The end of an era

As is the custom in the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre, they ordained transitional deacons today, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, at the 80-year-old facility shared by the two dioceses, the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York.  The occasion was beautiful but bittersweet:  this will likely be the last ordination in that chapel for a long time.  The seminary program is merging with the Archdiocese of New York and formation will continue there, beginning next year. Above is the final class of seven men being presented for diaconal ordination this morning.

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio presided. At the end of the ceremony, he declared that he doesn’t think it’s the last ordination in the building, ever, and that he believes that some day it will once again flourish as a priestly house of formation — a remark that was greeted by sustained applause by the hundreds who had crowded into the chapel to share what all concerned have to consider a poignant and meaningful moment in American Catholic history.