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Faith on Campus
Newman Centers provide students a faith home away from home
By Andrew Junker and Ambria Hammel| Sept. 3, 2009 | The Catholic Sun
Even though classes at Northern Arizona University wouldn’t start until the following morning, the Flagstaff campus was filled with excited freshmen and fretful-looking parents Aug. 23.
On the mall outside the student union, organizations and groups vied for the new students’ interest and time.
And the requests won’t stop just because school has started, warned Fr. Matt Lowry during his homily at Holy Trinity Catholic Newman Center’s annual “Mass on the Grass.”
In fact, he said, much of college life is determining the most important question facing everyone: Whom will you serve?
For Fr. Lowry, part of that question was answered for him when he was assigned to be chaplain of NAU’s Newman Center this past July. He was also named associate vocations director for the Diocese of Phoenix.
For the foreseeable future, at least, he’ll be serving the students at the state university, which is exciting, but also a little daunting.
“College students force you to be intellectually honest,” the priest said. “They’re seeking the truth, which means, as a minister, I have to be very prepared.”
Newman Centers have to be a source of spiritual growth and a strong community for Catholic students at a state school who are often far from family members and their local parish, Fr. Lowry said.
“Since we don’t have a Catholic university in the diocese, the Newman Center becomes the place where students have Catholic formation,” he said. “It’s a critical time in a person’s life. They leave home and parish and they need support for their faith.”
During an Aug. 23 welcoming Mass at the All Saints Catholic Newman Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, Dominican Father James Thompson encouraged the students to use the center — and, more broadly, their time in college — to grow their faith.
“I dare you to question your faith,” he said. “I’ll go even further. I demand that you question it so that you achieve an adult faith. That’s what you’re here for at the Newman Center. Own your faith and question it with integrity.”
Fr. Thompson said that through honest questioning, students would arrive at the truth, regardless of their chosen major. In a homily that echoed the thought of the great Dominican Thomas Aquinas, he said students studying the sciences, the arts and philosophy could be led to the ultimate Truth.
ASU’s Newman Center offers a myriad of opportunities for students to “own” their faith, and the list of ways they can get involved grows every year.
“The more students are involved in a community, the more retention levels go up,” said Lourdes Alonso, director of campus ministry and a past president of ASU’s Council of Religious Advisors.
She said consistent comments praise the Dominicans’ “welcoming influence and successful ability to reach students and young professionals who have left the Church or who have drifted from regular Mass attendance.”
Alonso encourages Newman Center volunteers to always make a connection with the students who might be inquiring about something simple like Mass times.
“Engage them in a conversation by asking their name, where they’re from or what they’re studying,” Alonso said.
It can all go a long way to making the students feel comfortable at the Newman Center, and that will get them coming back for more.
“Last year I went to a College Night and got plugged right into it,” said Thomas Kupitz, a sophomore at ASU. “It’s a good atmosphere of peers.”
He noted that opportunities available at the Newman Center cater to the whole individual by offering service projects and socializing, small faith sharing and retreats.
“The environment has pushed us to go and do stuff,” Kupitz said. “There are activities to keep you engaged.”
Sense of community
Up in Flagstaff, second-year student Catherine Eyer told a similar story. She began going to Sunday Mass at the Newman Center and then attended XLT, which combines adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with praise and worship music, some Scripture and preaching.
It was her experience at XLT that drew Eyer into the Newman Center. This year, she was manning the signup table before the Mass on the Grass outside the center’s chapel.
“I just like to be involved in things,” she said. “Most of the people I’ve met here are phenomenal. There’s a definite community. It’s like a close-knit family.”
Fr. Lowry hopes the Catholic community at NAU will grow even closer. He plans to do his part by “being visible” on campus and at the center. He’ll be celebrating Mass and hearing confessions daily, and he’s already spruced up the center’s front yard with some sand for volleyball games.
Fr. Lowry didn’t hide the fact that he’ll also be spending his days fostering vocations at NAU and supporting students in discernment.
“College is the time when we discern all our vocations,” he said. “The bishop was purposeful in giving me my two titles: chaplain of the Newman Center and associate vocations director.”
But for many of the new freshmen and returning students who attended Mass at either Newman Center, perhaps the most apparent thing was that even away from home, they still have a family in their brothers and sisters in Christ.
“It’s just so amazing to have a Catholic community on campus,” Eyer said.
More: www.catholicsun.org
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Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
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Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Ana Luisa Jahuey (St. Cecelia), Andres Hernandez (St. Paul Tampa), and Christian Obando and Matthew Obando (Nativity) received scholarships from SEPI to attend the Young Latino Catholic Social Teaching Summer Program. This is one of two new summer programs for Hispanic young adults in the Southeast Region created in response to the priorities and needs identified in the Fifth National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry and the Synod on Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment. The program aims to accompany young adults from the Southeast to respond faithfully to the call to be missionary disciples. Congratulations jóvenes and thanks for responding to the call to Courageously live the Gospel!
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
On Saturday, June 7, 2014. Bishop David J. Walkowiak ordained Rev. Mr. Douglas Braun and Rev. Mr. William
Vander Werff as transitional deacons during celebration of the Eucharist with the Rite of Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. Transitional deacons are deacons preparing for the priesthood.
Please keep these men in your prayers as they continue their discernment of a vocation of priestly ministry in service to our Lord and his people. (Photography by Jonathan Tramontana)
For more information about priestly formation in the diocese, visit www.grpriests.org/Pages/Home.aspx.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Bishop Olmsted ordains diocese’s newest priest
By Ambria Hammel | June 2, 2012 | The Catholic Sun
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained Dan Vanyo to the priesthood June 2 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral.
He joins 254 diocesan and religious priests who serve the Phoenix Diocese by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, conferring the sacraments and overseeing aspects of parish life. Many of them were on hand to offer congratulations to their newest brother.
That included a handful of local priests and some from St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver who played key roles in Fr. Vanyo’s discernment. Fr. Vanyo, 43, began discerning his call to the priesthood at age 32 when a friend through a local Catholic singles group was discerning religious life.
“I never discerned anything,” Fr. Vanyo said. He researched some religious orders, but it wasn’t until a day for prospective diocesan seminarians that he reached a peaceful conclusion.
“They need help here,” Fr. Vanyo, then a hospice nurse, recalled thinking. “That’s when I gave the Lord my fiat. If you open the door, I’ll walk through it.”
He ran into Fr. Chauncey Winkler, who he knew from the local Catholic Retreat for Young Singles group and told him, “I think this is where I could be of some help.”
He entered the seminary in 2005 and was among a reported 487 ordinands nationally who will join the ranks of priesthood this year. Bishop Olmsted read from the Ordination Rite during Mass.
