A Gift Donated by the Diaconate Class of 2022
Deacon Vincent Seungwoo Lim and Sonhee Lim
At our 2022 Convocation Dinner, the Seminary received a gift donated by the Diaconate Class of 2022. The icon will be installed in our Ambrozic Room and was painted by Sonhee Lim, wife of Deacon Vincent Seungwoo Lim, our recent graduate of the Diaconate Formation Diploma in Theological Studies.
In the words of Sonhee, "It was a great privilege to participate in Diaconate formation with my husband, Vincent. And it is my great honour to have been asked by the Diaconate Class of 2022 to create a painting of St. Stephen to present to St. Augustine's Seminary. Instead of many other paintings of St. Stephen looking up to heaven, I painted St. Stephen looking at the viewer because He is inviting the viewer to join him in following Jesus. I pray that this painting will help the viewer become closer to our Lord and help them become - living icons of Jesus Christ."
Through prayer and meditation on scripture about St. Stephen, Mrs. Lim painted St. Stephen with many important symbolic images. The description will be available for viewing, together with the icon, at the Seminary.
Thank you to all the Diaconate Class of 2022 and congratulations on your graduation: Selwyn Martin Athayde, James Christopher Bell, Gerardo Abella Cruz, Kevin Oscar Joseph Daudlin, Nicholas Alan Daunt, Ryan Francis Fernandes, Gordon Lee, Ka Meng Peter Lee, Vincent Seungwoo Lim, Aladin Provido Matinong, Roy Clifford Mayo, Richard Gabriel Noronha, Cirille Roland Nyeck, Domenico Rinaldi, Robert Walter Sansone, Daniel Slat, Sergio Spadafora, Christopher Paul Sutton, Francis Xavier, Gregory Vaz, Bruno Vitetta.
On behalf of the entire St. Augustine's Seminary community, heartfelt congratulations to all the Deacons and their families on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Permanent Diaconate program in the Archdiocese of Toronto! We give thanks to God along with all those who have been involved in your formation and have journeyed with you: mentor couples, candidates, and their spouses.
St. Augustine’s Seminary has offered a program of formation to Candidates for Ordination to the Permanent Diaconate since 1972. In 1972, 33 candidates were admitted to the formation program here at St. Augustine's Seminary, leading to ordination and a life of active ministry. Since 1972, over 300 Deacons have been ordained for service in the Church, giving witness to the Gospel across a wide variety of settings.
In addition to ministering in parishes and schools, they have assisted the Archbishops and Priests of the Archdiocese through their ministries in hospitals, convalescent homes, prisons, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters. At present, there are nearly 150 Deacons in active ministry and there are 23 candidates in formation.
In his Motu proprio, Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem, which restored the Permanent Diaconate in the Latin Church in 1967, Pope Paul VI reminds us that "Beginning already in the early days of the Apostles, the Catholic Church has held in great veneration the sacred order of the diaconate..."
The Permanent Diaconate program at St. Augustine's Seminary continues to form candidates in the four pillars of Human, Spiritual, Pastoral, and Academic formation to fulfill this divine calling. Let us pray, that through the intercession of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence of Rome, God may continue to bless our Deacons, their families, and their lives of ministry as they bring the love and mercy of Christ to those they have been called to serve.
