Another Milestone in the journey of priestly formation...
This morning at the community Mass at the Pontifical North American College, I, along with 53 of my classmates in Second Theology, were instituted to the Ministry of Acolyte by Bishop Loverde of the Diocese of Arlington. Seminarians mark our time in formation by different milestones, some of which are small (putting another semester of academic studies in the books, counting down to various seminary events, etc) but other milestones are larger (such as compiling your yearly self-evaluation and then having your evaluation meeting to determine if the faculty will approve you to advance to the next year for instance...) These "milestones" help the seminarian look forward to the day when, God willing, he is ordained. Milestones such as what my class and I experienced today make ordination day seem that much closer, because (in a broad sense) the Ministry of Acolyte is the "last step" before a man petitions to be ordained to the Transitional Diaconate (clearly he mus...