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Permanent deacons, wives answer the call to serve the church

Story by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

A special call to service and ministry in the church. That was the answer given when a number of permanent deacons in this diocese were asked why they had pursued this vocation.

This service and ministry required sacrifice and study, and then a public commitment to continue to serve in this capacity as ordained clergy.

For those who are married, this also required commitment of support from the wives of those men who have been ordained.

Following are snapshots of a few of the deacons and their wives, including a member of the present class of candidates for the permanent diaconate who have not yet been called to Holy Orders.

The first class of permanent deacons to be ordained in this diocese after the Second Vatican Council was ordained in 1980 by then Bishop William Cosgrove.

Deacon Richard Olson was a member of that class of about 23 men, and he and his wife, Jan, remembered their commitment and what it meant to them at the time.

Jan Olson went to the monthly weekend classes with her husband and said she only missed one weekend.
“That was the weekend our son, Andrew was born,” she said.

The couple, then members of St. Peter Cathedral Parish were among five men who were ordained for the parish then, Deacon Olson said.

Already active parishioners at the time, the deacon was experiencing some serious health problems. During a hospital stay in St. Louis, Father Roger Karban visited him.

Knowing his wife, Jan, but not knowing him personally, the deacon was surprised he would make the hospital visit.
“Father Karban asked me if I had thought about the diaconate,” Deacon Olson said.

Deacon Olson had not, but after that visit, as he lay “flat on my back in the hospital, I wondered what the Lord was calling me to do,” he said.

After the suggestion, the deacon said he and his wife “prayed about it. The door was there, so we said ‘let’s open it, and see what’s there.’”

Jan Olson described their decision as “blind faith” because “we never knew anything about it and had no idea where this would take us.”

For more than 25 years it has taken them deeper and deeper into ministry, first at the cathedral, and then in 1982 when they moved to O’Fallon, to ministry at St. Nicholas Parish.

In the beginning, Jan Olson said, it was difficult to see how wives fit into the permanent diaconate since the men were studying to be ordained, not the wives, yet they were required to attend the classes with their husbands.

“I guess I never realized I was called as well,” she said, and through the years and the ministry, she has come to realize she was and is called. “It’s all been a blessing.”

Deacon Olson described ordination as a time of being “more on fire, ready to do something spectacular” in ministry and service.

Over the years, Deacon Olson said he has and continues to share in hospital ministry with his pastor, Msgr. William Hitpas who was also one of his teachers in the diaconal classes.

The Olsons began baptismal preparation classes at St. Nicholas and couple to couple marriage preparation.
These days the Olsons are looking forward to the opening of two new buildings at their parish.

Deacon Olson is also looking forward to the revitalization of the parish through programs being offered in the new buildings and also to another parishioner, Gary Mueller, now a candidate in the diaconal program, being called to orders.

For the Olsons, being part of the permanent diaconate has been a way to continue to offer service and minister to God’s people in ways that they never thought possible in 1980.

For the next class of deacons, ordained in 1997, policies and procedures had changed. The diocese had instituted prerequisites for men who wanted to enroll in the diaconal program.

Ministry Formation had been formalized as a two-year program that introduced the laity to service in the church along with classes that would enrich and expand their faith and knowledge of Scripture and the church.
Deacon Ron Karcher was one of the men ordained in the 1997 class.

Deacon Karcher has been involved in Catholic education since 1969 when he began his career as a teacher at St. James School in Millstadt and has continued as a principal at a number of Catholic schools in the diocese.
“I always believed in continuing education,” Deacon Karcher said. Ministry Formation gave him an opportunity to continue and deepen his knowledge.

The permanent diaconate was one of the topics discussed in Ministry Formation, and his wife, Judy, encouraged him to think about it. “It interested me,” he said.

Other ways to minister were introduced, and Deacon Karcher began accompanying Father Leo Hayes on his visits to Menard Correctional Center where inmates participated in retreats designed for the incarcerated called RECs — Residents Encounter Christ.

Deacon Karcher said prison ministry interested him because he had spent a short amount of time as a prison guard in Joliet, Ill., to finish financing his college courses.

While his stint in prison employment was short, he remembered it and saw a continued need for ministry. He assisted with the RECs until prison lockdowns forced a halt to the programs.

Later, Bishop Stanley Schlarman asked Deacon Karcher if he would be interested in ministering at Big Muddy River Correctional Center in Ina, a medium security prison.

During his monthly visits to the correctional center, Deacon Karcher said about 40 men come to a Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest with many staying for classes for those wanting to be baptized, confirmed, enter or return to the church.

“Many were Catholic,” Deacon Karcher said, but had “fallen away and want to come back.”
For the deacon, this ministry fulfills his own need to be of service to others. “Prison ministry meets a need that some people do not feel comfortable doing,” Deacon Karcher said. “I feel better when I come out than when I go in.”

Deacon Karcher was accompanied by the late Deacon John Coates who died April 2, 2010. Now, a lay person from the Springfield diocese accompanies him to Ina.

