Rite of Acolyte to be celebrated for permanent deacon candidates

Friday, Feb. 19, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — The 15 men preparing to become permanent deacons in the Diocese of Salt Lake City will take the next step toward their ordination on Feb. 27, when they will be instituted in the ministry of acolyte after three years of study.

 “Is a beautiful rite. … It allows for them to now assist the priest and assist the deacon in the liturgy,” said Deacon Drew Petersen, overall director of the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s Diaconate Formation Program.

 “The acolyte does all the setting of the tables, making sure the altar is organized correctly; they do a lot of the preparation,” Deacon Petersen said. “The acolyte is appointed to minister to the priest. It is their duty to attend the service of the altar and to assist the deacon and the priest in the liturgical celebrations, especially the celebration of the Mass. Now they can distribute communion as a special minister.”

As the director of the program, Deacon Peterson said that the journey with the candidates has been a tremendous adventure. Both he and Father Eleazar Silva, the program’s director of academics, are very pleased with the men’s overall development and their continued discernment, he said. 

Over the past three years, the men have been instituted as candidates and then as lectors. After they are installed as acolytes, the next step is ordination. 

During the Feb. 27 ceremony, the candidates will wear white albs and cinctures for the first time.

The Rite of Acolyte is traditionally celebrated by the bishop of the diocese in which the men will serve, but because a new bishop has not yet been appointed for the Diocese of Salt Lake City, the Most Rev. Monsignor Lorenzo Cardenas Aregulllin, Bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Papantla, Puebla, Mexico, was invited to institute the candidates.

Bishop Cardenas is not new to the candidates. Two years ago he presented them with a half-day retreat, “and every one was very happy and grateful to him,” said Deacon Petersen.

The permanent diaconate is an ordained ministry. Unlike transitional deacons, who typically are men destined for the priesthood and therefore are celibate, permanent deacons may be married. They perform various sacramental functions such as weddings without a Mass, funerals and baptisms; they also assist at the Eucharistic liturgy.

The academic year of the candidates will end in June; then in September they will go through a canonical retreat. 

“After that, the rest of the months will be of classes and then their ordination,” said Deacon Petersen.

WHAT: Rite of Institution of Acolytes 

WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 27, 10 a.m.

WHERE: Cathedral of the Madeleine, 309 E. South Temple, SLC

All in the diocese are welcome to attend.