Eleven men, four from Mercer County and one from Burlington County, were ordained as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church yesterday by Bishop John M. Smith at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in the city. The men, who take up the positions at the churches where they currently worship, went through a four-year formation program to become candidates for the jobs.
Their ordination puts them among the ranks of the over 300 deacons active throughout the Diocese of Trenton.
James Knipper, a marketing company owner from St. Paul's in Princeton Borough, said the program covered "a ton" of theology along with philosophy and pastoral and hospital care.
He added that the 10 to 15 hours a week the program took is similar to the time his duties as a deacon should take up, so it is fortunate the last of his four sons leaves for college in the fall.
"It's a commitment of time, it's also a lifetime commitment," he said.
Knipper, along with Charles Moscarello of St. Gregory the Great in Hamilton, East Windsor resident Dennis R. O'Brien of St. Anthony of Padua in Hightstown, James M. Scott III of St. Ann in Lawrence, and Shamong resident Kenneth E. Motylinski Jr. of St. Mary of the Lakes in Medford, received a stole draped over the left shoulder denoting the new position.
During the ordination service, the new deacons lay on the floor as parishioners prayed over them, demonstrating humility, Knipper said.
But he said the most memorable moments for him were the laying on of the hands by the bishop, and the presentation of the stole by his wife, Teresa.
"From there you leave your wife and family in the pew and move to the altar," Knipper said.
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