At 11 a.m. on Saturday of this week at St. Peter Cathedral, an important ceremony will take place. Two new deacons will be ordained for the Diocese of Rockford. They will be Rev. Mr. Charles Fitzpatrick and Rev. Mr. Kyle Manno.

Charles is completing his third year of the study of theology at St. Paul Seminary in Minneapolis and Kyle is studying at Mundelein Seminary. Both share the goal of being ordained to the priesthood in June of 2016.

A third member of their class, Sean Grismer, is studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Because of a difference in the program of studies, Sean’s class will be ordained to the diaconate in October with the goal of ordination in the priesthood next June.

There are, of course other deacons who are in service to the Church in the Diocese of Rockford. Those are the permanent deacons. Those men have prepared for and received ordination to the sacred diaconate. But unlike our seminarians, they are not training with the further goal of ordination to the priesthood. Rather, they are assigned to a particular parish for their lifelong diaconate service.

At that parish they carry out certain liturgical functions. For example, they can read the Gospel, preach, baptize, witness marriages and they are ordinary ministers of the Eucharist.

But most especially, they are dedicated to the service of the Church. They are teaching in our Catholic schools, working in religious education and prison ministry,   visiting the homebound, nursing homes and hospitals. Often they do this in addition to the secular jobs that they hold. Commonly, these deacons are married and often have children and so a full family life.

Whether continuing studies for the priesthood or not, they all share in the Church’s one diaconate and therefore share in this vocation and calling to the ministry of the Church.

The origin of the diaconate is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles in Chapter 6. There it says that the Greek speaking Christians complained that their widows were not receiving their appropriate share of the food that was being distributed. The Apostles famously said that they could not neglect their special function of sharing the Word of God in order to wait on tables.

By that comment they drew a distinction between the priesthood and the essence of the service of deacons. That is an important distinction that the Church has maintained throughout her history. Deacons, for example, do not offer Mass, hear confessions or confer the anointing of the sick.

Still, the Acts of the Apostles states that seven men of spiritual distinction and wisdom were chosen and set aside within the Church. They were not simply designated to carry out tasks within the community of the Church.

That, as we know, pertains to all of us who have been baptized. We all share in the responsibility to charity, to work for the poor and to share the faith with others.

But the recounting in the Acts of the Apostles says that those first seven men were prayed over by the Apostles who then laid hands upon them, the gesture of ordination in the Church. In effect, deacons are recognized as called and set aside in a special way that joins and conforms them to Christ. In that way, they bear both a special responsibility and special grace that is to the benefit of the entire Church.

During the ceremony on Saturday, Charles and Kyle will make a commitment to celibacy as part of their path to the priesthood. In so doing they are accepting freely the gift that the Church has discerned in them to be conformed to the celibacy lived by Jesus. That is a spiritual gift that is in service to the whole Church.

They will also promise obedience to their bishop, entrusting even their will to God’s calling. I will then impose my hands upon them as their bishop, and for the first time they will wear the diaconal stole, the sign of their office, symbolizing their particular role as servant.

There is something profoundly both beautiful and freeing in the ordination ceremony. It is beautiful because it is a reminder of God’s love that has called these men to His service for the good of all of us. It is freeing because it reminds us of Christ’s words that whoever loses his life for Jesus sake will then truly find it. These men will give their lives to the Church. But that is true and lasting freedom.

Please keep Charles and Kyle in your prayers this week. Come and be present for the ceremony on Saturday if you are able.

But please also remember all of our deacons and seminarians in your prayers. They are a living fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that He would send workers into the spiritual harvest. How grateful we must be for the gift of sacred vocations.