Diaconal Ordination in Saint James Vicariate

In May and June, towards the end of the school year, as we celebrate some major holidays (the feast of the body and blood of Christ, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the birth of St John the Baptist, the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul), this is a privileged period for the ordination of priests and deacons in the Catholic Church. This year, in Saint James Vicariate, we were privileged to have the diaconal ordination of a member of Jerusalem community, Benedetto di Bitonto (often surnamed: Benny), a 37-year-old Italian from Naples, who came from Italy eight years ago as a doctoral student in comparative literature, found his place in the Hebrew-speaking Catholic communities and chose to stay in Israel. Benedetto became a seminarian six years ago and last Thursday he was ordained deacon. The ceremony took place at the Church of All Nations, in Gethsemane, and was presided by the Apostolic Administrator, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa. The assembly was quite variegated: many members from all the Hebrew speaking communities in Israel, Arabic speaking Christians (with the participation of two Coptic monks and a Coptic nun), Jews who are friends of Benny - among whom many belong to the Synagogue Kehillat Sion -, family members and friends who came from abroad, monks of various origins and families of Migrants and asylum seekers who came with their children.

After the reading of the Gospel in two languages (Hebrew and Arabic), the Archbishop addressed Benny in the second-person throughout the homily and pointed out several directions: 1. learn to work together with others because your call is not to be a hero - able to do everything alone, but to make your way together with others, following Jesus; 2. Your mission is clear: to declare the kingdom of God and to heal the sick; 3. don’t look after great means to succeed, and do not fear your limitations: your fruit comes from Jesus and not from your special talents; 4. Freely you have received freely give: if people accept you, continue to give, if they refuse, do not loose much energy to convince; 5. Obey: You will succeed as long as you obey.

Our best wishes to you, Benny, may you succeed in following Jesus and thus receive his joy fully.