SHOWING THE WAY TO GOD
By Julian Butler SJ
In the Roman Catholic Rite of Ordination to the Diaconate, the Bishop hands a book of the Gospels to each of those being ordained and says, “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practise what you teach.” They are words with a stirring rhythm. Encouraging and challenging. The language, “whose herald you have become”, suggests the responsibility bestowed, the trust placed. The three-part injunction underlines the call to a life of authenticity.
Many who are ordained deacons, like me and five other Jesuits who will be ordained to the diaconate in Boston, USA on 3 October, are ordained as “transitional deacons”. That is, we are ordained deacons with the expectation we will be ordained priests the following year. But once a deacon, as a saying goes, you are always a deacon.
At another part of the Ordination Rite the Bishop explains that deacons assist “in the ministry of the word, of the altar, and of charity, showing themselves to be servants of all.” “Servant leadership” is a phrase with great currency in Catholic circles and beyond, and rightly so. It helps orient our thinking about what it means to have responsibility, to be attentive to others in all we do. The week before my ordination to the diaconate I find myself considering the question, what might it mean to really live as a “servant to all”?
It’s humbling to think that the day after my ordination I will be at the local parish, at the Sunday Mass, proclaiming the Gospel and then preaching about it as a minister of the Church. In time as a deacon, I will do other things that the Bishop speaks of in the Ordination Rite – “administer Baptism, assist at and bless Marriages, bring Viaticum to the dying, and conduct funeral rites.”
As with any service we offer, it can only be offered by God’s grace. Maybe that sounds a little pious, but I believe it to be true. I entered the Australian Jesuit Novitiate, then in Mount Druitt, New South Wales, in February 2017. I had practiced as a lawyer for a few years before entering. I came with a capacity for sharp thoughts and well-crafted words. I also came with a capacity to love which had been shaped by my parents, sisters, grandparents, extended family, friends, teachers and colleagues. My years in the Jesuits have really been a time of allowing God to grow that openness in myself to love others. Still very much imperfectly. But maybe just enough to serve.
I will be ordained in Boston because I am studying theology here, the final phase of formation for priesthood, at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College. Jesuit formation gives time for both intellectual and ministerial formation. Both have been a blessing. Studies here in Boston and at Catholic Theological College, Melbourne have helped me think about, pray with and communicate the Catholic faith more deeply. Ministry experiences at Xavier College, The Cardoner Network, Jesuit Communications and in other spaces have helped me listen for where there is a desire and need for meaning and reconciliation today.
One of the promises deacons make at their ordination is to pray “with and for the People of God and indeed for the whole world”. I will make that promise this coming Saturday and I ask your prayers as I do.
Watch a live-stream of the Ordination at 10:00am EDT on Saturday 3 October 2026 (12:00am AEST midnight, Sunday 4 October), and after a recording, here.
Julian Butler SJ (left). Photo courtesy of Xavier College.