13 deacons ordained in joint ceremony by Archbishop Perez

[phil19034]

13 deacons ordained in joint ceremony by Archbishop Perez – Catholic Philly

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia just ordained both transitional Deacons & permanent Deacons during the same ordination mass this year, for the first time.

While it was only done because the ordination for transitional Deacons was pushed back due to Covid-19, I actually think that this is a pretty good idea. In all honesty, I think they should be ordained together each year & I think it would be a best practice to encourage this.

Thoughts?

 

[Usige]

In all honesty, I think they should be ordained together each year & I think it would be a best practice to encourage this.

Thoughts?

I’d agree. I once mentioned that it might be good for men in our diaconal formation program to serve and have some events with seminarians over the summer and you’d think I had two heads from the reaction. There is no rite of Ordination for a Transitional Deacon with a separate rite for a Permanent Deacon. The only difference is the promise of celibacy and that can be asked of Permanent Deacons if they are not married.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Hey I just saw one of those new deacon guys at Mass this morning preaching and then giving me Communion

I really don’t see any harm in a joint ceremony as long as there’s room for everyone who would normally want to attend.

 

[CTBcin]

We often ordain transitional and permanent deacons in the same ceremony in my diocese. Of course, this generally only happens once every three years, due to how the formation program for the permanent deaconate works.

 

[Alexandria2020]

Interesting.

Some of the EC churches do not have permanent deacons. I was wondering if an EC could become a permanent deacon in the Latin Church?

 

[Margaret_Ann]

Which Eparchy are you in?

 

[Thom18]

Sorry, all I can think of is that my diocese (Cleveland) is without a bishop again. (Archbishop Perez came from us)

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I am praying that you get a good bishop soon.
I know y’all liked Archbishop Perez. But he’s better here in Philly. Everybody knows him already around here. It was like Old Home Week when he returned. Apparently he used to be pastor of the church I attend here,
(I’ve also noticed he has not had any time to try to convince the good folks here to stand rather than kneel after Communion…which would be roundly ignored)
I personally wish the Pope would promote someone from NE OH to be bishop of Cleveland. Maybe that’s asking too much though.

 

[phil19034]

Hey I just saw one of those new deacon guys at Mass this morning preaching and then giving me Communion

I really don’t see any harm in a joint ceremony as long as there’s room for everyone who would normally want to attend.

How often are you in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia? It seems like you are often here.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I work based out of here. Although my office like everyone else’s has been closed.

Due to COVID, I wasn’t really able to go out of state since March when I stepped off a plane from outside USA and the whole Mid-Atlantic plus Ohio shut down within the next few days.

Perez also left the churches open and allowed confession without appointments. All the other dioceses I would normally visit were totally shut down. My regular vet for the animals is also here (Across the street). So here I stayed.

 

[phil19034]

(I’ve also noticed he has not had any time to try to convince the good folks here to stand rather than kneel after Communion…which would be roundly ignored)

I still don’t know why he did that in Cleveland? I don’t think the priest’s council in Philadelphia would go for having everyone stand. Villanova University was telling everyone stand and that went away last year.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I still don’t know why he did that in Cleveland?

The previous bishop had made a big deal out of it. Perhaps Perez was trying to carry on his policies.
A lot of people there do stand.
I prefer not to. So I don’t.

 

[phil19034]

phil19034:

I still don’t know why he did that in Cleveland?

The previous bishop had made a big deal out of it. Perhaps Perez was trying to carry on his policies.
A lot of people there do stand.
I prefer not to. So I don’t.

ahh… Perhaps most of the parishes were already doing it, so +Perez was simply trying to standardize the diocese?

That makes me feel better… then chances are he won’t do that here.

 

[phil19034]

Sorry, all I can think of is that my diocese (Cleveland) is without a bishop again. (Archbishop Perez came from us)

Well, you currently have Bishop Thomas and he’s awesome! God willing, you will get him or another bishop like him.

Like Archbishop Perez, Bishop Thomas is native to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

 

[Alexandria2020]

Which Eparchy are you in?

Chicago - SyroMalabar

 

[Margaret_Ann]

I’m in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia.

TBH, I don’t think it’s a good idea for EC diaconal candidates to be attending RC diaconal formation programs. Afaik, most RC diaconal programs don’t take into consideration EC praxis, theology and formation.

Example: A RC deacon can confer baptism, witness marriages but an EC deacon cannot because these are the duties of the priest, not the deacon. Do RC diaconal programs take these into consideration? Idk.

Maybe @Diaconia and the other deacons on CAF can help.

 

[Usige]

Example: A RC deacon can confer baptism, witness marriages but an EC deacon cannot because these are the duties of the priest, not the deacon. Do RC diaconal programs take these into consideration? Idk.

I suspect it depends on the formation program. We talked about some of the differences in canon law classes, especially around the validity of marriage if Eastern Catholics have to be married in a Latin parish (e.g. no EC parishes in the area) or if it’s a marriage between a Latin and Eastern Catholic.

Outside of that, there would have been no liturgical practicum that would have covered any of the Eastern Rites.

My guess is maybe 70% of the classes might be applicable across deacons from different rites, but that’s really a guess as I don’t know what formation in Easter Rites look like or what duties an EC deacon would have inside and out of the liturgy.

 

[Episcopalian]

Perez also left the churches open and allowed confession without appointments. All the other dioceses I would normally visit were totally shut down. My regular vet for the animals is also here (Across the street). So here I stayed.

I didn’t know you were based in Philly! That’s awesome! I live in Center City so if you ever wanted to church hop (maybe a Catholic Mass on Saturday evening and Episcopal Sunday morning?) Let me know!

That goes for any other Philly residents here on the forum too! CAF meetup!

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Thank you for the friendly gesture, but I’m way out in Chesco and also I generally don’t hop into Protestant churches unless there’s a wedding, a funeral, or an ecumenical service with the Catholics, such as during Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

 

[Diaconia]

There is no rite of Ordination for a Transitional Deacon with a separate rite for a Permanent Deacon.

Not only that, there is also no “permanent” diaconate and “transitional” diaconate. Those are short-hand, inaccurate, terms. There is but one diaconate. Some men may serve as deacons for a short time if they are destined for the presbyterate, and others serve as deacons without plans for the presbyterate.

We have a TON of deacons here in my archdiocese (more than we have priests), and our current archbishop did move the ordination date up for deacons a few years ago (there were no seminarians being ordained deacons that year) to a few weeks before presbyteral ordination.

We have also had ordinations of both seminarians and diaconal candidates in the same Mass, as well.

Some of the EC churches do not have permanent deacons. I was wondering if an EC could become a permanent deacon in the Latin Church?

I am not sure this is technically accurate - all Eastern Churches have deacons, even if they just serve for a short time before priestly ordination. Many Eastern Churches don’t want men to remain as deacons very long (not because they do not value the diaconate) because they are desperate for priests.

In any event, if there were an Eastern Catholic man who was interested in the diaconate and his Eparchy didn’t want a deacon – arrangements could be made to form and ordain him for a different Eastern Church, or, he could [theoretically] change rites and study/become a western deacon.

There are some Eastern Churches where the priests serve in a way similar to Western deacons, by the way. They have another job, often working during the week at that job, and serving primarily a little Temple on the weekend, for example.