Eleven men were ordained to the permanent diaconate on Saturday, Sept. 7, at St. Monica, Whitefish Bay. (Photo by Greta Taxis)
Saturday, Sept. 7, saw the ordination of 11 men to the permanent diaconate for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
“Recognize that God has called you to serve him and his Church. You do not deserve it, nor could you have earned it. Yet, it was God who saw fit to seek you out and call you to ordained service,” said Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki during his homily at the Mass, which was held at St. Monica Parish in Whitefish Bay. “May you be humbled by his call and view the blessing it represents and give thanks.”
The archbishop acknowledged that the men “might feel inadequate to the task placed before” them. But he urged them to look to the words of Jeremiah: “Do not be afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you.” (Jeremiah 1:8)
“You will measure yourself not by worldly standards but by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which will be reflected in your ordained ministry,” he said.
The diaconate, Archbishop Listecki noted, is dedicated to service.
“In all ordained orders of the Church — deacon, priest and bishop — its beginnings are fashioned in service. Your ordained ministry represents the action of the Church in response to prayer,” he said. “Always make sure that your actions are grounded in prayer, which makes your works a sign of Christ’s love for his Church.”
The diaconate was restored as a permanent ministry of the Church by the Second Vatican Council, and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee ordained its first class of permanent deacons in 1975. Since that time, approximately 315 permanent deacons have been ordained.
Formation is open to men who are between the ages of 30 and 60 at the time of ordination, endorsed by their pastors and supported by their wives if married. The formation period is five years.
Currently, there are about 175 permanent deacons serving in the archdiocese, either active or retired. It’s a number that is expected to remain stable through 2030, wrote Dcn. Jim Starke, Director of Deacon Services for the archdiocese, in the summer newsletter for the Office of Permanent Deacons.
And after 40 years of increasingly older candidates being ordained, the next two classes — including the class of 2024 — have been significantly younger. In fact, five babies were born to men in formation for the permanent diaconate between these two classes.
In his homily, the archbishop specifically thanked the new deacons’ wives, saying the women “will be sharing in your role as deacon.”
“Celebrate (God’s) presence in your married life, which is your first calling,” he said.
In their everyday lives, the new deacons have careers in law, finance, public safety, parish administration and ministry, sales, software, healthcare, insurance and IT. The archbishop spoke of these “diverse gifts” that the new deacons would bring to the altar “in order to present the person of Christ to the communities you will serve.”
“We serve with and for Christ and his Church,” he said. “There is no freelance Christianity. Without his Church, there is no Christ. And without Christ, there is no Church. You, my brothers, will be an instrument of his true Church.”
The new deacon class includes Dcn. Eloy Contreras (St. Richard, St. Edward and St. Patrick, Racine), Dcn. Pedro E. Delgado Pecina (Our Lady Queen of Peace, Milwaukee), Dcn. Alvin Dompke (Mother of Good Counsel, Milwaukee), Dcn. Pete Giersch (Southern Moraine parishes — St. James, Mukwonago; St. Peter, East Troy; St. Theresa, Eagle), Dcn. Aaron Jeske (St. Matthew, Oak Creek), Dcn. Kevin Kalnins (St. Mary and St. Anthony, Menomonee Falls), Dcn. John Murray (St. Anthony, Pewaukee), Dcn. Tien Pham (St. Martin of Tours, Franklin), Dcn. Martin S. Ryan (Holy Family, Fond du lac), Dcn. John E. Schraufnagel (St. William, Catholic Community of Waukesha) and Dcn. Jamie Zdroik (St. John Vianney, Brookfield).
