Ordinations

The 10 new priests ordained on June 29 at Paola parish church.

This weekend was a great day for the church in Malta, as 14 young men were ordained in two separate ceremonies. On Saturday, 4 seminarians were ordained to the Diaconate. Tomorrow Monday, feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, 10 deacons will be ordained as priests for the church in Malta. I was going to write young men, but actually one of them is 67 years old, a widower who decided and promised to become a priest as his wife was dying 6 years ago. Five of them are diocesan priests while three others are Salesians. The numbers of vocations have dwindled over the last few years, and at the moment there are not more than 10 seminarians studying at the Archbishop’s Seminary. A few others are in the Gozo Seminary, where another priest was ordained recently, plus two deacons. 

The 4 new deacons with the Archbishop

It’s a far cry from my time in the 1970s when we had close to 90 seminarians together studying at various stages of the training process. But to the new deacons and priests, we offer them our heart-felt prayers that God will give them the courage and zeal they need for their new pastoral ministry. To all of them, we wish them Ad Multos Annos!