Service Sacramentalized: Honoring Deacon Jim Cantella

DEACON JIM CANTELLA Service Sacramentalized: Honoring

Matthew Kuhner Ph.D.

Every man who receives the sacrament of Holy Orders – every permanent deacon, priest, and Bishop – has a unique mission in the Church. Truly, they are conformed in their very being to the ministerial heart of Jesus Christ through this sacrament, and their role as ordained ministers in the Church is irreplaceable in a general sense Nevertheless, their role is also irreplaceable in relation to this moment in history, to the context and the concerns of their specific ecclesial mission

Jim Cantella’s mission as a permanent deacon in the Diocese of Buffalo was like the proverbial shooting star: bright, burning, and all-too-brief, profoundly impacting all who witnessed it While a shooting star is seen for but a brief moment, the vision of it stays with you forever.

ing brain tumor, which would ultimately conclude his life less than 60 days later. His preparation for ordination took place over the course of six years, spanning two different graduate schools and countless hours of formation. Of particular note, he logged over 45 hours of sacramental and liturgical instruction and over 60 hours of instruction and practice in homiletics And yet, remarkably, he had the opportunity to assist at his first Mass on ordination weekend, only to assist at his last Mass just two weeks later While he had prepared to deliver homilies over many, many years of active ministry, he had the opportunity to preach a homily only once

How are we to understand this mystery, this tragic loss of a great man and a newly ordained permanent deacon – especially in a cultural context that so desperately needs the gifts and the dedication of Deacon Jim? Deacon Jim’s ordination to the permanent diaconate all but coincided with the revelation of a life-threaten-

Grace perfects nature, but grace is never limited by

nature: the constraints of time do not have the last word when God acts When Deacon Jim was ordained, his soul was indelibly marked by the grace of this mighty sacrament: truly, Deacon Jim will be a permanent deacon forever. Indeed, as we pray for his intercession, he offers such intercessory prayers on our behalf now, from heaven, always as a deacon. His ordination made him service sacramentalized: his very existence became a sign that effectively communicated the service, the charity, and the love of Jesus Christ, the one who came not to be served but to serve (see Mt 20:28) Countless people attested to the fact that, between his ordination and his death, Deacon Jim was indeed a living expression of service

During a particularly remarkable moment, the nurses entered Deacon Jim’s hospital room to place him on a ventilator. The nurses, who had come to love and appreciate Deacon Jim, became visibly upset and disturbed about this development and that nothing could be done to avoid it. Deacon Jim, with beaming eyes and no preoccupation with his own suffering, comforted and reassured them throughout the process. Similarly, while many in their final days are tempted to turn inward in their suffering, Deacon Jim – undoubtedly moved by grace –turned outward: he was available for visitation from any and all people until the very end

While Deacon Jim only delivered one homily from the ambo, he continued to preach mightily from his hospital bed. He preached the Gospel to all precisely through the way he suffered and died. What greater service is there than showing so vividly how Jesus has conquered death: not only his own death on the Cross, but all death – even this death that Deacon Jim faced so tragically and so early His unflagging hope in Christ made him no longer regard his own death as a barrier, but a bridge to everlasting communion; he showed what it means to die in Christ, and to believe that nothing at all will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (see Romans 8:38) His very soul was marked indelibly with the ministerial office of Jesus Christ; Deacon Jim showed us what it means for this indelible mark to shine through, even in death.

Through Deacon Jim’s entire formation and time as a deacon, his wife, Maria, was always by his side supporting him and encouraging his vocation She showed tremendous faith in Christ for the entire duration of Deacon Jim’s suffering: she likewise could be found encouraging those around her, placing trust in the ultimate goodness of God’s plan. She became the quintessential sign of marital love, which expressed itself through words,

silent presence, tender deeds of care… whatever was required in the moment. Truly, their bond only strengthened in suffering, for they shared “a single hope, a single desire, a single observance, a single service [of God] ” (Tertullian, Ad uxorem, II, VIII, 6-8)

Deacon Jim was ordained alongside six other permanent deacons. For those attending the ordination liturgy, the seven ordinands recalled the great moment in the Acts of the Apostles when the first seven deacons were appointed, men who were “of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (Acts 6:3) Interestingly, one of those seven, St Stephen, died as a witness to Jesus Christ shortly after he was appointed a deacon Can we suggest that Deacon Jim was the St Stephen of this permanent diaconate class? Did we not discover, just as we did from St Stephen’s martyrdom, that being service sacramentalized means service of the Lord and his Church above all by giving everything – most particularly in our very death?

The faculty and staff of St Bernard’s are honored to have played a role in Deacon Jim’s formation, and we are even more grateful to have received the example and the witness of his final days Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may Deacon Jim keep all permanent deacons in the Diocese of Buffalo and in the universal Church in his prayers

Deacon Jim Cantella and his wife, Maria, with Most Rev. Bishop Michael Fisher

Deacon Cantella (2nd row, 3rd from left), with fellow ordinands and Deacon Tim Chriswell, Director of Deacons, St. Bernard’s Commencement 2023