This year, Deacon David and his wife Betty will celebrate 64 years of marriage. And on Oct. 19, Deacon David—the 87-year-old senior deacon at Corpus Christi Parish in Bay City—will celebrate 45 years since his ordination in 1980.

David is one of the last three pioneer permanent deacons who received training in the Permanent Deacon Formation Program in the first decade after Bishop Francis Reh established it in 1972. Today, there are 21 permanent deacons and seven candidates in the Diocese of Saginaw. And since Saginaw’s third bishop instituted the permanent diaconate, the diocese has ordained 49 permanent deacons, including Father Tom McNamara, who later entered the priesthood.

It is fitting that the Greek word for “deacon” means “servant,” because Deacon David, Deacon Mike Arnold and Deacon Larry Fussman have collectively served the Diocese of Saginaw for 142 years. Each of their wives and children have played an important role too. Without their families’ support, the three agree they never would have been able to carry out their ministry all these years.

Deacon Mike, the fourth permanent deacon to be ordained by Bishop Reh, is assigned to Prince of Peace Parish in Linwood and is the longest-serving deacon in the diocese. He celebrated 50 years of service on March 9 and will be 88 at the end of May. As for Deacon Larry, he holds the record for the longest-serving deacon at one parish in the diocese. Deacon Larry, who will be 85 in June, was ordained and assigned as a deacon nearly 49 years ago at Sacred Heart Parish in Mount Pleasant on Oct. 1, 1976. While he is still at Sacred Heart, he has retired from active ministry.

Permanent deacons play a vital role in the life of the Church, serving those who are in need. Their three main ministries are summed up by “The Three W’s”: Worship, Word (i.e., evangelization) and Works (of charitable service). Simply put, deacons are a bridge between the liturgical life of the Church and Christ’s call to action or service. Or as Deacon David puts it, they take “the gathered Church to the scattered church.” Deacons can preside at baptisms, weddings and funerals. They also assist at Mass and sometimes deliver homilies, take Holy Communion to nursing home residents and hospital patients, and some are drawn to other ministries, like serving as chaplains for hospice or working in prison ministries.

Basically, wherever God calls, deacons are there to answer and serve the Body of Christ. They are ordained to be sacramental signs of Christ the Servant.

Unlike priests in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, permanent deacons can be married before ordination and have families, which means a lot of juggling, sacrifice and commitment. As the role of a permanent deacon is unpaid, most of them also have secular jobs.

“None of it is possible without the support of [my] wife and family,” Deacon David says, adding that Betty has served along with him every step of the way. “The only difference between us is that I was ordained, and she wasn’t.”

Deacon Mike’s wife, Donna, died last June, just shy of their 67th wedding anniversary. “Donna was very, very much a part of my ministry,” he said. Sometimes people, especially women, felt more comfortable confiding in her. The impact Donna had was visible at her funeral Mass.

“I have never seen the church that full of people,” he recalled.

Deacon Larry also doesn’t know how he could have served Sacred Heart all these years without the help of Kathy, his wife of 62 years. For a time after he was ordained, Deacon Larry was working as a supervisor in Mount Pleasant for the U.S. Postal Service, serving an additional six to seven hours a week as deacon, delivering the homily at all five Masses (now three) once a month and helping raise his three children (7, 12 and 14 at the time of ordination).

Guiding all of Deacon Larry’s service in the Church and out in the community when volunteering has always been doing what Jesus taught—feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting the sick and those in prison.

“That’s what I have lived by throughout my ministry:  the corporal works of mercy,” he said. In particular, Deacon Larry has always felt called to visit the homebound, sick and the dying.

Kathy has supported Deacon Larry for all these years, and a big part of her role, she says, has been to make sure he takes care of himself while trying to take care of everyone else.

“He’s got one gear, and that’s high,” she remarked.

At one time, Deacon Larry discerned the priesthood, briefly attending St. Joseph Seminary in Grand Rapids when he was in 9th and 10th grade. But he soon realized God had another plan.

Over the years, various people have told Kathy: “Boy, Larry really missed his calling—he should have been a priest.” “And I always say, ‘But, I got him first!’” she jokes.

Deacon Mike initially felt called to religious life. After graduating from high school, he entered the novitiate to join the Alexian Brothers. But, feeling called to the vocation of marriage and family, he moved back to Bay City and worked for Saginaw Steering Gear. In 1957 he married Donna, whom he first met in kindergarten, and he spent 35 years in various positions for Dow Chemical in Midland.

While working at Dow, Deacon Mike continued to feel a deeper call to serve the Lord. He and Donna had four young boys at the time, but after much prayer and discussion, Donna and Mike decided he should take the leap of faith and apply for the Permanent Deacon Formation Program. He was accepted and began formation in 1973.

