The Deacon's Bench
From Catholic New York:
“The Church needs you as it needed those first deacons,” Cardinal Dolan told 14 men of the archdiocese before ordaining them to the permanent diaconate at a Mass June 15 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
“Once again, the needs of the Church are abundant,” the cardinal said in his homily. “And those of God’s people who are searching, who are hurting, who are hungry, sick, homeless, alone— they can never be ignored.
“We thank God for the prospect of seeing you in the Ministry of the Word. Please God, we will see you as well as a minister at the altar at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at the baptismal font, the weddings and funerals, bringing the Most Holy Eucharist to those homebound or sick.
“But most especially, please God, we will see you in the ministry of charity—in hospitals, at funeral parlors, at gravesides, in soup kitchens, food pantries, home visitations, family tables—bringing the solace and the tenderness that only the Sacred Heart of Christ can give.”
The new deacons are Deacon Rudy Babor, 52, of Blessed Sacrament, New Rochelle; Deacon Edward Benvenga, 60, of St. Patrick, Yorktown Heights; Deacon Shaun Boyce, 50, of Holy Trinity, Poughkeepsie; Deacon Charles Carroll, 35, of SS. Peter and Paul and Assumption, Staten Island; Deacon Joseph Crothers, 61, of St. Augustine, New City; Deacon Gianni DiPaolo, 47, of Sacred Heart, Yonkers; Deacon Richard Ellison, 66, of St. Mark the Evangelist, Harlem; Deacon Nelson Falcon, 56, of Ascension in Manhattan; Deacon Angel Filpo, 65, of St. Philip Neri, the Bronx; Deacon Peter Genares, 54, of St. Clare of Assisi and St. Francis Xavier, the Bronx; Deacon Edmund Lazzari, 61, of Holy Cross, Middletown; Deacon Michael McCabe, 55, of St. Paul, Bullville; Deacon Christopher Merenda, 55, of St. Columba, Hopewell Junction; and Deacon Albert Messana, 53, of Annunciation and Our Lady of Fatima, Crestwood.
Deacon of the Word was Deacon Francis Orlando, director of diaconate formation in the archdiocesan Diaconate Office. Deacon of the Eucharist was the newly ordained Deacon Charles Carroll, who was selected to serve in that capacity by his diaconal classmates.
After the ordination, Deacon Carroll, who is also an NYPD officer, told CNY it was an “honor and a blessing to be up there to represent my class.”
“It’s a vocation of service—being a cop and now being a deacon,” he said. “My old pastor, God rest his soul, Msgr. (James) Dorney—I have his name engraved on my alb—asked me many times, ‘Well, I think you’d be a great deacon,’ and with his prayer, here I am.
“Unfortunately, he passed my first year in the (diaconate) program but I know he’s been watching down on me in heaven. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without his intercession.”
Congratulations, brothers, and welcome! Ad multos annos!
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