Diaconate Ordination 2013

The sanctuary of the Altar of the Chair in the largest church in the world could barely contain them.  41 men of the Pontifical North American College received the Order of Deacon on Thursday, October 3.  James Cardinal Harvey, Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, ordained them by the laying on of hands. Edwin Cardinal O’Brien, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, assisted in choir, as did Bernard Cardinal Law, Archbishop Emeritus of Boston.  Eight bishops surrounded the altar as concelebrants, including Archbishop Paul Coakley of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Bishop Bernard Hebda, Coadjutor Archbishop of Newark, Bishop David Choby of the Diocese of Nashville, Bishop William Callahan of the Diocese of La Cross, Bishop Jeffrey Monforton of the Diocese of Steubenville, Bishop James Wall of the Diocese of Gallup, Bishop F. Richard Spencer, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, and Bishop Octavio Cisneros, Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn.   

Joining them at the altar were about 300 concelebrating priests, including the faculty of the College and clergy from the United States, Canada, Australia, and other nations.  31 deacons welcomed the newly ordained into their order, including the 12 deacons of the North American College already ordained earlier this year.  Other seminarians of the College assisted at the Mass as acolytes and in the choir.  Faithful pilgrims packed the basilica and offered prayer and petitions as the men lay down their lives for service to God.

In his homily, Cardinal Harvey spoke of the unworthiness of anyone who is to receive Holy Orders, but explained that Christ makes the man worthy.  “[Christ] singles you out,” he told the ordinandi, citing Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  His Eminence encouraged them to take up the cross of Christ, particularly in the promises of prayer, celibacy, and obedience, calling the calling the cross “the final assurance of the tender embrace of Christ.” 

The deacon lives this out, he explained, in love, sacrifice, and service, always in union with Christ.  He left the men to be ordained with the assurance that they are undertaking the work of Christ, whose fruits will be seen in their own lives, saying, “The ministry of Jesus Christ in his Church is not the work of man, but the work of God, God who gives abundant joy to those who serve him.”

During the Litany of the Saints, the choir and all the faithful invoked the intercession of saints.  The ordinandi lay prostrate beneath the alabaster window of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending from heaven.  Moments later, each one knelt humbly before Cardinal Harvey and received the imposition of hands and the sacrament of Holy Orders, consecrated forever for service in the Catholic Church. 

After the Mass of the Ordination of Deacons, the newly ordained returned to College with their friends and family for a reception in the central courtyard.  The celebration and festivity continued well into the afternoon until the deacons left to take much needed rest and resume their celebration more privately with their friends, family, and clergy from their dioceses, who traveled so far to be with them on this extraordinary day.

More photographs of the ordination can be found at the PNAC photo page.