Deacon Dustin Hungerford was ordained to the order of the diaconate by Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz April 10 at the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville.
Deacon Hungerford, 32, is in formation for the diocesan priesthood at St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Ind.
The diaconate is a transitional step for seminarians as their formation for priesthood nears its end. It typically occurs a year prior to presbyteral ordination.
During his homily, the archbishop noted the Easter octave — the eight-day period that begins on Easter and ends with the following Sunday — is “all about the gift of baptism.”
“It’s about the gift of being baptized into Christ Jesus. So as you and I, people of God, gathered together — with the words of our renewal fresh on our lips and the feel of the waters of holy water perhaps fresh on our foreheads — we give thanks because the gift of the diaconate, the gift of the priesthood is a gift of service so you might go forward and renew the face of the earth.
“It is that service to which you, Dustin, are called today,” he said to the seminarian.
