Catholic Social Tips
It’s the season of priest and deacon ordinations all across the United States.
In my archdiocese of Los Angeles there were 11 priests and eight deacons who were recently ordained.
In Hawaii there were three priests ordained and one seminarian ordained as a transitional deacon — my friend Larry Denis III.
I first met Larry when he was serving as an administrator at Annunciation Catholic Church in Waimea on Hawaii island, and he invited me to present on Catholic social media in 2017. Two years later he began his journey to becoming a priest. I first wrote about his journey in June of 2021: hawaiicatholicherald.com/2021/06/09/sherry-hayes-peirce-the-seed-of-a-vocation-sprouts
Larry grew up in Hilo, receiving his sacraments at his home parish of St. Joseph. His call to the priesthood first surfaced during a Basic Christian Community retreat for young adults on Oahu. It was during this retreat that he first met Fathers Konelio Faletoi and Stephen Macedo, both Hawaii island pastors, who would become mentors and role models to him.
He put aside the call to the priesthood to attend college and work in young adult ministry. After graduating he became a teacher, and for 15 years the call lay dormant.
Then one day in November 2017, he revealed to Father Macedo that he was considering the permanent diaconate.
Father Macedo’s response was that Larry was still single with no children, so he should discern the priesthood instead.
As a seminarian, he served as a reporter from World Youth Day 2023 in Portugal and shared an awesome account with Hawaii Catholic Herald readers.
Through the years he has shared through his Facebook page his milestone experiences of formation, so that we could be with him when he was installed as a lector and acolyte and at his candidacy Mass.
On June 9 Larry, now Deacon Denis, took a huge step toward priesthood as Bishop Larry Silva ordained him to the transitional diaconate at St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea. The Mass was livestreamed through St. Elizabeth’s YouTube page and is available online at www.youtube.com/live/j5Rgd6W5rM8
As our connection began with him coming to see me speak at RE Congress (a multiday conference in Los Angeles aimed at boosting fellowship, faith and spiritual growth) and his following my personal social media and parish pages that I manage, it is wonderful to see that the next generation of priests will be social media savvy!
The patron saint for priests is St. John Vianney and his feast day is Aug. 4, but because it is on a Sunday it will not be celebrated this year. Save that date to attend Mass and lift Deacon Denis up in prayer. Encourage your parishes to add priests in formation to the prayer of the faithful that day.
Our church needs more priests and those in service need your prayers as they increasingly are responsible for more than one parish. Here is a prayer for priests to offer daily.
Prayer for priests
Gracious and loving God, we thank you for the gift of our priests.
Through them, we experience your presence in the sacraments.
Help our priests to be strong in their vocation.
Set their souls on fire with love for your people.
Grant them the wisdom, understanding and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
Inspire them with the vision of your kingdom.
Give them the words they need to spread the Gospel.
Allow them to experience joy in their ministry.
Help them to become instruments of your divine grace.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as our eternal priest. Amen.
(U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)
Sherry Hayes-Peirce is a Catholic social media consultant based in Southern California.