He reminded the crowd, including family and friends who filled the first row on both sides, that Jesus chose certain disciples to carry out publicly in His name, a priestly office. He reminded the diocese’s newest priest of his roles of Christ the teacher, priest and shepherd.
“Carry out the ministry of Christ the priest with constant joy and love,” the bishop said. He also challenged Fr. Vanyo to bring the people together in one family. That’s a challenge the priest plans to meet in his new home, Queen of Peace Parish in Mesa. He will serve as parochial vicar starting July 1.
“I am most excited that I will be able to hear people’s confessions. When the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of the penitents with His grace in the confessional, I will be blessed to be a witness to it,” Fr. Vanyo said.
In addition to a parish presence, Fr. Vanyo will serve as chaplain at Seton Catholic Preparatory High School in Chandler. Fr. Vanyo will offer his first liturgy, a Mass of Thanksgiving, at his home parish Holy Cross in Mesa, at 10 a.m. June 3.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2012 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Bishop Olmsted ordains diocese’s newest priest
By Ambria Hammel | June 2, 2012 | The Catholic Sun
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained Dan Vanyo to the priesthood June 2 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral.
He joins 254 diocesan and religious priests who serve the Phoenix Diocese by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, conferring the sacraments and overseeing aspects of parish life. Many of them were on hand to offer congratulations to their newest brother.
That included a handful of local priests and some from St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver who played key roles in Fr. Vanyo’s discernment. Fr. Vanyo, 43, began discerning his call to the priesthood at age 32 when a friend through a local Catholic singles group was discerning religious life.
“I never discerned anything,” Fr. Vanyo said. He researched some religious orders, but it wasn’t until a day for prospective diocesan seminarians that he reached a peaceful conclusion.
“They need help here,” Fr. Vanyo, then a hospice nurse, recalled thinking. “That’s when I gave the Lord my fiat. If you open the door, I’ll walk through it.”
He ran into Fr. Chauncey Winkler, who he knew from the local Catholic Retreat for Young Singles group and told him, “I think this is where I could be of some help.”
He entered the seminary in 2005 and was among a reported 487 ordinands nationally who will join the ranks of priesthood this year. Bishop Olmsted read from the Ordination Rite during Mass.
He reminded the crowd, including family and friends who filled the first row on both sides, that Jesus chose certain disciples to carry out publicly in His name, a priestly office. He reminded the diocese’s newest priest of his roles of Christ the teacher, priest and shepherd.
“Carry out the ministry of Christ the priest with constant joy and love,” the bishop said. He also challenged Fr. Vanyo to bring the people together in one family. That’s a challenge the priest plans to meet in his new home, Queen of Peace Parish in Mesa. He will serve as parochial vicar starting July 1.
“I am most excited that I will be able to hear people’s confessions. When the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of the penitents with His grace in the confessional, I will be blessed to be a witness to it,” Fr. Vanyo said.
In addition to a parish presence, Fr. Vanyo will serve as chaplain at Seton Catholic Preparatory High School in Chandler. Fr. Vanyo will offer his first liturgy, a Mass of Thanksgiving, at his home parish Holy Cross in Mesa, at 10 a.m. June 3.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2012 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Faith on Campus
Newman Centers provide students a faith home away from home
By Andrew Junker and Ambria Hammel| Sept. 3, 2009 | The Catholic Sun
Even though classes at Northern Arizona University wouldn’t start until the following morning, the Flagstaff campus was filled with excited freshmen and fretful-looking parents Aug. 23.
On the mall outside the student union, organizations and groups vied for the new students’ interest and time.
And the requests won’t stop just because school has started, warned Fr. Matt Lowry during his homily at Holy Trinity Catholic Newman Center’s annual “Mass on the Grass.”
In fact, he said, much of college life is determining the most important question facing everyone: Whom will you serve?
For Fr. Lowry, part of that question was answered for him when he was assigned to be chaplain of NAU’s Newman Center this past July. He was also named associate vocations director for the Diocese of Phoenix.
For the foreseeable future, at least, he’ll be serving the students at the state university, which is exciting, but also a little daunting.
“College students force you to be intellectually honest,” the priest said. “They’re seeking the truth, which means, as a minister, I have to be very prepared.”
Newman Centers have to be a source of spiritual growth and a strong community for Catholic students at a state school who are often far from family members and their local parish, Fr. Lowry said.
“Since we don’t have a Catholic university in the diocese, the Newman Center becomes the place where students have Catholic formation,” he said. “It’s a critical time in a person’s life. They leave home and parish and they need support for their faith.”
During an Aug. 23 welcoming Mass at the All Saints Catholic Newman Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, Dominican Father James Thompson encouraged the students to use the center — and, more broadly, their time in college — to grow their faith.
“I dare you to question your faith,” he said. “I’ll go even further. I demand that you question it so that you achieve an adult faith. That’s what you’re here for at the Newman Center. Own your faith and question it with integrity.”
Fr. Thompson said that through honest questioning, students would arrive at the truth, regardless of their chosen major. In a homily that echoed the thought of the great Dominican Thomas Aquinas, he said students studying the sciences, the arts and philosophy could be led to the ultimate Truth.
ASU’s Newman Center offers a myriad of opportunities for students to “own” their faith, and the list of ways they can get involved grows every year.
“The more students are involved in a community, the more retention levels go up,” said Lourdes Alonso, director of campus ministry and a past president of ASU’s Council of Religious Advisors.
She said consistent comments praise the Dominicans’ “welcoming influence and successful ability to reach students and young professionals who have left the Church or who have drifted from regular Mass attendance.”
Alonso encourages Newman Center volunteers to always make a connection with the students who might be inquiring about something simple like Mass times.
“Engage them in a conversation by asking their name, where they’re from or what they’re studying,” Alonso said.
It can all go a long way to making the students feel comfortable at the Newman Center, and that will get them coming back for more.
“Last year I went to a College Night and got plugged right into it,” said Thomas Kupitz, a sophomore at ASU. “It’s a good atmosphere of peers.”
He noted that opportunities available at the Newman Center cater to the whole individual by offering service projects and socializing, small faith sharing and retreats.
“The environment has pushed us to go and do stuff,” Kupitz said. “There are activities to keep you engaged.”
Sense of community
Up in Flagstaff, second-year student Catherine Eyer told a similar story. She began going to Sunday Mass at the Newman Center and then attended XLT, which combines adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with praise and worship music, some Scripture and preaching.
It was her experience at XLT that drew Eyer into the Newman Center. This year, she was manning the signup table before the Mass on the Grass outside the center’s chapel.
