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| My diaconal family, ordination day Sept 24, 1994. |
While this was an incredibly important day that has shaped my life in marvelous ways, the most important day in my life was the day that I married my bride of 39 years on Dec 27, 1974. Ruthie has shaped my life in so many wonderful ways. She is the greatest experience of God that I have in my life. As time goes on, I will way much much more about this very remarkable woman.
The next four powerful moments in my life were the birth of my four children, Andy (1975), Luke (1977), Meg (1981), and Beth (1984).
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| My beloved bride and I on our wedding day, Dec 27, 1974. |
I have worked in church ministry since Sept 1977. If you are counting the number of years in ministry, I have been doing church ministry for 34 years. My dad once asked me when I was going to get a real job. I guess I never have. But then, ministry is not a job, it is a vocation.
Over these 34 years, I have exercised my ministry as an educator, a director of liturgy and music, a director of pastoral ministry, an parish life administrator, and now as a director of pastoral ministry and administrator. I began my ministry at the Church and School of St Wenceslaus. I was there from 1977 to Sept of 1986. I started moonlighting as a director of liturgy and music at St Hubert, Chanhassen, beginning in 1984 and was there till Sept 2004. I was assigned as the parish life administrator of St Stephen's in South Minneapolis by Archbishop Flynn, and remained at St Stephen's until July of 2007 when a pastor was being appointed to St Stephen's. I returned to directing liturgy and music at St Joseph's in Waconia until Archbishop Nienstedt assigned to St Wenceslaus in July of 2009, where I continue to serve the parish at which I began my church ministry, only now as a pastoral associate ... directing pastoral ministry at the St Wenceslaus church campus, and as administrator of the St Scholastica and St John the Evangelist campuses.
In terms of my education, I received a BA in Music from the University of St Thomas in Dec 1994 (@ a week before Ruthie and I got married), and MA in Pastoral Studies from the St Paul Seminary School of Divinity, University of St Thomas in July of 1989. I was ordained to the Permanent Diaconate in Sept 1994, certified as a Spiritual Director from the Franciscan Spirituality Center, La Crosse WI in 2007, done Spanish language immersion and as Ruthie says, I will be going to school for the rest of my life.
I have ministered in rural parishes, a large suburban parish (St Hubert grew from a parish of 450 families to 3200 families in the 20 years I was there), an urban parish, a small town parish, and back to a rural setting.
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| Ruthie and I in September of 1994. |
This journey, like all pilgrimages, has had its twists and turns, surprises both pleasant and unpleasant, but at each twist and turn God has been there with grace. The remarkable thing that even in the most difficult times I have had, both professionally and physically, God has always been there with abundant grace. As many people experience, the most tragic of times carry within the tragedy an extraordinary amount of grace. It is only over a time of reflection that I have discovered that were it not for that tragedy or difficult time, I would not have grown as a man and as a deacon. God is, indeed, very, very good.
Last but not least, all the education, but most of all, all the life experiences have given me a particular slant on things. The Social Justice teachings of the Church, in which a deacon is formed as Christ as servant, has a way of altering the world view of a person. Ministering among a diverse group of people, from the very rich to the very poor, amidst the gay and lesbian community, the developmentally disabled, the homeless, the mentally ill, as formed me beyond anything I have learned either in graduate school or diaconal formation. As one formed and has worked among this diverse flock of Jesus, I tend to have views that are more liberal than what I had. For me the greatest attribute of God is the compassion of God as expresssed in Jesus Christ. While God is all powerful, the ruler of heaven and earth, even more so is God the God of compassion, the God of love, the God of mercy. This is a God that loved us to death. As disciples of Christ we are to be his compassion, his care, his love and his mercy until it is no longer necessary when he comes again. As St Paul writes and we express in one of our Memorial Acclamations at Mass, "When we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim your death Lord Jesus until you come again in glory."
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| Me at St Benedict Church, St Benedict, MN in 2010. |
May God bless us as we travel this pilgrimage of life together.
Peace,
Deacon Bob
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| As I am today. |
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