Seminarian Edward Kennedy, currently completing his Third Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Mad., will be ordained a transitional deacon during a 10:30 a.m. Mass and ceremony at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Lindenwold on Saturday, celebrated by Bishop Dennis Sullivan.
Kennedy, 33, is a native of Ventnor, and a 2000 graduate of Holy Spirit High School in Absecon. His home parish is St. Nicholas of Tolentine in Atlantic City.
His ordination to transitional deacon, marks the final stage in his journey to the priesthood, to culminate next May.
After Saturday, Kennedy will receive a summer assignment in a diocesan parish. Next fall, he will return to St. Mary’s for Fourth Theology.
“One of the most moving parts of the ordination rite is when the man being ordained lays prostrate on the floor and the entire church prays the Litany of the Saints,” Kennedy wrote in an article printed in the Star Herald April 24. “The whole church, bishop, priests, deacons and laity, pray for the intercession of the saints for the man being ordained. I ask you to join in this prayer for me as I prepare for ordination and for all of our seminarians and men in discernment.”