Br. Daniel Lydon took one step closer to the priesthood after being ordained on Sunday as a transitional deacon. 
Bishop Francis Kane performed the ordination during a regular Sunday Mass at St. Anselm Church on Chicago’s South side, and Fr. Thomas von Behren, CSV, provincial, also presided.
Br. Lydon joined three classmates from Catholic Theological Union — all members of the Society of the Divine Word — in being ordained as deacons.
“It’s one of the major orders toward ordination,” says Fr. Lawrence Lentz, CSV, assistant provincial of the Viatorians. “As a transitional deacon, he can preach, baptize and witness marriages. It’s part of his transition toward the priesthood.”
Br. Lydon took his final vows as a Viatorian — poverty, chastity and obedience — last year, some 40 years after he graduated from Saint Viator High School, and 20 years after he returned to his alma mater to teach Spanish and eventually join the administration.
He now will continue his seminarian studies at CTU for the next several months while serving as deacon at St. Viator Church, Chicago under the direction of Fr. Charles Bolser, CSV, pastor.
Br. Lydon looks forward to his ordination to the priesthood which is planned for June, 2015.