Jesmond Schembri, a sub-deacon at the Greek-Catholic parish of Our Lady of Damascus in Valletta, will be ordained a deacon during a Mass to be celebrated at St Nicholas of Myra (Tal-Erwieħ) church, Merchants Street, Valletta, on Sunday, May 21 at 9am.

The diaconal ordination will take place with the blessing of Archbishop Charles Scicluna and with the laying of the hands of Mgr Manuel Nin, OSB, Apostolic Exarch to Greece and Titular Bishop of Carcabia.

Schembri is married and a father of two. He also has two grandchildren.

In the Byzantine rite, deacons play a very active role in the celebration of the liturgy, and they assist the bishop or priest in the sanctuary and in the midst of the congregation.

The Greek-Catholic Church is part of the Catholic Church, which is made up of 23 different Churches which, despite having different traditions and rites, are in complete and perfect communion with each other and with the papacy in Rome. While the vast majority of Catholics embrace the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic Church, others follow other rites, including the Byzantine one, as in the case of the Greek-Catholic community in Malta.