Archbishop Vigneron ordains four men to permanent diaconate to serve in local parishes

Detroit — The role of the permanent deacon is relatively new in today’s Church. Since the ministry was reinstated after the Second Vatican Council, not everyone is familiar with exactly what a deacon does.

But that’s OK, says Deacon K. Perry Clark; it’s part of a deacon’s job to help explain it.

“We’re called to have one foot in the Church and one foot in the community,” said Deacon Clark, who along with three others was ordained to the ministry Oct. 1 for the Archdiocese of Detroit at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. “Being in the sanctuary and reading the Gospel is a big part of what we do, and that’s what we’re called to do. But I still work, I have people that I work with, and I can bring that perspective here into my homilies to say, ‘Look, I used to sit where you sit, and God’s glory is obvious.’”

Deacon Clark, who less than an hour earlier had been ordained by Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron before a cathedral full of family and friends, already was reflecting some of the graces he’d just received as he and his classmates — Deacons Richard Rhein, Aleksander Stanaj and James Nicola — received warm hugs and congratulations.

The four deacons will begin their assignments at parishes across the Archdiocese of Detroit, where it will be incumbent upon them to share the graces of their newfound ministry.

“That’s part of my job to help them understand what the role is and the fact that this isn’t something I chose, but something that chose me,” said Deacon Clark, 58, who works in software sales and will serve at St. Fabian Parish in Farmington Hills.

In his homily, Archbishop Vigneron reminded the men that it was ultimately God’s initiative that pushed them to discern the diaconate.

“You are being consecrated today, as were the apostles, because you have been given by the Father to Jesus,” Archbishop Vigneron said, reflecting on the Gospel from John 17. “This is not your idea. You certainly had to respond — God didn’t put a gun to your head and force you into the cathedral today — but it’s God’s initiative that has brought you here. I don’t want to swell your heads, but you’re God’s gift to Jesus.”

A deacon’s role as one who baptizes, preaches, presides at weddings and funerals and performs works of charity is just scratching the surface of what it means to be an ordained minister, the archbishop said.

“This ministry that Jesus shares with you today is, like his, counter-cultural,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “It stands as a challenge to the world and the world’s ideas about success and failure, about good and bad, right and wrong. It takes courage to join with Jesus in his ministry, but the Holy Spirit can give you that courage as you need it and ask for it.”

The permanent diaconate will be a learning experience for the entire community when Deacon Stanaj begins his assignment as the first-ever permanent deacon at St. Paul Albanian Parish in Rochester Hills.

“It will be something huge for the Albanian community because by the grace of God, I’ll be the first ordained permanent deacon for the Albanian community,” said Deacon Stanaj, 40, a native of Albania who emigrated to the United States in 2000 and works as an electrician. “What matters is that we follow God’s will. This is a vocation not for us, but is a way for us to grow and to fulfill God’s calling. We all have our gifts.”

Hana Stanaj called the ordination of her husband a “beautiful moment,” adding it will be their job as a couple to help educate their parish community.

“Because we are very new to the diaconate, they really don’t know how to support us. They’re asking a lot of questions and they’re learning as we did as well,” Hana Stanaj said. “I didn’t know what a deacon was until recently either.”

Deacon Rhein, 47, a Chesterfield Township police sergeant who will serve at St. Francis of Assisi-St. Maximillian Kolbe Parish in Ray Township, said he couldn’t put his finger on exactly where the Lord was calling him, but he described his eventual pull toward the diaconate as “one of those experiences that only the Holy Spirit can give you.”

“I’m a police officer, and I get to see the worst of people day in and day out. I know there’s a lot of people out there who need Jesus, and that was one of the things that the Lord instilled in my heart,” Deacon Rhein said. “I couldn’t figure it out, and I’m a cop. To call me to the diaconate? At the end, I threw my arms up and said ‘Here I am, Lord.’

Deacon Nicola, a builder in the remodeling business, said he’s looking forward to serving as a marriage minister and minister of the Gospel at St. Cyprian Parish in Riverview, but like Deacon Rhein, the diaconate wasn’t something that was initially on his mind.

“The inspiration was the Lord calling me to it. It was an out-of-nowhere type of voice that I said ‘no’ to at first,” said Deacon Nicola, 51. “As it grew on me, I couldn’t ignore the call. It got so loud I had to answer it. Every time I pushed it away, it came back, and I knew that it was Him calling, for sure.”

Strong families are a necessity for the diaconate, Deacon Rhein said, adding his wife, Anna, along with Hana Stanaj, Mary Elizabeth Clark, Elizabeth Ann Nicola and the deacons’ children and extended family played instrumental roles in encouraging the new deacons’ vocations.

“With God’s grace, He strengthens families; He doesn’t tear families apart,” Deacon Rhein said. “By God’s grace, He wove my family into this strong unit that pushed me forward.”