REGISTRANTS

Eighteen OCADL members and wives took part in a warm – but grace-filled and fun-filled – Convocation, held at St Peter’s Seminary. Michel Dion, John & Jocelyne Ezard, Bill & Ellen Gervais and Bob & Mary Lois Probert enjoyed the hospitality of Aquinas House, on the Seminary grounds. Armand & Mary Danis, Charlie & Linda Johnston, Peter & Anne McBride and Etienne Roussel & Bev Proctor settled into the Station Park All Suite Hotel. John & Susan Vallely and Jim Panchaud “commuted” from home. A number of “regulars”, including Dan & Jean Murphy, Bert & Terry Cambre, John Grieve, Nick & Teresa Cherri and George & Cam Newman were unable to attend because of diaconate ordinations in their dioceses (more about that later). Gord & Francoise Bryan, Denis & Suzanne O’Donnell and Mike & Anne Seath sent regrets because of ministry commitments. If I have inadvertently omitted the names of anyone else who sent regrets, my sincere apologies!

FR MURRAY WATSON - Keynote Presenter Extraordinaire!

Our featured guest speaker was Fr Murray Watson, Lecturer in Biblical Studies at St Peter’s Seminary – and recent PhD graduate in Theology. On Friday evening, following Evening Prayer in the spectacular Seminary chapel and an official welcome from John Vallely, Fr Murray began his presentations on “The Deacon as Evangelizer” with a session on “Putting the Ev Back into Evangelization”. During his other four presentations, Fr Murray discussed “The Church’s Broader Understanding of Evangelization”, “Evangelization and Re-Evangelization: Pope John Paul’s Challenge, and the Challenge of Recent Statistics”, “The Five Modes of Dialogue and their Relevance for Evangelization”, “The First Priority: Evangelizing the Evangelizers”, “The Deacon as Catalyst for Pastoral Creativity” and “The Place of Interreligious Dialogue as a Key Component of Evangelization Today”.

Fr Murray’s informal style and astute choice of materials were much appreciated by the group. He employed an interactive format including an abundance of input, thought-provoking questions and examples drawn from personal experiences. Participants found Fr Murray’s sessions to be both engaging and energizing. As usual, when OCADL meets and the material is stimulating, there just wasn’t enough time!

BISHOP RONALD P FABBRO, CSB - Host Bishop

On Saturday afternoon, Bishop Ronald Fabbro, CSB, Bishop of London, joined us for a presentation on “The Role of the Permanent Deacon in the Pastoral Plan of the Diocese of London”. Bishop Fabbro discussed the dimensions of the mission of the Church – kerygma, liturgy, koinonia and diakonia – underlying London’s Diocesan Pastoral Plan (and any Diocesan Pastoral Plan) and offered practical examples around how the diaconate is integral to the Church’s mission. Bishop Fabbro then joined us for Mass in the Seminary chapel and for dinner.

BUSINESS MEETING

After dinner on Saturday, the Diaconate Directors in attendance gathered for the annual Business Meeting. Many of our wives took the opportunity for a shopping excursion to London’s premier shopping venue, Masonville Mall.

Highlights of the Business Meeting:
OCADL remains financially stable. Dues do not need to be increased at this time.

The Diocese of London and St Peter’s Institute for Catholic Formation contributed to sponsorship for this Convocation.

Attendance at the Convocation is an issue every other year because of the Toronto, Hamilton and St Catharines diaconate ordinations. These dates are not fixed, so long term planning is compromised. A Convocation earlier in the Spring would conflict with the NADD (North American Diaconate Directors) annual meeting and, usually, with the Easter season. A Fall date would conflict with Formation & Study Program activities for some dioceses. Options could include
o continuing our current practice. This is, clearly, sub-optimal.
o holding a Convocation only every two years. However, this could compromise the momentum of the group.
o holding a Convocation every two years, with an OCADL Business Meeting incorporated, in alternate years, into the NADD Region II Conference, which is held every other year, in early August, in Ontario or upper New York State. This could provide continuity and offer OCADL members exposure to the deacons and diaconate leaders of Region II. It could also be an opportunity to determine whether an early August Convocation date might be more convenient to OCADL members than the current date.
After considerable discussion, members agreed to the latter option for 2011, as a trial. There will be an OCADL Business Meeting incorporated into the Region II Conference in Kingston, August 5-7, 2011.

