Sixteen MTSM Seminarians Ordained Transitional Deacons

Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology (MTSM) is proud to announce that 14 seminarians from six dioceses and two from the Fathers of Mercy religious congregation will be ordained transitional deacons in the coming weeks.

Transitional deacons take up the ministry and work of deacons while continuing in their formation for ordination to the priesthood. Typically, they spend at least one year as deacons before being ordained priests.

The men will be ordained in their dioceses by their bishop on varying dates over the next two months. Within the Rite of Ordination of Deacons, those being ordained in preparation for the priesthood will promise celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God, obedience to their bishop and his successors and to pray faithfully the Liturgy of the Hours, which is the Church’s daily prayer of psalms, readings and petitions. The symbols of his ordination to the deaconate are the vesting with deaconate stole and dalmatic and the presentation of the Book of the Gospels.

“Ordination to the deaconate allows these men to begin to serve in the Church in a new way and to intensify in these coming months their preparation for becoming priests,” said the Very Rev. Anthony R. Brausch, Ph.D., president and rector of MTSM. “The solemn promises they have made of celibacy, obedience and faithful prayer will form their service and their hearts as the Lord asks them to lay down their entire lives as priests.”

Congratulations to the following men who will be ordained transitional deacons. The men and their home parishes are:

Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Transitional Deacon Ordination Date: April 24
Rev. Mr. Chibueze Asiegbulem, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Dayton
Rev. Mr. Robert Hale, St. Patrick, Bellefontaine, OH
Rev. Mr. Ethan Hoying, St. Remy, Russia, OH
Rev. Mr. Stephen Jones, Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, Cincinnati
Rev. Mr. Jacob Lindle, Our Lady of the Visitation, Cincinnati
Rev. Mr. Uriel Santos, St. Julie Billart, Hamilton, OH
Rev. Mr. Michael Willig, St. Antoninus, Cincinnati

Diocese of Toledo
Transitional Deacon Ordination Date: May 15
Rev. Mr. Thomas Hunyor, Jr., St. Joseph, Maumee, OH

Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Transitional Deacon Ordination Date: May 22
Rev. Mr. Lee Allen Fortin, Immaculate Conception, Watertown, SD

Diocese of Tulsa
Transitional Deacon Ordination Date: May 28
Rev. Mr. Gabriel Garcia, St. Francis Xavier, Tulsa, OK
Rev. Mr. Daniel Gormley, St. John Before the Latin Gate, Bartlesville, OK
Rev. Mr. Leonardo Morales-Salas, St. Anne, Broken Arrow, OK

Diocese of Charlotte
Transitional Deacon Ordination Date: June 5
Rev. Mr. Darren Balkey, Sacred Heart, Salisbury, NC
Rev. Mr. Aaron Huber, St. Michael, Gastonia, NC

Fathers of Mercy
Transitional Deacon Ordination Date: June 12
Rev. Br. Michael French, C.P.M., St. Cecilia, Columbus, OH
Rev. Br. Joseph Morgan, C.P.M., St. Margaret, San Diego, CA

MTSM is the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s graduate-level Catholic Seminary and School of Theology with nearly 200 full and part-time students. Founded in 1829, our 75-acre campus provides preparation for ordination to the priesthood and permanent diaconate as part of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. In addition, our School of Theology offers classes for graduate, non-degree and certification programs for laity, clergy and religious.

For additional information about MTSM, please contact advancement@athenaeum.edu or 513-231-2223.