Pinecrest 2008 Graduate to Be Ordained a Transitional Deacon

Brother Christopher Daniels, 2008 graduate of Pinecrest Academy, will be ordained a transitional deacon on Saturday, August 12, at 11:00am, at St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church in Cumming, GA. The Most Reverend John Nhàn Trần, Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta, will celebrate the diaconate ordination Mass. Upon his ordination, Brother Christopher will preach at the noon Mass at St. Brendan the next day, Sunday, August 13.

The ordination of Br. Christopher as a transitional deacon will mark the last step before his priestly ordination on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in Rome, Italy at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. Upon his ordination in 2024, Br. Daniels will be the first Pinecrest graduate to be ordained a Legionary of Christ priest.

A recent graduate of the Legionaries of Christ International College in Rome, Italy, Br. Christopher will be flying to Atlanta from Barcelona, Spain for his ordination. His new assignment is working with youth in Spain. He will return to Barcelona after his ordination.

Br. Christopher’s vocation journey was an unexpected path for him, though his background set the stage for this eventual decision. He began attending Pinecrest Academy, a private PreK3-12 Catholic school in Cumming, GA, in kindergarten, where received years of formation in the faith from Legionaries at the school. After 13 years at Pinecrest, Br. Daniels graduated in 2008, a member of the second graduating class.

After graduating from Pinecrest Academy, Br. Daniels deferred college to give a year of service to the Catholic Church through Regnum Christi Mission Corps as a co-worker. Mission Corps is a volunteer program affiliate of the Legionaries of Christ. Living and working with the Legionaries, he began to feel called to the priesthood. Not ready to say yes, he gave another year of service, and decided to give God a chance.

After his two years with the Mission Corps, Br. Daniels went to the Novitiate and College of Humanities of the Legionaries of Christ in Cheshire, CT, to participate in the candidacy program, a come-and-see summer at the Legion's novitiate, where young men discern whether they should enter. In 2010 Br. Daniels entered the novitiate for two years, and then studied classical Humanities for two years.

After four years in Cheshire, he moved to Rome, Italy, where he studied Philosophy for three years at the Regina Apostolorum. He then moved back to the United States for an internship in ministry, working at Sacred Heart Apostolic School in Indiana, where he served as a dean of students for three years. He then returned to Rome to Theology for three years. He graduated in June 2023.

“Pinecrest was a big part of my vocation. It was there I received a great formation, in all areas, which gave me the base to be able to follow the call,” says Br. Christopher Daniels. “But, more importantly, it was there that I met and fell in love with Regnum Christi, this way to follow Christ, and identified with so many Legionaries. Without that, I don't think I would have said yes.”