A Thai and a Vietnamese were among 16 Jesuits ordained deacons by Cardinal Walter Kasper on April 3 at the Church of Gesù in Rome.
Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, concelebrated the ordination Mass with Fr Luis Orlando Torres SJ, Rector of the Jesuit Community of Collegio Internazionale del Gesù in Rome, Fr Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves SJ, Delegate for Interprovincial Houses and Works, and other Jesuits. Family and friends of the newly ordained deacons were also present.
The new deacons hail from 10 countries. They are Raul Jose Arderi Garcia SJ (Cuba), Arun John Panackal SJ (India), Adam Douglas Hincks SJ (Canada), Jean Marcel Mupungu SJ (Congo), Charles Nopparut Ruankool SJ (Thailand), Bojan Bijelic SJ (Croatia), Joao Manuel Silva SJ (Portugal), James Kulvi SJ (India), Peter Lê Hoàng Nam SJ (Vietnam), Pierre Luhata Lokadi SJ (Congo), Ravi Hemant Kujur SJ (India), Simo Marinovic SJ (Croatia), Edwin Ritesh Dungdung SJ (India), Stanko Perica SJ (Croatia), Thomas John Flowers SJ (USA) and Noel Ajanthan Jayanathan SJ (Sri Lanka). All of them are studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
The new Vietnamese deacon, Nam, 33, was born in Khánh Hoà Province. He graduated from the University of Law in Ho Chi Minh before joining the Jesuit candidacy programme in 2004. He was admitted to the Sacred Heart Novitiate in 2008, and subsequently studied philosophy at Saint Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate in Ho Chi Minh. He did his two-year regency in Vatican Radio before starting his theology studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, living in the Collegio Internazionale del Gesù.
Deacon Ruankool, 30, is from Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand. After high school, he became a pre-novice for one year, before entering the Maria della Strada Novitiate in Taunggyi, Myanmar in 2007. After four years of philosophy studies at the Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Jakarta, Indonesia, he returned to Thailand for regency with the Jesuit Prison Ministry for two years. He was then sent to Rome to study theology.
After their ordination on Tuesday, the new deacons were received by Pope Francis before his Wednesday General Audience.
