Ordination to the diaconate
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The journey to the priesthood continues for seminarian James Thomson, who will be ordained to the diaconate in Adelaide next month.
James, who is currently undertaking a placement in the Mount Gambier and Millicent parishes, will be ordained by Archbishop Patrick O’Regan at 10am on Saturday September 3 in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral.
Announcing the ordination date last month, Archbishop O’Regan encouraged the faithful to keep James in their prayers and to pray for many more to follow in his footsteps.
He said that following his ordination and a short break, James, 43, would return to Saint John XXIII Seminary in Boston to complete the requirements necessary for priestly ordination, which would “God willing, occur sometime after his return to us in May 2023”.
After much discernment James quit his job as a credit analyst and in 2018 headed to the USA to study alongside other mature aged seminarians.
A year later, when he returned to Adelaide for the holiday break he told The Southern Cross it had been the “best year of my life”.
“I’d never experienced seminary life and never been to a seminary before but straight away I found it was comforting,” he said.
“I hit the ground running and fell into the rhythm of life quite easily, and have really enjoyed the program that fosters the human, spiritual, academic and pastoral formation.”
A long standing parishioner at St Martin de Porres Church at Hallett Cove, James added it had been “eye opening” to witness the universal Catholic Church from the other side of the world.
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