Memphis deacons share bond with Jackson families

MEMPHIS – Twenty-two men were ordained into the permanent diaconate for the Diocese of Memphis on Saturday, May 21, by Bishop J. Terry Steib. In a Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, visiting clergy and diocesan deacons joined with hundreds of parishioners in the ordination ceremony. The men ordained from the Diocese of Jackson went through their formation program in Memphis with these men, traveling to Tennessee for classes. Instructors from St. Meinrad Abbey in Indiana would fly to Memphis to offer the classes.
The two classes of deacons became quite close. The candidates from Jackson attended the Memphis ordination. The newly ordained deacons from Memphis then turned around to attend the ordination of deacons in Jackson.