Deacons

May 27

May 29, 2022

Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever ~

Last Saturday, May 21st, for only the second time in our 22 year history, we had the rare opportunity to host the ordination to the transitional diaconate, of Holy Redeemer seminarian, John Paul Tomassi. It was a beautiful ordination Mass and all who attended were gratified in their faith. Deacon John Paul will be in Longview this summer before heading back to Mundelein seminary (outside of Chicago) for his final year. God willing, he’ll be ordained in June 2023 to the Priesthood.

This Sunday we do something we’ve never done before, introduce a permanent deacon to the ministry of Holy Redeemer Parish. On the back side of this page, Deacon Scott Aikin briefly introduces himself and his family to us. We, especially me, are excited to have Deacon Scott join us. I hope to have him preach one weekend a month, that will be welcomed relief for me. Beyond that, we still need to work out the particulars of what he’ll be doing for us here. Hopefully some kind of deliverance ministry, as the need in that area is so great. Deacon Scott works a full time job outside of the Church, so the time he has with us is all voluntary, and comes after the needs of his wife and kids. Which brings me to the topic of the diaconate – what it is and what they do.

Let’s begin with the sacrament of Holy Orders. Order is super important to God, so important that God sacramentalized it. Without order all life ends; in the universe, nature, the family, society, and the Church. The absence of order isn’t just chaos, its death. God is a life giver, hence heaven is filled with order, where everyone and everything are properly ordered to one another and to their role. Earth was that way too, until the Fall of Adam and Eve in paradise. When Jesus Christ established the Catholic Church, He did so with order in mind, bestowing sacramental grace upon the 12 Apostles. The Catholic Church today traces all ordained ministers back to those original 12 Apostles in an unbroken line of apostolic succession. That succession is one of the four marks of the Church. If that line were to break, then the sacrament of Holy Orders would cease to exist, and with it, the sacraments of Confession, Confirmation, Eucharist, and Extreme Unction.

The sacrament of Holy Orders is one sacrament in three degrees: bishop, priest, and deacon. Each is ordained to their respective order beginning with deacons, then priests, then bishops. The fullness of Holy Orders rests with the bishops; while priests possess by grace, the ability to fully function in priestly ministry, but only under and with a bishop’s authority. Deacons do not possess the ministerial priestly office, but do possess by sacramental grace, the office of order and servant.

Priests and bishops share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the High Priest. As such, all priests and bishops share in Our Lord’s three fold office of priest (sacraments), prophet (teaching), and king (governance of the Church). Very early on, the Apostles discovered that the temporal responsibilities of the Church, e.g., the corporal works of mercy, caring for the Church’s property and finances, et-cetera, were so time consuming that they decided that they needed another order to oversee that, in order that the bishops and priests could see to the spiritual works of mercy and the sacraments. So the order of diaconate was born (Acts 6:1-7). Diaconate is a Greek word meaning “servant”.

Deacons are chosen among good, stable, practicing Catholic men. They come in two varieties: transitional and permanent. Transitional deacons are ordained with the expectation that they move onto the priesthood, like John Paul Tomassi two Saturdays ago; they must be celibate. Permanent deacons are men that are expected to serve in that capacity for life. They must be male, at least 35 years old, married only once if at all, and never remarry if their wife should pass away before them. They may serve in whatever role the local Church or parish needs them (without the sacramental ability of priests), and always with their bishop’s permission.

There is much more on the diaconate that I don’t have the space here to share. You can look up the diaconate on the internet, the website New Advent, would probably be a great place to start.

With All My Love,

Introducing Deacon Scott Aikin

Dear Friends,

As a number of you are aware, I’ve been a permanent deacon at St Joseph Parish since my ordination in November 2007. My family and I have grown up in our faith as parishioners at St. Joseph since January 2000. In 2000 Holy Redeemer was established as a new parish from the boundaries of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Joseph parishes; as east Vancouver had grown so much that it warranted opening a new parish. I remember and still have strong connections to many of the families and broader community that are here at Holy Redeemer now.

Recently St. Joseph Parish had the blessing of adding three additional deacons to the parish staff. Given that St. Joseph now has four deacons while Holy Redeemer has none, I have prayed to know God’s desire for my diaconal service given this reality.

This is a bit of a complicated process to consider making a shift between parishes as a permanent deacon and has taken several months to complete. This ultimately requires the permission of the archbishop who has recently given that approval. Over these past several months, I’ve talked this over in more depth with both Fr. Thomas Nathe and Fr. Gary Lazzeroni from St. Joseph. Both Pastors have agreed to what I’ve discerned and support my request to help out Holy Redeemer through transference of my ministerial work to Holy Redeemer Parish.

I have deeply appreciated serving the people of St. Joseph and the parish staff, and have been blessed to serve with Fr. Gary Lazzeroni as my pastor for these past 14 years. With that said, everything has a time and season, and it is time for my wife Brenda and I to move onto Holy Redeemer where I look forward to serving Fr. Nathe, the parishioners, and most importantly Our Lord in diaconal ministry.

I will serve at St. Joseph Parish through the end of June, and then I will be transferring my registration to Holy Redeemer as a permanent deacon starting July 1st. I am really looking forward to my new parish and ministry, and getting to know and serve you at Holy Redeemer.

Please keep my family and I in your prayers as we will keep you all in ours.

In tremendous gratitude and peace in the Holy Spirit,

Deacon Scott Aikin