Clarion Herald
The first reading from the first chapter of Jeremiah at the transitional diaconate Ordination Mass of five men May 22 at St. Louis Cathedral said it all.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you,” read G. Edward Merritt, the grandfather of transitional Deacon Jeffrey Merritt, from the Old Testament. Archbishop Gregory Aymond said the five transitional deacons – Deacons Jeffrey Merritt, Jody DiMaggio, Andy Gonzalez and Lennin Dario Arroyo Martinez, who will serve in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and Deacon Joseph Odongo, who was ordained for the Archdiocese of Tororo in Uganda – were chosen by God to carry out his ministry.