Two New Western Rite Ordinations

The Newly Ordained Servants of God
Bp. ANTOUN Ordains Dn. Christopher Nerreau to the Priesthood	Fr. Nerreau and Fr. Kenneth DeVoie, with Bp. ANTOUN

We send our heartfelt best wishes to the newest Western Rite Orthodox priests ordained in the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate. Two ordinations, to the diaconate and the priesthood, took place this weekend. As I reported two weeks ago, the former Charismatic Episcopal Church priest Fr. Ken DeVoie and the former CEC deacon Chris Nerreau were scheduled to be ordained to the diaconate on Friday, November 21, and to the priesthood on Saturday, November 22, at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester, Massachusetts. Fr. Kenneth will care for Emmanuel Orthodox Church in Warren, Massachusetts; and Fr. Christopher will tend St. Stephen's Orthodox Church in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Their ordinations come a little more than one month after the members of their churches, numbering more than 100 souls, were chrismated into the Holy Orthodox Church on October 18. You can see pictures of the chrismation service here.

We all send our best wishes to the Rev. Father Kenneth M. DeVoie and the Rev. Father Christopher Nerreau. Axios! Mustahek! They are worthy! May God grant them both a long and fruitful ministry.

Murder in an Indian Orthodox Church

It appears a man opened fire in an Indian Orthodox Church in Clifton, New Jersey, killing two people and wounding others. The news account says the suspect, 27-year-old Joseph M. Pallipurath of Sacramento, California, violated his estranged wife's restraining order and tracked her down in New Jersey. When she refused to leave with her husband, who reportedly abused her, he opened fire in the vestibule of St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church during Divine Liturgy.

He remains on the loose as of this writing.

His father is begging him to turn himself in. The same story talks about how waves of parishoners protected their priest, risking their own lives to save him. What a touching sign of their faith.

The cousin of the second victim counseled the gunman, "Turn yourself in." He added Pallipurath "has to get his punishment, whether it's from the justice system or from God."

May God lay to rest those who have died, and bring this man to justice. Justice, as the young man in today's news story states, awaits us all, whether at man's hand or that of God. Lord have mercy.

(I'm certain someone somewhere will interpret this charity toward a non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Christian as "proof" of my apostasy and write some rambling blog post against it. Let them. A shooting in any church is an abomination, especially one like this.)

Update: Federal marshals captured Pallipurath in the Atlanta, Georgia, area on November 24. I saw a bulletin on television around 9:30 p.m. Pacific time.