By Thea Jarvis

Surrounded by his family and a small group of close friends, David M. Dye was ordained a transitional deacon of the Catholic Church in a quiet ceremony at the archdiocesan Catholic Center April 4.

“The moment has come,” Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, told Dye and his wife, Chantal, at the start of the morning Mass during which ordination took place. “It is a joyful moment for you” and a “delightful moment as well for me, a moment for the church.”

Reverend Mr. Dye submitted his request for ordination to Catholic priesthood over three years ago. Approval from Rome came just last month. He is the second married former Anglican clergyman to be accepted for priesthood in the archdiocese of Atlanta.

In his homily following the Gospel, Archbishop Lyke likened Reverend Mr. Dye’s patience in awaiting approval for ordination to the resignation required of the prophet Jeremiah.

“This is the conclusion to a long discussion, a long debate, a long dialogue” with Rome, the archbishop said.

As a deacon, Archbishop Lyke said, Dye “now becomes a public person,” one who stands before the people of God and preaches what Jesus requires.

Hoping to be that public person, the archbishop said, undoubtedly caused some wonderment in Rome.

Their questions must have been “Where is this man from?” “Can anyone really come out of Atlanta?” and “Who do those people think they are?” the archbishop said, paraphrasing the scriptures.

Over the three years Reverend Mr. Dye has been waiting, Archbishop Lyke said, Rome’s response has been, “We take our time here.”

In the end, God’s will “manifests itself and triumphs,” he said.

Dye has served as campus minister at Georgia State University for the past three years and will continue in that position after he is ordained a Catholic priest in May.

During his time as a deacon, Reverend Mr. Dye can lead public prayer, officiate at marriages and baptisms and perform works of charity in the name of the bishop or the pastor, Archbishop Lyke explained to the small congregation assembled in the Catholic Center’s St. Francis Chapel.

“He will do the will of God generously,” the archbishop said.

Father Stephen Churchwell, filling in for Vocations Director Father Donald Kenny, presented the deacon candidate to Archbishop Lyke. Father Kenny was attending the ordination of seminarian Patrick Kingery to the order of deacon at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore the same day.

Father John Adamski, who frequently celebrates Mass at Georgia State’s Catholic Student Center, and Father Edward Branch, campus minister at Atlanta University, were vested for the ceremony.

Reverend Mr. Dye’s three children, David, 11, Leslie-Marie, 15, and Gabrielle, 18, joined Mrs. Dye in bringing the offertory gifts to the altar. The family was received into the Catholic Church in December 1988 and has been attending Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Atlanta.

Following the ceremony, Reverend Mr. Dye put a fatherly arm around his son, David, and said he would be his own personal acolyte when he became a priest.

Father Branch, calling the new deacon a “great asset,” said he looked forward to Reverend Mr. Dye’s priestly ordination.

“It’s the culmination of a long search, a long process,” he said, “a happy day for the church and for Georgia State.”

Reverend Mr. Dye will be ordained at Sacred Heart Church in Atlanta on Saturday, May 30 at 10 a.m. Archbishop Lyke will preside and has invited all members of the archdiocese to be present.

The archbishop indicated that, although the St. Francis Chapel was “a packed church this morning,” the celebration would be larger and more elaborate in May, when a reception will follow the ordination.