CHARLESTON—Kathleen Fryml struggled to express the joy she felt as she watched her son Andrew’s ordination to transitional diaconate, though in the end, she didn’t need to say anything.
“She never cries, not even on our wedding day,” said Jady Fryml, who sat beside his wife as she uselessly attempted to control the tears streaming down her face shortly before the celebration held at Blessed Sacrament Church.
“We’re just so proud for him,” Mrs. Fryml said. “We’re honored and humbled that God called on our son. Andrew knows he’s in the right place.”
This was special not only for the Frymls, but also the hundreds of family, friends and supporters who came to celebrate with them. Most stayed following the ordination to personally congratulate the diocese’s newest deacon at a reception in the parish hall.
“I would like to thank everyone for coming this evening,” Deacon Fryml said during the reception. “This is a celebration not only for the ordination, but also for this parish and especially for the Diocese of Charleston that we celebrate a coming together to love the Lord and to know that just as I am being sent out to the vineyard, all of us by our baptism are being called.”
Some 20 priests joined Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone for the ordination, including Father Trung Nguyen, rector at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, Texas, where Fryml just completed his third year of theological studies. Several seminarians were also present.