“I just like to be involved in things,” she said. “Most of the people I’ve met here are phenomenal. There’s a definite community. It’s like a close-knit family.”
Fr. Lowry hopes the Catholic community at NAU will grow even closer. He plans to do his part by “being visible” on campus and at the center. He’ll be celebrating Mass and hearing confessions daily, and he’s already spruced up the center’s front yard with some sand for volleyball games.
Fr. Lowry didn’t hide the fact that he’ll also be spending his days fostering vocations at NAU and supporting students in discernment.
“College is the time when we discern all our vocations,” he said. “The bishop was purposeful in giving me my two titles: chaplain of the Newman Center and associate vocations director.”
But for many of the new freshmen and returning students who attended Mass at either Newman Center, perhaps the most apparent thing was that even away from home, they still have a family in their brothers and sisters in Christ.
“It’s just so amazing to have a Catholic community on campus,” Eyer said.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2132 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2009 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
On Saturday, June 7, 2014. Bishop David J. Walkowiak ordained Rev. Mr. Douglas Braun and Rev. Mr. William
Vander Werff as transitional deacons during celebration of the Eucharist with the Rite of Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. Transitional deacons are deacons preparing for the priesthood.
Please keep these men in your prayers as they continue their discernment of a vocation of priestly ministry in service to our Lord and his people. (Photography by Dave Taylor)
For more information about priestly formation in the diocese, visit www.grpriests.org/Pages/Home.aspx.
An abandoned church, which was built in 1960 has been closed since 2018. There was some talk that after almost three year there might be a new owner.
From the churches Facebook page:
Evergreen Park Presbyterian Church
8859 South Francisco Avenue
Evergreen Park, Illinois.
CLOSED!
December 13, 2018
Dear Friends,
After a great deal of discernment and work over the past year, our Session has decided the most faithful route for us to take is closure. We will continue to hold Sunday evening services at 5:00pm through the end of the year, with our last regular evening service on December 30th.
Due to our dwindling numbers, Session decided not to hold a Christmas Eve service this year. I would encourage you all to seek out a service close to you, or at a congregation you or your loved ones have been or are a part of.
That being said, I am looking forward with anticipation to celebrating our 72 years of faithful service on this corner of Evergreen Park with you this spring. We will hold a concluding service around the end of February / beginning of March, and you are invited! We will invite all of our members, friends, previous members, and pastors as well. Stay tuned for more information. I will update our Facebook page as soon as we have a date established.
It has been my privilege and blessing to serve you as pastor these past four and a half years. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns, or if there is a way I can be a better pastor for you during this time. The Session and I will continue to communicate any new information we have for you as we get it. Thank you for being part of this wonderful community.
Blessings to you,
Jon
Faith on Campus
Newman Centers provide students a faith home away from home
By Andrew Junker and Ambria Hammel| Sept. 3, 2009 | The Catholic Sun
Even though classes at Northern Arizona University wouldn’t start until the following morning, the Flagstaff campus was filled with excited freshmen and fretful-looking parents Aug. 23.
On the mall outside the student union, organizations and groups vied for the new students’ interest and time.
And the requests won’t stop just because school has started, warned Fr. Matt Lowry during his homily at Holy Trinity Catholic Newman Center’s annual “Mass on the Grass.”
In fact, he said, much of college life is determining the most important question facing everyone: Whom will you serve?
For Fr. Lowry, part of that question was answered for him when he was assigned to be chaplain of NAU’s Newman Center this past July. He was also named associate vocations director for the Diocese of Phoenix.
For the foreseeable future, at least, he’ll be serving the students at the state university, which is exciting, but also a little daunting.
“College students force you to be intellectually honest,” the priest said. “They’re seeking the truth, which means, as a minister, I have to be very prepared.”
Newman Centers have to be a source of spiritual growth and a strong community for Catholic students at a state school who are often far from family members and their local parish, Fr. Lowry said.
“Since we don’t have a Catholic university in the diocese, the Newman Center becomes the place where students have Catholic formation,” he said. “It’s a critical time in a person’s life. They leave home and parish and they need support for their faith.”
During an Aug. 23 welcoming Mass at the All Saints Catholic Newman Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, Dominican Father James Thompson encouraged the students to use the center — and, more broadly, their time in college — to grow their faith.
“I dare you to question your faith,” he said. “I’ll go even further. I demand that you question it so that you achieve an adult faith. That’s what you’re here for at the Newman Center. Own your faith and question it with integrity.”
Fr. Thompson said that through honest questioning, students would arrive at the truth, regardless of their chosen major. In a homily that echoed the thought of the great Dominican Thomas Aquinas, he said students studying the sciences, the arts and philosophy could be led to the ultimate Truth.
ASU’s Newman Center offers a myriad of opportunities for students to “own” their faith, and the list of ways they can get involved grows every year.
“The more students are involved in a community, the more retention levels go up,” said Lourdes Alonso, director of campus ministry and a past president of ASU’s Council of Religious Advisors.
She said consistent comments praise the Dominicans’ “welcoming influence and successful ability to reach students and young professionals who have left the Church or who have drifted from regular Mass attendance.”
Alonso encourages Newman Center volunteers to always make a connection with the students who might be inquiring about something simple like Mass times.
“Engage them in a conversation by asking their name, where they’re from or what they’re studying,” Alonso said.
It can all go a long way to making the students feel comfortable at the Newman Center, and that will get them coming back for more.
“Last year I went to a College Night and got plugged right into it,” said Thomas Kupitz, a sophomore at ASU. “It’s a good atmosphere of peers.”
He noted that opportunities available at the Newman Center cater to the whole individual by offering service projects and socializing, small faith sharing and retreats.
“The environment has pushed us to go and do stuff,” Kupitz said. “There are activities to keep you engaged.”
Sense of community
Up in Flagstaff, second-year student Catherine Eyer told a similar story. She began going to Sunday Mass at the Newman Center and then attended XLT, which combines adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with praise and worship music, some Scripture and preaching.
It was her experience at XLT that drew Eyer into the Newman Center. This year, she was manning the signup table before the Mass on the Grass outside the center’s chapel.
“I just like to be involved in things,” she said. “Most of the people I’ve met here are phenomenal. There’s a definite community. It’s like a close-knit family.”
Fr. Lowry hopes the Catholic community at NAU will grow even closer. He plans to do his part by “being visible” on campus and at the center. He’ll be celebrating Mass and hearing confessions daily, and he’s already spruced up the center’s front yard with some sand for volleyball games.
Fr. Lowry didn’t hide the fact that he’ll also be spending his days fostering vocations at NAU and supporting students in discernment.
