Ordination to Permanent Diaconate
Patrick Doogan
Saint Joseph’s, Clarkston, 28 October in the Year of Mercy
 
 
Dear brothers and sisters,

Patrick Doogan, your relative and friend, is now to be raised to the Order of Deacons.  

It is a journey that began, as it did with all of us, in our Baptism.  It is good for us to grow in our understanding of this great Sacrament that begins our Christian journey and to be aware of the responsibility we take on for the Church and the Gospel when we receive it. Our Paisley Synod Document, the work of the people of God in our diocese guided by the Holy Spirit, says: Our Catholic faith teaches us that we become members of the Church by Baptism which never ceases to be the fundamental, shared identity of every Christian. It is an amazing sacrament that makes us to be born again as God’s children, as Christ’s body throughout the world and as the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The Synod Document goes on to say: Baptism marks us with the triple service of Jesus.  All of us –clergy, religious and laity- share in Christ’s priestly service and are called to offer up our lives, our state and our work.  We all share His prophetic service and are, all of us, sent out to proclaim the Gospel and denounce evil and we all share in His royal service, each of us challenged to conquer sin within ourselves and to enlist in the spiritual mission of Christ our King and serve the poor.  This is what we hear from Saint Paul when he writes to the Church in Ephesus, reminding them -and us- that by Baptism we become part of God’s household, part of a building that has the Apostles and Prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone so that, aligned on Him, we all grow into one holy temple in the Lord … a house where God lives, in the Spirit. 

And yet we also read in the Gospel how Jesus established the family of his Church to be a hierarchical community and how, going out into the hills to pray and spending the whole night in prayer to God, He summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them whom He called Apostles.  From this foundation we have our Catholic Church today, rich in its array of faithful, religious and clergy of deacons, priests and bishop.  Once again we can quote from our Synod Document where we stated that: Inside the Church the laity should have the main responsibilities and prerogatives for the ordinary running of their parishes and diocese regarding fabric, finance and administration (and) this sets the clergy free to give themselves over to prayer, the preaching of the Word, the celebration of the Liturgy and Sacraments and the pastoral leadership of the whole people in that kind of charity that keeps us one and makes us grow as Christ’s Body. 

In the strength of his Baptism our brother, Patrick, is being called to this clerical state, just like the Apostles before him, and just in the same way: by Jesus, Who has spent the whole night interceding to God for our new deacon of the Church. 

My dear brother Patrick, you should draw strength from the realisation that the Lord Jesus Himself has interceded for you, by name, to the Father in these days, just as you should draw strength from the Holy Spirit who is to be given to you afresh in this Sacrament.  You are to be consecrated by the laying on of hands that comes down to us from those same Apostles who saw in this gesture the continuation of that breathing on them by Jesus in the Upper Room, fresh from His Resurrection.  By this action you are made to be a collaborator with me, your bishop, and the priests of our diocese to share in our priestly office by taking on your three-fold ministry of Altar, Word and Charity. 

At the Altar, during the Liturgies of the Church, you will proclaim the Gospel, prepare the Sacrifice and distribute the Body of the Lord.  Gaining strength from this service of the Lord’s sanctuary you will go out to preach the Word of God to believer and unbeliever, in season and out, to preside at the prayers of the Church, to baptise God’s children and later solemnise their marriages and, at the last, to give them viaticum and observe the rites of their burial as you speed them home to their Father’s house.  All the while you will spend your days encouraging works of charity in name of your bishop and the priests with whom you serve, doing all in the manner of a disciple of Christ, Our Lord, Who came not to be served but to serve, and that with love, joy and generosity.    

It is not every man who is capable of this task.   A deacon of the Church, in fact, must be a man of good repute and clear conscience, filled with Spirit and wisdom, full of faith and hope, and a man beyond reproach in lifestyle who practices what he preaches and rejects everything contrary to the Spirit.  And so, to this end, the Church has scrutinised you closely over the last number of years and, only after examination, has found you worthy. Your teachers have told me of your placements serving at the altar and participating in the Easter Vigil celebrations, at funeral masses, observing baptisms and Saint Vincent de Paul meetings.  You have made great efforts in your residential weekends and summer schools.   In talents you have a forte for those with special needs people and have empathy for the marginalized.  You are a man of faith who has worked hard to carry out everything asked of you, overcoming personal difficulties and challenges in the process, with the constant support of your family.  You are conscientious and committed and get along well with others. You are intelligent, and should consider a fifth year of study to obtain your degree and you will continue to develop your liturgical practice in the parishes you serve.  Above all you have clearly grown spiritually in formation, gaining a deeper understanding of our faith and of your calling to this ministry. 

You are ordained today on the Feast of two of those first Apostles whom the Lord Jesus chose after spending the night in prayer to God.  Simon, known as the Zealot, is the eleventh listed but we know nothing more about him.  Jude was the Apostle who at the Last Supper asked the Lord why he showed himself only to the disciples and not to the world, but for many centuries he was scarcely venerated because people confused him with Judas Iscariot.   So two of the greatest pillars of the Universal Church, upon whose loving service our Catholic faith has been founded and built up, are hardly known.  All that mattered to them was that Jesus showed Himself to them and they were now, through their witness, to show Him to the world.  In the end they received the double reward of seeing the people they built up become an offering acceptable to God and both heard, with their last breath, the welcome of the Master: Well done, good and faithful servant.  I know this is all you seek as you present yourself humbly this day before the Lord. 

From the heart of God’s faithful it is to this glory you are now called. May Our Blessed Mother, Mary and Her chaste Spouse, Saint Joseph, those two great servants of the Lord, accompany you in your service of God’s people and of His Kingdom.