Men for God: ordinations in the Holy Land
JERUSALEM/AMMAN – Three new priests, seven transitional deacons, seven permanent deacons. In the Holy Land, the Latin Church, a community made up of 75,000 faithful, rejoices for the ordination of its new priests and deacons in Jerusalem and Amman, which took place on June 28 and 29, 2012.
Jerusalem – Dormition Abbey
Ordinations in the Holy Land 2012 began Thursday, June 28 at the Dormition Abbey with Bishop William Shomali, Auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem, who presided over the celebration. Those diaconal ordinations followed the diaconal ordinations of Salesian and Missionaries of Africa deacons held on 9 June in Bethlehem. In the course of Holy Mass, the bishop ordained deacon fr. Wojciech Daniel OSB, Benedictine monk of Mount Zion, in the presence of the Father Abbot, Gregory Collins OSB, Benedictine monks of many, and his family – mother, brother and nephews – who arrived from Poland for the occasion.
Jerusalem – Church of St. Saviour
Friday, June 29, 2012, Archbishop Antonio Franco, Papal Nuncio and Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem, celebrated the diaconal and priestly ordinations for the Custody of the Holy Land, delegated by Patriarch Fouad Twal. Nine Franciscans, three priests and six deacons *, were ordained by Bishop Franco, whose mission as nuncio ends this month. Present were Father Pizzaballa ofm, Custos of the Holy Land, Father Diaz Herrera Evenzio ofm, Vicar in Cyprus, Bishop Kamal Bathish, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus, as well as many priests and Franciscan friars of the Holy Land. “We are the aroma of Christ. The priest must be the fragrance of Christ to attract those who are far from God”, Archbishop Franco emphasized in particular during his homily.
Amman – Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
On the same morning of June 29, H.B. Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, traveled to Amman, Jordan, to the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to ordain, for the third time in the history of the Latin Patriarchate, permanent deacons, seven in number this time.** He directed expressions of gratitude and good wishes to their wives, families and friends for their continued support. And he concluded: “Your diaconal ordination takes place in unusual circumstances upon which depends the fate of peoples and of the faithful of the Middle East. This invites us to be extremely cautious, careful and well prepared, never flee, even for a moment, the company of Christ, putting our whole trust in him. ”
Daniel Le
*Priests: Fra Fernando Comparán, Fra Jorge Humberto Espinoza, Fra Antonino Milazzo.
Deacons: Fra Alán Estrada Morán, Fra Gíl Abad Noriega Muñiz, Fra Ján Kapistránsky Lazový, Fra Karol Miroslav Švarc, Fra Sandro Tomašević, Fra Sergey Loktionov.
**Yousef Antoine Abboud Fattal, Emad Hanna Jeris Matarwah, Ramzi Issa Saba Ghanem, Jubran Yousef Jubran Salameh, Hasim Hanna, Najeeb Al-Nimri, Zaal Odeh Kaleel Hijazeen, Piero Wahi Kevork Zarnikian.
