Servant-leadership is at heart of the diaconate

Pictured above: Receiving the Book of the Gospels during their May 20 ordination to the transitional diaconate are (from left): Deacons Austin Dean Barr, Jorge Eduardo Gomez, Cuong Minh Tran, Paul Oyie and Lawrence Wumya. (Photos by Frank J. Methe and Cheryl Dejoie-Methe, Clarion Herald)

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

As five seminarians took their first big step toward becoming priests through their ordination to the transitional diaconate, Jesus’ cautionary words about the humility expected of the clergy – recorded in St. Matthew’s Gospel – echoed through the recesses of St. Louis Cathedral during their May 20 Mass of Ordination.

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you,” Jesus tells his apostles, warning them to not get caught up in any feelings of superiority or clericalism that might arise in their leadership of God’s people.

“Just so,” Jesus goes on to say in the Gospel, “the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The calling of transitional deacons to be humble and holy servant-leaders was the joyful theme of the Mass, with the following ordinands promising to conform themselves to the “image of Christ”:

Deacons Austin Dean Barr, Jorge Eduardo Gomez and Cuong Minh Tran will serve as deacons – and, ultimately as priests – for the Archdiocese of New Orleans; Deacons Paul Oyie and Lawrence Wumya were ordained to serve as future priests in the Archdiocese of Tororo in Uganda and the Diocese of Yendi in Ghana, respectively.

Pathways to service

During the homily, Archbishop Gregory Aymond told the men that their reception of Holy Orders and promises to serve those on the margins as ministers of charity meant that they were saying, as Jesus did, “‘I come to serve, and not to be served.” The archbishop encouraged the new deacons to say a prayer at the end of each day: “Jesus, I come to serve and not to be served – how well did I do today?”

Archbishop Aymond said the five candidates had heard “Jesus whispering to their hearts and saying, ‘Come follow me. I need you.’” Yet, despite having embraced the same vocation, their journeys of discernment were unique, the archbishop observed:

• For Deacon Barr, a lifelong parishioner of St. Anselm Church in Madisonville, a three-day retreat combining silence, adoration and prayer ignited his vocation to the priesthood when he was a freshman at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. That experience, which shifted his career plans away from becoming an occupational therapist, invoked in him “a divine feeling of really being loved.” Deacon Barr began discerning a potential priestly calling through daily Mass, confession and eucharistic adoration. Deacon Barr will spend his four-month transitional diaconate internship at St. Dominic in New Orleans.

• The trauma, at age 12, of seeing his twin brother Miguel get struck by a car in a near-fatal accident jump-started the prayer life of Miami-raised Deacon Gomez. He began praying the rosary for the first time, discovering “an intimate peace” and the lifting of his fear and anxiety. The gift of a youth Bible from a Catholic priest – and the priest’s suggestion to read the Gospel of St. Matthew and the Acts of the Apostles – led to Deacon Gomez’s more active participation in his church parish as an altar server, youth group and St. Vincent de Paul member. In college, when Deacon Gomez learned that the Archdiocese of New Orleans was in need of priests who could speak both English and Spanish, he answered the call. He has been assigned to St. Margaret Mary in Slidell for his transitional diaconate internship. 

• Deacon Tran’s path to Holy Orders began at age 7, while attending the home Masses celebrated by his visiting uncle, a Catholic priest based in Texas. His vocation was nurtured in his hometown of Marrero – at St. Agnes Le Thi Thanh Church, Visitation of Our Lady Elementary School and Archbishop Shaw High School. Deacon Tran gained vocational clarity when Archbishop Aymond held up Tran’s late pastor’s chalice and asked the congregation, “Who will follow in his footsteps?” Deacon Tran’s vocation was further bolstered on a visit to his priest-uncle, during which he accompanied his uncle on visits to the sick and was exposed to the priest’s daily schedule of adoration, Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. Deacon Tran will serve his transitional diaconate internship at St. Catherine of Siena in Metairie.

• Ugandan-born Deacon Oyie’s yearning to serve the church surfaced in 2014, during a 150-mile pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. Charles Lwanga and the 22 Ugandan Martyrs. Deacon Oyie has been assigned to St. Benilde in Metairie for his transitional diaconate internship.

• The strong Catholic marriage modeled by his parents, along with his mother’s continued faithfulness after being widowed in 2017, inspired Deacon Wumya’s vocation to the priesthood while growing up in a predominantly Muslim community in Ghana. Deacon Wumya was touched by the sight of villagers having to bless themselves with ashes on Ash Wednesday, due to the shortage of Catholic priests in his homeland. He will spend his transitional diaconate internship at St. Joseph Church and Shrine in Gretna.

Rite explained

The archbishop told the congregation that during the forthcoming Rite of Ordination, he would pray over the candidates, lay hands on them and call on the power of the Holy Spirit to consecrate them into the office of the diaconate – just as Jesus’ apostles did when they realized they needed men of great faith and humility who were willing to assist them at the altar and serve needs in the community. 

“Two thousand years later, we do exactly the same thing. Priests and bishops today need co-workers,” Archbishop Aymond said, thanking the five ordinands for answering “a radical yes” to God’s calling to serve the church.

After the five men were called to the foot of the sanctuary, Father Colm Cahill, director of vocations for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, testified that each had been “found worthy” of being ordained to the diaconate by those who had formed them in seminary and in the community.

