August 21, 2009
New deacons commit to ‘the totality of it all’
The candidates for diaconate lie prostrate on the floor of the main aisle while the choir and the congregation sing the Litany of Saints. This act is intended as a sign of total submission to God, unworthiness for the office, and complete dependence on God and the prayer of the Mystical Body of Christ. (Message photo by Paul R. Leingang) Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
As 12 men and their families waited in anticipation of ordination to the diaconate, Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger invited them to consider “the totality of it all.”
The ordination, at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville, was celebrated Aug. 15, the feast of the Assumption. (Related features: Photo gallery | Video)
Bishop Gettelfinger, in reflecting on the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, asked the congregation to reflect on what it meant when Mary said “yes” to the invitation to be the Mother of God.
“She was being obedient,” he said, “embracing the totality of what it was to be mother.” She had to embrace all that followed, birth, changing diapers (or whatever they used in those days, he said), dealing with a precocious child at age 12, the trauma of his being rejected even by those who loved him, and finally the joy that he was resurrected.
He reminded the candidates that they and their spouses had already embraced obedience to the vocation of married life, “the totality of it all,” and now the 12 men were being called to accept another challenge: “to be a servant” and to “embrace the totality of what it means to be a deacon.”
Father Jean Vogler, diocesan director of the permanent diaconate, presented the 12 candidates to the bishop.
Each candidate then ap-proached the bishop, knelt before him and made a series of promises. They resolved to discharge the office of deacon with humble charity in order to assist the priestly order and to benefit the Christian people, maintain and deepen their spirit of prayer, to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours, and “to conform your way of life always to the example of Christ, of whose Body and Blood you are ministers at the altar.”
Following these promises of obedience to the bishop and his successors, the candidates pros-trated themselves as the congregation and choir sang the Litany of the Saints.
The congregation, estimated to be around 1,000 persons, and the choir of over 100 voices, sang at times with the accompaniment of stringed instruments, piano, organ, tympani and a brass choir under the direction of Jeremy Korba.
Following the prostration, the candidates approached the bishop, who silently imposed his hands on their heads, one by one, in the ancient rite of ordination.
Each deacon, with assistance from other members of the clergy, then dressed in his dalmatic — a kind of long, wide-sleeved tunic — and his stole – the band of cloth worn around the neck and one shoulder as a sign of his office as a deacon.
The men then once again approached the bishop for the handing on of the Book of Gospels. Each was exhorted to “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have be-come. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.
Following Mass, the new deacons, spouses, families and friends, and other diocesan clergy went to a reception.
The new deacons and their wives are Emil and Agnes Altmeyer of Good Shepherd Church, Evansville; Kevin and Nancy Bach of St. Benedict Cathedral; Christian and Mary Jo Borowiecki of Holy Rosary Church, Evansville; Thomas and Irene Evans of St. Matthew Church in Mount Vernon; Thomas and Sheldona Kempf of St. Agnes Church, Evansville; James and Diane King of St. Ferdinand Church, Ferdinand; Mark and Ann McDonald of St. Philip Church in St. Philip; John and Mary Grace McMullen of Holy Rosary Church, Evansville; Phillip and Lucille Pierpont of Sacred Heart Church in Vincennes; Dennis and Mary Ann Russell of St. Mary Church in Evansville; Anthony and Nieva Schapker of St. John the Baptist Church in Newburgh, and Mark and Karla Wade of St. Joseph Church in Princeton.
Diaconal assignments were announced in the Message Aug. 14.
Related features: Photo gallery | Video