Ordination update: 5 new deacons for Stockton

I received the following email Monday afternoon from Virginia Meagher, Director of the Office of Worship, Music, Christian Initiation in the Diocese of Stockton:

On Saturday, September 12, Bishop Stephen Blaire ordained five new permanent deacons for the Diocese of Stockton.

The five men are Deacon Fidel Carrillo, Jr., Deacon Thomas Driscoll, Jr., Deacon Juan Estupiñan, Deacon Eric Hougland and Deacon Juan Vargas. This brings the total number of permanent deacons in the Diocese to 51 (11 retired), relative to 35 parishes.

You may recall that in January Bishop Blaire ordained their classmate, Deacon Gregg Jacob, at his home while he was terminally ill. Deacon Jacob was called home to the Lord in March.

Indeed. I posted on Deacon Jacob’s unique ordination in January. I’m sure he was in many hearts, and many prayers, this weekend.

The diocese has also posted the bishop’s homily online:

 To serve in the name of Jesus you must fol­low Jesus. You must per­son­ally encounter daily our Risen Lord if you wish to serve him faith­fully. As Dea­cons you are ordained to wit­ness to the world the mercy of God found in Jesus Christ. To do this dif­fi­cult task you must be inti­mately close to Christ. You will find Him in the scrip­tures; you will find Him in the Eucharist; you will find Him in His Church and in the peo­ple you serve; you will find Him in the lonely and suf­fer­ing; you will find Him in your neigh­bor; yes, you will even find Him in those who oppose you and seem to be the ene­mies of God; and above all you will find Him in your heart for it is Jesus who lives within you. God is present in all the expe­ri­ences of life even when He may seem to be dis­tant. As a Dea­con you are a liv­ing icon of the mercy and love of God. You may say how can I do this task when I am so human and so lim­ited. You can because all things are pos­si­ble with God and it is Jesus Christ who works through you in all your human­ity with its lim­i­ta­tions, weak­nesses and sin­ful­ness. Where Jesus is, you will also be as His ser­vants.

Your class has been espe­cially blessed by hav­ing one of your own as your patron in heaven. Just as it is a great priv­i­lege for me to ordain you today, so was it an extra­or­di­nary grace to ordain Gregg Jacob to the Dea­conate shortly before his death. The only Mass in which he served as a Dea­con was his Mass of Ordi­na­tion. All of us who par­tic­i­pated in that Mass have indeli­bly imprinted in our hearts, along with Con­nie, his wife, and his fam­ily, the joy­ful mem­ory of Greg receiv­ing the Book of the Gospels and serv­ing at the altar in his home.

Congratulations, brothers and welcome! Ad multos annos!