HOUSTON — At two separate Masses, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo ordained 45 new permanent deacons — 23 on Feb. 17 and another 22 on Feb. 18 — at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart after they “were found worthy” by their pastors and parishes.
Cardinal DiNardo thanked the men of diverse backgrounds, including a convert from Islam to Christianity, a NASA engineer, a Vietnamese refugee, and a mission worker in Latin America, for their continuing service and thanked their wives and families.
On Feb. 18, Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, joined Cardinal DiNardo to concelebrate the Mass, alongside Bishop José Elías Rauda Gutiérrez, O.F.M., of El Salvador, who also concelebrated the Mass on Saturday because he personally knew one of the deacons ordained that day.
After more than six years of discernment, study and pastoral counseling at St. Mary’s Seminary, these men and their wives will share their lives with the ministry of the Word, Liturgy and Charity — the three pillars of a deacon’s vocation — at their parishes and Archdiocesan ministries.
In his homily, Cardinal DiNardo told the deacons, “You are to be a living, breathing image of the Gospel — all four of them.”
He reminded all the new deacons and the filled Co-Cathedral of more than 1,500 each day that they are “as Jesus who came not to be served but to serve. Jesus is ransomed for His crooked people, and we are all crooked.”
He reminded all the new deacons and the filled Co-Cathedral of more than 1,500 each day that they are “as Jesus who came not to be served but to serve. Jesus is ransomed for His crooked people, and we are all crooked.”
Cardinal DiNardo added, “May Jesus the Servant help you all.”
