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A WALLERAWANG resident was one of two men to be ordained Catholic deacons at a ceremony in Bathurst on Friday.
Bathurst Bishop Michael McKenna ordained Charles Applin and Terry Mahony to the diaconate in the Cathedral of St Michael and St John.
Charles and Terry, married men with many years as active members of the Catholic church, had to complete five years of preparation.
Their ordination as deacons will be for life and will put them in a new and permanent relationship of service to the bishop and Christ’s faithful.
Although this relationship is with the whole people of God, they will belong in a particular way to the Bathurst diocese.
Their wives, Joan and Christine, have accompanied them on this journey of discernment and formation and given their consent for Charles and Terry to make this life-changing commitment, which they will carry out in concert with their commitment to the Sacrament of Matrimony.
“The new deacons will be pioneers of this ministry in the Diocese of Bathurst,” Bishop McKenna said.
“They and all of us will learn through trial and error what this call will mean in practice.
“However, we shall not be travelling without a map.
“The renewal of this ministry after the Second Vatican Council is based on a tradition that reaches back to the earliest days of the Church.
“They will carry out their ministry across the diocese in different places at different times, cooperating with the local priest, at my direction.
“Although sometimes their work may be liturgical (leading or assisting worship; baptising; celebrating weddings and funerals), this will grow out of their broader task of connecting with the disconnected,” the Bishop said.
Deacons directly help the bishop in reaching out to people on the edges of church life.
These distances may be geographical (for example the smaller and more remote communities of the diocese); or social and economic; or distances of the heart in faith and practice.
They assist with works of charity, catechesis and co-ordination.
“We pray that God will bless them, and those who have helped them on the journey, with generous abundance,” Bishop McKenna said.