FAYETEVILLE--As the last step before he becomes a priest, seminarian Liam Coyne was ordained a transitional deacon on Jan. 4 at the Church of St. Gabriel by Archbishop John F. Donoghue.

Rev. Mr. Coyne, who is 29-years-old, was born in Liverpool, England, but his family moved to Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland, when he was a child.

He studied philosophy and theology for four years with the religious order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate at Miltown Institute in Dublin. In 1995 he worked as an addiction counselor and fundraiser at a counseling center in Dublin while studying business and economics at Trinity College.

He was recruited by Msgr. Don Kenny, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and in the summer of 1996 came to Atlanta to work at St. Theresa Church in Douglasville.

Coyne went back to Dublin in order to complete his theology degree at Miltown, and returned to Georgia permanently this past summer to work at St. Gabriel.

"I am really thrilled that I chose this place," he said. "I really could have gone anywhere, but I love Atlanta."

Rev. Mr. Coyne said that he is currently working with the youth and trying to learn as much as he can about the parish.

"Right now I'm really just familiarizing myself with the different types of ministry that they have here at St. Gabriel's, because there is so much," he said. "I've also been working with the Life Teen program."

Rev. Mr. Coyne is scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood this June 13.

"I am looking forward to it, but I am a little sad, because that means I will have to leave St. Gabriel," he said. "The support I got before, during and after my diaconate was so great. The people here are really wonderful."