Hello everyone,
It has been a joyful week here at the seminary since I last posted. On Saturday 11 men were Ordained to the Deaconate. Ten of them are going to be Chicago priests and one is going to be a Springfield priest.
When we talk about Deacon Ordinations we often use either the word permanent or transitional. In reality the office of Deacon is the same, the Ontological changes (changes in being, mark on the soul, etc…) are the same. A permanent Deacon is a man who feels that this is where they are called to in life while a transitional Deacon is a man who is preparing for the priesthood. Canon Law requires that a man be a Deacon at least 6 months before being ordained a Priest is why there is this step. I am not entirely sure on all of the theological reasons for this. So now you know what we are talking about when we use the terms transitional or permanent Deacon. It is a blessing for these two Diocese to take this next step towards having them as priests.
The man from the Springfield Diocese is a wonderful story. In short he was a minister in a protestant denomination (I’m not sure which one) who over time and study realized the truth of the Catholic faith and converted to Catholicism. One interesting thing in his situation is that while most priests are not allowed to marry, if someone was ordained in certain protestant churches they can get a dispensation from the Vatican to later be ordained as Catholic priests despite being married. This is only possible if they were not raised Catholic, so it isn’t an end around that a man could go and be ordained in one of these Churches, get married, and then come back to Catholic…
Other than the Ordination we are all busy finishing up projects, papers, and studying for finals which are next week. All five of my finals are Thursday and Friday, the 10th and 11th of November. After that I get another two weeks off. I am sure I will write about that in a later post.
Today I found out some wonderful news (wonderful for me). I will be able to be done with Greek after this quarter. I am enjoying the class, but my brain just doesn’t seem to work in the detail needed for language studies, at least a language that can’t be used in modern conversation. I seem to understand the concepts that are being taught, however, I am still struggling to memorize the things that we were supposed to memorize the first week. This isn’t due to me not working on it. I am studying for Greek between 12 and 16 hours a week at least, plus class time. I just can’t seem to memorize the details. I think that the professor can tell that I am indeed working and will allow me a passing grade in the course, even if my scores don’t justify it. The reason that I am dropping for next quart isn’t the work load, I wouldn’t mind that amount of work if I was getting the material and at least partially able to keep up, but now it seems pointless to continue when I am not able to apply what I am learning. It looks like I will be taking a course on the Gospel of Mark instead, something that will be very useful in the future.
Well, I should probably get back to homework, so this is a long enough post. I will try to write another short post next week.
Peace,
Adam
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