“College is the time when we discern all our vocations,” he said. “The bishop was purposeful in giving me my two titles: chaplain of the Newman Center and associate vocations director.”
But for many of the new freshmen and returning students who attended Mass at either Newman Center, perhaps the most apparent thing was that even away from home, they still have a family in their brothers and sisters in Christ.
“It’s just so amazing to have a Catholic community on campus,” Eyer said.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2132 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2009 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
On Saturday, June 7, 2014. Bishop David J. Walkowiak ordained Rev. Mr. Douglas Braun and Rev. Mr. William
Vander Werff as transitional deacons during celebration of the Eucharist with the Rite of Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. Transitional deacons are deacons preparing for the priesthood.
Please keep these men in your prayers as they continue their discernment of a vocation of priestly ministry in service to our Lord and his people. (Photography by Jonathan Tramontana)
For more information about priestly formation in the diocese, visit www.grpriests.org/Pages/Home.aspx.
Faith on Campus
Newman Centers provide students a faith home away from home
By Andrew Junker and Ambria Hammel| Sept. 3, 2009 | The Catholic Sun
Even though classes at Northern Arizona University wouldn’t start until the following morning, the Flagstaff campus was filled with excited freshmen and fretful-looking parents Aug. 23.
On the mall outside the student union, organizations and groups vied for the new students’ interest and time.
And the requests won’t stop just because school has started, warned Fr. Matt Lowry during his homily at Holy Trinity Catholic Newman Center’s annual “Mass on the Grass.”
In fact, he said, much of college life is determining the most important question facing everyone: Whom will you serve?
For Fr. Lowry, part of that question was answered for him when he was assigned to be chaplain of NAU’s Newman Center this past July. He was also named associate vocations director for the Diocese of Phoenix.
For the foreseeable future, at least, he’ll be serving the students at the state university, which is exciting, but also a little daunting.
“College students force you to be intellectually honest,” the priest said. “They’re seeking the truth, which means, as a minister, I have to be very prepared.”
Newman Centers have to be a source of spiritual growth and a strong community for Catholic students at a state school who are often far from family members and their local parish, Fr. Lowry said.
“Since we don’t have a Catholic university in the diocese, the Newman Center becomes the place where students have Catholic formation,” he said. “It’s a critical time in a person’s life. They leave home and parish and they need support for their faith.”
During an Aug. 23 welcoming Mass at the All Saints Catholic Newman Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, Dominican Father James Thompson encouraged the students to use the center — and, more broadly, their time in college — to grow their faith.
“I dare you to question your faith,” he said. “I’ll go even further. I demand that you question it so that you achieve an adult faith. That’s what you’re here for at the Newman Center. Own your faith and question it with integrity.”
Fr. Thompson said that through honest questioning, students would arrive at the truth, regardless of their chosen major. In a homily that echoed the thought of the great Dominican Thomas Aquinas, he said students studying the sciences, the arts and philosophy could be led to the ultimate Truth.
ASU’s Newman Center offers a myriad of opportunities for students to “own” their faith, and the list of ways they can get involved grows every year.
“The more students are involved in a community, the more retention levels go up,” said Lourdes Alonso, director of campus ministry and a past president of ASU’s Council of Religious Advisors.
She said consistent comments praise the Dominicans’ “welcoming influence and successful ability to reach students and young professionals who have left the Church or who have drifted from regular Mass attendance.”
Alonso encourages Newman Center volunteers to always make a connection with the students who might be inquiring about something simple like Mass times.
“Engage them in a conversation by asking their name, where they’re from or what they’re studying,” Alonso said.
It can all go a long way to making the students feel comfortable at the Newman Center, and that will get them coming back for more.
“Last year I went to a College Night and got plugged right into it,” said Thomas Kupitz, a sophomore at ASU. “It’s a good atmosphere of peers.”
He noted that opportunities available at the Newman Center cater to the whole individual by offering service projects and socializing, small faith sharing and retreats.
“The environment has pushed us to go and do stuff,” Kupitz said. “There are activities to keep you engaged.”
Sense of community
Up in Flagstaff, second-year student Catherine Eyer told a similar story. She began going to Sunday Mass at the Newman Center and then attended XLT, which combines adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with praise and worship music, some Scripture and preaching.
It was her experience at XLT that drew Eyer into the Newman Center. This year, she was manning the signup table before the Mass on the Grass outside the center’s chapel.
“I just like to be involved in things,” she said. “Most of the people I’ve met here are phenomenal. There’s a definite community. It’s like a close-knit family.”
Fr. Lowry hopes the Catholic community at NAU will grow even closer. He plans to do his part by “being visible” on campus and at the center. He’ll be celebrating Mass and hearing confessions daily, and he’s already spruced up the center’s front yard with some sand for volleyball games.
Fr. Lowry didn’t hide the fact that he’ll also be spending his days fostering vocations at NAU and supporting students in discernment.
“College is the time when we discern all our vocations,” he said. “The bishop was purposeful in giving me my two titles: chaplain of the Newman Center and associate vocations director.”
But for many of the new freshmen and returning students who attended Mass at either Newman Center, perhaps the most apparent thing was that even away from home, they still have a family in their brothers and sisters in Christ.
“It’s just so amazing to have a Catholic community on campus,” Eyer said.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2132 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2009 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Ven. Veronica Laparelli
Cistercian mystic of Cortona, Italy. Born of nobility in 1537, she entered the cloister at the age of 30 and died over 60 years later in 1630. Her long, fruitful life as a religious was marked with the virtues of obedience, humility, and purity... and a deep spirit of sacrifice and self-mortification. Her great love was the Holy Eucharist followed by a compassionate and tender devotion to the Passion of Our Lord.
God also favored Sr. Veronica with many mystical charisms - Levitation, Discernment of Hearts, Prophecy, and Healing - which made her highly reknowned throughout the Umbrian and Tuscan regions of Italy. Both peasants and princes had recourse to her prayers and her counsel, and she died with a reputation for sanctity that was only surpassed by the reverence shown to another former inhabitant of her hometown - St. Margaret of Cortona. Her incorrupt remains are enshrined and venerated in her original Cistercian convent, which awaits the day when she will rank among the Blesseds. Please pray for her speedy Canonization.
Photo: Laminated picture card w/a piece of her clothing, "Vesti".
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
On Saturday, June 7, 2014. Bishop David J. Walkowiak ordained Rev. Mr. Douglas Braun and Rev. Mr. William
Vander Werff as transitional deacons during celebration of the Eucharist with the Rite of Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. Transitional deacons are deacons preparing for the priesthood.
