After years of prayer, discernment and formation, Bishop Edward Malesic will ordain six men as permanent deacons for service to the Diocese of Cleveland during a Mass at 10 a.m. May 4 in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. The liturgy will be livestreamed and can be viewed on demand on the diocesan website afterward.
The candidates for ordination are:
- Michael Hayes Jr., diocesan director of young adult ministry, who is married to Marion. They are members of St. Christopher Parish in Rocky River.
- Edward Linsky, QA manager at Lincoln Electric, is married to Leslie. They have three children and two grandchildren and are members of Holy Angels Parish in Bainbridge.
- Christopher Loxterman, environmental supervisor for the Lake County Health District, is married to Sherry. They are members of St. Mary Parish in Chardon.
- Darrel Sherman, owner/vice president of Aut-O-Rama Twin Drive-in Theatre in North Ridgeville, is married to Nicole. They have three children and are members of St. Peter Parish in North Ridgeville.
- Mark Tomecko, a high school social studies teacher for the Green Local Schools, is married to Denise. They have two children and are members of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Medina.
- John Zarbo, customer service lab specialist for Avery Dennison, is married to Melissa. They have one child and are members of St, Anthony of Padua Parish in Fairport Harbor.
The men shared their vocation stories, explaining how they discerned and pursued the diaconate. They had one thing in common. Each man said he felt a sense of peace after hearing and saying “yes” to the Lord’s call.
However, Sherman said he first needed to find his way back to the Church. It took years of prayers from his wife Nicole before he began what he called “the slow journey back” through the Christ Life Series at his parish. “I dove deeper into my faith, went back to the sacrament of reconciliation after many years and felt a great peace after my encounter with the Lord and experiencing his forgiveness,” he said.
The actual call to ministry came while attending Mass with his family. Sherman recalled hearing “a voice over my right shoulder whispering the word ‘deacon’ over and over throughout the entire Mass.” He remembered nothing else except hearing the word “deacon” and feeling at peace.
A few months later, after what he called “much discernment and debate,” Sherman talked to his pastor who steered him to the director of the diaconate program. It took a little longer, including a pilgrimage to the Holy Land – where he had another experience of peace and calm at the Sea of Galilee at the Primacy of Peter – and yet another nudge when he returned home before he took action.
While sitting in a hospital waiting room during his mother’s surgery, Sherman said he felt the need to reach out to Deacon Dave Kushner, then director of the diaconate program. A week later, they met.
And now, “10 years later – five of journeying back and five of formation – I am days away from ordination to the permanent diaconate,” he said. “The voice of the Lord and the little nudges he kept sending my way, nudges from my family, friends, billboards, signs, etc. are what spoke to me,” Sherman added.
From the beginning, he said he doubted his worthiness and ability for the ministry, but promised the Lord if it was his will, he would do his best.
“God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called. With this in mind, I am looking forward to serving my assigned parish and our Lord,” Sherman said.
Loxterman, who entered the Church 20 years ago through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, said he felt a tug to serve the Church. “Over the years, helping with different ministries, most of that time spend as a high school youth minister, drew me closer to the liturgy and service toward the people of God.”
Many permanent deacons are married and note that their ministry is a partnership with their wives. Loxterman agreed, saying, “Sherry and I are excited and looking forward to this next step in the journey, not only to live out our vocation to marriage, but to serve the Church more fully as a permanent deacon. I look forward to serving the Church and reaching out to those on the margins, working side by side with other ministers and lay faithful.”
Linsky said his wife Leslie and some of the other wives equate preparation for diaconate ordination to preparing for a wedding. “And they are absolutely right,” he added. “Leslie and I will also be celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary on May 4 (ordination day). Just as I made a lifelong covenant with my wife, I am now making one with the Church.”
He said he and his wife always were involved in their parish but he felt something was missing and that he needed to extend the way he served the Church and its community. “As I witnessed the role of many great deacons not just assisting at Mass but how they are humble servants for others, I knew this is what God called me to become,” Linsky added.
For Tomecko, the road to the diaconate began with an invitation to consider the vocation from another deacon, Paul Kipfstuhl. “I am glad that I did,” he said. “It has been amazing to see how God has blessed me with certain abilities that he can use for the building up of his Church. I am just glad that I wasn’t foolish enough to get in the way.”
A deacon is a bridge between the Church and the world, Tomecko said, noting ordination is not the end of his formation, “but the beginning of ordained ministry. I am eager to receive the graces of the sacrament and to see how God wants me to build up his Church. I see ordination as a blessing to me and my family as we will get to walk with others on the journey of faith.”
Hayes said he has been around deacons throughout his life and was inspired to consider ministry as a possible career since he was young. Throughout his career serving young people, he was asked repeatedly if he had ever considered the diaconate. “A Paulist priest friend encouraged me further to ‘at least go to a meeting,’” he said. “So I did and at the meeting, I felt a strong urge to consider saying ‘yes’ to being called and when I did, I felt this great sense of peace. Even with the pandemic complications, I’ve never felt anything but confidence that God was seeking me and being here in Cleveland has confirmed that call so much,” Hayes added.
He said deacons need to seek out where the suffering people are “and to accompany them with a gentle pastoral presence. I believe we are also called to mobilize and empower others for ministry to the Church, to know the way, show the way, grow the way and then go away.” A baseball fan, Hayes compared the role of a deacon to being an equipment manager. “I give people the tools they need and my joy is to watch them play.”
His wife Marion, whose uncle was a deacon, supports his vocation, he said, noting her cousins were faithful prayer supporters of their father’s ministry.
“For Marion and me this becomes a sign of God's faithfulness to us for sticking with this formation journey and allows me to serve the Church in whatever way I am needed to do so, wherever the bishop wishes to send me,” Hayes added.
Zarbo’s vocation call took a different approach than that of his formation classmates.
“My call to serve grew from a health scare that I experienced a few years earlier,” he said. While it wasn’t a life-threatening situation, it felt like it, he explained. “It did give me a clarity of purpose that I had never experienced before.”
Zarbo said the peace that came with his decision to enter formation and the desire to serve others are what nudged him to the diaconate. “The hobbies and activities that I once participated in before seemed to no longer hold any interest for me,” he added.
“In a way, we are all being ordained. We have all said ‘yes’ to God. Our lives will be measured differently because of that commitment. Interestingly, there is a sort of comfort that comes from that added measure of responsibility,” Zarbo said.
Tomecko said the world “desperately needs the good news of Jesus Christ. As a deacon, I can bring that good news to those within, as well as outside, the Church.”
To learn more about the permanent diaconate, contact Deacon George Malec, program director, here or call 440-943-7652.