Ordination to Diaconate 2017

Posted on 18. Apr, 2017 in Carousel

Photo taken after the ordination shows (left to right): Fr Hugh Clifford (Director of Formation), Fr Thomas Norris (Spiritual Director), Mons. Joseph McGuinness (Administrator, Diocese of Clogher), Mons. Ciarán O’Carroll (Rector), Rev. Seán Mulligan (new Deacon), Archbishop Diarmuid Martin (Archbishop of Dublin), Rev. Robert Smyth (new Deacon), Rev. James Daly (new Deacon), Fr Paul Finnerty (Vice Rector), Fr John Bauer (Director of Formation, St John Vianney Seminary, Minnesota).

Three seminarians of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, were ordained deacons on Easter Tuesday by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, at the Church of Saint Alphonsus on the Via Merulana in Rome. Rev. James Daly (57), originally from Midleton, Co. Cork, a former parish pastoral worker and teacher, and Rev. Robert Smyth (32), from Knocklyon in Dublin, a former management consultant, were ordained for the Archdiocese of Dublin, while Rev. Seán Mulligan (46), from Knockatallon, Co. Monaghan, a former intellectual disabilities nurse, was ordained for the Diocese of Clogher. All three are transitional deacons, meaning that they are due to be ordained to the priesthood later. In recent years in Ireland, permanent deacons have also been ordained, so that Deacons have become a more familiar presence exercising a unique ministry in the Church.

Deacons are ordained to a ministry of service, with a special concern for the poor and those in need. They also carry out various sacramental and liturgical roles in the name of the Church, such as baptising, assisting at the altar and reading the Gospel at Mass, preaching, presiding at certain occasions of prayer and at parts of wedding and funeral liturgies.

Family members and friends of the new Deacons travelled from Ireland to be present at the ceremony. The Church of St Alphonsus is in the care of the Redemptorist order and it houses the original icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. In his homily, Archbishop Martin spoke of how God has called each of the new Deacons by name, to be loved, and to live in service to God’s people, collaborating with the rich variety of other ministries in the Church.

Commenting on the ordination, the Rector of the Irish College, Mons. Ciarán O’Carroll said, “It is with great joy that we celebrate the ordination to the diaconate today of three seminarians from the Pontifical Irish College in Rome. On behalf of everyone at the Pontifical Irish College I congratulate James, Robert and Seán on their ordination. I wish them every happiness and blessing as they commence their diaconal ministries of service, of charity and of leadership in prayer and liturgy. May they experience God’s grace anew in their lives so that they may courageously proclaim the Gospel in word and deed, generously serving the people of God in their various dioceses with care and compassion.”

To view photographs of the occasion, click here.