Deacon Mark Veazie contributed to this article.
Fifteen men throughout the Diocese of Phoenix are spending their final days as laypeople. Beginning with their Nov. 9th ordination at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church, in Scottsdale, Ariz., they will forever be known as “deacon.”
John Bering, Jason Bourne, David Bramer, Fernando Camou, Gerard Glab, Sergio Hermosillo, Jason Kelly, Salvador Madrís, Herald Morazán, Matthew Murphy, Mike Quinlivan, Antonio Reynoso, Doug Small, Robert Solis, and John Thornton, along with their wives, will also celebrate solemn vespers with the community on Nov. 8th at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix. Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Nevares will lead that prayer service.
Dcn. Mark Veazie, associate director of Diaconal Education and Formation, said that becoming a permanent deacon in the Diocese of Phoenix requires five years of study and formation along with the two-year Kino Catechetical Institute program that can now be taken at the same time. “The men are well formed in four dimensions: the human, the spiritual, the pastoral, and the intellectual,” said Dcn. Veazie.
As Dcn. Doug Bogart, Dcn. Veazie’s predecessor made clear two years ago, “It is a solid formation program — we focus on spirituality and the call to holiness. A man really had to be willing to choose holiness in his desire to pray, get close to Jesus and be transformed by Him. If not, they will drop out — they will leave.” In additional to many hours of classroom formation, each candidate completes several ministry practicums in the community including an intense hospital rotation.
“This very comprehensive formation program prepares our candidates to be configured by the grace of ordination to Christ the Servant,” added Dcn. Veazie. “It prepares them to serve the bishop with his presbyters and the whole People of God, linking them together in love. And it prepares them to become clerics that carry out the deacon’s three-fold ministry of liturgy, word, and charity while animating and building up the apostolate of the laity.”
Five of the candidates speak Spanish as a first language, while the others have improved their Spanish enough to serve at Mass, baptisms, and funeral rites.
All have “good, strong marriages,” Dcn. Veazie said. Citing his predecessor, “Their wives have very much entered into the formation with them — supporting them, encouraging them and being in class with them. When a man is ordained a deacon, it affects his marriage.” 
“When a married man is ordained a deacon, he and his wife together are accepting the call to have their whole family transformed in a special way. It is important for the wife to say ‘yes’ to the Lord and her husband’s ordination. Deacon wives often find that they then become spiritual mothers in the community and serve in many other ways”
Pre-Ordination Vespers, Holy Hour
6-7 p.m., Nov. 8th, 2024
Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral, Phoenix
Permanent Deacon Ordination
10 a.m.-noon, Nov. 9th, 2024
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Scottsdale
