CHARLOTTE — Special prie-dieu, or kneelers, that will be given to the two men being ordained priests for the Diocese of Charlotte were on display at churches including St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte prior to the ordination of Deacon Jacob Mlakar and Deacon Jonathan Torres to the priesthood.
The kneelers are commissioned each year for the ordinands by the lay apostolate Mary’s Sons.
Typically, the kneelers travel around the diocese, enabling the faithful to pray for the men and sign journals conveying their well-wishes.
— SueAnn Howell, Catholic News Herald
A SHARED MINISTRY
Deacon Miguel and Ana SebastianCHARLOTTE — For the past 36 years, the Diocese of Charlotte has been blessed with men who have been committed to serving the Church as permanent deacons. They, along with their wives, have led countless ministries serving to educate the faithful and to assist the poor, the sick, the homeless, the refugee and the imprisoned.
To date, 117 deacons have been ordained by the four bishops of the diocese.
Two deacons among those celebrating special anniversaries this year, recently shared insights about the life of a deacon in the Church as they and their wives live out their vocations.
Deacon Miguel and Ana Sebastian serve at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Morganton.
The Sebastians are the parents of three children who were very young when Deacon Sebastian entered diaconate formation in 2009. The couple admits it was a sacrifice to juggle the formation and the busy life of a young family, but they say God always found a way for them to attend formation classes.
“During those years our three children were still little and it wasn’t easy to leave them by themselves at home,” Deacon Sebastian says. “It was one of the difficulties for us as parents, and the diaconate formation as well was difficult.
“But I thank God for my lovely wife, Ana, who was so positive and helpful in my life. She worked very hard with me during this process of discernment and formation to the diaconate ministry.”
He was ordained on May 31, 2014, by Bishop Peter Jugis.
Deacon Sebastian assists his pastor, Father Ken Whittington, at Mass, proclaiming the Gospel in English and in Spanish.
“I love my ministries,” he says. “I like preaching the Word of God. I also take care for the sick and teach the truth about our faith to candidates in the RCIA program in Spanish.”
Ana embraces her role as support to her husband and her parish.
“I pray a lot. That is one of my strongest things I do. I pray for him,” she says. “I pray for what God wants for him and to let it happen. I always tell Miguel, ‘If that is what God wants, let it be done. Not our will. Let God work through you.’”
Deacon Sebastian says his additional ministry is in the Hispanic community, where the Lord is using him in many different ways such as preaching and accompanying people through their sorrows and difficulties.
“My wife and I are so grateful in serving the Lord in this capacity, because God has strengthened our faith and our marriage as well. The Lord has been blessing us abundantly.”
Deacon Sebastian encourages more men to discern this vocation in the Church, he says, “because the Lord needs men to say yes to Him.”
Deacon Daniel and Linda Hoffert serve at St. Margaret Mary Church in Swannanoa and are celebrating the 15th anniversary of his diaconal ordination.
Deacon Hoffert was ordained for the Diocese of Raleigh on Nov. 12, 2004, by Bishop Joseph Gossman – that diocese’s first class of deacons.
He and Linda have five children who, when they began the formation process, ranged from a toddler to a high school student. He was working for IBM as an engineer and Linda was a full-time elementary school teacher. Both were extremely active in parish ministries, marriage preparation and RCIA particularly.
“At that time we were building our third house, and we had three children in sports,” Deacon Hoffert adds. “At the time of discernment there were 150 men who had applied to the new deacon formation program, and they accepted 14 men this first class of deacons.”
The Hofferts moved to the Charlotte diocese in 2014, and since then they have continued to serve tirelessly at their parish in Swannanoa.
Deacon Daniel and Linda Hoffert When asked what it has been like to serve the Church, Deacon Hoffert admits that, since his ordination, “it is different for Linda sitting in the pew without me, as we have always attended Mass together from the time we married. But other than that, things have not really changed much because we always were closely involved with our church community.”
Since going through the diaconate formation together, he said, he and Linda “are much better educated in our Catholic faith and traditions. We also enjoy the sharing with the rest of the deacon community,” he says.
“God did an excellent job of matching us up back when we first met in 10th grade in high school, and we have enjoyed our life together through the good times and the hard times,” Deacon Hoffert says. “We are able to share more prayer time now than in the past, as we have more free time to do so without our child-rearing obligations.”