For Deacon David, it took his wife’s example– and not-so-subtle urging from his priest– to understand what God was calling him to do.

After attending Sacred Heart Parish (now Ss. Francis and Clare) in Birch Run off and on for about 13 years, David got involved in just about everything Betty, a cradle Catholic, did for the parish. He started building furniture for the church, teaching religious education, and doing basically anything the priest asked him to do.

One day, the late Father Dan O’Sullivan asked David: “Why aren’t you coming to Communion?” “Because I’m not Catholic,” David told him. “Heck,” Father Dan said, “you’re more Catholic than most people out there!”

So David became Catholic. After his First Communion with Father Dan in 1974, David’s commitment to the Church continued to grow. He became a lector, reader, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and a parish council member. He also brought Communion to nursing homes with Betty, who also served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.

A couple years later, David was visiting Father Dan, who was in the hospital with kidney stones.

“David,” Father Dan said, “you’re going to have to lead the Ash Wednesday service.” David hardly felt qualified, but Father Dan needed him. So David nervously began planning, received Father Dan’s blessing, and presided over the service. (The Catholic Church has allowed lay people to lead this service with the approval of their pastor if a priest or deacon is not available.)

Not long after, Father Dan told David he ought to consider becoming a permanent deacon like Tom McNamara (who was then a deacon and is now a senior priest). “But Father,” David said, “I don’t feel like I’ve been called.” Father Dan replied: “I’ve called you many times. God works through people.”

Deacon David did not immediately recognize that the Lord was calling him until Father Dan spelled it out, much like Eli did for young Samuel. But once he understood, Deacon David answered the call, like Samuel (“Speak, for your servant is listening.” 1 Sam. 3:10) He began training to become a permanent deacon, which took about three years at the time. Now, the program involves five years of formation, but as Deacon David puts it, the learning is lifelong.

After his ordination, Deacon David was assigned to Sacred Heart. At the time, he was working at the former Carling Brewing Company in Frankenmuth with three young children at home. Then he was assigned as a deacon to Blessed Trinity in Frankenmuth in 1987 while also working for the diocese as its first director of the Office of Stewardship and Development. He also served for a time as the diocese’s Vicar of Deacons. In 1993, Deacon David and Betty moved to the Upper Peninsula, where he worked in a similar position for the Diocese of Marquette. While there, David also served as the deacon for three parishes, including St. Peter Cathedral, before moving back to Bay City in the Diocese of Saginaw in 2018.

For all these years, Deacon David and Betty have worked side by side, ministering to those in need. They served in the prison ministry in Marquette. They’ve taken Communion to residents in nursing homes and hospitals and helped young couples prepare for marriage. Deacon David currently serves as a spiritual advisor for the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He helps distribute food to the needy at Corpus Christi’s food pantry in Bay City. More than all the other ministries, though, Deacon David found work as a chaplain for hospice as the most rewarding—something he did for 11 years.

“For I was hungry and you gave me food … in prison and you visited me,” Deacon David says, citing Matthew 25:35-26 as the Scripture that has guided his ministry all these years.

“As Christians,” he says, “that’s our job description.”

Deacons Mike, Larry and David say there have been so many memorable moments over the years. But some stand out.

There was the time Deacon Larry officiated a funeral for an infant, watching the mother grieve her child. Then there was the time when Deacon Larry held a young boy, crying for his grandfather, as he delivered the homily at the funeral. Thinking about those two funerals still chokes him up. There were also joyous times, like presiding at the weddings for all three of his children and the baptisms for all four of his grandchildren.

Deacon David recalls the time when a little girl, not old enough to receive Communion, hugged his legs after he placed his hand on her head and blessed her. She turned to her mother and said: “I got to hug Jesus.” Deacon David cried later, thinking about that little girl who already had a relationship with Jesus and felt his presence at the altar.

During his years of hospice ministry, Deacon David remembers paying several visits to a devout Italian man, who watched Mass every day. At the end of their visits, Deacon David always prayed out loud, spontaneously from his heart. The man shared he wished he could pray like Deacon David, yet never felt able to say anything but traditional Catholic prayers. Then one day—about a week before he died—the man looked at Deacon David and asked: “Can I pray for you?” And then the man prayed a beautiful, spontaneous prayer for Deacon David out loud. Deacon David barely held back tears before leaving the man’s house.

For Deacon Mike, 50 years’ worth of memories and joys are too numerous to count. But a motto Deacon Mike wrote down during training carried him through everything and, perhaps, best sums up his life as a permanent deacon and the ministry of all deacons:

“In his work is our peace.”