“Receive the gospel of Christ whose herald you are; believe what you read; preach what you believe; and put into practice what you preach”
--from the Rite of Ordination to the Diaconate
During the weekend of Oct 5-7, 2007, I attended the diaconate ordination for Jesuit scholastics at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, MA. One of the ordinands, the Rev. Mr. Anthony P. SooHoo, SJ (NYK) invited me to attend and to vest him at the ordination liturgy. I have known Anthony since he was a novice, and we have worked together in at least three apostolic settings—Nativity Mission Center, Xavier High School, and this past summer with the Six Weeks a Jesuit program. In a note Anthony wrote to me, he recalled “the adventures we have shared and have yet to embark upon,” our friendship and companionship in the Society of Jesus. I was thrilled to be able to rearrange my schedule so as to share in the celebration of Anthony’s response to the Lord’s invitation to move forward toward his priestly ordination in June.
The role of deacons in the Roman Catholic Church is “to proclaim the Word of God, to preach, to preside at the sacraments of Baptism and Marriage and at the Rite of Christian Burial” (from the program). This boils down to two areas of service: the Table and the Word.
At the Table of the World
The diaconate ordination took place at the Church of St. Peter in Cambridge, not at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Central Square, Cambridge, as The Most Reverend Celestino Migliore—papal nuncio to the UN and our presider—learned to his chagrin that morning! Eventually, Bishop Migliore found his way to us, and did a beautiful job of ordaining our deacons. Among the nine ordinands were Jesuits from other countries, such as Mexico and Vietnam, and from several parts of the US. The New York province was well-represented by two men, Anthony and Peter Gyves. My parents and I were privileged to sit with Anthony’s brother Michael and some friends in the “SooHoo family” pew in the church’s right transept, where we had an excellent view of the liturgy as it unfolded. Jackie Perez and Dee Kittany, lay colleagues of the Jesuits in New York, joined us there. One of the ordinands, Guillermo “Memo” Prieto Salinas (MEX) was seated directly in front of us. I noticed early in the liturgy that each time Memo stood, he would place his right hand on the shoulder of whichever acolyte was nearest, obviously needing the support for periods of sustained standing. It turns out that Memo was afflicted by polio as a child. A deeply touching sight during the ordination was to see how Cristóbal Fones (CHI), the assistant master of ceremonies for the liturgy, supported Memo as he climbed the steps to kneel before the Bishop at different points during the Mass.
When the time came to vest Anthony, I crossed over to the left side of the altar where his vestments were draped in readiness. It was quite warm in the church, and of course Anthony was wearing a brand new alb. He whispered to me as he met me, “I am dying in this heat. I have a drop of sweat on the tip of my nose, and now you’re going to swathe me in more polyester!” I placed the stole over Anthony’s left shoulder, draping the crossed section at his right hip. This sign of ordained ministry likely imitates a waiter’s towel, thus suggesting the deacon’s role of servant. Most of us are accustomed to seeing a deacon’s stole worn outside the alb, but at the ordination, we placed another garment on each deacon. This garment, called a dalmatic, is a characteristic outer vestment for deacons, resembling a chasuble with wide inner sleeves. I did not know that the dalmatic had sleeves, and as I placed it over Anthony’s head, I heard him exclaim, “Sleeves!” Evidently, during the weeks between his trying one on and the ordination, he had forgotten there were sleeves, and he was trying to figure out which hole was for his head and which for his arms. Fortunately, Anthony’s smiling face emerged from the neck of the garment; we got his vestments straightened out; and we embraced before returning to our places for the liturgy of the Eucharist.
The lunch reception after the ordination was held in the lower church hall and outside under a series of tents. Unlike the church, outdoors was comfortable, sunny but pleasant in the shade. A crowd of Anthony’s former students from his regency at Xavier High School had come from their current schools (Boston College and Boston University). Not sure of what they would find at an event like this, they came to support “Mr. SooHoo,” and willingly posed for pictures and had some lunch. Fr. Jeff Chojnacki, the Provincial of New York and Fr. Tom Feely, the Assistant for Formation (and Anthony’s former rector) came from a meeting of US delegates for General Congregation 35 to be present for the day. Jesuits were milling about, greeting each other. Prevented from taking photos during the Mass, Jackie and I tried to get a few shots of the various people gathered there. In the now-empty church, Anthony and I tried to “recreate the magic” of his vesting, but I am afraid we ended up doing more laughing than vesting.
That evening, Anthony and another of the ordinands, Peter Nguyen (CHG), with help from Christopher Larsen (CFN) and John Mulreany (NYK), hosted a feast at Arrupe House, Anthony’s community. As I have seen Anthony and Christopher do before, they worked together to feed a crowd of guests in a wonderful demonstration of hospitality. This was no mere supper; it was a feast: fresh spring rolls, homemade Chinese dumplings and two kinds of fried rice, spicy beef satay and scallion pancakes. Anthony and Peter invited family members, their friends from school and out of town, and other Jesuits. Arrupe House is home to two other ordinands besides Anthony, Andrew Wawrzyn (CHG) and Mark Mossa (NOR), and after dining out with their families, they joined the crowd assembled at Arrupe House. The conversation was lively, with folks catching up or getting to know one another, family members and WJST community members mingling, switching seats and conversations, and of course, eating.
The Word Who Is Life
Next morning, Jackie Perez, John Mulreany and I bundled ourselves off to Chelsea, a working class neighborhood east and slightly north of Cambridge, to Our Lady of Grace church for Sunday Mass. As wonderful as the ordination had been, in many respects this was the highlight of the trip for me. Anthony has been working at OLG since his first year at Weston Jesuit. He has assisted with RCIA, trained lectors, and helped with many parish activities. He served as deacon at the two English Masses there. OLG comprises a relatively small group of ordinary folks from various walks of life, ages, and ethnicities. Anthony’s homily compared the life of faith to breaking in a new pair of shoes, with all the discomfort and stretching that must be done before the “fit” is right, as well as employing Jesus’s image of the mustard seed. Anthony spoke feelingly of the way members of the OLG community have shown their faith, using concrete but anonymous examples as illustrations. The authenticity of his homily reminded me of those 
words from the day before: “Preach what you believe.” Another of Anthony’s services at this Mass was assisting and calming the presider, Joe Nguyen (ORE)), a newly-ordained Jesuit priest making his debut at OLG. Although Anthony was a lot newer as a deacon than Joe was as a priest, Anthony seemed completely poised. Seeing how self-assured he was on the altar reminded me of Anthony’s work as Director of Campus Ministry at Xavier.
Afterward, I enjoyed observing as various parishioners came up to pay their respects to Anthony, offer him congratulations, or simply say hello. The affection of the parishioners for him was evident. Anthony, who is by personality type an introvert, was quite at ease and present to them. There he was, chatting with old and young alike, inquiring about them, accepting their wishes and questions. He had a lively exchange with three small children who approached him with their mother. It was really heartwarming to see these children and Anthony interact with one another. Having known Anthony for about 10 years, I felt a kind of pride in what a wonderful Jesuit he has turned out to be, and I could anticipate the quality of service he will one day give as a priest.
© 2007
