Congratulations to Our New Deacons!

Over the Christmas Break four of our Dominican students were ordained to the diaconate. Rev. Br. Jerome Cudden, OP and Rev. Br. John Thomas Mellein, OP were ordained at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC by Bishop Martin Holley. Rev. Br. Michael Hurley, OP and Rev. Br. Vincent Mary Kelber, OP were ordained at Holy Rosary, the Dominican parish in Antioch, CA, by Bishop Allen Vigneron.

They join students who are already deacons including Rev. Br. Bernhard Blankenhorn, OP, who was ordained in Toulouse last spring, and Rev. Br. Chinh Nguyen, SDB, who was ordained at St. Augustine’s Parish in Oakland this past fall.

Clerical Brothers are ordained deacons in their sixth year of studies at the DSPT. This follows their profession of solemn vows which normally happens in their fifth year of studies. These brothers now look forward to their priestly ordinations at the end of their seventh year of studies, having been awarded M.Div. degrees. Rev. Br. Bernhard will be ordained a priest this June. Rev. Brs. Jerome, John Thomas, Michael, and Vincent Mary expect to be ordained priests in the spring of 2007.

Talking about his experience serving at the altar as deacon, Rev. Br. Vincent Mary commented, “I felt right up there.”

The DSPT community offers congratulations and blessings to these brothers on their spiritual journey.

Benedict XVI Writes His First Encyclical as Pope

The Pope’s long-awaited first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est or God Is Love, was released early January, 2006. The BBC News writes: “Papal proclamations are often taken as a sign of the possible direction of the Roman Catholic Church. Theologians are expected to scrutinise Pope Benedict’s first encyclical for any hints at how the former head of Catholic doctrine will lead his flock.” His encyclical is essentially on love – in particular, Christian love, and charity. It seems he will lead with, and in, love.

The first part of the encyclical deals with the distinction between Eros and Agape. We are to emulate the Divine love: “Fundamentally, ‘love’ is a single reality.” When the two are separated, love becomes a “caricature or … an impoverished form of love.” The greatest example of this love is Christ’s sacrifice. Receiving the Eucharist is “more than statically receiving the incarnate Logos,” but also a drawing into this love. Our response to that must be genuine and we must necessarily be ready to love our neighbor in imitation of His love.

The second part is on Caritas and the concrete acts of charity in the Church. This love of neighbor, discussed above, must be practiced by the Church community as a whole. The role of the Church is “to contribute to the purification of reason and to the reawakening of those moral forces without which just structures are neither established nor prove effective in the long run. The direct duty to work for a just ordering of society ... is proper to the lay faithful.” The charitable activity of the Church is an “opus proprium” and flows organically from within.

Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that charity should not be merely a means to spread the Good News. “Love is free.” Love should be the end of a charitable act and not used as a means.

For the encyclical see the Vatican website.