Bishop attends ordination and meets with Pope Benedict

Oct. 11, 2007

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

DEACON ORDINATION

Thank you for your prayers for me and several others from our Diocese who traveled to Rome for the ordination of Deacon Shane Deman. Shane, along with twenty other seminarians, from all parts of the United States and two from Australia, was ordained a deacon by Archbishop John Foley. Archbishop Foley is the former president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication. I had the privilege of concelebrating the ordination Mass along with eleven other bishops and several hundred priests. The Mass was held in the Basilica of Saint Peter at what is called the "altar of the chair" on the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, probably one of the most famous deacons of our Church.

The altar of the chair has a central focal point, the "Chair of Peter". This bronze sculpture is actually a very large reliquary, housing the remains of a wooden chair held by tradition to have been used by St. Peter himself when he lived in Rome. The "chair" or "cathedra" of a bishop is the symbol of his authority to govern and teach the Lord's flock, and so the "cathedral" of St. Peter represents the ministry of the Bishop of Rome and the foundation of the Church universal.

Archbishop Foley began his homily by asking the question, "What can I do for you?" Most of us present thought that the answer might be, "ordain these men to the diaconate." That was one answer, but not the only one. The Archbishop explained that this question could really be used as a prayer each day said by the new deacons. He encouraged them to "pray" this question everyday: What can I do for you, Lord? What can I do for all who cross my path this day? What can I do for the Church? What can I do today to grow in holiness? These questions follow from an understanding of the ministry of deacons in the Church. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that seven men were chosen to assist the Apostles in their work of evangelization. They were chosen especially to serve the needs of the poor and to make sure that none in the community were ignored or forgotten. They soon began to preach the Gospel themselves. The first martyr of the Church was St. Stephen, one of the original men chosen by the Church to minister as a deacon.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DEACONS

One of the many gifts that flowed from the Second Vatican Council of Bishops which ended in 1965 was a restoration of the Order of Deacons. The Sacrament of Holy Orders consists of three orders: deacon, priest and bishop. For many years, the order of deacons seemed to be forgotten. There are two types of deacons: permanent and transitional. Permanent deacons are usually married men who along with transitional deacons, after formation and training are ordained by the bishop for service to the Church. They assist parish priests with the ability to preach the homily, celebrate the sacraments of baptism and marriage and assist at funerals. Their main task, as it was in the early Church, is to assist the poor and to serve them in love. The presence of a deacon at Mass reminds us all of the poor and needy among us.

We are blessed in the Diocese of Sioux City to have 38 permanent deacons serving the Church. They are valuable resources for all of us. We have an excellent formation program for men who wish to be ordained deacons, headed by Dr. David Lopez and Deacon Tim Murphy. I encourage men who are interested in knowing more about the permanent diaconate to contact the Deacon Office (DavidL@scdiocese.org or 712.233.7512). Please continue to pray for our deacons and to tell them how much we appreciate their service and ministry.

TRANSITIONAL DEACONS

Shane Deman, ordained a deacon on October 4th and Jeremy Wind, a seminarian at St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana, who will be ordained a deacon here in our Cathedral on December 15, 2007, will serve as transitional deacons. This means that, God willing, they will continue their formation and be ordained priests on June 28, 2008 at the Cathedral of the Epiphany here in Sioux City. Until their ordination as priests, Shane and Jeremy will function as deacons gathering experience for ministry as they preach, celebrate baptism and witness marriages and assist in helping the poor of the Church. Please pray for them and all who serve the Church.

NEED FOR VOCATIONS

The ordination of Shane to the diaconate, followed by Jeremy's ordination is a great gift to our diocese. I look forward to ordaining these fine young men as priests in June, 2008. This is good news for the Diocese of Sioux City, to have two more priests to serve us. However, there is also some bad news. After this coming year's priesthood ordination, we don't anticipate ordaining any other men to the priesthood for at least four years. That is a long time to wait. The reality is we need more priests. I know there are men in our Diocese that the Lord is calling to the priesthood. They are your sons and grandsons, your brothers, relatives and friends. Please pray for those being called to respond to the call of the Lord to follow him as deacons, consecrated persons and especially as priests. Last August 4th, I celebrated my 34th anniversary of priesthood ordination. I have never regretted even one day of being a priest. To me it is one of the greatest blessings in my life. Please join me in prayer as often as you can to pray for an increase of vocations. If you know of any young men who might be good candidates for the seminary, please contact Father Brad Pelzel, our vocation director here at the Chancery (bradp@scdiocese.org or 712.233.7522) and he will gladly follow through. Remember that vocations come from families. Parents have a huge influence on the direction the lives of their children will take. Parents, the Church depends on you and on the encouragement of holy and happy priests to encourage young men in saying yes to God's call to become a priest. May our prayers and encouragement be richly rewarded.

VISIT WITH OUR HOLY FATHER

As a part of my visit to Rome for Shane's ordination, I had the opportunity to visit many places in the city of Rome and in the city of Florence and Assisi. The highlight was the chance to be in attendance at the weekly Papal Audience of our Holy Father. On Wednesday, October 3, over 40,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square to see and hear our Holy Father, Benedict XVI. He spoke of the contributions of St. Cyril of Alexandra to the Church and greeted those in attendance in seven different languages. I then had a chance to speak with him as I extended to him the good wishes of the priests and people of the Diocese of Sioux City. He extended to us his fraternal greeting and prayer. I thanked him for his appointment of me as the Bishop of Sioux City, another wonderful blessing in my life. We spoke for several minutes and I was so impressed by his attentiveness to me and I felt the depth of his warm and gentle presence. I was truly in the presence of a holy man. May God grant him good health and many more years of leadership among us.

Early on Friday morning, I celebrated Mass with the group from Iowa at the altar closest to the tomb of Pope John Paul II. Deacon Shane preached a beautiful homily on the hopes for his ministry as deacon. All of you were remembered not only in the Mass, but also as I prayed at the tomb of Pope John Paul II.

BACK HOME

It is good to be back home in Sioux City. I had a chance while I was away to be in the company of a good, but somewhat rowdy group of fellow travelers. I learned a lot about them and they learned a lot about me. A good time was had by all. We had two religious sisters in our group. They, of course, kept us all in line and were "the holy ones" in the group, well, sort of! I have direct orders from my dad to quit writing about the Denver Broncos. He tells me this is not their year. He suggested I start praying for the Colorado Rockies baseball team instead! Go Rockies.

May the Lord give you peace.

Your brother in Christ,

Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless
Bishop of Sioux City