The Deacon's Bench
From The Pilot:
Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley ordained eight men from six parishes to the order of deacon in a ceremony at Holy Name Parish on Sept. 29, the Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels.
The new deacons are Osvaldo Fernandez of St. Mary of the Assumption in Lawrence; David Giangiordano of St. James in Stoughton; Robert Philip Horne of St. Mary of Antioch in Burlington; Charles Kelley of St. John the Evangelist in Townsend; Julio Sanchez of St. Mary of the Assumption in Lawrence; Francis Sung of St. James the Greater in Boston; James Thompson of The Holy Mothers Collaborative in Hanover; and Cristino Ynfante of St. Mary of the Assumption in Lawrence.
The deacon, from the Greek word “diakonos,” meaning servant or minister, is the first of three ranks of ordained ministry in the Church. Among the many functions they perform in parishes, deacons may preside at baptisms, weddings, and rites of Christian burial, as well as aid the priest at Mass, proclaim the Gospel, and deliver homilies. In addition to a parish assignment, each of the new deacons will also assist in one of the ministries of the archdiocese.
In his homily, Cardinal O’Malley described an incident that took place when he was a young priest. The principal of a junior high school located near his offices asked him to break up a fight and make peace between the African-American students and the Hispanic students.
When he arrived, he found the students throwing food at each other in their cafeteria. Many of the Hispanic students were his parishioners and knew who he was, but the African-American students were mostly Baptists and had never seen a friar before. Some, he found out later, thought that he was a ninja warrior.
Cardinal O’Malley likened the incident to the conflict over the distribution of food in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
“It all sounds great until a food fight breaks out in Chapter 6 between the different ethnic groups within the Church, namely those who spoke Aramaic versus those who spoke Greek. They were all Christians, all members of the Church, all baptized, but when it came to the distribution of food for the widows and the orphans, it helped if you spoke Aramaic,” Cardinal O’Malley said.
That conflict between the Hellenists and the Hebrews in the Church prompted the Apostles to select seven men to serve at table while the Twelve continued to devote themselves to prayer and evangelization.
“Out of that crisis — out of that food fight — the great gift of the deaconate [sic] was born,” Cardinal O’Malley said.
Congratulations and welcome, brothers! Ad multos annos!
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