From the U.K. comes this item, about a Catholic deacon marking a quarter century of service to the Church:
Deacon Trevor Jones was joined by family, former colleagues and the Catholic community to mark 25 years since his ordination into the Catholic Church as a deacon. The Mass of Thanksgiving was celebrated at St George’s Catholic Church by Bishop Declan Lang. Deacon Trevor’s ordination 25 years ago is not something he ever expected to take place, but it is something he has flourished in. “I worked in the police force for 43 years, and spent the later part of that career with the Avon and Somerset Police, working as a member of the police support staff,” he said. “43 years is a long time to spend in any organisation but it is something I enjoyed and am grateful for.” It was around halfway into his career that Deacon Trevor was told to take a vocation, and it’s a day he remembers well. He said: “Taking up such a vocation is something that never occurred to me, Canon Patrick Lynch didn’t so much ask me, but tell me. I remember him saying that I had a vocation, and turning around to see who he was talking to. I had never thought about it. It was something that found me, not me finding it.” …On September 22, 1990 at St George’s Church in Taunton, he was ordained. “For 20 years there were at times an overlap between my work in the police force and my work as a deacon, I think there were certainly times when the jobs complimented each other.” Part of this ‘legacy’ was helping to set up the voluntary workplace chaplaincy for the Avon and Somerset Constabulary back in 1993 – one of the first in the country. He was also, for three years, the chairman of the Taunton Council of Covenanting Churches as well as some 25 years of hospital chaplaincy experience. And he has showed no signs of slowing down since. Despite retiring from the police force, Trevor says he is busier now than before.
Read more. Congratulations! Ad multos annos!
Photo: This Is The West Country
And today we celebrate...