Volume IV Number 3
October 2018
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Upcoming Events
Rite of Lector and Acolyte
Saturday, October 13, 2018
4:00 PM
Saint Mary Parish, Hollidaysburg
Fall One Day Clergy Gathering
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Saint Francis University, Loretto
John F. Kennedy Student Center, Loretto
9:30 AM-4:00 PM
Registration-8:45 AM
Lunch Included
Chrism Mass
Monday, April 15, 2019
11:00 AM (arrival time is 10:00 AM)
Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament
Annual Diaconate Retreat
Mr. Thomas Smith, Retreat Director
June 16-20, 2019
Antiochian Village, Bolivar, PA
Retreat begins Sunday with Registration at
3:30 PM and ends Thursday after the 10:00 AM Closing Mass
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The Lord's Prayer Treatise
St. Cyprian's treatise on
The
Lord's Prayer
Our prayer is public and communal
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Above all, the Teacher of peace and Master of unity did not want prayer to be made singly and privately, so that whoever prayed would pray for himself alone. We do not say My Father, who art in heaven or Give me this day my daily bread; nor does each one ask that only his own debt should be forgiven him; nor does he request for himself alone that he may not be led into temptation but delivered from evil. Our prayer is public and common, and when we pray, we pray not for one person but for the whole people, since we, the whole people, are one.
The God of peace and the Master of concord, who taught unity, willed that one should pray for all, just as he himself, being one, carried us all. The three children observed this law when they were shut into the fiery furnace, praying with one voice and with one heart: thus our faith in divine Scripture teaches us, and, as it teaches us how such people prayed, gives us an example that we should follow in our own prayers, so that we may become like them: Then these three sang a hymn as if with one mouth, and blessed the Lord. They spoke as if with one mouth, even though Christ had not yet taught them how to pray.
And therefore, as they prayed, their prayers were heard and were fruitful, because a peaceful, sincere, and spiritual prayer deserved well from the Lord. Thus, too, we find the Apostles and the disciples praying after the ascension of the Lord: They all continued with one accord in prayer, with the women and with Mary who was the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. They continued with one accord in prayer, showing, by the urgency and the unanimity of their praying, that God, who makes the inhabitants of a house to be of one mind, only admits to his divine and eternal home those among whom prayer is unanimous.
But, dear brethren - what deep blessings are contained in the Lord's prayer! How many they are, and how great, collected in so few words but so rich in spiritual power! There is nothing at all that is not to be found in these our prayers and petitions, as it were a compendium of heavenly doctrine. Thus, he said, you must pray: Our Father, who art in heaven.
The new man, re-born and brought back to God by his grace, says Father at the very beginning, for he has just begun to be God's son. He came to his own, and his own did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. Whoever believes in God's name and has become his son, should start here so that he can give thanks and profess himself to be God's son, by calling God his Father in heaven.
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OCTOBER
06 Anne Gibson
10 Tom Beavers
14 Michael Anna
14 Tom McFee
15 Ted Janisko
16 Kevin Nester
18 Linda Ivanits
19 Bill Underhill
28 Patricia Hornick
NOVEMBER
06 John Concannon
07 Allan Duman
09 Dan O'Dowd
11 Anne Dalla Valle
16 Cindy Gibboney
16 Patricia Killoren
DECEMBER
01 Sherry Ahearn
05 Tom Boldin
12 Connie Young
13 Nancy Pyle
23 Gary Gill
23 Penny Nester
27 John Szwarc
29 Carol Papinchak
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Jim & Karen Janosik
10/10/70
Jay & Nancy Pyle
10/13/61
Don & Cindy Giboney
10/19/2007
Fred & Kathleen Weaver
10/22/60
Tom & Shirley Boldin
10/23/71
Kevin & Penny Nester
11/13/92
Gene & Barbara Neral
11/17/62
Scott & Diane Little
11/25/2000
Tom & Andrea Beavers
12/28/91
Chris & Vickie Conner
12/30/2000
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by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle
by Patrick Jordan and Kate Hennessy
by Scott Hahn
by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR
by Peter Kreeft
by Henri J. M. Nouwen
by Edward Sri
by Tyler Blanski
by Stephen Binz
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Permanent Deacons have shown themselves to be able co-workers with their bishops, priests, and the lay faithful in many dimensions of ecclesial life, including apostolic works; sacramental preparation; administrative and financial matters; hospital and prison chaplaincy; and in many other important ministries. With generosity, permanent deacons have served as men of communion, modeling Christ the Servant, to those in the peripheries, especially to the poor. Carrying out my mission in this country, I have seen the vast network of permanent deacons contributing to the vitality of the Church, making God's love known through humble service.
