{"id":4512,"date":"2010-06-12T21:15:02","date_gmt":"2010-06-12T21:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/jersey-boys-biggest-deacon-class-ever-for-metuchen.html"},"modified":"2010-06-12T21:15:02","modified_gmt":"2010-06-12T21:15:02","slug":"jersey-boys-biggest-deacon-class-ever-for-metuchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/jersey-boys-biggest-deacon-class-ever-for-metuchen.html","title":{"rendered":"Jersey boys: biggest deacon class ever for Metuchen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/bilde-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"bilde-1.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/212\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/bilde-1-thumb-450x278-14988.jpg\" class=\"mt-image-center\" style=\"text-align: center;margin: 0pt auto 20px\" height=\"278\" width=\"450\" \/><\/a><\/span><br \/>\nAnd the local paper has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mycentraljersey.com\/article\/20100612\/NEWS\/100612020\/Diocese-of-Metuchen-welcomes-largest-group-of-new-deacons-ever\">the scoop: <\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nNearly 30 additional men are now formally part of the framework that ministers to the faithful throughout Central Jersey&#8217;s Roman Catholic churches following their ordination as deacons in the Diocese of Metuchen.<\/p>\n<p>The 29 deacons, most active in their churches for years, were installed by Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski Saturday during a special Mass at Sacred Heart of Jesus R.C. Church.<\/p>\n<p>It was the largest permanent diaconate class in the diocese&#8217;s 28-year history, eclipsing the 24-member group added in 2007, according to Samuel J. Costantino, diocesan director of the Office of the Diaconate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m proud of these 29 men,&#8221; Costantino said. &#8220;I look forward to them having successful ministries.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Deacons in the Roman Catholic church are considered members of the faith&#8217;s clergy, permitted to carry out a variety of functions, including baptisms, assisting priests during Mass, preaching sermons, serving as a witness at marriages, presiding at funeral vigils and graveside committal services and performing blessings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s something we believe God has called us to do,&#8221; said John Broehl, 40, of East Brunswick, A longtime member of St. Bartholemew&#8217;s parish in the township who has been active in a variety of programs, there, Broehl will continue to serve in his home parish as chaplain of the religious education program there.<\/p>\n<p>The relatively large size of the two most recent diaconate formation classes continues a church trend toward increasing involvement in the role, noted diocesan Director of Communications Joanne Ward.<\/p>\n<p>Although only 11 men make up the next class in 2012, Costantino said a recent meeting of those inquiring about the 2015 class drew 67 men. Costantino attributed the development to divine action.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Holy Spirit is working to call these men forward,&#8221; he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> Amen!  Check out more at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mycentraljersey.com\/article\/20100612\/NEWS\/100612020\/Diocese-of-Metuchen-welcomes-largest-group-of-new-deacons-ever\">the link.<\/a>  Congratulations &#8212; and <em>ad multos annos<\/em>!<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><i>Photo: by Jason Towlen\/MyCentralJersey<br \/>&nbsp;<\/i> <span class=\"photo_gallery_right_caption_byline\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And the local paper has the scoop: Nearly 30 additional men are now formally part of the framework that ministers to the faithful throughout Central Jersey&#8217;s Roman Catholic churches following their ordination as deacons in the Diocese of Metuchen. The 29 deacons, most active in their churches for years, were installed by Bishop Paul G.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deacons"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jersey boys: biggest deacon class ever for Metuchen - The Deacon&#039;s Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/jersey-boys-biggest-deacon-class-ever-for-metuchen.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jersey boys: biggest deacon class ever for Metuchen - The Deacon&#039;s Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"And the local paper has the scoop: Nearly 30 additional men are now formally part of the framework that ministers to the faithful throughout Central Jersey&#8217;s Roman Catholic churches following their ordination as deacons in the Diocese of Metuchen. The 29 deacons, most active in their churches for years, were installed by Bishop Paul G.&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/jersey-boys-biggest-deacon-class-ever-for-metuchen.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon&#039;s Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-12T21:15:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/bilde-1-thumb-450x278-14988.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jmcgee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jersey boys: biggest deacon class ever for Metuchen - The Deacon&#039;s Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/jersey-boys-biggest-deacon-class-ever-for-metuchen.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jersey boys: biggest deacon class ever for Metuchen - The Deacon&#039;s Bench","og_description":"And the local paper has the scoop: Nearly 30 additional men are now formally part of the framework that ministers to the faithful throughout Central Jersey&#8217;s Roman Catholic churches following their ordination as deacons in the Diocese of Metuchen. 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