PHILADELPHIA >> As permenant deacons in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Deacon Patrick Kelly and Deacon Thomas Taylor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Collingdale are called on to serve wherever there is a need.
However, it came as a surprise when they were among 28 deacons selected by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput to serve Holy Communion in the sanctuary during the Papal Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway Sept. 27.
The deacons will hold a ciborium of hosts and a chalice of wine for the priests and the bishops who will come to take Holy Communion, Taylor said during a recent phone interview.
There will be hundreds of deacons from within the Archdiocese and beyond that will serve Holy Communion to the lay people out in the crowd, he said.
“On my bucket list I always wanted to go to Rome and serve Papal Mass and I don’t think that will happen, so it’s like that bucket list has come to me,” Taylor said. “This opportunity came out of the blue and it’s a gift from God.”
For Kelly, the opportunity to participate in the Papal Mass and share it with his family is a gift too. His wife Sandra and his daughters Kayla, 20, and Brianna, 19, will be watching from a crowd of an estimated 1.5 million attendee’s anticipated for the event.
“I will have my whole family in Philadelphia for the Festival of Families and the Papal Mass,” he said with a smile on his face at the World Meeting of Families Congress Tuesday afternoon. “There are a lot of people who aren’t blessed with a really good family and it’s heartbreaking to see the breakup of families these days. I hope through events like this, people will aspire to have families. It’s a good path in life.”
The deacons have declared this a once-in-a-life-time experience, and they hope to get a good look at the Holy Father during the mass, and perhaps, even have an opportunity to meet him.
“As deacons we are servants and we will go wherever the Archbishop sends us without question,” Kelly said. “I’m honored he sent me to the Papal Mass. Things like this don’t happen often, so you got to be happy when it does.”
