Tuesday, June 7, 2011

More on Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Diaconate

As a much lighter sidebar to my last posting, there is an interesting tidbit of diaconal history with the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The first (permanent) deacon ordained in the United States following the diaconate's renewal by Pope Paul VI in 1967 was Michael Cole, who was ordained by then-bishop Fulton Sheen for the Diocese of Rochester, NY on 1 June 1969.  Unfortunately, Deacon Cole soon returned to his former ministry as Canon (Father) Michael Cole of the Anglican Communion, eventually pastoring a parish in Canada.  The next ordination of a (permanent) deacon was that of Paul McArdle, who was ordained in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph by Bishop Charles H. Helmsing on 24 May 1970.  Paul, a true pioneer of the renewed diaconate, died last year.

You may read more about this remarkable man here.

2 comments:

  1. Dear Deacon Bill -

    I am a newly ordained permanent deacon (May 21st) of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ. I just want to say thank you for all the inspiration, through your articles and now this blog. Keep up the good work!

    God bless!

    PEACE & regards,
    Deacon Brian Murphy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Deacon Brian,

    Thank you so much for your kind words, and may God grant you many years in service as His Deacon!

    Ad multos annos!

    Bill

    ReplyDelete