KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
After being ordained Thursday night, the six new deacons
prostrated themselves before the altar of St. Jude Church
in Makakilo after the sermon. The six were Efrain Andrews,
Harold Levy Jr., Ernest Librarios Sr., Ronald Paglinawan,
Edward Vargas and Jerome Vito.

Catholics welcome
new deacons

6 men go on to a new level
of church involvement as
they are ordained

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By Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.com

The six men stretched out, face down on the floor in front of the altar while the congregation chanted the Litany of the Saints.

The scene Thursday night at St. Jude Church in Makakilo repeated a centuries-old demonstration of consecration to God, the pageantry with which the Catholic Church ordains men to the priesthood.

The men's wives and children were among the crowd watching as Bishop Francis DiLorenzo laid hands on each man's head to impose the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Wives and children? No, it was not a reversal of the 1,000-year-old church law that has required priests to be celibate.

The men were among 18 who are being ordained this month as deacons. Their vow of obedience to the bishop committed them to serve the church for life in roles at the parish level in administration, educational and charitable service and participation in worship services.

Although the diaconate can be a step along the path toward priesthood, the 1960 Second Vatican Council revived the role of deacon and opened that level of ministry to married men.

All but two of the island candidates are married and have children.

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Six men were ordained as deacons Thursday night by
Catholic Bishop Francis DiLorenzo at St. Jude Church.
Newly ordained deacon Efrain Andrews got a kiss from
wife Pamla and a leg hug from granddaughter Kristen Ahn, 3.

The vow they take includes a profession of celibacy, explained deacon Bill McPeek of the Big Island. "The single men cannot marry, and if anything happens to our wives, we are not to remarry," he said. He and his wife, Flo, directed the formation program, which wives were also required to take and included nearly four years of classes, one weekend each month.

The men, ages 39 to 68, already have years of church service, from pastoral council to prison ministry, in music, finance, teaching, lector and eucharistic minister roles. Except for a couple of retirees, they have a range of paying jobs, from banker to bus driver.

"We don't take a vow of poverty," said McPeek, a retired public school teacher and administrator who was ordained in 1987. "These are like men who are called to the priesthood; they have been called in a special way to a ministry. It is a vocation, not just a volunteer job."

He added: "People say we are taking up the slack, but we are not to replace the priest. There will always be a priest to say Mass. We can conduct marriages and perform funerals, lead communion services in the absence of a priest." But, he said, deacons cannot perform sacraments, such as consecration of bread and wine, which is the focus of a Catholic worship service.

Ordination of deacons has burgeoned elsewhere in America as the church faces a drastically shrinking number of priests. The ordinations this summer bring the total number of deacons serving in Hawaii to 50.

During the preparation course, "we stress that their first sacrament is marriage, then the job and then the diaconate. To keep that all in tune, that is a difficult thing," McPeek said. "They are called to serve. It is a balancing act they have to do, especially if they are married and have young children. We tell wives, you have to teach your husband to say no."

Why, since the women take the deacon course with their spouses, can't they be ordained, too?

"The question is being asked," McPeek said. "That's one for the church to answer."

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