The Diocese of Sale welcomed its newest deacon with the ordination of Stanly Devasia at St Mary’s Cathedral on September 22. He was ordained by Bishop of Sale Pat O’Regan. The diocese now has three transitional deacons but this will be short-lived as the other two will be ordained priests in the next three months. Deacon Devasia will be ordained a priest late next year.
The new deacon is 32-years old and was born in Kerala, India. His parents, a brother, sister and his uncle Fr Mathew Joseph TOR travelled from India to attend the ordination. Deacon Devasia said he had been drawn to the priesthood at an early age and at 15 he joined the Franciscan junior seminary and studied for his novitiate with the Third Order Regulars, the same order as his uncle who was serving temporarily in Sale Diocese at the time. After taking his first vows as a Franciscan, he continued studies for four years, majoring in chemistry.
He said that before taking his final vows, he left the Franciscans and studied business and corporate governance, but at the end of those studies found that the call to be a priest was still strong. Around this time he met then Bishop of Sale Christopher Prowse who was in India looking for suitable candidates to study in Melbourne to become priests for Sale Diocese.
He said the decision to come to the diocese was made easier by his uncle’s good experiences here and the fact that a cousin had come a year earlier to study at the seminary. That cousin, Deacon Avinash George who is now serving in Sale, will become a priest on January 5 when he is ordained back in India where his many family members can attend. Bishop O’Regan and several clergy and seminarians from Sale Diocese will also travel to the ceremony. The next ordination in Sale will be when Deacon Hiep Nguyen is ordained a priest at St Mary’s Cathedral on December 15.