Please keep these men in your prayers as they continue their discernment of a vocation of priestly ministry in service to our Lord and his people. (Photography by Dave Taylor)
For more information about priestly formation in the diocese, visit www.grpriests.org/Pages/Home.aspx.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Brother John Skrodinsky, S.T. (left) belongs to the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. He is also a lawyer who has worked in immigration law. He is pictured here talking about his legal work with one of the men in formation with his community.
Photo courtesy of Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity.
Read article at visionvocationguide/docs/2021_vision/26.
Bishop Olmsted ordains diocese’s newest priest
By Ambria Hammel | June 2, 2012 | The Catholic Sun
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained Dan Vanyo to the priesthood June 2 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral.
He joins 254 diocesan and religious priests who serve the Phoenix Diocese by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, conferring the sacraments and overseeing aspects of parish life. Many of them were on hand to offer congratulations to their newest brother.
That included a handful of local priests and some from St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver who played key roles in Fr. Vanyo’s discernment. Fr. Vanyo, 43, began discerning his call to the priesthood at age 32 when a friend through a local Catholic singles group was discerning religious life.
“I never discerned anything,” Fr. Vanyo said. He researched some religious orders, but it wasn’t until a day for prospective diocesan seminarians that he reached a peaceful conclusion.
“They need help here,” Fr. Vanyo, then a hospice nurse, recalled thinking. “That’s when I gave the Lord my fiat. If you open the door, I’ll walk through it.”
He ran into Fr. Chauncey Winkler, who he knew from the local Catholic Retreat for Young Singles group and told him, “I think this is where I could be of some help.”
He entered the seminary in 2005 and was among a reported 487 ordinands nationally who will join the ranks of priesthood this year. Bishop Olmsted read from the Ordination Rite during Mass.
He reminded the crowd, including family and friends who filled the first row on both sides, that Jesus chose certain disciples to carry out publicly in His name, a priestly office. He reminded the diocese’s newest priest of his roles of Christ the teacher, priest and shepherd.
“Carry out the ministry of Christ the priest with constant joy and love,” the bishop said. He also challenged Fr. Vanyo to bring the people together in one family. That’s a challenge the priest plans to meet in his new home, Queen of Peace Parish in Mesa. He will serve as parochial vicar starting July 1.
“I am most excited that I will be able to hear people’s confessions. When the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of the penitents with His grace in the confessional, I will be blessed to be a witness to it,” Fr. Vanyo said.
In addition to a parish presence, Fr. Vanyo will serve as chaplain at Seton Catholic Preparatory High School in Chandler. Fr. Vanyo will offer his first liturgy, a Mass of Thanksgiving, at his home parish Holy Cross in Mesa, at 10 a.m. June 3.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2012 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Bishop Olmsted ordains diocese’s newest priest
By Ambria Hammel | June 2, 2012 | The Catholic Sun
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained Dan Vanyo to the priesthood June 2 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral.
He joins 254 diocesan and religious priests who serve the Phoenix Diocese by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, conferring the sacraments and overseeing aspects of parish life. Many of them were on hand to offer congratulations to their newest brother.
That included a handful of local priests and some from St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver who played key roles in Fr. Vanyo’s discernment. Fr. Vanyo, 43, began discerning his call to the priesthood at age 32 when a friend through a local Catholic singles group was discerning religious life.
“I never discerned anything,” Fr. Vanyo said. He researched some religious orders, but it wasn’t until a day for prospective diocesan seminarians that he reached a peaceful conclusion.
“They need help here,” Fr. Vanyo, then a hospice nurse, recalled thinking. “That’s when I gave the Lord my fiat. If you open the door, I’ll walk through it.”
He ran into Fr. Chauncey Winkler, who he knew from the local Catholic Retreat for Young Singles group and told him, “I think this is where I could be of some help.”
He entered the seminary in 2005 and was among a reported 487 ordinands nationally who will join the ranks of priesthood this year. Bishop Olmsted read from the Ordination Rite during Mass.
He reminded the crowd, including family and friends who filled the first row on both sides, that Jesus chose certain disciples to carry out publicly in His name, a priestly office. He reminded the diocese’s newest priest of his roles of Christ the teacher, priest and shepherd.
“Carry out the ministry of Christ the priest with constant joy and love,” the bishop said. He also challenged Fr. Vanyo to bring the people together in one family. That’s a challenge the priest plans to meet in his new home, Queen of Peace Parish in Mesa. He will serve as parochial vicar starting July 1.
“I am most excited that I will be able to hear people’s confessions. When the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of the penitents with His grace in the confessional, I will be blessed to be a witness to it,” Fr. Vanyo said.
In addition to a parish presence, Fr. Vanyo will serve as chaplain at Seton Catholic Preparatory High School in Chandler. Fr. Vanyo will offer his first liturgy, a Mass of Thanksgiving, at his home parish Holy Cross in Mesa, at 10 a.m. June 3.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2012 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Faith on Campus
Newman Centers provide students a faith home away from home
By Andrew Junker and Ambria Hammel| Sept. 3, 2009 | The Catholic Sun
Even though classes at Northern Arizona University wouldn’t start until the following morning, the Flagstaff campus was filled with excited freshmen and fretful-looking parents Aug. 23.
On the mall outside the student union, organizations and groups vied for the new students’ interest and time.
And the requests won’t stop just because school has started, warned Fr. Matt Lowry during his homily at Holy Trinity Catholic Newman Center’s annual “Mass on the Grass.”
In fact, he said, much of college life is determining the most important question facing everyone: Whom will you serve?
For Fr. Lowry, part of that question was answered for him when he was assigned to be chaplain of NAU’s Newman Center this past July. He was also named associate vocations director for the Diocese of Phoenix.
For the foreseeable future, at least, he’ll be serving the students at the state university, which is exciting, but also a little daunting.
“College students force you to be intellectually honest,” the priest said. “They’re seeking the truth, which means, as a minister, I have to be very prepared.”
Newman Centers have to be a source of spiritual growth and a strong community for Catholic students at a state school who are often far from family members and their local parish, Fr. Lowry said.
“Since we don’t have a Catholic university in the diocese, the Newman Center becomes the place where students have Catholic formation,” he said. “It’s a critical time in a person’s life. They leave home and parish and they need support for their faith.”
During an Aug. 23 welcoming Mass at the All Saints Catholic Newman Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, Dominican Father James Thompson encouraged the students to use the center — and, more broadly, their time in college — to grow their faith.
“I dare you to question your faith,” he said. “I’ll go even further. I demand that you question it so that you achieve an adult faith. That’s what you’re here for at the Newman Center. Own your faith and question it with integrity.”
Fr. Thompson said that through honest questioning, students would arrive at the truth, regardless of their chosen major. In a homily that echoed the thought of the great Dominican Thomas Aquinas, he said students studying the sciences, the arts and philosophy could be led to the ultimate Truth.
