Deacon Ordination Group Picture
Brenda and I are right behind Fr. Mike Savelesky, our formation director. (Click the image for a larger picture.)
Category: Deacons and Diaconate
Ordination Day Prayer
Lovely God, All that I know of service I learned From your true servants in my life: A mom who always puts her family first; A dad who sacrifices his life for his children’s; Siblings who celebrate life in the midst of suffering; A wife who tirelessly gives flesh and bone daily; Children who trust that we know what we’re doing; Friends who keep in touch over years and miles; Colleagues in education who work to build your kingdom; Students who leap to volunteer at a moment’s notice....
Countdown to Deacon Ordination
Tonight Brenda and I join seventeen other couples in a retreat for deacon candidates and wives. We’ll spend the weekend together as the culmination of four years of formation before ordination on August 10. Our retreat master will again be the witty and intelligent Deacon Owen Cummings, author of Deacons and the Church. I’m really looking forward to hearing him again, and to getting to spend one last weekend with the other candidates and their wives. It has been a privilege, a joy, and a great blessing to...
Open the Door and Let the Spirit Get to Work
Deacon Greg Kandra has a seemingly endless supply of inspiring, funny, and/or deeply spiritual videos to post on his blog The Deacon’s Bench. Here’s one he posted yesterday about a parish that’s using its prime location to great effect in evangelizing: Sometimes it’s that simple. God doesn’t need much from us–just a little–and once we’ve opened the door, the Spirit gets to work. Read the rest of the story at The Deacon’s Bench to find out what St. John’s is doing over Superbowl weekend.
A Former Student Gives a Homily
We’re back! Our week at Notre Dame was fantastic, but there’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed. We had an uneventful trip home, praise God. On Sunday we drove through Helena, Montana to celebrate Mass at the cathedral there. I had never been there, and I was awestruck by the amount of marble and stained glass. Helena is not exactly on the way to anywhere, but if you ever get the chance, stop in and take a tour of the cathedral. I’m currently uploading all of my...
A Grief Observed
About ten days ago I wrote about a former student who had been ordained a deacon. Yesterday I saw him again, but the circumstance were far from joyful. He was the assisting deacon at a funeral mass I attended. The funeral was for my friend’s husband, who passed away at the age of 49 from cancer. He found out he had cancer about ten months ago, shortly after he found out they were expecting their third child. Their daughter was born a few weeks before he died. C.S....
To Proclaim the Faith in Word and Action – A New Deacon is Ordained Today
I’ve been teaching in Catholic schools for almost seventeen years, and today was a first for me: one of my former students was ordained to the diaconate. I’ve had former students become teachers, writers, politicians and nurses, but Matt’s the first one to be ordained. I teared up more than once as I sat in the church watching him respond to the bishop’s questions: Bishop: In the presence of God and the Church, are you resolved, as a sign of your interior dedication to Christ, to remain celibate...
