Boston College Jesuits Ordain Eight New Deacons

On September 14, 2024, eight Jesuits were ordained as deacons in St. Ignatius Church as part of their continuing formation. The candidates’ names were Dominic Heesang Chai, Joshua Yew Khean Choong, Isaac Anthony Demase, Kieran Daniel Halloran, Douglas Andrew Jones, William Christopher Manaker, Jeongsu Nam, and Thomas Patrick O’Donnell.

Generally, the diaconate is one of the last stepping stones for Jesuits as they progress in their education and the stages of Jesuit formation. Candidates have already been in the Order for several years, having passed through the initial stages: the novitiate, their first studies, their regency, and part of their theology studies (which they have been undertaking at Boston College). 

Thus, candidates for the diaconate are already through the early and middle stages of their formation by the time they come up for ordination. This milestone represents at least six years of hard work for each of the ordinandi. The Mass met the gravity of the occasion.

St. Ignatius Church was prepared for one of the most solemn ceremonies conducted within its walls. A panoply of organ, piano, choir, and brass provided music, thundering a setting of Laudate Dominum as the Mass began. 

Throughout the Mass, music was sung in Latin, English, Spanish, and Korean. Of particular note were Jeong Mingyeong’s Korean setting of the Suscipe, St. Ignatius’s famous prayer of total self-surrender, after the ordination. On the opposite end, the ancient simple tone of the Salve Regina began the closing ceremonies.

The Jesuits made a true show of force at the ordination. At the head of the procession, the eight ordinandi were escorted by the cross. Behind them followed a train of about 80 people, including about 65 priests. Altar servers, deacons, and Auxiliary Bishop of Boston Robert P. Reed brought up the rearguard.

Many of the priests were familiar faces at Boston College, but a great many were from various places across the East Province and had come for the sake of the diaconate candidates. Such was the number of guest priests that uniform vestments weren’t available, and many wore personal stoles and other garbs that they had received in the past as gifts.

When standing still, the procession spanned the entire length of the nave of the church. Due to the reverencing of the altar by each priest and then Bishop Reed, the full procession took more than five minutes to settle into its various stations around the church while the choir thundered the Laudate Dominum nonstop.

The readings were all themed upon service and apostleship: The call of the prophet Jeremiah, the First Letter of St. Peter on particular gifts & graces, and part of Jesus’s Last Supper discourse in the Gospel of John: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”

In his homily, Bishop Reed prayed for a shower of grace and the “spirit of selfless service” upon the candidates, so as to place their whole selves at God’s service. He highlighted their servitude to Christ as Truth personified and also called them “privileged vehicles of the social teaching of the Church” to aid the downtrodden.

He charged them to forever remember that latter task even after being ordained as priests next year.

Furthermore, he held up the examples of Christ the Suffering Servant, and the deacon-martyrs Saints Stephen and Lawrence as models for the sacrifices that must be made to preach God’s word “without compromise” in a hostile culture. He ended the homily by referencing a Jesuit motto in translation, “All for the glory of God.”

The rite of ordination itself was intricate and took about half an hour. The candidates were called each by each, approved by their superior, the bishop, and the congregation. Then the candidates themselves made vows to the various responsibilities of their office, such as their manner of life, their daily prayer, and their obedience to their superior.

Then came perhaps the most dramatic moment. In accord with ancient custom, the eight candidates prostrated themselves before the altar while the Litany of Saints was sung. This litany called upon holy men and women of the Church, especially deacons, apostles, and Jesuits of bygone eras, to pray for the candidates.

When the candidates arose, Bishop Reed laid his hands upon them just as is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, prayed for the Holy Spirit’s descent upon them, and presented them each with the Gospel and an injunction to believe, teach, and practice its words.

The deacons were vested by brother priests and deacons, and all received the traditional kiss of peace from the bishop and many of the ordained men present at the Mass. They went on to serve their very first Mass as deacons and were the main Eucharistic ministers.

Although the ceremony is distinctive, Jesuit formation neither begins nor ends with the diaconate. On the one hand, candidates have been considered full members of the Order since their taking of solemn vows some years before ordination. On the other hand, they are ordained exclusively as transitional deacons and can expect priestly ordination the next year. The Jesuit Order generally seeks full clerical status for its members.

The newly ordained deacons will continue to reside at Faber Jesuit Community and take graduate or doctoral level courses at Boston College. As preparation, they may also assist in local parishes. They can expect to be ordained as priests not in their current residence but rather in the center of their home provinces next year. For most, that will be New York City. Thus, Boston College only hosts diaconate ordinations.

In terms of aesthetics and gravity, this ordination Mass was certainly one of the finest ceremonies that the Jesuits at Boston College have held this year. It is an annual September tradition generally renowned for its splendor and well worth seeing if one can get wind of it.