ASU’s Newman Center offers a myriad of opportunities for students to “own” their faith, and the list of ways they can get involved grows every year.
“The more students are involved in a community, the more retention levels go up,” said Lourdes Alonso, director of campus ministry and a past president of ASU’s Council of Religious Advisors.
She said consistent comments praise the Dominicans’ “welcoming influence and successful ability to reach students and young professionals who have left the Church or who have drifted from regular Mass attendance.”
Alonso encourages Newman Center volunteers to always make a connection with the students who might be inquiring about something simple like Mass times.
“Engage them in a conversation by asking their name, where they’re from or what they’re studying,” Alonso said.
It can all go a long way to making the students feel comfortable at the Newman Center, and that will get them coming back for more.
“Last year I went to a College Night and got plugged right into it,” said Thomas Kupitz, a sophomore at ASU. “It’s a good atmosphere of peers.”
He noted that opportunities available at the Newman Center cater to the whole individual by offering service projects and socializing, small faith sharing and retreats.
“The environment has pushed us to go and do stuff,” Kupitz said. “There are activities to keep you engaged.”
Sense of community
Up in Flagstaff, second-year student Catherine Eyer told a similar story. She began going to Sunday Mass at the Newman Center and then attended XLT, which combines adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with praise and worship music, some Scripture and preaching.
It was her experience at XLT that drew Eyer into the Newman Center. This year, she was manning the signup table before the Mass on the Grass outside the center’s chapel.
“I just like to be involved in things,” she said. “Most of the people I’ve met here are phenomenal. There’s a definite community. It’s like a close-knit family.”
Fr. Lowry hopes the Catholic community at NAU will grow even closer. He plans to do his part by “being visible” on campus and at the center. He’ll be celebrating Mass and hearing confessions daily, and he’s already spruced up the center’s front yard with some sand for volleyball games.
Fr. Lowry didn’t hide the fact that he’ll also be spending his days fostering vocations at NAU and supporting students in discernment.
“College is the time when we discern all our vocations,” he said. “The bishop was purposeful in giving me my two titles: chaplain of the Newman Center and associate vocations director.”
But for many of the new freshmen and returning students who attended Mass at either Newman Center, perhaps the most apparent thing was that even away from home, they still have a family in their brothers and sisters in Christ.
“It’s just so amazing to have a Catholic community on campus,” Eyer said.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2132 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2009 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Bishop Olmsted ordains diocese’s newest priest
By Ambria Hammel | June 2, 2012 | The Catholic Sun
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained Dan Vanyo to the priesthood June 2 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral.
He joins 254 diocesan and religious priests who serve the Phoenix Diocese by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, conferring the sacraments and overseeing aspects of parish life. Many of them were on hand to offer congratulations to their newest brother.
That included a handful of local priests and some from St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver who played key roles in Fr. Vanyo’s discernment. Fr. Vanyo, 43, began discerning his call to the priesthood at age 32 when a friend through a local Catholic singles group was discerning religious life.
“I never discerned anything,” Fr. Vanyo said. He researched some religious orders, but it wasn’t until a day for prospective diocesan seminarians that he reached a peaceful conclusion.
“They need help here,” Fr. Vanyo, then a hospice nurse, recalled thinking. “That’s when I gave the Lord my fiat. If you open the door, I’ll walk through it.”
He ran into Fr. Chauncey Winkler, who he knew from the local Catholic Retreat for Young Singles group and told him, “I think this is where I could be of some help.”
He entered the seminary in 2005 and was among a reported 487 ordinands nationally who will join the ranks of priesthood this year. Bishop Olmsted read from the Ordination Rite during Mass.
He reminded the crowd, including family and friends who filled the first row on both sides, that Jesus chose certain disciples to carry out publicly in His name, a priestly office. He reminded the diocese’s newest priest of his roles of Christ the teacher, priest and shepherd.
“Carry out the ministry of Christ the priest with constant joy and love,” the bishop said. He also challenged Fr. Vanyo to bring the people together in one family. That’s a challenge the priest plans to meet in his new home, Queen of Peace Parish in Mesa. He will serve as parochial vicar starting July 1.
“I am most excited that I will be able to hear people’s confessions. When the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of the penitents with His grace in the confessional, I will be blessed to be a witness to it,” Fr. Vanyo said.
In addition to a parish presence, Fr. Vanyo will serve as chaplain at Seton Catholic Preparatory High School in Chandler. Fr. Vanyo will offer his first liturgy, a Mass of Thanksgiving, at his home parish Holy Cross in Mesa, at 10 a.m. June 3.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2012 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
The Diocesan Synods of Dublin & Glendalough took place on Tuesday evening (October 10) in Taney Parish Centre. Throughout the evening members of Synods who gathered from all corners of the United Dioceses heard what has been happening here over the past year and plans for the future.
They also heard from the Dean of Roskilde, Dean Ann–Sophie Olander, and the Dean of Copenhagen, Dean Anders Gadegaard, from the Church of Denmark who were both attending Synods to celebrate Denmark’s ancient links with Glendalough through the Vikings and with the dioceses as a whole through the Porvoo Communion. CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, Nick Henderson, was present to talk about the housing and integration project for people exiting Direct Provision which is being supported by the dioceses. And the new Third Level Chaplaincy Team was officially launched.
The Synod Service of Holy Communion took place in Christ Church Taney earlier. During the service Archbishop Michael Jackson gave his Presidential Address. He looked at who we are as dioceses in terms of what we do and our relationships with others.
He said the dioceses had a clear choice. We could confine ourselves to the membership of the Church of Ireland or we could take the maxim of John Wesley that the whole world is our parish.
“If we take the latter view, then our calling is to embrace a duty of care and a ministry of service to what is now a conurbation of at least 1.3 million people and a sprawling workplace into and out of which people from at least eleven nearby counties commute daily. It is a geographical area where new towns and new housing are planned and under way within the boundaries of historically existing parishes and I appeal to people in those parishes, as our response develops, to help with initiatives of response. It is also now a place where people who were promised housing two years ago can expect to die on the street in increasing numbers – and we were told two years ago that what happened to Jonathan Corrie would never happen again. This is a scandal of local and national proportions and a matter also of international scandal,” he said.
Ecumenical relations are good right across the United Dioceses and the Archbishop highlighted Dublin’s progressive and innovative Interfaith Charter, the first of its type to be developed by a European city. Within the dioceses the well–established Come&C programme of discipleship centred on the Five Marks of Mission has been taken up by a broad range of parishes, as well as being presented in the Dioceses of Spain and Portugal and the Diocese of Jerusalem. We have international mission through the Jerusalem Link and further links in the Church of Ireland with the Dioceses of Tuam and Connor through the new Gateway Project which has been developed by the House of Bishops. He also highlighted the Camino de Glendalough and the possibility of linking it with the Compostela.
