On the evening of 11 December, Cardinal Péter Erdő, the Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, presided over the diaconate ordination of two Jesuits and a diocesan seminarian at the church of St Teresa of Avila in Budapest, Hungary.
The new Jesuit deacons are Joseph Tran Van Ngu SJ and Joseph Pham Dinh Ngoc SJ. The ordination Mass was a solemn yet joyful occasion for both the archdiocese and the Society of Jesus. Many priests, monks, and deacons came to celebrate, filling the spacious sanctuary of the church.
Reflecting on the first reading from the Book of Zephaniah, Cardinal Erdő in his homily described the joy of the Church as the joy of God’s gift of freedom to man, the freedom of conversion while waiting for the coming of the Lord. He then related the Gospel reading from Luke, addressing in particular the three deacons.
First, the Gospel gives us reason to rejoice because we are waiting for a Savior; we are meeting God. In this expectation, God calls us to conversion in light of the Gospel. The foremost example is St John the Baptist, who called people to repentance. The Cardinal emphasised that everyone needs this conversion. Conversion means a return to God, to others, to the truth. This is very relevant today when there are still many lies.
The Gospel also reminds the deacons that Jesus himself is at the centre of a deacon’s life of service. A deacon needs to become a disciple of Jesus and a joyful servant (Mk 9:35). Jesus himself should be a deacon’s role model. At the Last Supper, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. This is the kind of service to which a deacon should aspire.
Finally, the Cardinal wished the deacons to become people who bring Jesus to those they meet, especially in proclaiming and explaining the word of God, and serving at the altar.
After the Communion prayer, Fr Vizi Elemér SJ, Provincial of the Jesuits in Hungary, thanked the Cardinal for his joyful dedication to the Church. He also expressed gratitude to the parish priest of St Teresa Avila parish for accepting the Jesuits to be ordained in the archdiocese’s ordination Mass. Last but not least, Fr Elemér thanked the entire community who came to partake in the celebration. There was a palpable atmosphere of joy and gratitude for the many blessings that God has bestowed on each of the new deacons and the Church.
Joseph Tran Van Ngu SJ was born in Nam Dinh Province in 1987. He is the eighth of 10 children. He lived in the Jesuit candidacy house from 2006 to 2010, while studying Information Technology at the University of Natural Sciences in Ho Chi Minh city. He entered the novitiate in 2010 and took his First Vows in 2012. From 2012 to 2015, he studied philosophy at St Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate. He moved to Hungary in the summer of 2015 for three years of Regency. Subsequently, he began his theology studies at the Sapientia College of Theology of Religious Orders in Budapest.
Joseph Pham Dinh Ngoc SJ was born in the Mekong delta in 1986. After graduating from university, he joined the Society in Thu Duc in 2011. He studied philosophy at St Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate. At the end of his philosophy studies, his provincial asked him to go to Hungary for his Regency. He discerned and prayed over his provincial’s request. He asked: “Where should I go for the greater glory of God?” “In my prayer, I heard His voice in my heart: ‘Come to Hungary and you will see that this will be the best for your vocation and mission.’” So in 2016, he went to Hungary, and after two years of learning the language, started theology studies at Sapientia College of Theology of Religious Orders in 2018. As a new deacon he hopes to be able to serve God faithfully. [Đại Nghĩa SJ/Vietnam Jesuits]
View more photos of the ordination
