Kerridge and Meinders closer to priesthood

Diaconate ordination is when life as a cleric of the Diocese of Trenton begins, explained Kerridge, who added, “This will be lived out most fully in the priesthood. On a practical level, my daily life will not change enormously at diaconate ordination. I will be at a parish in the summer and help out at a parish on weekends during the year, but I will be spending most of next year in seminary just like I have for the last five years. Yet I will be doing this as a cleric of the Diocese of Trenton.”

In his future service as a deacon, Kerridge looks forward to baptizing. “In Baptism, I will be the unworthy channel the Lord uses to pour forth the water from his pierced side upon those to be reborn in Baptism. In Baptism we die with Christ and then rise with Him. In the baptismal font, we receive new life and the forgiveness of sins,” said Kerridge, recognizing the grace in being “the instrument God chooses to work through.”

Kerridge said his diaconate ordination vesting priest will be Father Pablo Gadenz, a priest of the Diocese who serves on the faculty of Mount St. Mary Seminary.

Kerridge will serve his diaconal year assignment in St. James Parish, Red Bank.

By Mary Stadnyk, Associate Editor