings.'' (Strong witness to the faith by parents = key component in the development of priestly or religious vocations.)

"Path to priesthood a voyage of discovery"

From the Northern Star

By ANDY PARKS

THE first priest to be ordained in Lismore since 1993 (15 YEARS without an ordination! That is a pretty significant drought!) made his commitment before a packed congregation at St Carthage's Cathedral on Thursday night.

Nicolas Maurice, 33, said there was no moment of clarity when he knew the priesthood would be his calling; it was a slow process of discovery.

"I was blessed to have a wise old priest in Brisbane who I could see regularly. Father Drury gave me spiritual direction. He would talk about what was happening in my life and how the Lord might be influencing it," he said.

"That was very helpful for me, so I guess it was a process of slowly seeing how things were unfolding."

Nicolas Maurice was born in South Africa and his family immigrated to Brisbane when he was 15.
They would say Grace before meals and go to Mass every Sunday, but were not 'fanatical' Catholics, he said.

Fr Maurice believes he is the first member of his family to enter the priesthood, although his mother had an aunt who was a nun.

He studied engineering at the University of Queensland and then worked for an environmental consultancy before doing a year's voluntary youth work in the West Australian Kimberly region with a Catholic apostolate.

In 2001, he met Lismore Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett and became his student.

Fr Maurice studied for two and half years at the Good Shepherd Seminary at Homebush in Sydney, before Bishop Jarrett asked him to finish his studies in Rome.

He spent four years in Rome and will return in September to complete his studies.

Fr Maurice described the ordination ceremony at St Carthage's as 'very moving'. "It was the culmination of a long period of preparation and something that was bigger than me," he said.

Fr Maurice also conducted his first Mass yesterday morning.

"It was very good as well. I was so excited to be able to offer Mass," he said.

Fr Maurice is now looking forward to World Youth Day celebrations and will be travelling to Sydney with the St Carthage's parish group.

"Archdiocese of Indianapolis ordains 25 deacons"

From the Indystar
By Robert King

Photo by Danese Kenon

Emphases and (comments) mine - BW

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis, cut from the wilderness nearly 175 years ago, turned a new page in its long history today when it restored an ancient office of the church that has lain largely dormant for Roman Catholics since the Dark Ages.

Twenty-five men — all but one married (celibate) and most grandfathers — were ordained this morning as deacons of the church. Aside from men on their way to becoming priests, it’s an office Catholics had abandoned until the 1970s. (Great news!)

Deacons are familiar to Protestants, but in the Catholic faith, they are a notch below priests but more than the average parishioner. (This is just about the strangest way I've heard someone write about the Diaconate.) Catholic deacons are vested the authority to conduct baptisms, weddings and funerals, preach at Mass and lead prayer services. Unlike priests, though, they may not hear confessions, anoint the sick and consecrate the Eucharistic bread and wine.

“We aren’t clergy and we are not lay people,” said Mike East, one of the newly ordained deacons. “We walk with a foot in each role.” (I hate to point out an error made by the newly ordained deacon, but Deacons are in fact clergy. Holy Orders, of which the Diaconate is one, by their very nature make one a member of the clergy.)

Read the rest of the article here.

"A New Priest's Homecoming"

After Training in Rome, Clergyman Says His First Mass at His Childhood Parish

From the Washington Post
By Jenna Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer

Photo by Linda Davidson

PICTURED: Rev. Patrick Riffle (center) smiles during the ceremony. He is flanked by Rev. Mr. Jeremy Rodrigues (left) and Deacon William Kyte (right).

A t his first Mass as an ordained priest last Sunday, the Rev. Patrick Riffle kept reminding everyone: Today is not about me, it's a celebration of priesthood.

But that was difficult for his mother, Pamela Riffle, to remember as her 26-year-old son presented her with the cloth used during his ordination. Or his father, also named Patrick Riffle, as he posed for photos with his son. Or his four younger siblings, who supported his decision to become a priest even when kids at school didn't. Or the more than 300 people who traveled from just down the road and as far away as Rome to be at the country church.

For many of them, the day was more a celebration of Riffle -- the kid who grew up on a tobacco farm in Charles County, attended Immaculate Conception Church in Mechanicsville and started thinking about becoming a priest in fifth grade.

"When you're in fifth grade, you have a lot of thoughts, but usually you have ADD and move onto something else," Riffle said last week. "Plus, I didn't know where priests came from. For all I knew, they popped out of telephone booths. . . . But priesthood came up again and again in my heart and my head."

Read the rest of the article HERE.