Some 15 new deacons were ordained into the Catholic Church in Maynooth, Co Kildare, at the weekend.
Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Séan Brady ordained the men at the chapel in the national seminary, Saint Patrick's College, on Saturday.
The 15 are all transitional deacons, meaning their appointments are the first step in a three-step process to becoming priests.
They will be assigned to the dioceses of Meath, Armagh, Dublin, Derry, Clogher, Cloyne, Killaloe, Ossory, Waterford & Lismore, Ardagh & Clonmacnois, Cashel & Emly and Raphoe.
There are seventy resident seminarians currently studying in the almost 220-year-old college and an additional 20 attending on a daily basis.
Cardinal Brady congratulated the men and told them that after a “long and rigorous course of discernment and formation” they had been found worthy. He thanked those who had contributed to their formation and reminded them that Saint Paul had “set the bar high” for deacons.
“Deacons must be respectable, not double-tongued, and moderate in the amount of wine they drink and with no squalid greed for money,” Cardinal Brady quoted.
“We rejoice that you have been found worthy and that you now are ready to take on the three great commitments of every Deacon in the Latin Church.”
He listed the commitments as remaining celibate “for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven and in life-long service to God and human kind”, holding the “Mystery of Faith and to proclaim that belief in word and action” and praying “especially by reciting, faithfully, the Divine Office so as to shape your life, according to the example of Christ”.
He said the commitment to celibacy was “not out of any disregard for marriage and the dignity of the married state”.
“It is not a case of being free from responsibility but of being free for something else,” he said.
“You are choosing not to marry so that you may be free for service to the things of God and the service of others, besides one’s family.”
Cardinal Brady also reminded the men that faith was “ an ever-precious but sometimes fragile gift”.
Commenting after the Mass, Msgr Hugh Connolly, president of Saint Patrick’s College, said it was a joy to celebrate the ordinations, especially on the feast of the Ascension.
“On behalf of all of us here in the formation and learning community which is St Patrick’s College Maynooth, I congratulate our 15 ordinands and wish them every happiness and blessing in their forthcoming diaconal ministry,” he said.