Referring to the text “Jesus and his disciples set out for Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples: Who do people say I am?” [Mark 8:27] Archbishop Jackson said this question of identity continued to play out today for Christians in the Diocese of Jerusalem and the whole Middle Eastern region – that of taking a stand with Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ. “They face annihilation daily, as many people closer to home sit and weigh up whether or not they will bother to go to church this Sunday and in a church such as ours where an averaged out regular church attendance has come to mean once a month or once in every six weeks. The moment at Caesarea Philippi is a moment that defines identity in a very tangible way. No wonder it was so explosive!” he commented.
In today’s dioceses we need to focus on identity, on who we are, on what we do and why we do it, he said. “This is not, as many people might imagine, primarily about ourselves; identity is not nor should it be. Identity is about responsive and responsible relationship. The Come&C initiative has assisted greatly in this regard, not least in the more easily and instantly accessible ways in which we express The Five Marks: Tell: Proclaim God’s Kingdom; Teach: Teach, baptise and nurture; Tend: Respond to human need; Transform: Transform unjust structures; Treasure: safeguard creation. In fact, it could hardly be simpler to be honest, to take a lead in following Jesus Christ,” he said.
The Archbishop broke down the issue of identity, in the context of our discernment of the Spirit of God, into three areas: Please show me who you are; Please tell me what you do; Please ask me who I am. He encouraged members of Synods to go back to their parishes with the aim of meeting entirely new people and explore the meaning of these areas. He suggested that this would help us all move into further engagements and interactions and neighbourliness.
These could be further examined through three pairs of words: Hospitality and Curiosity; Human Interest and Commitment to Listen; and Vulnerability and Connection. For Hospitality and Curiosity to work together, the Archbishop said we need to develop a genuine interest in “The Other as someone other to us and we to them”. He said the challenge was to seek God and the self in the heart of the other. In the dioceses this is being played out through support for the Irish Refugee Council’s Housing Initiative and in Dublin City University which has become the first Irish University of Sanctuary. He added that the new Diocesan Youth Officer, Susie Keegan, would also be invaluable as a contribution to the support the dioceses offer to young people.
The Archbishop said that neighbourliness, if it is to be deepened to understanding, needs the active engagement of Human Interest and Commitment to Listen. This could be seen in action late last year when, through the Jerusalem Link, there was a meeting of Faith Leaders from across Ireland with the Archbishop of Jerusalem in the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation after which a Pledge for Peace was signed.
Finally, the Archbishop said that opening ourselves up to vulnerability was probably the hardest invitation and gift of the Holy Spirit. “Contrary to the perception of many people, vulnerability is not an expression of weakness or inability. Vulnerability is an expression of the need to give and to receive and an expression of openness to receiving and accepting a response as part of a developing relationship. Because identity is bound up with personality, relationship and interaction with others, such openness is the salvation of all of us in a world of change and of brutality. We need to be vigilant. The past is not sufficient for us, not because it is defective but because it is what it is – the past. Our duty is to put it to work in the present. In the local church, we have a wonderful opportunity to do this. This is the dynamic of tradition as tradition comes to meet us from living and lived situations. The delightful thing is that our communication systems in the dioceses show that we are doing this on a daily and a weekly basis. We need to continue and to do more with new people. We need to make new and fresh connections – all of us,” he stated.
One area where vulnerability is played out is in hospital and university chaplaincy which have been developed significantly over the last two years. The Archbishop thanked all who had given tremendous commitment to developing this ministry.
Archbishop Jackson said that the values and characteristics he had outlined were not exclusive to Christianity but were applicable right across the spectrum of humanity. But they all had an expression and voice in the person of Christ and in the person of Christ reflected in our person. The initiatives he had outlined were wide open to all members of the dioceses to accept and enjoy or to set aside and do something else. But he urged members of synod to “do some thing and some things for others and for yourselves.”
“My thanks go to all of you for who you are. My congratulations go to all of you for what you have done. My encouragement goes to all of you for what you will yet do and for the people you are yet to become. So, what was the reply that the disciples gave to Jesus at Caesarea Philippi?
‘They answered, Some say John the Baptizer, others Elijah, others one of the prophets. And you, he asked, who do you say I am? Peter replied, You are the Messiah.’ [St Mark 8.29]
“And finally I say to you: You are the spiritual children of the same Messiah,” he concluded.
We help build great leaders by strengthening the following skills: adaptability, discernment, perspective, communication, endurance and countability.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
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Eight men commence ministry for the Church
Story and photos by Ambria Hammel | Nov. 15, 2010 | The Catholic Sun
A baptism at St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek last week marked a double cause for celebration for one man in particular.
The waters of baptism signaled the first step of a lifelong journey in faith for the 2-month-old boy and the first time the celebrant — the infant’s grandfather — administered the sacrament as a permanent deacon for the Church.
One day prior, Deacon Robert Torigian was among eight men, all married with children, whom Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted ordained to the diaconate Nov. 6 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. They join 239 permanent deacons serving the Phoenix Diocese from the altar, within parish ministries and in the greater community.
“I know that each of them has what it takes to be an effective, caring deacon and a powerful witness of Jesus, the Servant of all,” said Deacon Doug Bogart, associate director of education and formation for the diaconate.
He described them as smart and creative. The new deacons, ages 42-60, have a strong commitment to service, particularly to the bishop, their parishes and to the poor, Deacon Bogart added.
Bishop Olmsted told a crowded cathedral filled with extended family, friends, priests and fellow deacons that deacons represent the charity of the Church. Therefore, he said, they will see the new deacons as disciples seeking “not to be served, but to serve.”
Then he spoke directly to his eight newest “sons.”
“You receive sacred authority to teach in the name of the Church. Such teachings are badly needed,” the bishop said. He cautioned them to resist the temptation to omit any teaching that may not be popular.
“Hand it on faithfully in its organic wholeness,” the bishop said.
One by one all eight deacon candidates knelt in front of the bishop, placed their hands in his and promised their fidelity.
Then the entire church offered a litany of supplication while the candidates fully prostrated themselves down the cathedral’s center aisle. It marked their act of submission.
When they got up, the new deacons spread themselves along the foot of the altar where priests vested them for the first time. Jesuit Father Dave Klein vested his brother Deacon Tom Klein, who will be the only deacon serving St. Francis Xavier Parish.
Deacon Klein also cited his other brother, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and longtime Vincentian, as influential in his discernment.
