October 30, 2023 — This fall, two members of the Jesuits West Province were ordained to the diaconate.
Joseph Dickan, SJ, was ordained a deacon on October 11, 2023, by Most Reverend Gregory Mansour, Bishop of the Maronite Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, New York, at the Church of Our Lady of the Cedars of Lebanon in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. He is currently a student at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.
As a Jesuit in formation, Deacon Dickan has studied at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York; taught math at Bellarmine College Preparatory School in San Jose, California; and studied at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Beirut, Lebanon.
On October 21, 2023, Michael Tedone, SJ, was ordained a deacon, along with eight other Jesuits by the Most Reverend Michael C. Barber, SJ, Bishop of Oakland, at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California. He is currently studying theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California.
During his formation, Deacon Tedone has studied at Loyola University Chicago; worked at Sacred Heart Nativity School in San Jose, California; and spent a year working with SEEL (Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life) and serving in pastoral ministry at St. Aloysius Parish in Spokane, Washington.
For Jesuits in formation, ordination to the diaconate is the final step in preparation for priestly ordination in the Society of Jesus. Both Jesuits West deacons, along with Deacon Raymond Parcon, SJ, who was ordained to the diaconate in May 2023, will be ordained to the priesthood in June 2024.