In their service to the Church, they say they “have met many great Christian people, sharing their witness to Christ in the world. It is clear faith is neither dead nor dying in the world. Being a deacon gives us access and the ability to share with others in the hope we can strengthen them on their life’s journey.”
Deacon Hoffert also believes that in life the times which seem the most difficult yield the greatest rewards. “God loves the servant and as He told the disciples when He washed their feet, the servant was the greatest, not the one being served. To be a deacon is to be a servant for God before all other things.”
He advises men interested in pursuing a vocation to the diaconate to apply. “The Church will help you discern if this is right for you,” he says.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
Ritcheys say diaconal ministry has brought them closer in marriage
KERNERSVILLE — Deacon Tim and Rory Ann Ritchey of Holy Cross Church are celebrating 30 years of ministry to the Church this year.
Deacon Tim Ritchey went through formation for the permanent diaconate from 1985 to 1989 at a seminary in Denver, Colo. At the time, he and his wife Rory Ann had two boys, one married and one in high school. Both he and Rory Ann also owned their own businesses, he a financial company and Rory Ann an interior decorating company.
“Working full time, attending classes and doing homework” was challenging, Deacon Ritchey recalls, as well as making time for their family. “Rory Ann attended all the classes with me,” he notes.
But they successfully completed the formation process, and he was ordained on June 24, 1989, by Denver Archbishop J. Francis Stafford.
Deacon Ritchey served the Denver Archdiocese until moving to the Diocese of Charlotte in 2004, where he serves at Holy Cross Parish. Over the years, he has served the Church in numerous ways – baptismal preparation, RCIA, marriage preparation, nursing home and hospital visits, funeral services – as well as serving in prison ministry and as a police chaplain, and in ministry to the deaf.
Serving the Church as a married couple, the Ritcheys say, has strengthened their marriage.
“It has brought us closer, if that was possible,” Deacon Ritchey says. “We only knew each other seven months when we got married 52 years ago because my squadron had orders for Vietnam.”
Their Catholic faith, and their hands-on ministry to the People of God, “has got us through family issues with our children and grandchildren, work issues, and health issues with me being in a wheelchair for eight years,” Deacon Ritchey says.
“We love the people. We are really close and loved by the people at Holy Cross and we love them. They are our family.”
What advice do they have for couples in the Church who may be discerning this vocation and service to the Church?
“Wives need to be supportive, as it’s a couples ministry,” he says. “The men in my class whose wives didn’t support them did not make it through formation.”
Related story: Witulskis encourage people to rely on the Holy Spirit as one’s guide in life
Wives of deacons: Ordinary women, extraordinary lives
The unsung hero of a married man who is called to the diaconate is the wife of the permanent deacon. We sometimes lose sight of the role she plays both within the family and as part of the ministry of her deacon husband.
It is worth the time to reflect on her calling to be the wife, the mother, and the woman behind the deacon. In journeying with her husband, through formation and as an ordained deacon, she shares in the joys, sorrows, challenges and blessings of diaconate life within the vocation of married life.
As stated in “The Deacon Wife’s Prayer,” when she says “yes” to her husband being ordained a deacon, she says “yes” to supporting and sharing him with those he is called to serve. In prayer she seeks God. Through God, the wife seeks help in understanding her own gifts, and in how the Lord is calling her to use those gifts within her family and in her own calling to love and serve others as Jesus did.
As we see within our own deacon couple community, there is a realization that there is no single model or role that a wife follows. Each wife must determine through prayer and reflection what her response to her husband’s role as a deacon is going to be.
Circumstances are always different for each couple and the needs of their families. At times, a wife is already quite active in formal ministry before her husband ever becomes a deacon. In other cases, a wife is drawn into a form of team ministry with her husband. While in still others, the wife chooses not to exercise any sort of public ministry.
In every case the deacon couple – husband and wife – find their own unique response to the diaconate in their lives. With prayer, God calls married couples to a life of diaconal service rewarding to husband, wife and family.
— Deacon John Martino. Excerpts included from USCCB Publication No. 5-617.
The Deacon Wife’s Prayer
Lord, I said “yes” when my husband was ordained a deacon. The “yes” meant my support, my love, my sharing him as he serves our brothers and sisters. Thank you for our marriage and our life together. I ask for Your help in my supporting him in his service to others as a deacon. I know You love me, Lord, as Your unique creation. You have gifted me in many ways. Help me to know my gifts and to use them wherever You desire – within my family circle, and in this world when I am called to love and serve others as Jesus did.
Amen.