The deacon experienced prison ministry in another way when he visited a young woman in the Monroe County Jail who had tried to drown her child as it was being born.

The family, that had been Catholic, contacted Deacon Karcher because they knew about his prison ministry.
Before being transferred to the Dwight Correctional Center about an hour south of Chicago, the young woman reconciled with the church.

“Nobody would have taken care of her,” Deacon Karcher said, which is one of the blessings of being a deacon. When people know about a deacon’s ministry, they can contact him.

Deacon Karcher and his wife, Judy, belong to St. James Parish in Millstadt where the deacon preaches monthly and assists with other parish ministry. “Judy has been very supportive of my ministry,” he said, and assists him when he is giving couples directions for their weddings. “She helps with the organization,” he said.
For her part, Judy Karcher said she loves being involved in the weddings, helping couples understand when and where they should be during the wedding.

Remembering going to classes with her husband, Judy Karcher said she “learned a lot,” and understands his need to minister.

Always supportive, Judy Karcher encouraged him during the classes even when he wondered if this was what God was calling him to do. “I encouraged him to continue,” she said.

Deacon Karcher said the permanent diaconate has given him opportunities to serve and to minister in ways he would not otherwise know, especially when people become aware of his role as a deacon.

The only dilemma Deacon Karcher faces is not having enough time to do all of the ministry he would like to do.
The most recent class of permanent deacons was ordained July 26, 2008.

Deacon Linus Klostermann was among the group; he and his wife, Susan, belong to St. Dominic Parish in Breese.
The couple received “a solid foundation” through Ministry Formation, the deacon said. Both he and his wife completed the program in the early 1990s.

Another 1997 deacon, Charles Litteken, administrator of St. Teresa’s in Marydale, encouraged the Klostermanns.
The two were acquainted through their involvement in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) process.

Both Klostermanns were involved in parish ministry before they became involved in the deacon program.
Deacon Klostermann said going back to school, really focusing on academics can be a struggle, but it pointed out a road to follow that he has enjoyed.

“It really got me started,” he said. “The combination of practical and spiritual information” was a good mix, and “it built on what I already knew.”

Remembering his ordination, Deacon Klostermann said: “The day we were ordained when we were lying on the cathedral floor was almost overwhelming.”

Sue Klostermann said “it was huge for me, and I knew nothing would be the same after that.”
The couple ministers at St. Dominic’s, their home parish where “people have been very supportive.”
At work, where people know he is a deacon, “they bring questions and concerns to me.” One of the real benefits has been the focus on prayer time, the deacon said.

Sue Klostermann sees the benefit in this way: “It has enriched our faith life a great deal.” As for others, Deacon Klostermann said he wishes he had more time to devote to ministry in the school, at the hospital and wherever he ministers.

As the class of 2008 was being ordained, plans had already begun for the next class of permanent deacons, which has a projected ordination date of 2013.

Next month the candidates, who began their academic classes in 2009 after a year of discernment, will receive the Institution of Readers Feb. 12 at the cathedral.

Corby Valentine of St. Joseph Parish in Freeburg is in the class.

Being a candidate and attending the classes is “extremely rewarding and a lot of work,” he said. “It takes a lot of discipline” to make sure all of the reading and assignments are completed on time for the monthly weekend of classes.

He said the idea of giving back to the church has always been part of his thinking, and he wondered and prayed about more ways he could do this. The permanent diaconate was one of the ways he had considered but hadn’t made a decision.

One evening while visiting his father, Valentine said he looked around at the residents of the nursing home where his father was recovering from a stroke and decided the permanent diaconate would give him an opportunity to serve the people and make Christ more present in their lives.

Valentine said he already brings Communion to residents of a nursing home in Freeburg where he sees “the gratitude in their eyes when I visit with them and bring them Communion.”

While he knows the bishop will decide what kind of ministry he does, Valentine said if he is asked, he will explain his desire to “minister to the sick and aged.”

His wife, Sharon, attends classes with her husband, and, he said, “she loves the classes.” Together they care for their 14-year-old special needs grandson who could teach patience and humility to anyone. These are qualities, Valentine said, that would help a deacon minister to others.

Coordinator of activities for the permanent diaconate and a member of the class of 1997, Deacon Robert Lanter, said he also enjoys the role of serving others.

“I enjoy walking with people on their journey, helping them understand the sacramental nature of their faith.” Deacon Lanter said.

Deacon Lanter, like the other deacons, remembers clearly his ordination, the day he lay prostrate on the floor before the altar, praying that I would live out the ordination challenge.”

However, he also remembers the photo he holds in his heart of his youngest son, Michael, then 12, who carried the censor and led the procession into the cathedral on ordination day.

Michael Lanter stood very still as then Bishop Wilton Gregory spooned incense into the censor. Surrounded by the incense in the cathedral, a father could not have been more proud of his son.

While Deacon Lanter said “it takes a lot of coordination with family, church and community, it is very rewarding.” He can’t believe more than 13 years have passed since ordination. “The time has gone by so quickly.”
Twenty-four active permanent deacons minister in the diocese.