On Saturday, September 7, Mr. Adam Booth, C.S.C., and Mr. Patrick Reidy, C.S.C., professed Final Vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross. The Mass of Final Profession took place at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, in the United States. Presiding at the Mass and receiving their vows was Rev. Thomas J. O'Hara, C.S.C., the Provincial Superior of the United States Province of Priests and Brothers.

In his homily, Fr. O'Hara preached about how not Booth and Reidy, but all Holy Cross religious are called by the Constitutions to be prophetic sojourners, "to challenge by words and more importantly by actions."

"Yes, being prophetic as you sojourn is not easy but the gospel you chose to be read today reminds you that you did not choose this role, you were chosen for the role," O'Hara said. "And in the second reading you chose, St. Paul reminds us you were chosen despite your weaknesses, doubts or struggles. For as true Holy Cross men we know that when we face the cross in our own lives, it is there we are ironically empowered to move forward with confidence.

"With the power of Christ within you, today you walk, you sojourn in the footsteps of that great band of men who walked before you, the band we call the Congregation of Holy Cross."

The following day, Sunday, September 8, Booth and Reidy were ordained to the Order of Deacon by Most Rev. Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Indianapolis, at the Moreau Seminary Chapel.

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Following their ordination to the diaconate, Booth and Reidy returned to their ministry assignments for the year. Booth is serving on the pastoral team at Holy Cross and St. Stanislaus Parish in South Bend, Indiana, and Reidy is a rector of a residence hall at the University of Notre Dame. Both are scheduled to be ordained priests on Easter Saturday, April 26, 2014.

"It is wonderful to see a man come to a point of confidence in his vocation," said Rev. James Gallagher, C.S.C., the Director of Vocations for the United States Province. "It usually is not fully there when he enters into formation or a seminary, there is only the strong inkling. Yet, over the course of time, through prayer, study, community life, and ministry, Pat and Adam have come to deeply feel God’s call to a complete commitment to the religious life in Holy Cross. Their growth in confidence and their willingness to commit is a beautiful thing indeed."

In a reflection he wrote prior to his Final Profession and Ordination, Booth wrote: "My most important preparation for the coming milestones has been my time spent with the dead: those of our parish and those in Holy Cross’s community cemetery. I am reminded of and reconnected with the God who wipes away all tears and holds me tight as he bids me extend a hand of comfort. I become more conscious of my own mortality and the great gift of everlasting life which alone gives my life meaning. I look around our community cemetery and realize most fully who I am: I am to rest here, with my brothers."