Vatican City, Oct 6, 2011 / 16:35 pm
The Pontifical North American College in Rome is celebrating the ordination of 35 new deacons at an Oct. 6 ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica. The overriding sentiment of the newly ordained men was how joyful they are for their vocations.
“Ordained ministry in the Church is an expression of this command to love,” preached Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who presided over the ordinations at the basilica’s Altar of the Chair.
“Indeed,” the cardinal reflected, “it is the privileged way … to encounter the fire of divine love; to be transformed by it; and so impelled to share that same transforming love with the Church and the world.”
Before a congregation of over 1,200 people, Cardinal Levada explained that the word “deacon” means “one who serves” and that the 35 new deacons would now do just that “in the threefold ministry of the Sacred Liturgy, of the Word, and of charity.”