“‘Come, Follow Me.’ It was the Lord Jesus calling us … It was a call that came to us from without, but also one that arose up within us, as from His Spirit.” (Constitution 1:1-4)

Such are the words which begin the Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross.

This past weekend, the Congregation celebrated the Profession of Final Vows and the reception into the Order of Deacon by Brian Christopher Ching, CSC., Mark Francis DeMott, CSC, and Jarrod Michael Waugh, CSC, three men who heard God’s call and responded with heartfelt assent.

“We wished to abandon all to follow Christ. We learned in time that we still had it within ourselves to hold back. We wish to be wholehearted yet we are hesitant. Still, like the first disciples we know that He will draw us along and reinforce our loyalties if we yield to Him.” (Constitution 1:8)

Exemplifying the diversity of the Church, Ching, DeMott, and Waugh each come from different backgrounds, yet share the common experience of formation in Holy Cross.

Ching was born in Flushing, New York and attended Holy Cross High School, which is sponsored by the Holy Cross Brothers. It was there that he met Holy Cross religious for the first time and was later convinced to attend Notre Dame, eventually entering the Old College Undergraduate Seminary as a sophomore.

A native of Holland, Michigan, DeMott first encountered the Congregation on a confirmation retreat held at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House, where he heard Fr. Steve Gibson, CSC, speak about his missionary work in East Africa. DeMott would go on to receive an undergraduate degree from Notre Dame.

Growing up in Labette County in Kansas, Waugh came to know of Holy Cross during his undergraduate days at Notre Dame. Having participated in Campus Ministry and in the Knights of Columbus, he lived in Keough Hall for two years before entering Old College.

Each of the three men initially struggled to discern their respective vocations, but experienced a gradual sense of peace at the idea of becoming a Holy Cross religious. Their formation at Moreau Seminary and at the Holy Cross Novitiate led them to serve in various apostolates from religious education in South Bend, hospital chaplaincy in Colorado Springs, and, as in the case of DeMott, missionary work in Jinja, Uganda. After their respective novitiate years, Ching, DeMott, and Waugh entered the Congregation by professing, for the first time, vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, vows which they then renewed twice over the span of obtaining their Master of Divinity degrees at Notre Dame. During their years of formation, they had been awaiting one singular event by which they would make their commitment to the Congregation a lasting one: Final Vows.

“We pronounce our vows in a moment, but living them for the sake of the kingdom is the work of a lifetime. That fulfillment demands of us more than the mere wish, more even than the firm decision. It demands the conversion of our habits, our character, our attitudes, our desires.” (Constitution 6:57)

Last Saturday, amidst a sea of pews filled with family members, friends, and their brothers in Holy Cross, Ching, DeMott, and Waugh promised to maintain the disciplines of chastity, poverty, and obedience to their newly-elected Provincial Superior of the United States Province, Rev. Thomas J. O’Hara, CSC.

Within the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a church in which hundreds of Holy Cross religious before them had made their final profession, the three men became lifetime members of “a great band of men,” a family which “had passed this way, men who had made and lived by their vows, men who had walked side by side in their following of the Lord” (Constitution 1:5). Community modeled after the Holy Family is a hallmark of Holy Cross, a fraternal union whose objective is to strengthen and support.

During the recitation of the Litany of Saints, the three men lay prostrate on the ground as an expression of humility. When he was lying down with his head to the floor, Ching humorously observed that the first thought to pass through his mind at the time was how the carpet in the Basilica was cleaner than he had imagined.

After the Mass, a reception was held at the Main Building and was followed by a dinner at Moreau Seminary. The celebration would continue well into the next day as the men prepared for their diaconate ordination.

“In the discernment of God’s call we are a brotherhood at the service of the universal church under the pastoral direction of the Pope; and we are no less responsive to the needs of the local churches wherever we live and work. In what regards worship, pastoral ministry and our labor for the kingdom we are under the pastoral authority of the bishops.” (Constitution 5:51)

In the lofty chapel at Moreau Seminary and under the vigilant gaze of the stained glass windows featuring vibrant angels, the Holy Cross community, bolstered by family and friends, gathered once more for the ordination of Ching, DeMott, and Waugh to the Order of Deacon.

Diaconate ordinations are a gift to the entire Church and the Church asks the ORDINANDI (the men to be ordained) to become leaders within the body of Christ.

Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, His Excellency John Michael D’Arcy, presided over the liturgy and exhorted the men to pursue holiness “through their words and their lives,” that they might “ascend through the cross, which is Christ.”

D’Arcy then laid hands on Ching, DeMott, and Waugh, effectively raising them as deacons of the Church, charged with serving her needs by performing baptisms, preaching homilies, and completing other spiritual tasks.

The three men will go on to further the mission of Holy Cross in their assigned diaconate placements. Ching is stationed at St. Joseph’s Parish and Waugh is serving at Christ the King Parish, both of which are in South Bend. DeMott will be returning to the University of Portland, a Holy Cross institution on the West Coast, as a residence hall director.

Regardless of where they will be sent in the future, the three men have no reason to fear. During his homily at Final Vows, O’Hara assured Ching, DeMott, and Waugh that although they would be following in the footsteps of priests and brothers before them, they “would never walk alone.”

“The footsteps of those men who called us to walk in their company left deep prints, as of men carrying heavy burdens. But they did not trudge; they strode. For they had the hope.” (Constitution 8:122)

Contrary to his elaborate name, Prinz Jeremy Llanes Dela Cruz is not some German prince but is a second-year seminarian at Old College and a proud French major. Contact him at pdelacru@nd.edu.