Saturday, April 29, 2017

Seminarian Ordained Deacon. Continues Road to Priesthood.

FARGO 29 April 2017 (ORCNS) - The Rev. Dom. Shane VanMeveren, TOR Mar. was ordained to the Holy Order of Deacons today during a low mass. The ordaining bishop was H.Em. Mgr. Rutherford Johnson, Cardinal Count of Sainte Animie, Patriarch of St. Stephen. The mass took place on a warm spring day following a late spring snowstorm that occurred a few days earlier. 

At the imposition of hands, the Holy
Spirit is transmitted to the ordinand,
who then becomes a Deacon. 

Dom. Shane is a seminarian at Pontifical Georgian College, the principal seminary of the Religious and Military Patriarchate of St. Stephen and is also pursuing a PhD at a secular institution. Additionally, he is a friar in the Franciscan Third Order Regular of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of the Blessed Virgin Mary (TOR Mar). 

Mgr. Rutherford, Cardinal Patriarch of Saint
Stephen, ordaining Bishop, reads the introduction
to the ordination, explaining the significance
of the Order of Deacon and its duties. 

During the formal introduction to the ordination, read by Mgr. Rutherford, Cardinal Count of Sainte Animie as ordaining Bishop, Saint Stephen the First Deacon and Martyr was invoked. This is particularly significant not only for Deacons, but also for the Patriarchate, of which Blessed Stephen is the glorious celestial Patron. Also during the introduction, Dom. Shane was reminded that it was stated that the "Office of the Deacon is to assist at the altar, to baptize, and to preach." He was also reminded of the seriousness of his new office and state in life by being told that the "...Church, always ready for battle, wageth an unceasing warfare against her enemies, as the Apostle sayeth: 'Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.'" 

Dom. Shane reads the Gospel from the ambo
for the first time as a Deacon. Proclaiming the
Gospel and reading or singing it in the Holy Mass
is one of the chief duties of a Deacon.

The Order of Deacon is the first of the Major Orders of the Church and follows the Minor Orders of Porter, Lector, Acolyte, and Exorcist and the transitional Order of Sub Deacon. It derives from the ancient order of Levites in the Old Testament. The Christian Diaconate was instituted by the Apostles and is found in Scripture. Some clerics remain Deacons, being called to serve in that ministry. Others follow a different calling and continue to the priesthood. Dom. Shane is in the latter category, continuing intensive studies in theology, canon law, pastoral ministry, and liturgy necessary to be qualified for the priestly ministry. 

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Rarely Awarded Gold Medal Recognizes Lifelong Work and Distinguished Service to Conservation

WASHINGTON 25 April 2017 (ORCNS) - A rare William T. Hornaday Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to Conservation was recently awarded to HMSH Prince Dom Daniel L. Coberly by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Boy Scouts of America. The Hornaday Gold Medal is a national level award that recognizes adults who render distinguished and unusual service to natural resources conservation and environmental improvement over a sustained period of at least 20 years. 

Coberly was cited for his life-long personal environmental accomplishments that span five decades, numerous countries, continents, and cultures. Less than 40 Gold Medals have been presented during the past 80 years. 


“From his boyhood work as a young Scout to control rainforest erosion in the Panama Canal Zone, to his Eagle Scout project to restore 30-acres of trees and shrubs for the benefit of patients at a military hospital in Germany, his life-long personal environmental ethic didn’t stop there,” said Dr. William Benson, Director of EPA’s National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory. “His adult activities to protect children from unexploded civil war ordnance throughout the United States, his efforts to educate parents and children about the dangers of landmines in Iraq and Afghanistan, his work with Native American Tribal Affairs, his work on environmental restorations during military base closures, and his work to promote sustainability are just a few of the activities for which Dan is now recognized with this Gold Medal”.

Coberly is a senior advisor for national communication with the U.S. EPA. In 2016, he was presented BSA’s the Silver Buffalo Award for distinguished service to youth.

A retired military public affairs officer, he was inducted in the U.S. Army Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2014. In 1997 he was named a Distinguished Eagle Scout. He also serves in the Walsingham Guard of the Religious and Military Patriarchate of St. Stephen, where he holds the honorary rank of First Marshal of the Guards. Also the Grand Master Emeritus of the Noble Company of St. Mary of Walsingham, his many honors and distinctions include the Order of Pius IX, the Legion of the Eagle, and the Imperial Teutonic Order of the Hospital of St. Mary. 

The Hornaday award was named after the director and founder of the Bronx Zoo in New York, and the National Zoological Park in DC, who was credited with saving the American bison from extinction.