The ordination was powerful, grace-filled, and beautiful. I was very moved by the bishop's homily, and after the Mass was over I was filled with an incredible peace. My family and friends came from far and near. People were present from Missouri, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and of course North Dakota. The people of Christ the King served up some amazing food at the pre-ordination dinner and the reception that followed the ordination.

The photos above were taken by Deacon Joseph Krupinski.

-Deacon Jason

Now that the ordination is just five days away, it seems fitting to reflect a bit on the ordination ceremony. By the way, those pictured above are my classmates from Kenrick Seminary that were ordained a few months ago at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, MO (photo credit goes to Jeff Geerling). In this blog post I’ll try to explain as briefly as I can, for your benefit, what will be taking place. If you’re attending, you’ll be given a program so you can follow along. But you might not understand why various things are happening. So I hope this helps make it more prayerful for you.

If you’ve been to a Catholic Mass or a Lutheran worship service, and I think most of you have, the overall order of things will be somewhat familiar. The ordination rite takes place in the middle of a Catholic Mass. In general, there are these five major parts to the ceremony:

1. Introductory Rites
2. Liturgy of the Word
3. Election of the candidate & Homily
4. Ordination
5. Liturgy of the Eucharist

Introductory Rites

The Mass begins with the Sign of the Cross and what is called the “Penitential Rite.” The Penitential Rite is when we pause to call to mind our sins and ask God to forgive them. This doesn’t have the same effect as going to confession, but in the penitential right venial (less serious) sins are forgiven. Lutherans, if I recall correctly, have a Penitential Rite in which they ask God to forgive sins, so this is the same basic idea. It is good to ask for forgiveness from sins before approaching the altar in Mass. Jesus told us as much in Matthew 5:23-24, which says “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

After the Penitential Rite, the Gloria will be sung. It is a “very ancient and venerable hymn in which the Church, gathered together in the Holy Spirit, glorifies and entreats God the Father and the Lamb” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal 53). It begins “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on Earth” and is sung on most Sundays.

Finally, the Opening Prayer is said.

Liturgy of the Word

This should be familiar to pretty much all of you. There is a first reading, followed by a Psalm with a response, followed by a second reading. The first reading is from the Old Testament, the second is from the New Testament.

After the New Testament reading, we will stand and sing “Alleluia.” Why stand and sing? Because we’re about to hear the Gospel read to us. If you don’t recall, the Gospels are the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which contain the narratives of Jesus’ life. All of Scripture is the Word of God and worthy of respect, but the Gospels hold a special place among all the other books because their focus is most explicitly on the life of Jesus. So we stand, sing “Alleluia,” and one of the deacons will pick up a book that just contains the four Gospels (not the entire Bible) and carry it over to the ambo (podium/pulpit) where he will read from it.

As he begins to read from the Gospel, he will say something like “The Lord be with you,” and we answer “And also with you.” The deacon will continue, saying, “A reading from the holy gospel according to John.” At that point, the Catholics in the crowd will make small signs of the cross on their foreheads, lips, and chest. Don’t freak out, it’s not some strange superstitious thing. The point behind it is to prepare us to hear the words of the Gospel. Making those physical movements reminds us that the Gospel should be on our minds, on our lips (we should share it) and in our hearts. So those three signs of the cross are motions that go along with a silent prayer, said to oneself.

Election of the Candidate & Homily

This part of the ceremony is where the one to be ordained is “chosen” by the Church to serve as a deacon. This is clear when you hear the bishop say “Relying on the help of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we choose this man, our brother, for the Order of the Diaconate.” Sorry, you don’t get to vote during this election. But the seminary faculty, the bishop, and my fellow seminarians all helped the bishop to make the decision about whether or not to choose me.

Next, we will all be seated for Bishop Zipfel’s homily. He will likely draw his message from the readings we heard earlier. But in this case, Bishop Zipfel may focus less on the readings and more on the ordination and what takes place.

Ordination

Next, I make some serious promises to the bishop. First, I declare my intention to become a deacon “by the laying on” of the bishop’s hands and the gift of the Holy Spirit. This “laying on of hands” during ordination is a tradition handed on to us from the Apostles:

Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the holy Spirit, also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them" (Acts 6:3-6).

