Group includes attorney, college administrator, registered nurse..
The Most Rev. Timothy McDonnell, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Five men, accepted into the diaconate program of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in 2009, will be ordained permanent deacons in today at 11 a.m. at St. Michael’s Cathedral, 260 State St., by the Most. Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, diocesan bishop.
The candidates and their current parishes are David A. Culliton, Blessed Sacrament, Greenfield; Keith T. Davies, St. Elizabeth, Ludlow; Daniel P. Romanello, St. Ann, Lenox, St. Vincent de Paul, Lenoxdale and St. Patrick’s, West Stockbridge; Spencer L. Trova, St. Mark Parish, Pittsfield, and George L. Galli Jr., St. Patrick and Raphael, Williamstown.
Deacon Leo Coughlin, director of deacons and director of formation, who was ordained a deacon in May of 2001, called, “being a deacon is a special blessing.” The preparation is four years of study at Elms College in Chicopee, as well as clinical pastoral education during the summer.
The word “deacon,” from the Greek word “diakonia,” means servant in the spirit of the Christian call to service. Unlike priests, deacons can be married. Most are married with children and grandchildren.
Galli, a college administrator who will be assigned to St. Elizabeth Parish in North Adams, said the difficulty in studying for the diaconate was the travel time from northern Berkshires to the college, balancing family, work and class.
“This was challenging but I left it in God’s hands. God has always been an intimate part of my life — I trust the spirit to lead me.”
Culliton, an attorney, said he looks forward to sharing with parishioners what he has leaned in training and prayer.
Romanello, in business, said he was been always mindful of the many blessings that God had bestowed upon him and his wife Patti. He understands that to whom much is given, much is expected.
“This growing realization, led me to become actively involved in a number of social outreach ministries, and the call to the permanent diaconate ensued from there,” Romanello said.
He added that the challenge for him was to undergo a continuous process of personal examination to discern if God, through the Holy Spirit, was calling him to be ordained before he confidently could say “yes” to Holy Orders. Davis said he looks forward to serving at Mass more intimately, and officiating at baptisms and helping couples prepare for marriage.
“I look forward to sharing with people and also hope to find ways to connect Catholics more closely to the beauty of creation, and how we are called to be stewards of God’s handiwork.”
Trova, a retired registered nurse, said he is dedicated to serving the Church, and demonstrating the power of prayer in a secular culture.
“The Church is in great need of a true spiritual renewal,” he said. “Through God’s grace I hope to be an example, but I need many prayers.”
In the Catholic church, women cannot become priests but some bishops in this country and abroad have said to be open to the possibility of women as deacons.
The Rev. Warren J. Savage, lecturer in the religious studies department at Elms, and an instructor in the diaconate program, said he looks forward to the day when there will be women deacons.
“It is time,” he said, “for the United States Catholic Bishops to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in discerning the role of women as permanent deacons in the church. Permanent deacons are ordained unto service and not unto priesthood. There is room for women who feel called to be deacons of the church. Women as permanent deacons is not a closed discussion in the church at this time.”
Savage said one of the most important roles of deacons is to be an evangelizer and teacher.
“It is the responsibility of every deacon to order the life of the church around the three-fold ministry of Word, Worship, and Service,” he said. Deacons were common in the early Church but it wasn’t until the 1960s that Vatican II restored the permanent diaconate. The first deacons in the Springfield diocese were ordained on Jan. 15, 1983 by now Bishop Emeritus Joseph F. Maguire.
According to Deacon Coughlin, after the May 25th ordination, the diocese will have 77 active deacons with eight others in formation. Nine men will enter the formation program in August of this year.
For more information on the program, call (413) 452-0674