Recently, Pope Francis suggested that, "the diaconal ministry must be lived as an integrating part of the work done by the Council to prepare the whole Church for a renewed apostolate in the world today"and that permanent deacons could be defined as "pioneers of the new civilization of love." Recalling that Pope John Paul II said that service of diaconal ministry finds its identity in evangelizing," Pope Francis noted that "The Church finds in the permanent diaconate the expression and, at the same time, the impulse to become itself a visible sign of the diakonia of Christ the Servant in the history of mankind."
(Pope Francis, Preface to Il Diaconate nel pensiero di Papa Francesco, 2017).
Archbishop Christophe Pierre
Apostolic Nuncio
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Listening for God's Holy Whisper
What I learned when I heard the words I didn't want to hear
Some days we need a cheerleader-someone to pick up the pompoms on our behalf. Someone to say, "Keep going, you can do this!" when we feel like giving up.
Then there are other days-days when we need that gentle voice of encouragement from someone who knows us well. That's when we need someone to say, "I know this feels hard, but you did the right thing."
And then there are the days when you just need someone to tell you the truth.
Copyright © 2015 Christianity Today International. Used by permission.
Sherry Surratt is the Director of Parenting Strategy for Orange Family Ministry. She is the
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Deacons Embrace Their New Role
in the New Evangelization
By Peter Jesserer Smith
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Deacon Greg Kandra blesses
the faithful with the Blessed Sacrament
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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the renewal of the diaconate as a permanent vocation in the Latin Church.
As the diaconate in the United States celebrates the 50th anniversary of its
renewal this year, permanent deacons are embracing their role in the New Evangelization as parish leaders with a task to work with pastors to form the lay faithful into missionary disciples.
One year ago, Dermot Loughran, a married father of seven who serves St. Jerome's Church in East Rochester, New York, knelt before Bishop Salvatore Matano in Sacred Heart Cathedral for the rite of ordination to the diaconate. Surrounded by his family, he felt the bishop place his hands over his head and call down the Holy Spirit upon him.
Deacon Loughran told the Register that he felt the grace of that moment, and t
he keen sense that a door had closed on the path that led him to this point, and ordination had opened another for him, his wife and their family to walk through.
"When you're ordained, you are crossing the line. You're saying you're all in," he said.
With a year of ministry behind him, Deacon Loughran said he recognized more than ever the deacon's vocation in the parish is to call the People of God to be the Church's missionary
disciples, to live out their baptismal calling to proclaim the Gospel.
Back in 1967, Blessed Paul VI followed the call of the Second Vatican Council and implemented the renewal of the diaconate in the Latin Church. The decision reversed the trend that had developed in the Latin Church over the course of several centuries, of treating the diaconate as a mere steppingstone toward priestly ordination.
The U.S. implemented the decision in
1968 and began training married men for the permanent diaconate. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate,
deacons now number
more than 18,200, and 2,600 men were in diaconal formation.
Deacon William Ditewig, nicknamed by some in the U.S. Latin Church as "America's Archdeacon," told the Register that the Latin Church's appreciation of the diaconate has matured. The vocation of the deacon as
"active apostles of the New Evangelization"
- how Benedict XVI described the vocation - is being increasingly seen by bishops. Today's deacons, he said, appreciate the deep connections between their service to the community, their proclamation of the word and their service at the altar.
Taken from the National Catholic Register
For more information please visit:
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Rite of Candidacy
Bishop Mark accepted Mark Komula as a candidate for the Permanent Diaconate on Saturday, September 29, 2018. Mass was celebrated at St. Peter Church, Somerset where Mark and his wife Janis are members.
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Deacon is Recipient of
State Chaplain of the Year Award
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 The Pennsylvania Prison Chaplains Association (PPCA) held their annual banquet September 5th in Carlisle. Deacon Tom Boldin was this year's recipient of the State Chaplin of the Year Award. A dairy farmer by trade, Deacon Tom first started to work at SCI Rockview as the Farm Manager in 1991. After less than a month he knew it was not simply a job, but a calling.
Ordained a Deacon in 2004, Deacon Tom shifted roles at SCI Rockview when he accepted the role of Chaplin for the institution. He has been serving as Facility Chaplaincy Program Director at Rockview since January 2007 and continues his work with dedication and humility.
Deacon Tom's chaplaincy work revolves around building effective relationships and achieving harmonious results for all. His collaborative leadership style provides ways for those on their faith journey, both inmates and staff, to improve attitudes and social skills and to take responsibility for the struggles in their lives.