Dcn Dan Murphy (Toronto) formally resigned as Executive Director. He recommended that this position not necessarily be filled. Members agreed to leave the position vacant at this time.

Dcn John Vallely (London) is now Past-President and Dcn Bill Gervais (Kingston) is President. Because of the change in plans with regard to next year’s Convocation, and because so many members were absent, it was decided to leave the position of President-Elect vacant until next year’s Business Meeting.

Dcn Etienne Roussel (Thunder Bay) resigned as Secretary-Treasurer. Dcn John Ezard (Kingston) was acclaimed to this position.

FR MICHAEL PRIEUR - Sunday Keynote Speaker

On Sunday morning, following Morning Prayer, Fr Michael (Mickey) Prieur, STD, Professor of Moral Theology at St Peter’s Seminary, led us in a conversation on “The Spiritual Life: Integrating the Spirituality of Marriage and Orders.” Fr Mickey’s presentation was “excellent, enthusiastic, encouraging, engaging, exciting and excited”! His handouts, too, were very much appreciated. There was general agreement that we could have spent the entire Convocation on this topic.

Following his formal presentation, Fr Mickey took the group for his famous tour of St Peter’s Seminary. Given that he has lived at St Peter’s for almost 50 years, his comments reflected both an incredible familiarity with and love for the Seminary and for all those who have studied and taught there.

AND, MORE …

… we prayed well – those in attendance appreciated having the Seminary chapel as the venue for Morning and Evening Prayer, as well as for Mass!

… we ate well – there was no shortage of a good variety of food at every meal!

… and we socialized well. – despite the loss of our expected lounge area because of the flood at Aquinas House!

All the Evaluations were very positive … all in all, a most successful Convocation!!!

Deacon John Vallely, at the conclusion of his year as President of OCADL, was a gracious host to the diaconate leaders who attended, representing many of the Dioceses of Ontario.

The theme of OCADL 2010 was “The Deacon as Evangelizer”, featuring presentations by Fr. Murray Watson, Biblical Scholar, Fr. Michael Prieur, previous and Founding Director of Spiritual Formation for the permanent diaconate in London, and Bishop Fabbro himself! The event was held at St. Peter’s Seminary in London on May 28-30.

One of the informal highlights of the Convocation was the delightful tour of St. Peter’s given by Fr. Mike Prieur, who has been a welcome presence at the seminary for 46 happy years. We were all captivated and well entertained. Some of us even bought Fr. Mike’s new (coffee-table) book, “Panes of Glory”, an account of each of the stories behind many of the glorious panes in the striking stained glass windows of St. Peter’s magnificent chapel.

A photo gallery will be posted on this OCADL web site in the next few days.

Please pray for our brothers and their families as they join us in our Sacrament of Service. And congratulations to the Diocese of London and to all those who supported them in their formation.

The distinguished guest presenter will be Fr. Murray Watson, Lecturer in Biblical Studies, St. Peter’s, who will take as his theme “The Deacon as Evangelizer”!

Accommodations are available at Aquinas House, on the Seminary grounds, or at Station Park All Suites Hotel, which is about a five minute drive from the Seminary. The cost will probably be about $50/night at Aquinas House [dormitory style] and $120/night at Station Park.

Watch this site for more information as it becomes available.

If you are interested in having a similar comparison done for your program of doctrinal formation for the permanent diaconate, please send curriculum information details to the editor.

Kingston Archdiocese was one of several (Arch)dioceses which shared details of the ways candidates were selected, formed, and given post-ordination continuing education at the 2009 OCADL Convocation. We hope to publish soon more of the important information made available in the session presentations at this watershed meeting.

