Diocese of Shreveport Prepares for Three Ordinations in 2022

With praise and thanksgiving to almighty God, we joyfully prepare to celebrate the priesthood ordination of Rev. Mr. Nicholas Duncan and the diaconate ordinations of Gabriel Cisneros and Kelby Tingle.

Bishop Malone is pleased to invite you to the priesthood ordination of soon-to-be “Father Nicholas Duncan” on May 21, 2022, in the Cathedral of St. John Berchmans, at 10:00 am. As individuals and families, as supporters of vocations and members of youth groups, come and pray for our future priest! Father Duncan will celebrate his first Mass of Thanksgiving at 12:30 p.m. at St. Joseph, in Shreveport, on Sunday, May 22. After six years of seminary formation, he is in his final months of seminary formation at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. Deacon Duncan spent his deacon internship in the parish of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Shreveport. His seminarian summer assignments have included Christ the King (Bossier), Jesus Good Shepherd (Monroe) and St. Joseph Church (Shreveport). You can read about Deacon Duncan’s call to the priesthood in the August 2021 issue of the Catholic Connection. Two Shreveport seminarians will be ordained transitional deacons, the final step toward priestly ordination:

Gabriel Cisneros (Christ the King, Bossier City) will be ordained to the Order of Deacon on Wednesday, May 25, at Christ the King Church in Bossier City, at 6:00 pm. We already look forward to his priestly ordination in May of 2023. Kelby Tingle (Cathedral Parish) will be ordained to the Order of Deacon on Thursday, September 29, in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. His priestly ordination will be in Shreveport’s Cathedral in June of 2023. Kelby was featured in the February 2022 issue of the Catholic Connection. When their time comes, each will actually lay down in prostration on the floor before the altar, their faces to the ground. If you have attended an ordination, you likely remember this moment. It is a profound gesture of self-gift to God and a symbol of the future

priest’s special conformity to Christ. They accompany the people of God in some of life’s most touching moments which are often marked by the Sacraments – the birth and baptism of a child, the reception of First Communion or Confirmation, marriage preparation and weddings, life-threatening illness and funerals, etc. The priest is a father figure who forms a deep bond with the people in the parish. They have experienced that grace builds upon nature. In seminary formation, a man’s humanity must be continually perfected in order to reflect the Fatherhood of God. By growing in communion with God, in the midst of brothers, a seminarian grows in virtue and becomes a channel for others to experience Christ’s love. Please continue to pray for the seminarians of the diocese as well as for the number of young men currently discerning a call to the priesthood. Do more than pray…. encourage someone in your family or parish to consider the call to the priesthood. Odds are that a priest has already encouraged them— hearing from you could be what it takes for them to enter seminary formation where they learn to better understand the human condition and the truths of faith. They will learn to appreciate the deep wisdom contained within the Church and, as a result, come to know Christ in a richer way. Pope Francis ordained sixteen new priests for the Diocese of Rome. In his ordination homily, Pope Francis calls the newly ordained to “Always keep in mind the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve, and to seek out and rescue those who were lost.” Anticipating the great celebration of priestly and diaconal ordinations, let us accompany these three men with prayer as they prepare to lay down their lives to serve God’s people in the Diocese of Shreveport as ordained priests of God. Pray for those to be ordained priest and deacons, as well as our other current seminarians:

Matthew Vitacca (Cathedral Parish) Tristan Frisk (St. Jude’s, Benton)

FATHER PETER MANGUM is the Vocations Director for the Diocese of Shreveport, as well as rector of the Cathedral of Saint John Berchmans.

From the Rite of Ordination

As sharers in Christ’s sacred ministry, through the laying on of hands, newly ordained priests are to renew in his name the sacrifice of human redemption, to set before your children the paschal banquet, to lead your holy people in charity, to nourish them with your word and strengthen them with the Sacraments. As they give up their lives for you and for the salvation of their brothers and sisters, they strive to be conformed to the image of Christ himself and offer you a constant witness of faith and love.

O God, who have willed to provide shepherds for your people, pour out a spirit of reverence and fortitude in your Church, to make these your servants worthy ministers at your altar and ardent yet gentle heralds of your Gospel. through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen

the communal life

“They devoted themselves to the communal life. All who believed had all things in common, they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need” Acts 2:42, 45