Testimonies - Chuck Stevens

My 'classmates' and I have just completed the second year of our four year program of studies for the permanent diaconate in London diocese. The class preceding us, having completed their studies, will be ordained this coming November, being the first 'class' of permanent deacons ordained in our diocese. It is a time of challenges, change and great promise in our diocese.

Provided I complete my studies, and fufill all of the requirements, then , God willing, I will be looking forward to ordination in late 2007.

I believe that my call to the permanent diaconate actually began just before my wife Kathi and I were married. In the spring of 1986 we attended and completed our marriage prep course in Saint John, New Brunswick. The course at the time, was conducted by a permanent deacon and his wife. I admit to being slightly curious at the time, not knowing anything about the order of permanent deacons, but only gave it a cursory thought. Over time, and moving to a number of locations in Canada, my exposure to permanent deacons in other diocese' increased. I came to understand better the role these men played in their parishes and the ministries of service they were involved in both inside and outside of their parishes. Again, I was curious, but did not actively pursue anything in this direction in the early years of our marriage. Time, thoughts and energies were more concentrated on raising our expanding family (we have five children), work and home.

As time went on, though, I began to feel more and more drawn to seek ways to serve God in a more tangible and permanent way, both inside and outside the church. It was my wife who initially suggested that God might be calling me towards a vocation to the permanent diaconate. After much prayer and thought, I spoke about this with my pastor, who encouraged me to pursue the path of inquirer with the diocese of London during the information stage. The more I prayed and listened, the more convinced I became that God had laid this path before me, and that it was a path that I would pursue willingly. After much discussion with my wife (whose permission is necessary to participate in the diaconate program) and my children, our family decided that this path of discernment was one we were all prepared to embark on together.

The program of studies has deeply affected and strengthened me in my convictions that God has indeed blessed me with a calling to St. Peter's Seminary to study for the diaconate. My classmates and I have spent the past two years deepening our prayer lives, studying Sacred Scripture more deeply, and working in outreach programs in our respective communities. We have had sessions on public speaking, sacraments, Church history, and adult education to name a few areas.

I volunteer and am actively involved in parish music ministry, using my small gifts to help other parishes and groups raise funds for ministries and charities, through the establishment of a website ( www.smalltalentmusic.com), playing concerts and the sale of CD's of original music. It is as though everything in my life, from music, to the workplace, to my household, has become an extension of this call to the permanent diaconate - which is as it should be. We are called to be ministers ,not only of the Word and Sacrament, but of Service. It is in our parishes, workplaces, homes and communities that we bring that service to others, especially the poor in our midst, and in a real sense, bring Christ to others. It is a state, through Holy Orders, that I hope to make permanent in the diaconate.

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