Congratulations to our new Transitional Deacons
Apr 29th, 2009 by Dan
This past Saturday, three men were ordained transitional deacons at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati.
Deacons Rob Muhlenkamp and Tim Ralston were ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, while Deacon Matt Rader was ordained for the Diocese of Toledo. Coadjutor Archbishop Dennis Schnurr was the celebrant and ordaining bishop. It was a fantastic day - one of the real highlights of the year, of course, for the seminary community.
Ordination liturgies are always impressive. This one was especially so, in some ways. A new and noteworthy aspect of the liturgy (at least for me) was that after being Called to Orders–as the ordinands came forward from their initial places with their families, in the congregation, up to the bishop in the sanctuary–the three ordinands listened to the archbishop’s homily while seated before him. It’s somewhat hard to explain, but this setup presented the image to the rest of us of a intimate conversation between the archbishop and his men, to which the rest of us were fortunate witnesses. Then, later on as the ordinands knelt and the bishop imposed his hands upon the crown of their heads, Archbishop Schnurr reached down and helped pull each man up to his feet–another rich image of the relationship of support and encouragement that is to be operative in their ministry.
It was a tremendous day, and the church is blessed to have these men serving the People of God. Deacons Muhlenkamp and Ralston have their biographies on the Cincinnati Vocations website - just click on each of their names within this page. Deacon Rader’s info can be found here, on the Toledo vocations site.
These new deacons will serve the church–and continue their studies–for one more year on their path toward ordination to the priesthood. As many people may not be aware, though… it is with ordination to the diaconate–ordination into the clerical state–that the men make their permanent promise of celibacy. This is a discipline that is readily associated with the priesthood, and we are familiar with the concept of married permanent deacons… but, again, it is with ordination to the diaconate that the promise of celibacy is made. (Canon 277… but I’ll spare you further details) Just a point of interest that I didn’t realize when I first entered seminary. It makes for a nice retort/clarification when some punk cracks that a deacon should have a wild night on the town before being ordained to the priesthood.
The seminary is FULL of deacons (a nice problem to have) right now as we look forward to the ordination of our priesthood candidates in May. As always, keep these good men in your prayers!