November 27, 2018 — This year, U.S. and Canadian Jesuits were ordained to the diaconate at several different Masses in the United States, Canada, Rome, Paris and Cairo. Four Midwest Jesuits were among those ordained: Bryan Norton, SJ; Greg Ostdiek, SJ; James Sand, SJ; and Matthew Spotts, SJ. For a Jesuit in formation, ordination to the diaconate is the final step in preparation for priestly ordination in the Society of Jesus.
Sixteen Jesuits were ordained deacons on April 3 by Cardinal Walter Kasper at the Church of Gesù in Rome, including Canadian Jesuit Adam Hincks and American Jesuit Thomas Flowers. Fr. General Arturo Sosa, SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, concelebrated the ordination Mass. Flowers was later ordained to the priesthood in June; Hincks and most of the rest of the men ordained deacons this year will be ordained to the priesthood next summer.
Sixteen Jesuits were ordained deacons on April 3 in Rome, including American Jesuit Thomas Flowers (top row, second from right) and Canadian Jesuit Adam Hincks (top row, far right).
On April 14, eight Jesuits were ordained as deacons at Église Saint-Ignace in Paris by Most Reverend Michel Pansard, Bishop of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes. This included two Jesuits from the United States — Bryan Norton, SJ, and Timothy O’Brien, SJ (who was ordained to the priesthood in June) — along with Jesuits from India, Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt and France.
Eight Jesuits were ordained to the diaconate in Paris on April 14.
On May 19, five Jesuits from the U.S. and Canada were ordained deacons by Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, SJ, Archbishop of Ottawa, at St. Paul’s Basilica in Toronto. Fr. Sosa was visiting Canada at the time and concelebrated the Mass. Edward Penton, SJ, from Canada, was ordained a deacon, along with four Jesuits from the United States: Christopher Grodecki, SJ; Alex Llanera, SJ; Robert Van Alstyne, SJ; and James Sand, SJ. Two Jesuits, Edmund Lo, SJ, and Artur Suski, SJ, were also ordained to the priesthood at the Mass.
Five Jesuits were ordained deacons on May 19 in Toronto, along with two Jesuits who were ordained to the priesthood.
During Fr. Sosa’s visit to Canada, he also attended the ordination of Haitian Jesuit Johnny Masséba to the diaconate at the Jesuit Chapel in Quebec City on May 26. Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, Archbishop of Quebec, presided, and Fr. Sosa shared a few words at the beginning of the celebration and reflected on the international character of the Society.
Johnny Masséba, SJ, was ordained to the diaconate May 26 in Quebec City.
On July 17, American Jesuit Peter Gadalla was ordained a deacon in the Coptic Rite in Cairo by Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, the head of the Coptic Catholic Church.
Peter Gadalla, SJ, (fifth from right) after being ordained a deacon on July 17 in Cairo.
Eleven Jesuits were ordained deacons on Sept. 15 at the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola at Boston College by Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap. The men who were ordained, including six American Jesuits, are all studying theology at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. The Jesuits ordained in Boston were: Matthew Baugh, SJ; Diogo Costa Fernandes, SJ; Kieran Gill, SJ; Stefanus Hendrianto, SJ; Stephen Kramer, SJ; Rodrigo Espinoza Lopez, SJ; Andy Nguyen, SJ; Greg Ostdiek, SJ; Ramesh Richards, SJ; Adam Rosinski, SJ; and Travis Russell, SJ.
Eleven Jesuits were ordained deacons on Sept. 15 in Boston.
On Oct. 20 in Oakland, California, six U.S. Jesuits were ordained to the diaconate at the Cathedral of Christ the Light by Most Reverend Michael Barber, SJ, Bishop of Oakland: Ricardo Avila, SJ; Jonathan Harmon, SJ; Andrew Laguna, SJ; Vincent Marchionni, SJ; Francis Nguyen, SJ; and Matthew Spotts, SJ.
Six Jesuits were ordained deacons Oct. 20 in Oakland, California.
The new deacons were ordained as part of their formation to become priests, and they are authorized to proclaim the Word of God, to preach and to preside at the sacraments of baptism and marriage and at the rite of Christian burial. Learn more about the stages of Jesuit formation at BeaJesuit.org.