To Be, Or Not To Be: A Seminarian

     On Sunday, March 7th, 55 second year students were instituted Acolytes by Archbishop Thomas Rodi, Archbishop of Mobile, in the Immaculate Conception Chapel of the Pontifical North American College. Among them were three seminarians of the Diocese of Brooklyn: Stephen Giulietti, Giancarlo Pattugalan, and Joseph Zwosta.

     Each man presented himself before Archbishop Rodi, and while grasping the paten used for the celebration of the Eucharist, were instructed by the bishop, “Take this vessel of bread for the celebration of the Eucharist. Make your lives worthy of your service at the table of the Lord and of his Church.” The Institution of Acolyte while not exclusively reserved to those preparing for the priesthood is with Lector and Candidacy one of the key steps toward diaconate and priestly ordination.  These three men and their classmates now charged with serving at the Sacred Liturgy and bringing Holy Communionto the sick and the home-bound will now exercise their ministry both in the seminary, around the city of Rome, and this summer in their assigned parishes.  

     We congratulate Stephen, Gino, and Joe and pray that as they serve at the Altar of God they will be strengthened in their vocation to the priesthood and grow closer to the Lord.

On December 8th, 2009, the Patronal Feast of our Diocese, the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio ordained two men to the Diaconate. Alonzo Cox and Nixon Jean-Francois will have about 6 months of serving the church of Brooklyn as deacons until their ordination at the end of June 2010 to the priesthood.

The celebration was glorious, not because of the careful planning of liturgists or music directors, instead it re-echoed the joy of the Church that anytime the bishop ordains another seminarian, we thank God for His calling more faithful leaders to the Church. The excitement was present then and now as the diocese waits for June 26, 2010.  Deacon Michael Bruno, Deacon Alonzo Cox and Deacon Nixon Jean-Francois are anticipated to be ordained and the Diocese of Brooklyn, we pray, will have 3 new priests.

Many priests of the Diocese of Brooklyn were present to pray the Mass along with our Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, the ordaining bishop who was  joined by Bishop Octavio Cisneros and Bishop Guy Sansariq, Auxiliaries to the Bishop of Brooklyn. Many of the Vicars of the Diocese were also present along with the seminarians from both Cathedral Seminary Residence and the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception.

The NET, our diocesan TV station was on scene to report and filed the following story.

On Friday October 2, the Memorial of the Guardian Angels, Auxiliary Bishop Paul Walsh of the Diocese of Rockville Center instituted five seminarians for the Diocese of Brooklyn as Acolytes of the Church.  The Mass took place in the Main Chapel of the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington Long Island.

The Institution of Acolyte is one of the two formal ministries that men preparing for The Sacrament for Holy Orders receive.  The Acolyte is appointed in order to aid the deacon and to minister to the priest.  It is his duty therefore to attend to the service of the altar and to assist the deacon and the priest in liturgical celebrations, especially in the celebration of Mass; he is also to distribute Holy Communion as a special minister, and he may bring Holy Communion to the sick.

We congratulate the newly instituted acolytes, and we pray for them as they continue on the journey to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ.  From left to right in the photo are: Jason Grisafi (Rockville Centre), Dwayne Davis (Brooklyn), Jaeyoung Pascal Chio (Daaejeon, Korea), Sun-Joong John Kwon (Daaejeon, Korea), Auxiliary Bishop Paul Walsh , Brandon O’Brien (Rockville Centre), Steven George (Brooklyn), Paul Kim (Brooklyn), Nixon Jean-Francios (Brooklyn), Raymond Flores (Brooklyn), and  Rev. Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari ,Rector of the Seminary and a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

For the first time in our Diocese’s history, we have a BLOG. During the course of the year, five seminarians and one transitional deacon have agreed to share with us aspects of their life in real-time. It is our hope that you will be able to walk with them as they discern their call to the priesthood and follow them from their perspective seminaries (Rome, Washington, Douglaston, NY and Huntington, NY). And of course, there is always room for comments!

Let us get to know our Diocesan Bloggers…