MTSM Seminarian to be Ordained as Transitional Deacon This Weekend
11.30.25
This Saturday (December 6), James Tweed, a seminarian from the Diocese of Charlotte studying at MTSM, will be ordained a deacon on the path to the priesthood by The Most Rev. Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv., Bishop of Charlotte, at Immaculate Conception Parish in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He will continue his discernment and formation process and, God-willing, will join his fellow seminarians from the Diocese to be ordained to the priesthood on May 30, 2026.
Last month, Tweed did his Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity, both required by the Holy See prior to ordination, in front of the MTSM Seminary community during a Holy Hour.
Tweed’s educational path saw him headed more on the medical track, completing Bachelor’s degrees in molecular biology and biotechnology from Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida, followed by time working at the Max Planck Neuroscience Institute. However, he felt his calling to the priesthood.
“I was at a retreat led by Franciscan University of Steubenville in Atlanta and the leaders asked for young people discerning the priesthood to stand,” Tweed recalled. “In that moment, I felt an irresistible movement within my heat, as if the Lord spoke my name in a way that embraced me in full. I felt God’s presence in a way I had never experienced before. I understood with clarity and joy that my life belonged to Him.”
After completing his first years of formation at St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly, North Carolina, Tweed joined his brother seminarians from the Diocese of Charlotte at MTSM.
After three years at MTSM, Tweed’s path took a turn unique compared to many Charlotte seminarians, when he stayed back in his home diocese during the 2024-25 academic year and did a pastoral internship at St. Mark’s in Huntersville, North Carolina. That time was very important to his discernment and further formation.
“Bring in the parish drew me into people’s lives in very real and personal ways,” Tweed noted. “It showed me that my vocation is not only to serve but to accompany, to walk with people in the same, gentle way the Lord has walked with me.”
The accompanying through pastoral needs continued in his formation this past summer when he served as an interfaith chaplain at the Trauma Center at the Carolinas Medical Center.
“The most powerful form of care is not always what we say or do, but how we are with someone,” Tweed reflected. “I had to let myself feel with patients who were suffering and that helped me become more away of my own inner landscape and how that impacts how I shop up for others.”
With his diaconate ordination coming two days before the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Tweed reflected on his special relationship with the Patroness of the Seminary.
“In her unique motherly way, Mary has always stayed close to me and cared for me,” Tweed noted. When I am with her I feel very close to Jesus, and that gives me great comfort and consolation. As the Seat of Wisdom, she was the first entrusted with the revelation of the Trinity, and pours that wisdom and light into simple souls who seek her.”