Catholic Vancouver October 26, 2022
‘Deacon Dad’ invites other men to look at permanent diaconate
By Terry O'Neill
A poster advertising a November informational meeting about the archdiocese’s permanent diaconate invites interested men to “come and serve.” It is a message to which Deacon Steve Potusek adds, “taste and see.”
“Be open to it,” Deacon Potusek, 62, said in an interview with The B.C. Catholic. “Look into your heart and think where you’d like to be in the future. Do you want to be where you are now, or do you want to strive for holiness? How is staying where you are working for you?”
The meeting runs from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5, at Christ the Redeemer Church in West Vancouver. Interested men must register by emailing [email protected].
Deacon Potusek, a member of St. Matthew’s Parish in Surrey, said he himself went through a five-year discernment process before joining the cohort that began classes in September 2016.
He became aware of the archdiocese’s permanent diaconate at the program’s outset in 2011, when some fellow parishioners suggested that he should consider it. He said he vividly recalls attending a parish prayer-group meeting at which an elder took him aside and asked if she could pray with him about the calling.
“And she takes me to a corner of the room, and just lightly put her hands to my head, and then she just started praying, and then praying in tongues,” Deacon Potusek said. “I could feel myself starting to swoon, and I thought, ‘What’s going on here?’
“And I remember her asking a fellow, ‘catch him.’ And I’m, what!, and she just kept going and [I fell over]. Slain in the spirit!”
Despite the intense experience, Deacon Potusek said it was not the right time to become a deacon, primarily because he knew he would not have the time to devote to the diaconate while also being a good husband to his wife of 39 years, Margarida, and their five children. Those children are adults now and only two of them are still living at home.
Margarida said in an interview that being the wife of a deacon involves a lot more flexibility than she had imagined. “You have to be able to adjust to what he is doing,” she said. “Before he was a deacon, we could plan ahead for family functions, but now the planning revolves around the more important things he has to do.”
Deacons do not celebrate Mass, hear confessions, or anoint the sick, but they can proclaim the Gospel and preach at liturgical celebrations, provide instruction, take the Gospel into the broader community, minister to the sick and elderly, administer baptisms, witness marriages, preside at funerals and wakes, officiate at benediction and lead community prayer services.
Margarida said she is proud of the service her husband provides as a deacon, especially so because he is not a cradle Catholic, but converted to the faith after they were married.
“I always prayed that the Holy Spirit would inspire him in some way,” she said. “So this, for me, was a big leap, and it just really opened my eyes to how the Holy Spirit can work in your life. It amazes me, looking back, I’ve witnessed such a growth in my husband, and I am convinced that it is the Holy Spirit that just guided him through this.”
She said she recalls when her husband first told her he was interested in becoming a deacon. “And I didn’t really take it seriously,” she said, “and I didn’t think he was really interested until one day he said, ‘You know they’re going to have a meeting and I’m just going to go and check it out.’ And when he came home from the meeting, he said, ‘Yes, I think this is something I’m going to be interested in.’
“And I was very taken aback. I was amazed. It was like, wow, I hardly had time to process it. I was kind of blindsided. But I thought, this is where God wants him to be. And I never dreamed that God had something more in mind for him.”
Deacon Potusek, who continues to work fulltime as a steel fabricator at Ebco Industries in Richmond, said his new ministry certainly stretches him, forcing him to budget his time. “You have to have the ability to say no to demands on the time that would take away too much from family time,” he said. “But I do have to miss out on some family things – say a birthday party or some kind of social event where my prior commitment to the Church takes precedence.”
He smiled when he recalled a Sunday when, soon after his ordination, he picked up his daughter on the way to Mass, and she was surprised to see him wearing his Roman collar. “She opened the door, and her jaw drops. She knew, of course, that this was coming, but just the realization it’s Deacon Dad, now ...”
Deacon Potusek said she wasn’t the only one taken aback by his new identity. He recalled that he was able to serve at his mother-in-law’s funeral last summer. “And when all the family comes, they’re looking up to somebody they’re very familiar with, and some are a bit surprised, that I’m in this role,” he said. “It has a lot of deeper meaning for me to be able to serve in that way.”
Learn more about the permanent diaconate at rcav.org/permanent-diaconate
Counting success
- Number of Deacons ordained since the program began: 32.
- Number still working as Deacons: 31, two of whom are semi-retired.
- Number currently studying to be Deacons: 8
- Date that fifth cohort of candidates will begin their studies: April 2023.
Come and Serve:
Discerning the Permanent Diaconate
All men who are interested in this ordained ministry, along with their wives, are invited. Saturday, Nov. 5, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Christ the Redeemer Church, 599 Keith Rd., West Vancouver. Light lunch provided. Please register at [email protected].