Detroit — Four seminarians — who hope to become next year’s priestly ordination class — were raised to the order of deacon April 16 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

Retired Auxiliary Bishop Francis R. Reiss ordained transitional Deacons John Bettin, Matthew Hood, Andrew Dawson and Craig Marion during a morning liturgy in the seminary’s chapel. The four men have completed their third year of theology studies at the seminary and will spend the summer serving in parish internships before returning to complete their studies in the fall.

Deacon Bettin, of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Lake Orion, will serve his internship at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish in Beverly Hills; Deacon Hood, also of St. Joseph the Worker, will serve at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Grosse Pointe Shores; Deacon Dawson, of Guardian Angels Parish in Clawson, will serve at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Livonia; Deacon Marion, of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Madison Heights, will serve at St. Mary, Queen of Creation Parish in New Baltimore.

If all goes well, the new deacons will be ordained priests for the archdiocese in 2017.

In addition to those four, four other seminarians from Sacred Heart will be ordained transitional deacons for other dioceses. Deacon Jared Holzhuter was ordained for the Diocese of Madison, Wis., on April 1; Deacon Patrick Setto was ordained for the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle on April 30; Joseph Campbell and Anthony Smela will be ordained for the Diocese of Lansing on June 10.

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron will ordain five current transitional deacons — Deacons Paul Graney, Dominic Macioce, Kevin Roelant, Timothy Wezner and David Tomaszycki — to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Detroit on May 14 at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Look for a preview in the next issue of The Michigan Catholic.