All are invited May 10 to the transitional diaconate Mass of Ordination for seminarian Nickolas Naticchione.
Bishop Joseph A. Williams will celebrate the 10:30 a.m. Mass at Saint James Church, Holy Trinity Parish, 6415 Atlantic Ave., Ventnor.
The celebration will be livestreamed on all diocesan social media channels, as well as at catholicstarherald.org, and youtube.com/camdendiocese.
Naticchione, 25, whose hometown is Holy Trinity Parish, attends Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. An ordination to the transitional diaconate marks the final stage in a man’s journey to the priesthood.
“Only through prayer can true discernment occur,” Naticchione said in a previous article in the Catholic Star Herald. In that article, he explained that his path to the priesthood began when he was about 7 years old – thanks to the witness of his uncle, Father Jim Worth, who is his godfather and a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark.
Seeing his uncle’s joy of the priesthood, Naticchione later became a lector at his parish, and went on to serve as a sacristan and Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.
Upon entering the seminary, Naticchione realized he had a lot to discern about his vocation. “Up to this point, my vocation had been very superficial, rooted in my childlike dream of being a priest and those external joys that I found in serving at my parish,” he said. “I quickly realized that I needed to discern my vocation in prayer and focus more on what God was calling me to rather than simply considering what I wanted to be.”
Immersing himself deeper in prayer, “essential in establishing my spiritual life on new and firmer foundation,” Naticchione said he put his trust in God: “Him who is my refuge and my strength.”
In a blog post titled, “The Heart of the Vocations Crisis in the Church,” he went on to urge all people to discern their own vocations and pray for others to find their call from God.
“Let us pray not only for vocations to the priesthood, but for more faithful marriages lived as vocations, so that spouses and parents can build the domestic Church in their homes. [This forms] a culture of vocations that leads our youth to recognize that God has a plan for each of them in how they are called to live a holy life and get to heaven.”
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