Seminarian Dennis Stameza, to be ordained a deacon on May 11th

May 3, 2024 — (Wilmington, Delaware) — Mr. Dennis Stameza, a seminarian in formation for the diocesan priesthood for the Diocese of Wilmington, will be ordained to the transitional diaconate by the Most Reverend William E. Koenig, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at St. John the Beloved Church, 907 Milltown Road, Wilmington, Delaware, it was announced recently. The ordination is scheduled to be live-streamed on the St. John the Beloved Parish YouTube channel.

Mr. Stameza, age 32, was born in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania and attended Kelamfua Secondary School in Rombo, Tanzania; Lyamungo High School in Moshi, Tanzania; St. Anthony of Padua Major Seminary in Ntungamo Bukoba, Tanzania and St. Charles Lwanga – Segerea Major Seminary in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is currently pursuing graduate studies at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland. He spent the summer of 2021 assigned to ministry at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Bear, Delaware, and his pastoral year, 2022 – 2023, at St. John the Beloved Parish in Wilmington.

“I am ready to preach the Gospel to everyone, and to serve my diocese,” Mr. Stameza said recently. “I feel great and am ready for my ordination to diaconate ministry.”

The diaconate is a ministry rooted deeply in scriptural accounts of the early Church.  The word “deacon” comes from the Greek word diakonia, which means, “to serve.”  There are two types of deacons in the Catholic Church, those who are ordained to the order and remain in it (permanent deacons) and those who are ordained to the order on their way to priestly ordination (transitional deacons). Mr. Stameza is on track to be ordained to the Priesthood in 2025.

More information about the Diocese of Wilmington’s efforts to increase vocations-awareness and to work with people who may have priestly or religious vocations is available by contacting the Rev. Norman Carroll, Director of Priestly and Religious Vocations at 302-573-3113 or [email protected]. More information is available at www.cdow.org/vocations.

The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington was established in 1868 and comprises 56 parishes, 18 missions and 29 schools serving the State of Delaware and the nine counties of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.  Information is available at www.cdow.org.

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Contact: Bob Krebs
302-573-3116
[email protected]