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Sixteen Diaconate Candidates Receive Ministry of Lector
Sixteen candidates for the Diaconate in the Diocese of Raleigh received the ministry of “lector” at a special Mass, Sunday, September 7, presided over by Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge. The Mass was celebrated at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Newton Grove.
The men are in the process of a five year formation and discernment process that will lead them to ordination as permanent deacons. The lector is a person who proclaims the Word of God. The second step in formation is the ministry of “acolyte,” followed by the Order of Deacon. An interval of time is established between the three ministries.
Bishop Burbidge instructed the candidates that in order “to proclaim Christ to the world and convince others that Jesus is God with us, then you must first be people who listen to His voice, for it is His Word you proclaim, not your own.”
The Bishop told the candidates, they must lead by example and be known “as people who love one another” and be willing to forgive.
“You must challenge and instruct so that others are led to avoid evil and to embrace all that is good, holy and pleasing in the sight of God,” Bishop Burbidge added.
The sixteen candidates are:
- Michael Boyd Alig
- Walter Calabrese
- Michel du Sablon
- Frederick Melvin Fisher, Jr.
- Joseph Pius Piyasiri Gabriel
- Frank Taft Jones, III
- Patrick Gerald McIlmoyle
- Emilio Mejía
- Vincent Joseph Mescall
- Patrick Daniel Pelkey
- Robert Hinsdale Snyder, Jr.
- Ronald Soriano
- Gary Cole Stemple
- Juan Alexander Vincent-Martínez
- Bradley Evans Watkins
- Mark Alan Westrick
Information on the Diaconate program is available at www.dioceseofraleigh.org/how/vocations/diaconate.aspx.
Above: Bishop Michael F. Burbidge with 16 candidates for the Diaconate. Fr. David D. Brockman, Vicar General of the Diocese, on the left and Father James F. Garneau, V.F. Director of the Diocesan Diaconate program, second row on the right.