First permanent deacon in the Latin Church of Jerusalem

On Sunday, November 8, H.B. Patriarch Fouad Twal will ordain to the diaconate Samir Hodaly, a married man and father of children. This will be the first ordination of a permanent deacon in the Arabic speaking Latin Church of Jerusalem.

 

In the Catholic Church there are three grades of people who receive ordination: deacon, priest and bishop. A married man can not be ordained except as deacon in the Roman Catholic (Latin) Church however until today the Latin Church in Jerusalem has ordained only candidates to the priesthood and religious men to the diaconate. "Deacon" is a word derived from Greek and means "servant". The function of deacon includes serving the Church in three main roles: 1. Serving the people by reading the Gospel and on occasions preaching in church, 2. Serving at the altar by helping the priest during the celebration of the mass and 3. Helping the priest in taking care of the people (visiting the sick, educating children, baptizing the faithful, burying the dead, etc…). The first deacons in the New Testament are those mentioned in Acts, chapter 6 and among them two who played a very important role in preaching the Gospel: Stephen, the first martyr of the faith (Acts 7) and Philip, who preached the faith in Samaria and on the road to Gaza (Acts 8).