DT, as the inmates know him, is most passionate about the meaning of the title Deacon, which means "servants" Each faith group at Rockview is ministered to equally. Deacon Tom is assigned to St. John the Evangelist in Bellefonte. He has also served on the Centre County Conservation Board for the last forty-eight years helping to preserve God's precious Creation for future generations.
Congratulations Deacon Tom! |
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"This year marks a significant milestone as the Church in the United States celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the renewal of the permanent diaconate. The theme you have chosen for the Congress,"Christ the Servant: Yesterday, Today, and Forever," provides a wonderful vantage point from which to reflect not only on the many ways the life and ministry of deacons throughout the United States have impacted their local communities these past 50 years but also to encourage all for the good work that lies ahead."
Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
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"In the early phase of (their) ministry, ongoing formation will largely reinforce the basic training and its application in ministerial practice. Later formation will entail a more in-depth study of the various components proposed in the
dimensions
in diaconal formation."
National Directory
, 251
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"The vocation of the permanent deacon is a great gift of God to the Church and for this reason is an important enrichment for the Church's mission. Being called and sent by the Lord have always been important, but in contemporary historical circumstances they acquire a particular urgency."
National Directory
, 252
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"Heralds of the Gospel are needed, who are
experts
in humanity, profoundly
knowing the heart of contemporary man, who share his hopes and joys, his fears and sorrow and at the same time, who are contemplatives in love with God."
St. Pope John Paul II, Allocution to the
Sixth Symposium of European Bishops
(
November 11, 1985)
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- When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you have not done what I ask.
- When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn't feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.
- When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as that may seem.
- Listen! All I asked was that you listen, not to talk or do-just hear me.
- Advice is cheap, newspapers are full of it.
- But, when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel no matter how irrational, then I can get about the business of understanding what's behind this irrational feeling. And when that's clear, the answers are obvious and I don't need advice.
- Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what's behind them.
- Perhaps that's why prayer works, because God doesn't give advice or try to fix things.
- God just listens and lets you work it out.
- He is there listening, supporting.
- So please just listen and hear me.
- And if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn; and I'll listen to you.
--Anonymous
"Message From A Care Receiver"
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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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The 2018 National Diaconate Congress was held from July 22 through July 26, 2018 in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Over 2,700 people attended this historic event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the renewal of the diaconate in the United States.
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I worry that some of you still have not really met Jesus: Mother Teresa's powerful words
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Mother Teresa's Varanasi Letter is filled with powerful words about w
 ho God is and who we are.
She wrote it to her community as a blueprint for understanding faith. Just as it gives the Missionaries of Charity the key for their service, so it gives us the key for ours, and for our security in life and in death.
I worry that some of you still have not really met Jesus. One to one. You and him alone. Jesus wants me to tell you again, how much is the love He has for each one of you - beyond all that you can imagine ... We may spend time in chapel - but have you seen with the eyes of your soul how He looks at you with love? Do you really know the living Jesus - not from books, but from being with Him in your heart? Have you heard the loving words He speaks to you? ...
Never give up on this daily intimate contact with Jesus as a real living person - not just an idea. How can we last even one day living our life without hearing Jesus say "I love you"? - impossible. Our soul needs that as much as the body needs to breathe the air. If not, prayer is dead - meditation is only thinking.
Jesus wants you each to hear Him - speaking in the silence of your heart ... Not only He loves you, even more - He longs for you. He misses you when you don't come close. He thirsts for you. He loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy. Even if you are not accepted by others, even by yourself sometimes - He is the one who always accepts you ...
Why does Jesus say "I Thirst"? What does it mean? Something so hard to explain in words - if you remember anything from Mother's letter, remember this - "I Thirst" is something much deeper than just Jesus saying "I Love you." Until you know deep inside that Jesus thirsts for you - you can't begin to know who He wants to be for you. Or who He wants you to be... He knows your weakness, He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you.
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Summer Gathering
The Diaconate Community held their second annual picnic on Sunday, August 26th at the St. Michael Church Pavilion in St. Michael. A warm thank you to Fr. Brian Warchola and his hospitality. An afternoon of fellowship, good food and fun was shared by all.
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Office of the Permanent Diaconate
925 S. Logan Blvd.
Hollidaysburg, PA 16648
(814) 693-9870
Deacon Michael L. Russo
Director of the Office of the Permanent Diaconate
Office of the Diaconate
Joan M. Noonan
Office Coordinator
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