Newly ordained deacon Joshua Scott has described his ordination to the diaconate on October 22 as “a wow moment”.
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Deacon Scott was ordained in his hometown of Young by Archbishop Prowse at St Mary’s Church on the feast of St John Paul II.
In delivering a thanksgiving speech at the end of his ordination ceremony, Reverend Scott first gave thanks to God.
“Thank you Lord for bringing me here,” he said.
The newly ordained then offered some encouragement to his fellow seminarians.
“Keep going brothers, keep going, it’s worth it, fight through,” he said.
Deacon Scott thanked Archbishop Prowse for ordaining him and also for his fatherly support.
He then turned his attention to the formation staff at the seminary – past and present.
He especially acknowledged his two rectors, Fr Tony Percy (VG), and Fr Danny Meagher, the current rector of the Good Shepherd Seminary in Sydney.
Archbishop Prowse praised Reverend Scott’s “kerygmatic dimension” describing him as “people centred” and “a great social networker”, during the ceremony. This being the case a great many people travelled to Young to be part of the ceremony.
Recently ordained auxiliary bishop of Sydney, Richard Umbers concelebrated at the ordination Mass.
Fr Meagher promoted Scott to the order of the diaconate, before the promise of the elect and promise of obedience ensued.
The laying-on of hands (the ordination moment) and the prayer of ordination took place at which point “the ontological change” occurred and the Archdiocese had gained a new minister.
In his homily, Archbishop Prowse made light of the fact that Deacon Scott - a convert to the faith, had received four of the seven Sacraments from Fr Richard Thompson, the former parish priest of Young.
The Archbishop then went on to make a number of key points.
“The first thing to be said about the diaconate is the word service,” he said.
“In the document of the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, the word service comes up when they talk about the diaconate.
Archbishop Prowse spoke about deacons “attending to those on the periphery” of life.
“The diaconate is a triplex function, like the Trinity,” he said.
“There is the diaconate of the word, of preaching the word of God, the deacon of the altar and the diaconate of charity.”
The Archbishop also paid tribute to the town of Young for nurturing priestly vocations. With the grace of God, Deacon Scott is expected to be ordained a priest towards the end of 2017.
