Peter Van Lieshout of Livonia in Livingston County chanted the Gospel at the Christmas midnight Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Peter, a seminarian in the Rochester Diocese, was ordained a transitional deacon this past October and ministers at Saint Matthew’s parish in Livonia. He will be ordained a priest in Rochester, New York this coming June.
See a clip of Deacon Van Lieshout chanting the Gospel at the Papal Christmas mid-night Mass at the Vatican.
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Thank you, Bernie, for posting this extraordinary participation by Deacon Peter in the Midnight Mass with the Pope. I’m sure this will be one of the memories of a lifetime.
After such a wondrous experience, we might ponder how one re-enters daily life. Well, this morning at St. Bridget’s Church in Bloomfield, Fr. Peter Mottola celebrated Mass with the same Deacon Peter Lieshout assisting, just 2 days after that glorious midnight Mass! And here, in a little country church with a dozen or more people in attendance, we had the same deacon reading from the same Holy Scriptures, who had just chanted the Gospel to the Pope and to the whole world. Isn’t this one of the blessings of our faith? That the Good News is available to be heard in the most elegant and in the most humble circumstances, in full catholicity? It seemed a poignant reminder of our oneness in fully sharing in all Christ’s gifts.
I was brought up in Rochester & attended St Salome’s School in the 40’s. My parents moved us to San Jose, CA, when I graduated from grammar school. I am now retired in St. Louis, but want to know what’s happening in the Rochester Diocese so I watch this blog faithfully. I was overjoyed by the news of the new Bishop. Please give your readers up-to-the minute reporting on his installation, etc. Thank you.