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Capuchin brother ordained a deacon on the way toward priesthood
By Father Blaine Burkey, O.F.M. Cap.
Friars and friends of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America and parishioners of Annunciation Church celebrated the ordination of Capuchin Brother Joseph Mary Elder as a deacon in a step toward priesthood the evening of June 3.
Archbishop Charles Chaput, himself a Capuchin, ordained Brother Joseph Mary in Annunciation Church after instructing him to devote his entire being to prayer, the preaching of the Gospel, and the care of the poor.
Bruce and Mary Cheryl Elder of St. Louis, Brother Elder’s parents, presented the offertory gifts.
Father Charles Polifka, Capuchin provincial minister, who presented Brother Elder for ordination, later noted how sweet it was to again have two deacons in the province for the first time in 15 years.
Brother Barnabas Eichor, the other Capuchin deacon, who served along with Deacon James Blume as deacons of the ordination Mass, will be ordained to the priesthood at Sacred Heart Church in Denver on June 24.
Brother Elder has been a student at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and a confirmation class teacher at Annunciation Church since 2006. For the past three years, he has lived in community with the Capuchins at San Damiano Friary on West Sixth Avenue. He will now move to San Antonio Friary at 36th Avenue and Humboldt Street and intern as a deacon at Annunciation Church.
Scott Michael Elder was born in Florissant, Mo., in 1977 and grew up in Kirkwood, another St. Louis suburb. He pursued a degree in English for several years, but left school for awhile, working in the meantime in ink manufacturing and landscaping. His life was profoundly affected by a pilgrimage to Medjugore in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2001, and he entered the Capuchin order in 2003, at the time taking a new religious name, Joseph Mary.
Brother Elder is a talented Web designer, and his handiwork—as well as additional photos of the ordination—can be seen at www.capuchins.org.
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