I will promise to humbly serve Christian people, to proclaim the Catholic faith in word and deed, to remain celibate as a sign of my dedication to Christ the Lord and for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, to maintain and seek to deepen my prayer life, including the daily praying of the Liturgy of the Hours (which includes praying for all of you, ever day), and to conform my life to Christ and to serve at the altar.

Finally, Bishop Zipfel will ask me “Do you promise respect and obedience to me and my successors?” I will answer “I do,” signifying that when he retires (likely very soon) I will obey the new bishop, whoever that might be. And it also means that I will always be under the authority of the Bishop of the Diocese of Bismarck, which covers the western half of North Dakota. I will not be assigned elsewhere, unless some extraordinary circumstances arise.

Next, I will lay face down on the floor in front of the altar and the tabernacle, like my classmates in this picture:

Don’t worry. I haven’t passed out. This is a sign of submission to God, who is represented in the symbol of the altar and who is truly present in the tabernacle. This is often, so I am told, the most powerful time for the one being ordained. In his very posture is a sign of his giving his life over to God.

While I am laying prostrate on the floor, everyone will sing the “Litany of Supplication.” This is when everyone alternates with the cantor/choir with “Saint Michael … Pray for us,” through a long list of saints. Here we are asking all the saints in heaven to join us as we pray to God for the man being ordained. Why? Because the promises he has just made can only be kept, and the life of an ordained minister will only be fruitful and happy, with God’s help. The one being ordained needs your prayers. He’s offering everything to God, and taking on a huge new responsibility. How dangerous for his soul, for example, is giving spiritual advice? If he is weak and is not praying himself, he might cave and tell people what they want to hear but not what they need to hear. We need to pray for the one being ordained, for the sake of his soul and the souls of all those whom he will serve in his life.

After the Litany of Supplication, the bishop will lay hands on me, as described above and as we see in this picture of Archbishop Robert Carlson and my classmate Rev. Mr. Johnson Lopez:

This is an essential part of the ordination. Then, with me kneeling before him, he will say the “Prayer of Ordination,” which is somewhat long at about two full pages in the book. It begins “Draw near, we pray, almighty God…” But the most important part, it seems, is this passage:

Send forth upon him, Lord, we pray, the Holy Spirit, that he may be strengthened by the gift of your sevenfold grace for the faithful carrying out of the work of the ministry.

The Rite of Ordination states that this passage is also an essential part of ordination. It seems to me that when Bishop Zipfel finishes uttering that part of the Prayer of Ordination, I will be a deacon. This is made especially clear when Fr. Phillips will come forward and place a stole and a dalmatic on me. The stole goes over the left shoulder and hangs down the right side, which is different from a priest’s stole, which hangs around the neck, down in front of the priest. Again, my classmates (as brand new deacons) show how it's done:

A dalmatic looks like the vestment the priest wears, but has sleeves (though usually so big it’s sometimes hard to tell). A priest, thus, wears a vestment that is more simple than that of the deacon, symbolizing his identity as a lowly, poor servant of God.

Next, the bishop will hand me the book of the Gospels:

As he does so, he will say the following:

Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.

Here, the bishop to whom I will have just promised obedience is commanding me to spread the Gospel. The duty to do so will at that point be a part of my life.

Liturgy of the Eucharist

The remainder of the Mass will be like a normal Sunday Mass (except that there will be a bishop, several deacons, four servers, and at least three priests present). The one thing that will be new is that I will take the place of one of the deacons who was serving the earlier parts of the Mass. So when you see me, probably helping to set things up on the altar, that’s the work of a deacon.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me via e-mail or phone. Hopefully, I’ll see you on Sunday!

-Almost Rev. Mr. Jason R. Signalness

In less than two weeks, I will receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It seems appropriate to post a short explanation of what the “Sacrament of Holy Orders” is, and what a deacon is, and what it means that I am about to be ordained. I had all kinds of hopes of explaining this in a series of short posts, but I just couldn’t figure out how to do it. So I’m just going to ramble for a bit and see what comes out.

