Cardinal Séan Brady ordained fifteen seminarians as deacons in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. These include Rev. Ciaran Clarke (Dysart) and Rev. Robert McGivney (Navan).
Commenting after the Mass, Monsignor Hugh Connolly, the President of Saint Patrick’s College Maynooth, said:
“It is with great joy that we celebrate the ordination of fifteen men to the diaconate especially today on the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. On behalf of all of us here in the formation and learning community which is Saint Patrick’s College Maynooth, I congratulate our fifteen ordinands and wish them every happiness and blessing in their forthcoming diaconal ministry. May each of them experience God’s grace afresh in their hearts so that they will courageously proclaim the Gospel in both word and deed and go out to serve the people of God in their various dioceses with care and compassion.”
In his homily, Cardinal Brady drew on the liturgical readings for the Feast of the Ascension:
The fifteen men to be ordained Deacons – they too have heard the words: “Go make disciples of all nations” and have taken them to heart. Like those who have committed themselves to a noble cause, I am sure they experience something of what the eleven disciples felt when they were re-united with Jesus in Galilee. Yes, there may have been difficulties along the road in the past, but today they are here on this mountain. They know that no power in Heaven or on earth will conquer what they stand for. They too can confidently go out into the world, teaching all nations to respect the values they believe in. After the ascension, when Jesus made his triumphant entry into Heaven, whatever happens, now, or in the future, His cause will live forever.
I congratulate you – that after a long and rigorous course of discernment and formation, you have been found worthy. I thank, most sincerely, all those who have contributed to that formation. The list is a long one and it begins with parents. Only God knows the full list and God will most certainly reward the contribution made.
Saint Paul set the bar high when he said that Deacons must be respectable, not double-tongued, and moderate in the amount of wine they drink and with no squalid greed for money. They must hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. We rejoice that you have been found worthy and that you now are ready to take on the three great commitments of every Deacon in the Latin Church:
To remain celibate for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven and in life-long service to God and human kind.
To hold the Mystery of Faith and to proclaim that belief in word and action
To pray and to develop a spirit of pray in your life – especially by reciting, faithfully, the Divine Office so as to shape your life, according to the example of Christ.
