The Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Josephites, will raise three men to the transitional diaconate on Saturday, Dec. 7, in Washington, making for the religious community’s second ordination of the year.
Chidiebere Dominic, Linus James, and Charles Nwamadi will receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, one of the society’s three parishes in the nation’s capital. The Josephites serve the African-American community throughout the United States.
The Mass celebrant, the society’s superior general Bishop Emeritus John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, will receive the trio’s solemn profession of vows on Thursday, Dec. 5, at St. Joseph Seminary in the Brookland neighborhood.
The three ordinands hail from Nigeria, where the society has received vocations since the turn of the millennium. Their initial formation took place at the society’s houses in the West African nation, before their matriculation to the Catholic University of America in Washington for theological studies.
They graduated with a Master of Divinity degree this spring at CUA, and have since served in the society’s apostolates while preparing for final profession and ordination.
They currently serve in Louisiana, with Nwamadi at St. Augustine Catholic Church in New Roads, Dominic at Our Lady of Grace Church in Reserve, and James at the society’s flagship school, St. Augustine High, and St. Raymond-St. Leo the Great Church in New Orleans.
Their ordination is the second for the Josephites this year, following Dominic Njoku’s ordination to the priesthood in May. He currently serves as a theology teacher at St. Augustine.
The Josephites, founded in 1893 and currently numbering roughly 60 members, staff some three dozen parishes and schools in the African-American communities of the Deep South, Texas, the Washington metropolitan area, Baltimore, and Los Angeles.
The solemn profession Mass next week at the seminary will begin at 4pm ET. The ordination on the following Saturday is open to the public and will begin at 10am.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
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