By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 10/21/04)

Daniel Hanley was ordained a deacon Oct. 7 at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican by Bishop J. Peter Sartain of Little Rock, Ark.

"We have asked God to send workers into the field and he has answered our prayers," the bishop said at the ordination ceremony.

Hanley was one of 12 men from the Pontifical North American College to be ordained a transitional deacon.

Hanley graduated from Thomas Dale High School in Chester, Va., and from the University of Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in history. During his years of undergraduate study, Hanley said he "basically stopped practicing" his religion. It wasn’t until a friend invited him to Mass — where there were pretty girls — that Hanley began his journey back to his faith. While lured there by girls, during the consecration Hanley was reminded of all he was taught as a child, and recognized Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist.

"I felt the deep peace of coming home at the end of a long and difficult trip," Hanley said. "At the time of this sudden renewal of my faith, I was not sure what was going on with me; but I knew for certain that I was going to be back at Mass."

After college, he taught history at a Catholic high school for two years before working as a staff member at the U.S. Senate.

It was during this period after graduation that Hanley began to think about pursuing a religious vocation, but he dismissed the idea at first because it "conflicted with my idea of the plan God had for me — with what I wanted to do," Hanley said. "I was happy with my career and its prospects, and I had a strong desire for a wife and family."

Hanley’s father, seeing his son’s struggle, told him to "stay close to God through prayer and the sacraments and ‘do what you will’ trusting that God would reveal His will," Hanley said.

He continued what he thought was the path he should follow and entered law school while continuing to work on Capitol Hill.

It was toward the end of his first year of law school that Hanley, while praying at Mass one day, "received a clear invitation from God to enter the seminary."

Hanley, one of six children, has four brothers and a sister. He said he was raised in a "wonderful Catholic home."

"My parents truly raised us in the faith, teaching us both through their words and, more importantly, through the example of their good lives," he said.

Handley’s parents and brothers were all in Rome for his deaconate ordination. His sister was not there because she is expecting her second child.

"It is a gift from God and it is a privilege that one of my sons has been called by God for this vocation," said Hanley’s mother, Loretta Hanley.

Diocesan Vocations Director Father Brian Bashista also attended the ordination.