Before ordination as deacons, three men sign Oath of Fidelity
Deacon Candidates Scott Elder, Guillermo Muñoz, and Alan Vu give the Profession of Faith during a Mass celebrated by Most Rev. Michael F. Olson, Bishop of Fort Worth, on June 3, 2024, at St. Patrick Cathedral in Fort Worth. (NTC/Susan Moses)
FORT WORTH — Three men who will be ordained to the permanent diaconate took an important step in their vocational journey before they receive holy orders on June 21.
Scott Alan Elder, Guillermo Muñoz Medina, and Alan Hung Quoc Vu made a profession of faith and signed an Oath of Fidelity during Mass on Monday, June 3 at St. Patrick Cathedral in Fort Worth.
“The profession of faith is a matter of integrity,” said Bishop Michael Olson during his homily. “Faith is not a private experience or a personal preference or just simply an assumption in wishful thinking. There is a public dimension that involves all the members of the church.”
The bishop contrasted the direct expression made in a public profession of faith with the imprecision of indirect discourse.
“The ministry of deacons, dating all the way from St. Stephen, must involve the use of direct discourse in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ within His hierarchy based on unconditional love and service,” he told the deacon candidates.
Before ordination, all ordained ministers take the Oath of Fidelity, signing a public declaration that they believe all the Catholic Church teaches and promising to uphold the entirety of the Catholic faith in their ministry.
The three deacon candidates will be ordained as permanent deacons on Friday, June 21, at Vietnamese Martyrs Church in Arlington, at 7:00 p.m.
Elder, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Mineral Wells, currently serves at St. Stephen Parish in Weatherford. Grapevine’s St. Francis of Assisi parishioner Guillermo Muñoz currently serves at St. Michael Parish in Bedford. Alan Vu, originally a member of Vietnamese Martyrs Parish in Arlington, currently serves at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Arlington.
Formation for permanent deacons in the Diocese of Fort Worth includes about five years of theological, pastoral, and spiritual training.