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Archbishop Celsa Morga of Merida-Badajoz Ordains 34 Deacons of Opus Dei (November 3, 2018)

On November 3, Archbishop Celso Morga of Merida-Badajoz, Spain, conferred diaconal ordination on 34 faithful of Opus Dei in the Basilica of St. Eugene in Rome.

“Your ordination as deacons today, and your future priestly ordination, will make you shepherds, and also fishermen and sowers,” Archbishop Celso Morga said in his homily. “We cannot just guard the sheep in the flock; we must also go in search of the lost sheep. We have to let down the nets, a thousand times if necessary, to bring in a good catch.”

“God,” he continued, “has sent his Son into the world out of love, and he wants to enter into the lives of the men and women of our time, our culture and our society. Our Lord sends us out to sow in this field, to fish in this sea: in this society that does not want to be disturbed and has a great power to numb those who would seek to awaken it.”

The bishop reminded the 34 deacons that ordination gives them a perennial sacramental character as servants. “We could say that this sacramental character reinforces what you already live or wish to live with the vocation to Opus Dei: service. Saint Josemaría was very explicit when he said that ‘Opus Dei has come to serve,’ and to serve with a humble and simple refinement, without waiting to be thanked.”

The new deacons were accompanied before, during and after the ceremony by Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, family members, and many friends.

The new deacons

The 34 candidates come from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Venezuela, Chile, the United States, Kenya, France, Paraguay, El Salvador, Uganda, the Philippines, Peru and Italy. Their names are: Sérgio Sardinha de Azevedo (Brazil), Luis Miguel Bravo Álvarez (Colombia), José María Cerveró García (Spain), Miguel Ángel de Fuentes Guillén (Spain), Ernesto de la Peña González (Mexico), José Luis de Prada Llusá (Spain), Javier María Erburu Calvo (Spain), Samuel Thomas Harold Fancourt (New Zealand), Gerardo Andrés Febres-Cordero Carrillo (Venezuela), José Nicolás Garcés Lira (Chile), Óscar Garza Aincioa (Spain), Pedro González-Aller Gross (Spain), John Paul Graells Antón (United States), Diego Guerrero Gil (Spain), Jorge Iriarte Franco (Spain), Paul Muleli Kioko (Kenya), Yann Le Bras (France) Cristhian Alcides Lezcano Vicencini (Paraguay), Álvaro Linares Rodríguez (Spain), Miguel Llamas Díez (Spain), Eduardo Andrés Marín Perna (El Salvador), Javier Martínez González (Spain), Luis María Martínez Otero (Spain), Bernardo José Montes Arraztoa (Chile), Bernard Kagunda Nderito (Kenya), Deogratias Gumisiriza Nyamutale (Uganda), Nathaniel Peña Baluda (Philippines), Rafael Quinto Pojol (Philippines), César Augusto Risco Benites (Peru), Rafael de Freitas Sartori (Brazil), David Saumell Ocáriz (Spain), Cayetano Taberner Navarro (Spain), Claudio Tagliapietra (Italy) and Fernando María Valdés López (Spain).

Romana, n. 67, July-December 2018, p. 299-300.

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