VOCATIONS VIEW
A Transition Period By Raney Johnson
E
very seminarian at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans is asked to do an internship in a parish from the months of June to mid-October, during his final year of seminary. Most of the seminarians are ordained to the diaconate before or shortly after their internships begin. Before the pandemic, I imagined at the beginning of my internship that I would already be a deacon. The original date for my diaconate ordination was May 9th, 2020, but due to the current pandemic, the ordination was rescheduled. I had to come to the realization that I would begin my internship in the parish before my diaconate ordination. The main goal of the internship is for the seminarian to learn from a pastor how to lead, and serve in, a parish. Although, most seminarians are deacons during this internship in their final year of seminary, there are situations in which a seminarian’s diaconate ordination takes place at a later point during his internship or even after the internship ends. I find myself in the former case. By the time I am ordained a deacon, I will have already served at least a month in my parish internship. When a deacon is ordained, he is configured to Christ the servant, meaning that the entirety of the deacon’s ministry is summed up in being a servant. The internship is meant to allow recently ordained deacons to exercise their ministry as servants during their final year of seminary. They learn to serve in the parish through the preaching of the gospel, by celebrating baptisms, by witnessing weddings, by bringing the Holy Eucharist to the sick and through helping the priest in the parish. Yet, this type of service is not learned on the day of diaconate ordination. The Church expects the seminarian to already be a man of service by the time he is ordained a deacon. Although I have not been able to exercise diaconal ministry in the first part of my internship, I have learned how to become a better servant, and this will prepare me for my ministry as a deacon. Currently I am serving my internship at St. Joseph Parish in Bastrop and Sacred Heart Parish in Rayville under the guidance of Father Tim Hurd. It is in these two parishes with Fr. Tim that I will ultimately serve as a deacon. I am thankful for the preparation that the parishioners of St. Joseph and Sacred Heart will provide me before I am a deacon and the formation that they will continue to offer me after I am a deacon. Yet, I have to also acknowledge the formation that I received at the start of the pandemic.
8 THE CATHOLIC CONNECTION
When I left seminary back in March to return to the diocese due to the pandemic, I was invited by Father Matthew Long to live at St. Joseph in Shreveport. It was at St. Joseph - Shreveport that I was able to unofficially begin my internship as I learned from Father Long, the pastor, and Father Kevin Mues, the parochial vicar, how to serve in a parish. I also had the example of three amazing deacons at the parish, Deacon Freeman Ligon, Deacon Bruce Pistorius and Deacon Bill Roche. The parish internship that a seminarian is assigned during his last year should offer him ways to practice his diaconal ministry if he is already a deacon, and it should provide him with examples of how to be a good deacon through the permanent deacons in the parish. However, since a seminarian studying for the priesthood is ordained as a transitional deacon, meaning that he will move from the diaconate to the priesthood, he should also have the example of the priests in his parish on how to become a good priest. This is what St. Joseph in Shreveport provided me during the spring and what St. Joseph in Bastrop and Sacred Heart in Rayville have provided me this summer and will continue to provide for me into the fall.
If you would like more information on the priesthood, contact Fr. Jerry Daigle: jdaigle@dioshpt.org, or call 318-868-4441.
