To serve as Christ did

Pope Paul VI described the deacon as “the interpreter of the needs and the desires of the Christian communities, and the sign or sacrament of Christ the Lord Himself who came not to be served but to serve.”

The need for this “servant role” has led to 36 classes of permanent deacons ordained for the diocese since 1981. Among the newest are Deacon David Fleck and Deacon Brian Lardy ordained Oct. 15 by Bishop Kagan at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

Deacon David entered with a special perspective having served as the director of the diaconate office for the past 16 years. His experience employed by the diocese guiding the formation for men seeking the permanent diaconate as well as his desire to pursue his own vocation brought him to this point.

“My personal call to the diaconate has unfolded quietly over several years,” David explained. “There was a time shortly after college when I seriously discerned both a consecrated religious vocation as well as diocesan priesthood, and I spent time as a seminarian for the diocese. So, my heart has had a certain attraction to holy orders for many years.

“However, it was about two years ago, during Lent, that the attraction intensified and a deeper, more personal call from the Lord came into focus for me to serve him as a deacon. The call also harmonized well during this time with my wife and children which is a key component of discernment for a married man with a family.”

Each man hears and responds to the call differently and on God’s time.

“I first felt the call to the diaconate during a Cursillo weekend I attended in 2011,” Brian explained. “On the way home from the weekend, I mentioned to a friend that I thought I may be called to be a deacon. It took several additional years of prayer before I submitted my application to the diaconate director for the formation program.”

The five-year program includes academic instruction, spiritual and human development as well as practical pastoral experience. Upon completion, each man is prepared to minister as a deacon in parish and other ministerial situations, to preach the Gospel, to serve the poor and assist during the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy of the Church. 

“My emotions were all over the board—excited, scared, nervous and all the way to the feeling of not being ‘enough’ to be a deacon,” Brian shared.

David and Brian studied, learned and discerned together for the past five years. David, having been on both sides guiding the program for many years and now having received holy orders himself, can certainly understand the range of emotions.

“As I’m sure with most men who have approached holy orders, there was a mixture of thoughts and emotions at play,” he said. “I was excited for sure, but there was also a sense of the magnitude of such a call from the Lord and all it entails. Consequently, I became more and more aware of my personal inadequacy to fulfill the vocation. Fortunately, the Lord moved my heart from that place of inner poverty to a new appreciation of his goodness, his fidelity and his desire to be the deacon in and through me and to live his ‘diakonia’ (ministry/service) through me as I encounter others. There is great peace and freedom in that truth.”

Both men have relied on their years of experience and formation as well as on their families’ support as they transitioned from the years of formation to serving in their parishes.

“Prayer and my loving and supportive wife are the two things that sustained me throughout the instruction and formation,” Brian said. “Of course, it has been a huge help to have David beside me these past years, initially as the director but more recently as a fellow classmate.”

Brian and his wife, Tammy, have two daughters, two sons-in-law and two granddaughters. He’s assigned as a deacon at the Church of Corpus Christi in Bismarck.

David also credits his prayer life and the gift of his family in sustaining him over the years of formation. He and his wife, Mary, have six children. David is serving as a deacon at the Church of Saint Anne in Bismarck.

“The primary sustenance for any vocation essentially comes from someone trying their best to live in communion with God through a life of habitual prayer and the sacraments of the Church,” David shared. “There is no inner life, and no ability to hear or answer a call from the Lord, without those factors. Although lived imperfectly, that is what I have tried to do over the years to listen and to follow the various paths my life has taken.

“I am also extremely blessed to be married to a woman who understands this and tries her best each day to live in such communion with our Lord. ‘A good wife is a generous gift,’ as Sirach says. I have been richly blessed through my wife and through her support as a friend and fellow disciple of the Lord.”

As the men have begun service in their parishes, they reflected on the role of the deacon as they preach and teach, assist at Eucharistic liturgies, witness marriages, preside at funerals and wakes and administer Holy Communion to the sick and dying, among other work.

“The very nature of the ministry of a deacon is to give oneself away, to put the other first,” David explained. “Joy naturally comes from this. It is the joy, and paradox, of Christian discipleship. To give is to get, and in this case, joy. So, in one sense I’m looking forward to ‘enjoying’ all of it. It will be a privilege and a joy to serve others through the Church’s Liturgy, especially the Holy Eucharist. I also have a deep love for the elderly, stemming from a close relationship I had with my maternal grandmother. I look forward to the treasures found in that ministry.”

Because of the vibrant presence of deacons in the Diocese of Bismarck, more people are encountering Christ each day and are receiving the message of hope and healing that He offers.

As Brian eloquently stated it, “I think the most enjoyable thing about being a deacon is simply walking with people and encouraging them in their faith life.”