Thanking God for the Ordination of Deacon Tom Hines and His Being Assigned to Our Plainville-Wrentham Parishes!
Since I first arrived here at St. Martha and St. Mary Parishes, I have known Tom and Sue Hines to be among our most dedicated, active, and sincere parishioners in our Catholic collaborative. It was not surprising to many that God called Tom to a second vocation (marriage being his first) to be a deacon in the Church, and I was full of joy when he began to explore that possibility with the deacon formation program in our archdiocese. After four years of academic, pastoral and spiritual formation, he is the first parishioner from St. Martha to be ordained a permanent deacon! It is wonderful that our parishioners and clergy are able to represent our collaborative parishes at the Saturday Mass of Ordination for Tom and his permanent deacon classmates. Now we are blessed to have Deacon Tom preach his first Homily as we celebrate a special Mass of Thanksgiving this Sunday at 10am at St. Martha church. Even if you attend a different Mass, you are invited to join us for the reception downstairs starting around 11:15am.
It gives us great joy to formally announce that our prayers have been answered: Cardinal Seán has assigned Deacon Tom Hines to minister in the parishes of our Plainville-Wrentham Collaborative! Deacon Tom, Sue and their children, have been members of the St. Martha Parish family for a long time, remaining parishioners even after they moved over to North Attleboro. The Hines family has been active in the parish and collaborative, and Tom has served as a Minister of Communion to the homebound, catechist, Parish Finance Council member, and helps us with live stream video. Now he joins Deacon Joe Flocco and Deacon Jim Kearney in being assigned to ministry in our parishes, along with Deacon Tony Cipriano (semi-retired) who also serves at Masses here.
The New Testament describes the ministry of deacons originated to serve “at table” (later adapted to serving at the altar), and especially caring for those in need (Acts 6:1-7). They very quickly became sharers in proclaiming the Gospel in service of God’s people, both at Mass and in their lives. By the Middle Ages, an emphasis on the role of priests contributed to a minimizing of the diaconate into a step along the way for candidates to the priesthood (i.e., transitional deacons). The Second Vatican Council restored the Order of Deacons to serve on a stable basis, hence we call them “permanent deacons.”
While we think of God as the one whom we are called to serve, Jesus Christ described himself as one who came to serve. Therefore, the teaching of Vatican II reminded us that the sacrament of ordination is fundamentally about a call to serve both the Lord and the People of God. It is fitting, then, that the first order of this sacrament is called by the Greek word for service: diaconia. While all Christians are called to serve others, the deacon is an official sign of this service and he solemnly promises to be a living example of such service for others.
Even as you pray for your priests, I ask you to pray for Deacon Tom as he embraces this new sacrament and identity in the Church.