Cath News report: Five men were ordained to the Diaconate at Mary MacKillop Parish, in Ballajura, Western Australia, last week, by Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey, who called on them to take "the Word out into the world beyond the doors of the Church". 
Image from The Record.com.au showing Deacons Frank Birrell (Broome Diocese), Emmanuel Valentine Dimobi, Daniel Boyd, Cyprian Shikokoti and Anibal Leite da Cunha (Perth Archdiocese) prostrating themselves during the ordination to the Diaconate, at Mary MacKillop Parish in Ballajura. Photo: Bridget Spinks, The Record.
Deacons Frank Birrell, from Broome Diocese, and the other four from the Perth Archdiocese, Emmanuel Valentine Dimobi, Daniel Boyd, Cyprian Shikokoti and Anibal Leite da Cunha will carry out Diaconate duties for about a year until they are ordained to the priesthood, reports The Record.
Bishop Christopher Saunders of Broome Diocese, Perth Vicar General Mgr Brian O'Loughlin, St Charles Seminary Rector Mgr Kevin Long and up to 40 Perth clergy concelebrated the Mass.
Students from both St Charles and Redemptoris Mater seminaries were present in the congregation of up to 800 people.
In his homily, Archbishop Hickey said that the vocation for the new Deacons, who are "in transit" to the Priesthood, was to follow Jesus who came to serve, not to be served; who in the Gospel of John called his followers "no longer servants but friends".
He emphasised the deacon's vocation to serve the world.
"I say that specifically tonight because if there was ever a time in the world's history when the Word of God is needed out there, beyond our borders, it is now," Archbishop Hickey said in the celebration, which was held on the eve of the Federal Election.
He said that the Word of God has been needed "in every time" but was especially needed now, in Australia, as "we can see strong currents all around us: in politics, in social policy, in the way people live their lives as if God didn't exist".
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=22998
Deacons Frank Birrell, from Broome Diocese, and the other four from the Perth Archdiocese, Emmanuel Valentine Dimobi, Daniel Boyd, Cyprian Shikokoti and Anibal Leite da Cunha will carry out Diaconate duties for about a year until they are ordained to the priesthood, reports The Record.
Bishop Christopher Saunders of Broome Diocese, Perth Vicar General Mgr Brian O'Loughlin, St Charles Seminary Rector Mgr Kevin Long and up to 40 Perth clergy concelebrated the Mass.
Students from both St Charles and Redemptoris Mater seminaries were present in the congregation of up to 800 people.
In his homily, Archbishop Hickey said that the vocation for the new Deacons, who are "in transit" to the Priesthood, was to follow Jesus who came to serve, not to be served; who in the Gospel of John called his followers "no longer servants but friends".
He emphasised the deacon's vocation to serve the world.
"I say that specifically tonight because if there was ever a time in the world's history when the Word of God is needed out there, beyond our borders, it is now," Archbishop Hickey said in the celebration, which was held on the eve of the Federal Election.
He said that the Word of God has been needed "in every time" but was especially needed now, in Australia, as "we can see strong currents all around us: in politics, in social policy, in the way people live their lives as if God didn't exist".
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=22998
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