Ordination to be held at Holy Rosary Cathedral
Three Vancouver-area men are gearing up to serve the Church as the Archdiocese of Vancouver prepares for the ordination of its second crop of permanent deacons.
Richard Chau, Patrick Dwan, and Tony Gray are set to be ordained permanent deacons at Holy Rosary Cathedral Friday, May 26.
“It’s tremendously exciting,” said Msgr. Gregory Smith, the director of the archdiocesan permanent diaconate office.
The permanent diaconate program made archdiocesan history Dec. 8, 2015 when its first cohort of permanent deacons, a whopping 16 of them, were ordained. It was the largest ordination ever held at Holy Rosary Cathedral.
Now, three more men have gone through the archdiocese’s four-year permanent diaconate program of preparation for service to the local Church.
Chau, an active member of Holy Rosary Cathedral, is an instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He and his wife, Louisa, became Catholics in 2010.
Dwan is a retired helicopter mechanic from Burnaby whose family has been involved at St. Francis de Sales Parish for three generations.
Gray, a retired principal and elementary school teacher, is a parishioner at St. Anthony’s Parish in West Vancouver with his wife, Wendy.
The six-year-old permanent diaconate program is alive and well, said Msgr. Smith, with another nine men joining the four-year-long program last September.
The ordination is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Holy Rosary Cathedral May 26. All are welcome to attend.