The Catholic Church has seven “sacraments,” which are the means given to us by Jesus during his earthly life so that his work of salvation would be made present for the rest of time, in this world. Christ does this through the ordained men of the Church, who celebrate the sacraments by virtue of their own reception of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, passing on baptism, priesthood, etc., on through time. For example, bishops have something like family trees. Bishop Zipfel was consecrated a bishop by Archbishop May, who was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal John Cody who was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal Ritter, and on and on back to St. Peter himself being consecrated a bishop by Jesus Christ himself.

Of the seven sacraments, the sacraments of matrimony and holy orders, especially, are aimed at the salvation of others. In other words, when you get married, the grace of the sacrament is not largely to your benefit, but to the benefit of your spouse and the Church as a whole. Likewise, when a man is ordained, he is not ordained for himself. He is ordained to serve others, as Christ did.

Among some people I know, there seems to be some confusion about what an ordination is. That’s understandable. After all, not all of you are Catholic, so I don’t expect you to know. First of all, it is nothing like a graduation. It is more like a marriage. When a man is ordained, a permanent change takes place in his very soul. He makes lifelong promises before the bishop, the Church, and God Himself to live the rest of his life dedicated to ministry.

In just under two weeks, I will make these lifelong promises and I will be permanently changed when I am ordained a “transitional deacon.” That means I will receive the first of the three “degrees” of holy orders: the diaconate. The other two are presbyterate (priesthood) and episcopacy (bishop). Before someone can be ordained a priest, he must be ordained a deacon and must serve for a while as a deacon. Hence the qualifier of “transitional” deacon.

Even though I will only serve as a deacon for a year before I am ordained again, as a priest, it is a most important occasion. It is, after all, when I am truly committed to serving Christ’s Church for the rest of my life.

So what is a deacon?
A deacon is “configured to Christ the servant of all” and “is ordained for service to the Church” (Compendium of the CCC). Consider this quotation from the homily in the Rite of Ordination:

Brothers and sisters: since this our son, your relative and friend, is now to be advanced to the Order of Deacons, consider the rank in the Church to which he is about to be raised. Strengthened by the Holy Spirit, he will help the Bishop and his priests in the ministry of the word, of the altar, and of charity, showing himself to be a servant to all. As a minister of the altar, he will proclaim the Gospel, prepare the sacrifice, and distribute the Lord's Body and Blood to the faithful. He will preside over public prayer, administer Baptism, bless Marriages, bring Viaticum to the dying, and conduct funeral rites. And in a year’s time, having served as a deacon he will, God willing, be ordained to the Order of Priesthood.

For more information, CLICK HERE to read sections 322-336 of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is an excellent quick reference for Catholic beliefs.

Next, I think I will write a post on what to expect at the ordination. Reading up on it will help you appreciate what’s going on.

Oh, and by the way, the picture above is one of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who happened to be a deacon and who is a patron saint of deacons.

If you have questions or if that wasn't clear, feel free to e-mail me or post a comment.

-Jason

This little video is from the recent Mass for the "installation of acolytes." Being installed as an acolyte is one of the "steps" on the way to the priesthood. This year, our theology I men were installed as acolytes, including Bismarck's own Thomas Grafsgaard and Corey Nelson. The celebrant at the Mass was Archbishop Naumann.

I came across this video on Youtube and thought I'd share it with the people back home. We have a very good schola (a.k.a. choir) under the direction of Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB. The particular Mass in the video above is especially elaborate, but not too much different from our day-to-day liturgies here.

-Jason

Just in time for the remembrance of Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday, the Catholic Church, the "Body of Christ," is being attacked in especially absurd fashion by the media. This misbehavior by the media needs to be opposed by all citizens of our country. Read on for my rambling thoughts on this matter - it affects us all.

Every day, it seems, the Bismarck Tribune (along with every other paper in the country) reprints stories from the Associated Press about the Catholic Church, sexual scandals, and child abuse. I am well educated about how the Church functions, about the cold hard facts regarding sexual and child abuse in the Church and elsewhere. And I know the importance of media for the functioning of a fairly democratic country, such as our United States. The mainstream media is not presenting you with the facts, and you should protest at being lied to.