“It’s been a lifetime evolution for me. There was no lightning bolt moment,” Deacon Klein said in his final hour before ordination.
Deacon Klein, who also works as a trial lawyer, will head the parish’s busy marriage preparation program. He hopes to encourage parishioners of all ages to become more active in the Church.
Once vested, the deacons knelt a final time in front of Bishop Olmsted as he symbolically handed each of them the Book of the Gospels.
“Now you are not only hearers of the Gospels, but also its ministers,” the bishop said.
The deacons finished their ordination Mass from the altar and helped distribute the Eucharist.
Hope for the future
“We, today, witnessed the living faith being handed on from generation to generation so that the Church of Christ will never be without the sacraments of the three holy orders of the Church,” Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares said during a brief program at a post-ordination reception.
Providing for the future of the Church, especially by administering the sacrament of baptism, is what several new deacons looked forward to in their first weeks of ordained ministry. One had eight baptisms lined up during his first week.
“That is the joy and source of hope,” said Deacon David Runyan, a retired meteorologist who will serve St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler and El Cristo Rey Parish at the Grand Canyon in the summertime.
Deacon Torigian, who baptized his grandson, plans to remind older Catholics of their baptismal obligation to come to know and serve the Lord, he said.
The new deacon and longtime physician assistant should know a thing or two about service. He devoted so much time to pastoral ministry in his native Detroit that several deacons invited him to consider joining the diaconate. He finished formation in Phoenix.
Outside of parish work at St. Gabriel, Deacon Torigian will also help the diocesan Office of Natural Family Planning develop curriculum for Catholic high school students.
Deacon Jim Gall, who for a while didn’t know what a deacon was but always liked to serve others, also looks forward to living the deacon motto of servant leadership.
He gained a deeper prayer life during the formation process. It’s helped him see things with spiritual eyes instead of reacting based on temperament, he said.
“I could never go back to the way I was,” Deacon Gall said.
Most new deacons said they gained a deeper spirituality and strengthened their marriage and family relationships during formation.
“I just thank God that I finally said yes,” said Deacon Al Homiski, a parish administrator at St. Bernadette in Scottsdale. He admitted putting off repeated invitations to join the diaconate for years.
The five-year formation process in Phoenix involves two years of weekly Kino classes, monthly diaconate meetings with candidates and their wives, practicums including at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and twice daily prayer. The experience is enough to impact the entire family.
Deacon Ron Johnson saw a noticeable change in the spiritual lives of his three children as well during formation. The psychologist first felt called to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend seven years ago and is looking forward to being the first Spanish-speaking deacon in the Flagstaff area.
He’ll also travel with Fr. Pat Mowrer throughout the north deanery supporting other parishes and missions.
Deacon Jason Robinson said he was always attracted to serving the Church. He applied to the priesthood after high school and entered further discernment.
He soon met his wife through a singles ministry and continued to search for his niche in the Church.
“I had this passion for the Church kind of from the inside, yet I was a working man,” the software developer said, “so I was always a bridge.”
He thought about entering the diaconate later in life. A personal invitation to the diaconate expedited his formation and ordination.
His ministry will include prison and Native American outreach plus parish work.
“Thank you for responding to God,” Deacon Jim Trant, director of the diaconate told the diocese’s newest deacons, “for doing and acting upon His will.”
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
en.easternlightning.org/testimonies/light-is-warm.html
A Warm Light After a Dark Tunnel
By Wang Yuping, China
In a gathering once, Sister Yang shared this fellowship with me in a very serious tone: “Recently there have been a lot of brothers and sisters who are faced with some disruption and temptation from Satan after accepting God’s work of the last days. Some are deceived by the lies of the CCP government, some are disturbed and threatened by pastors and elders, some are coerced or obstructed by their families, and some have family members who fall ill or meet with disaster. All these things are Satan’s tricks to stop us from returning to God. We all already understand that the work of Almighty God’s judgment starts from God’s house, and this is God’s final stage of work in saving mankind. He is doing His utmost to save man, and Satan is practicing its own tricks and disruptions on us in order to stand in the way of us coming before God and receiving His salvation. Right now the fight that is being waged in the spiritual world is becoming more and more intense, so there is an urgent need for us to be equipped with the truth and to learn discernment so that we’re not deceived whenever Satan’s tricks befall us, but instead, we can stand witness for God. Let’s read a passage from the words of Almighty God.” So, I took the book of God’s words and earnestly read the following passage: “As God works, Satan harasses. In the last days, it will finish its harassment; likewise, God’s work will be finished, and the kind of person God wishes to complete will be completed. God directs people positively; His life is living water, immeasurable and without limits. Satan has corrupted man to a certain degree; in the end, the living water of life will complete man, and it will be impossible for Satan to interfere and carry out its work. Thus, God will completely obtain these people. Satan still refuses to accept this now; it continuously pits itself against God, but God pays it no attention. He has said, I will be victorious over all of Satan’s dark forces and over all dark influences. … God is wiser than it, and His work far exceeds it. Therefore, I previously stated the following: The work that I do is carried out in response to Satan’s ruses. In the end I will reveal My almightiness and Satan’s powerlessness. When God does His work, Satan tails Him from behind, until in the end it is finally destroyed—it will not even know what hit it! It will only realize the truth once it has already been smashed and crushed; at that time it will already have been burned in the lake of fire. Will it not be completely convinced then? For it has no more schemes to employ!” (“You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Sister Yang said gently: “From God’s words we can see that Satan is always close on the heels of every step of God’s management work. God is in front working to save man while Satan is in the back being disruptive and destructive. It is constantly vying with God over man, and this is particularly true during God’s final stage of work to completely save man. And now to an even greater extent, Satan is doing everything in its power, exploiting all kinds of people and things to disturb us and keep us from accepting and submitting to the work of God. It is Satan’s despicable goal to distance man from God, to have us deny and betray God, thereby losing God’s salvation. But God’s wisdom is carried out in response to Satan’s trickery. He uses Satan’s disturbances to give us an understanding of His work, His wisdom, and His almightiness, and also to allow us to clearly see Satan’s wickedness and ugliness. So, no matter what we encounter later on, we all must pray to and rely on God, and seek the truth. We must also see through Satan’s trickery so that we can stand witness to God. It’s just like the trials that Job went through. He stood witness to God and Satan retreated in humiliation.” I listened to Sister Yang’s fellowship and responded with total confidence: “Yes, we believe in the true God. If we depend upon God then we have nothing to fear; if I come across Satan’s temptations, I will certainly stand on God’s side.”
Read more :
Spiritual Warfare Testimonies: I Rely on God to Defeat Satan
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