Seminarian Matthew Kuna will be ordained a Transitional Deacon – the final step before Ordination to the Priesthood – at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 15, at the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena.
The Ordination will be livestreamed on AD Today, and on the diocesan Facebook and YouTube channels. Because of social distancing requirements, personal attendance will be by invitation only.
The Sacrament of Ordination will be administered by Bishop Alfred Schlert, in the presence of Kuna’s family, friends and fellow seminarians.
Kuna, 27, has been studying at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philadelphia. His Master of Arts thesis – appropriate during this Year of the Real Presence in the Diocese – examines the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Eucharist (transubstantiation) and the implications of an erroneous attempt to explain the Real Presence another way (transignification).
Transubstantiation – the belief that the bread and wine are sacramentally changed in substance to the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the words of Consecration by the Priest – is Catholic doctrine. This presence of Christ – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – is what we are celebrating in this Year of the Real Presence.
Transignification is an incorrect alternative explanation. It holds that Christ’s Body and Blood are not substantially present to the degree that our faith requires, and that the true significance of the Sacrament is in its experience by the person who receives it. Transignification has been rejected by the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Catholic Church.
Kuna attended St. Thomas More School, graduated from Bethlehem Catholic High School, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, with a concentration on Spanish and English as a Second Language, from Kutztown University, before hearing the call to the Priesthood and entering the seminary.
He is a son of Anne and Mark Kuna, and has two brothers, Ryan and Scott. The Priesthood runs in his family – his maternal grandmother’s three brothers were Catholic priests.
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