When the people are gravely misinformed, they cannot make educated decisions. Policy, rights, and society as a whole suffers tremendously from poor (or malicious) reporting and ignorance. And it's not just the ignorance or maliciousness that angers me. Have you ever tried to contact an Associated Press reporter? All you can do is contact a generic e-mail address that their web site promises will forward your comment on to the reporter. I have no hope that my messages will actually be received. When we can't criticize or protest injustices in the media, it gets all the more dangerous.

We have a duty to ensure our media is being at least somewhat fair, or not used as a weapon by differing ideologies and agendas.

I made a mistake this morning in reading another Associated Press article during my breakfast, before my prayer time. The article was mindlessly parroted by the Bismarck Tribune. The article in question does not present the facts, but rather focuses on the controversy that has arisen by the misrepresentation of the facts while failing to present them as errors. Thus, it fuels the fire. Many people now feel that the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI is a pedophile himself or that he enables them. Never mind that the media does not know the definition of "pedophile," which most offenders are not, or that there is an objective truth out there that could have been reported.

As I tried to pray after breakfast, I was becoming more angry at the media. But then it occurred to me that I should not be surprised that the body of Christ (the Church) is unjustly persecuted during Holy Week. The reading at Mass and in Morning Prayer for today spoke to this effect, saying "The Lord God opens my ear that I may hear; And I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame" (Isaiah 50:4-7).

It also occurred to me that there is nothing new under the sun. The Church has been unjustly persecuted severely through the centuries. It will survive, despite what the media suggests. How are we, as Catholics and Christians, to respond to this unjust persecution by the media? A few things come to mind. We should not become angry. We should accept these attacks on the Body of Christ as a share in His cross. But we should also oppose corruption, bias, and misrepresentation of the Truth in the media. When you encounter an article that you truly know is wrong, and you can defend your position that it is wrong, write letters to the editor. Write to the reporter directly. Oppose misinformation. And finally, pray for those who work in media. They have tremendous power to do good, or to do evil, by virtue of their work. Keeping them honest, whether you're Catholic or not, will benefit our society as a whole.

With that in mind, what really happened to inspire this flurry of media attacks on the Pope? What are the facts? Jimmy Akin, who is a respected Catholic writer for the National Catholic Register and Catholic Answers, wrote a helpful blog recently. Here is an excerpt:

I am not saying that the Holy See’s handling of abuse cases can’t be legitimately criticized. I’m not saying that then-Cardinal Ratzinger/now-Pope Benedict XVI didn’t experience a learning curve on this point. And I don’t know what else is out there that remains to be discovered. But I am saying that the media is getting this story wrong, particularly in the case of Fr. Lawrence Murphy, the American priest whose case was dealt with by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when Cardinal Ratzinger was its head. The New York Times has done a great service to those wanting to look into this story by putting online a large number of primary source documents pertaining to the case. No doubt they mean these to incriminate Pope Benedict, but if you read them carefully—and if you know the relevant background—they don’t.

Read the rest of the blog entry, entitled "Cardinal Ratzinger an Evil Monster?"

And for more excellent commentary on the media misdeeds regarding the Holy Father and the Church, from the horse's mouth, so to say, please take time to read these letters that very clearly explain the FACTS of the case of Fr. Murphy:

• "Setting the record straight in the case of abusive Milwaukee priest Father Lawrence Murphy," by Fr. Thomas Brundage, JCL, Then-presiding judge for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee gives first-person account of church trial.
• "The New York Times and Pope Benedict XVI: how it looks to an American in the Vatican,"
  by Cardinal William J. Levada Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

And for the most blatant media bias (or rather, fraud) I have ever seen, watch this Youtube video that exposes the absurd media coverage by CNN, Newsweek, and others of the Pro-Life March in Washington, D.C.:

I know what is reported in that Youtube video is true, because I know the busloads of people from Saint Louis who make the pilgrimage every year to D.C. Perhaps next year, I will go myself.

-Jason