With families, friends and parishioners looking on, the 53 men preparing for the permanent diaconate in the Santa Barbara Region --- gathered March 29 to celebrate their Call to Candidacy --- were urged to proclaim the presence of Jesus in all that they say and do.

"As you go forth in your preparation," Santa Barbara Region Bishop Thomas Curry told the men at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Santa Barbara, "you will spend much time preparing homilies. But even more important is the preparation of the homilist. That means, we are called to preach who we are and what we are."

And "what we are," the bishop said, is a people of love.

"We preach what we know," he said, "and what we know is that God loves us, and that is the message with which we must begin our ministry. God loves us for who we are, not because we are worthy, not because we earn it, not because of what we do. God has made a covenant with us, that he will love us no matter what.

"It is not like a mortgage that can be repossessed, any more than you can repossess your children when they become disruptive. "God never says, 'Go away, you've failed.' God calls us to him, sustains us in times of difficulty, and draws us together to him in confidence and love. God's love is always with us, and that is the covenant which we are called to proclaim to the people we serve."

The Mass --- celebrated with many of the 24 pastors from the parishes represented by this group --- marked the halfway point in the candidates' four-year formation process toward their ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacon at the start of summer of 2011. This year the men will begin more in-depth study of social issues which will include involvement in homeless ministry, according to Deacon Ed Mills, director of Diaconate Formation for the Santa Barbara Pastoral Region.

During the third year of diaconate formation, Jesuits from Loyola Marymount University, Santa Clara University and the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley will be joining the seminary faculty of St. John's in teaching the classes.

"The candidates will also incorporate liturgical practicums, the Corporal Works of Mercy Field Assignments --- such as working with the homeless, working in the hospitals and jails, and taking on a limited number of parish assignments as needed by their pastors," said Mills. "During their third year, they will receive the Institution of Reader, and at the start of their fourth year will receive the Institution of Acolyte."

Last Sunday's Gospel --- in which Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast asked the apostle Philip to show them Jesus --- offered a timely lesson for the deacon candidates, said Bishop Curry.

"People will ask you, much like the Greeks asked Philip, 'We would like you to show us Jesus,'" he said. "They will not come to you vain. I have walked with you, I've read carefully what you have written, seen what you have done, and I am very impressed, and edified by the trials and tribulations you have experienced yourselves in seeking the Lord. Let us continue to have the confidence to know that God always is with us."

The Santa Barbara Region candidates for the diaconate in 2011:

Deanery 1:
La Purisima Concepción, Lompoc: Jeffrey Braxton, Fernando Calderon, Miguel Marquez, Paul Nicastro, Jesus Rico. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Guadalupe: Sergio Bernal. Queen of Angels, Lompoc: Michael Lujan. St. John Neumann, Santa Maria: Jose Garcia, Jose Ojeda. St. Louis De Montfort, Santa Maria: Christopher Boerger, Alfredo Espinoza, Antonio Mejia, Robert Schaefer. St. Mary of the Assumption, Santa Maria: Dennis Pearson, Steven Pent.

Deanery 2:
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Santa Barbara: Francisco Bautista, Ricardo Fierro, Falk Gosdschan. Our Lady of Sorrows, Santa Barbara: Roberto González, David Munoz, Paul Rayas.

Deanery 3:
Mary Star of the Sea, Oxnard: Alfonso Flores. Our Lady of the Assumption, Ventura: Daniel Bojorquez, Michael Burns, Don Huntley, Philip Joerger, Jose Gonzalez. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Santa Paula: Jason Miller. Sacred Heart, Ventura-Saticoy: Philip Conforti, Humberto Guzman. St. Anthony, Oxnard: Andrew Cottam. St. Francis of Assisi, Fillmore: Raymond Rodriguez. St. Thomas Aquinas, Ojai: Joaquin Lara. Santa Clara, Oxnard: Jerome Bettencourt, Vincent Crawford, Leonardo Lacbain.

Deanery 4:
Blessed Junipero Serra, Camarillo: Genaro Gacasan, Luc Papillon. Holy Cross, Moorpark: Eduardo Castillo, Patrick Coulter, Derrel Craig, Dennis Fleming, Michael Kromm, Joseph Tumbarello. St. Julie Billiart, Newbury Park: Joseph Bond, Claudio Selame. St. Paschal Baylon, Thousand Oaks: David Lawrence. St. Mary Magdalen, Camarillo: George Esseff Jr., Randal Wendt. St. Maximilian Kolbe, Westlake Village: Christopher Laliberte. St. Peter Claver, Simi Valley: Melecio Zamora. St. Rose of Lima, Simi Valley: Thomas Armbruster, Edward Posvar.