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During the Liturgy, the new deacon promises obedience
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By: Reverend Gregory Houck, O.Carm.
On Saturday evening, June 24th, at the usual parish Mass at Saint Agnes’ Church in Phoenix, Arizona, Brother John Sprissler, O.Carm., was ordained to the diaconate. The Very Reverend Thomas Olmsted, bishop of the diocese, presided at the Liturgy. Bishop Olmsted began his homily by saying, “deacons are ordained for trouble.” He went on to explain that from their onset in the Acts of the Apostles (Chapter Six), when there was trouble with the distribution of food, the Order of Deacons was instituted to solve that problem. Since then, to serve as a deacon means to trouble-shoot and to problem-solve. He then noted that trouble can be a way to God as one shares in others’ burdens and troubles. Similarly, when one is in trouble oneself one can find God; as illustrated that weekend’s Gospel of the calming of the storm at sea (Mark 4:35-41).
Everyone in the congregation who knew Brother John smiled during the homily. They knew of John’s long path in Carmelite formation. They knew of his work with those in trouble—anywhere from working with high school youth involved with alcohol or drugs to working with the poor with the Province’s Justice and Peace Committee. They knew that Bishop Olmsted was describing the right man.
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Very Reverend John F. Welch, O.Carm., Prior Provincial, Deacon John Sprissler, O.Carm., Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix and Reverend Peter Liuzzi, O.Carm., pastor.
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John Sprissler was born in Boston in 1956, and raised in Newton, Massachusetts. He entered the Carmelite formation program in Los Angeles in 1983 and spent seven years in the prenovitiate. He describes himself as “God’s reluctant vocation” in that his formation seems to have taken twenty years. During that, though, he received as Bachelor’s degree in communications in 1989 from California State University, a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Washington Theological Union in 1994, a Master’s degree in psychology in 2003, and a certificate in spiritual direction from the Haden Institute in 2005. While serving at Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario, he studied for the permanent diaconate with classes held by the Diocese of Saint Catherine (Ontario) and classes at Christ the King Seminary in Buffalo, New York.
When asked how his ministry has changed now that he is a deacon, he replied, “I just had twenty-five baptisms in a language I don’t speak. I’m doing things I didn’t know I could do.”
He has served at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California, and Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Currently Reverend Brother John Sprissler, O.Carm., serves as pastoral associate at Saint Agnes’ Church in Phoenix, Arizona.
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