Next, the five elect promised Archbishop Aymond to be deacons of “humble charity” as they assisted priests and the Christian people; to be proclaimers of the faith in word and deed; and to embrace the gift of celibacy as a sign of – and aid to – their singular  focus on Christ and his church.

Because one of their diaconate responsibilities will be to lead the community in prayer, the ordinands promised to gird themselves in the daily praying of the Liturgy of the Hours “with and for the people of God” and “for the whole world.” Each also pledged obedience to their episcopal leaders, both present and future.

“May God, who has begun the good work in you, bring it to fulfillment,” the archbishop prayed.

As a sign of their submission to God’s will and to invoke the help of God and the saints in carrying out their service to “all the troubled and afflicted,” the ordinands prostrated themselves on the sanctuary floor as the Litany of Supplication was sung. After rising to their feet, they kneeled before Archbishop Aymond, one at a time, for a silent laying on of hands.

The archbishop recited the Prayer of Ordination, which alluded to the ancient roots of the diaconate. In the early days of the church, the apostles, guided by the Holy Spirit, appointed “seven men of good repute” to help them in daily ministry and at the eucharistic table, so that priests could devote themselves more fully to prayer and preaching of the word.

Calling on the Holy Spirit, Archbishop Aymond prayed that “every evangelical virtue” would flourish in the new deacons – unfeigned love, concern for the sick and poor, unassuming authority, innocence and spiritual discipline – and that their imitation of Christ would encourage others to do the same.

As outward signs of their new leadership roles, the deacons were vested with the stole and dalmatic. Each received a leather-bound Book of the Gospels, while being instructed by Archbishop Aymond to “believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach.”

Hands-on internships

In June, the newly-minted transitional deacons will begin a four-month internship at their assigned church parish, followed by a final semester of study at Notre Dame Seminary in anticipation of their ordination to the priesthood in June 2024.

The internships will give the transitional deacons hands-on experience in being prayer leaders, assisting the priest at Mass, taking Communion to the sick and dying, baptizing, witnessing marriages and burying the dead.

Each deacon took time after the Ordination Mass to reflect on what they had experienced:

• Deacon Barr, 26, said one of the most “emotional” moments of the day took place early on, when he saw his friends and family in the pews during the entrance procession. As a deacon-intern at St. Dominic, “the thing I’m most looking forward to is helping Father (Wayne Paysse) with the liturgies – doing adoration, benediction,” he said. “And it will be interesting to learn how a big and thriving parish like St. Dominic runs.”

• The bilingual gifts of Deacon Gomez, 27, will be called on to serve the growing Hispanic community at St. Margaret Mary. He said he felt all the saints in heaven “cheering us on” during the Litany of Supplication, including the support of his favorite saint, St. Josemaria Escriva, the  20th-century Spanish priest who founded Opus Dei. “St. Josemaria was the one who always promoted the universal call to holiness that reminds all of us to be saints,” Deacon Gomez said.

• Deacon Tran, 24, said he is looking forward to putting his seven years of seminary academics into action, especially his new opportunities to preach homilies and lead Scripture and sacramental seminars as a deacon-intern at St. Catherine of Siena. While lying prostrate on the cathedral floor during the Litany of Supplication, he said he felt “an outpouring.” Emptying oneself, Deacon Tran noted, is “the symbolism of the whole diaconate – celibacy, giving up my whole life for the people of God.”

• Deacon Oyie, 27, and Deacon Wumya, 33, will return to their respective Catholic communities in Africa following their graduation from Notre Dame Seminary and ordination to the priesthood in 2024.

Deacon Oyie said he wants to be a “sign of hope” when he ultimately becomes a priest for the Archdiocese of Tororo, Uganda. As a deacon-intern at St. Benilde, he hopes to focus on families. “The family is the beginning of everything in the (wider) family of the church – everything starts from there," he said.

Deacon Wumya, a future priest for his native Diocese of Yendi, Ghana, said he could sense “something moving in me” during the Litany of Supplication and the laying on of hands. “I’m going to dedicate myself as a minister of service – that’s my identity; that’s what I’ve been called to do,” he said, looking ahead to his diaconate internship at St. Joseph Church and Shrine on the Westbank. 

New responsibilities

Archbishop Aymond told the deacons that they were taking on a “three-fold” ministry:

• As ministers of charity, they are expected to actively seek out where the church “needs to go” by ministering to those on the margins, such as the poor, the sick, those hurt by racism, prisoners on death row and immigrants seeking a new life. “I like to say that the deacon is called to be (the church’s) conscience,” the archbishop said.

• Secondly, deacons are to be “the voice of Christ” through their teaching and preaching of the Word. Archbishop Aymond reminded them to proclaim the Gospel “with great enthusiasm and integrity,” and to teach not their “own message,” but God’s, through prayerful preparation of their homilies.

• The deacons’ other role involves assisting the priest at Mass and with the sacraments, distributing holy Communion to the sick and dying, baptizing, witnessing marriages and burying the dead. 

“All these things you will do in the name of Christ,” Archbishop Aymond told the new deacons, encouraging them to find strength in their promises of daily prayer, obedience and chastity – “so you not only preach the Gospel, you are the Gospel; you are the Good News!”

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