During the ordination Mass to the permanent diaconate Oct. 4 at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City, four men were called forward.<\/p>\n
Byron Gene Stone.<\/p>\n
Gary Leo Schon.<\/p>\n
William Anthony Black.<\/p>\n
David Norton Brown.<\/p>\n
As their names were called, the men each responded \u201cpresent\u201d and they left their place in the pew by their family and stood before Bishop R. Walker Nickless at the front of the church.<\/p>\n
After Msgr. R. Mark Duchaine, vicar general of the diocese, announced that they had been found worthy of ordination, the bishop confirmed that the men were chosen for the Order of the Diaconate. Applause erupted from the congregation.<\/p>\n
In his homily that followed the election of the candidates, Bishop Nickless said that the Catholic Church throughout the world that day celebrated one of the most beloved saints \u2013 St. Francis of Assisi, who lived 1182to 1226.<\/p>\n
\u201cSt. Francis seems to sum up the fullest meaning of what we do today as we ordain four men to the Order of Deacon, the same order of St. Francis himself,\u201d said the bishop. \u201cThe order centers on preaching the word of God and serving, especially the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bishop Nickless reminded the people that St. Francis reminds them that \u201cwe must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh.\u201d Rather, they must be simple, humble and pure servants.<\/p>\n
After many years of preparation and most likely times of doubt, the bishop told the men that their day of ordination had come.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou my brothers, like St. Francis, are to be an icon of Christ, reflecting his presence in all you do with your families, at your jobs, in the parishes where you will serve and with every person you meet,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Welcome, brothers! Congratulations and blessings! <\/p>\n
Meantime, you can read more about the ordination at the Globe link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News from Iowa: a new crop of deacons has sprouted! From the Catholic Globe: During the ordination Mass to the permanent diaconate Oct. 4 at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City, four men were called forward. Byron Gene Stone. Gary Leo Schon. William Anthony Black. David Norton Brown. As their names were called,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deacons"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}