On August 10, the great Feast Day of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, issued a letter of gratitude and encouragement to all permanent deacons. In addition, His Eminence calls all deacons to greater personal sanctification in our prayer lives and in the spirituality of the diaconate. Cardinal Hummes draws our particular attention to the ministry of the Word and to the ministry of Charity, which together with the ministry of the Altar, constitute the essence of diaconal ministry.

We are to model our ministry of the Word on St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr. We are to constantly struggle to study the Word, practice it, and proclaim it to others. When we were ordained, we were told:

With respect to our ministry of the Word, the Cardinal invites us to meditate on the Word, following the style of Lectio Divina (prayerful reading), and make it our own.

With respect to our ministry of Charity, we are to take as our great model, St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr, who administered the goods of the Christian community for Pope Sixtus II. As stated by Pope Benedict XVI, Lawrence was well recognized for his concern for the poor, his generous service of the Church, and his faithfulness to the Pope. Deacons are to identify themselves in a special way with charity, and to assist the poor and marginalized with great generosity. In the recent encyclical letter of Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, the Holy Father states “Charity is the royal road of the social doctrine of the Church.”

Read the full article here.

Our OCADL President, Deacon John Vallely has recently been appointed by Bishop Ronald Fabbro as Director of Permanent Deacons for the Diocese of London for a 5 year term. As well, Deacon John will continue as Director of the Permanent Deacon Formation and Study Program.

In addition, Deacon Vallely will collaborate with both the Rector of St. Peter’s Seminary and the Executive Director of St. Peter’s Institute for Catholic Formation, with whom he has developed a “bridging program” between the permanent diaconate and the certificate program in lay pastoral formation.

Deacon Vallely was ordained Permanent Deacon Deacon for the Diocese of London in November, 2005. Prior to commencing his formation for the Permanent Diaconate, he received an MDiv from St Peter’s Seminary in 2001. He is assigned to Holy Family Parish for his ministry of Word and ministry of Sacrament. He is Chair of the Board of the London Affordable Housing Foundation.

Born in Hamilton, Deacon John earned an Honours BA in Psychology from Western, then graduated from Medicine in 1972 and did post-graduate training in Urology. He retired in 2008 as staff Urologist at St. Joseph’s Health Care, London and Associate Professor of Surgery (Urology) in UWO’s Faculty of Medicine. Deacon John has been married to Susan since 1970 and they have two adult sons, Paul and Alan.

Please pray for our brother John and for his ministries - London is a fortunate Diocese!

The Convocation this summer will be held at the Rochester Institute of Technology Campus. Convocation Fees (including meals) are $175.00. Please register asap. With a credit card, you can register on-line by clicking here.

You may also download the pdf registration information by clicking here.

For more information, please contact Deacon Dan Hurley, Chair, at 1-585-319-8205 or dhurley@dor.org.

As Deacon Bert says, “Let’s make this the best convocation yet!”

Deacon Gervais stands at the left hand of Archbishop O'Brien

Deacon Bill Gervais is married, and with his wife Ellen they enjoy two daughters and four grandchildren. Bill was ordained in 1995 and served at St. Gregory’s Parish as a Pastoral Minister until 2008. He is presently assigned to St. Mary’s Cathedral in Kingston and Director of Pastoral Care at Hotel Dieu Hospital. In addition to these pastoral duties Bill is the Director for the Office of the Permanent Diaconate in Kingston.

Deacon Gervais holds a BA in Political Science from University of Windsor, Masters of Divinity from Queen’s Theological College in Kingston and Doctor of Ministry from the Toronto School of Theology. His doctoral thesis explored the sacramental identity of the diaconate.

Padre MacIsaac illustrated his stories with touching pictures of the chaplains, soldiers and people of the area. This was the first time that a representative of the military ordinariate attended OCADL, and we all benefitted from his presence and contributions.

Padre Colonel Deacon MacIsaac describes a tour of duty in Afghanistan at OCADL 2009