Deacons honored for 20 years of ministry
On Jan. 22, Bishop Oscar A. Solis celebrated Mass in the Cathedral of the Madeleine for the men who were ordained 20 years ago as deacons for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Father Kenneth Vialpando, vicar for clergy, concelebrated. Deacon Scott Dodge proclaimed the Gospel; Deacon John Kranz assisted at the Mass. Attending were many of the deacons and their families, as well as the widows of several of the deacons who have died.
“Your presence means so much to our Church,” Bishop Solis told the deacons in his opening comments. The deacons’ ministry of the Word, the sacraments and charity provide much service to the people of God in the diocese, the bishop said, adding that the Mass was an opportunity to express gratitude to the men, who were ordained on Jan. 24, 2004 by the Most Rev. George H. Niederauer, eighth Bishop of Salt Lake City.
“Their service across this diocese exemplifies the love, respect and faith of Christ Our Lord,” Bishop Solis said.
In his homily, the bishop said it was an honor and joy to gather in the Mass “to celebrate the 20th anniversary of your commitment to the service of God and the Church as permanent deacons.”
The 20 years of service the deacons and their wives offered to communities in the diocese in parishes, missions, schools and other entities, and their outreach to the poor and those in need “is a living testimony to God’s grace, of his love and fidelity to … our Church,” the bishop said.
By proclaiming the Gospel, assisting at Mass, distributing Communion to the homebound, and extending the love, mercy and compassion of God to the last, to the least and to the lost of our society, “you have proven yourselves faithful coworkers in the various dimensions of our Church’s mission, making alive the Gospel you proclaim and preach to the elderly, to the adults, to the teenagers, to the children, and even to babies,” he said. “You have proven yourself to be faithful to the mission God has entrusted to you as ordained deacons.”
The Mass was a time to celebrate and remember, as well as to give thanks to God for the blessing of their lives and their service, the bishop said.
The deacons ordained in 2004 are Deacon Ricardo Arias (deceased), Deacon Aniceto Armendariz (deceased), Deacon John Bash, Deacon Willis Bassett, Deacon Scott Chisholm (deceased), Deacon Jack Clark, Deacon Scott Dodge, Deacon Dan Essary (deceased), Deacon Eugene Farrell, Deacon Willie Folkes (deceased), Deacon Paul Graham, Deacon Forrest Gray (deceased), Deacon Herschel Hester, Deacon John Keyser, Deacon John Kranz, Deacon Billy Martin, Deacon Steve Neveraski, Deacon David Osman, Deacon George Reade, Deacon Gerald Shea (deceased), Deacon Marcel Soklaski, Deacon Thomas Tosti, Deacon Manuel Trujillo, and Deacon Manuel Velez.
The Intermountain Catholic recently asked some of the deacons to share an instance from the past 20 years that they hold tight, and why it is such a special memory. The responses follow.
Deacon Willis Bassett
Deacon Bassett ministered at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Layton and Christ Prince of Peace on Hill Air Force Base.
Deacon Bassett has fond memories of being Master of Ceremonies for the Most Rev. John C. Wester, ninth Bishop of Salt Lake City and now Archbishop of Santa Fe, for more than five years and traveling all over the state with him to attend confirmation Masses and other sacraments. The two spent a lot of time together and they became great friends, Deacon Bassett said. “I got to bond with Bishop Wester like probably no other deacon gets a chance to.”
Deacon Jack Clark
Deacon Clark ministered at St. Mary Parish, West Haven and in hospital ministry, particularly at McKay Dee Hospital.
During his first year after ordination, Deacon Clark got a call on a Saturday morning, telling him he was needed at the hospital. When he stopped in at the parish to get some hosts, Fr. Neale Herrlich, SJ, who was pastor from 1974 to 1992, was reading the morning paper and shared the story of a child who had been run over accidently in Ogden.
“When I got to the hospital, that was what the call was all about,” Deacon Clark said. “They were not Catholic – one of the nurses or doctors was and felt like they needed me there. It was a tragedy. That was a trial by fire. It’s something I still hold pretty close; our daughter was in critical condition when she was a baby. I know what that feels like.”
Deacon Scott Dodge
Deacon Dodge ministered at the Cathedral of the Madeleine for 11 years and at St. Olaf Parish in Bountiful since then. He also had hospital ministry at the LDS Hospital and Huntsman Cancer Institute. In addition, with Sr. Jeremiah Januska, he ministered at youth detention facilities for young women, and worked in addiction recovery. He also ran a group for disaffected adult Catholics who were interested in returning to the Church. Since 2020 he has been the director of the diocesan Office of the Diaconate.
In 2004 on Good Friday, one of the funeral directors asked Deacon Dodge to perform a committal service for an elderly Catholic woman who had no family, he said.
“The only people who were there was myself, the funeral director and the guys that were there from the cemetery,” he said. “With it being on Good Friday, that has always stood out in my mind. It being Good Friday, you realize some of the most important ministry you do isn’t the public stuff other people see, and how important that work and mercy of burying the dead is, and feeling really happy and privileged that I was able to do that.”
Deacon Eugene Farrell
Deacon Farrell, who has been retired for more than 10 years, served at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Salt Lake City, as well as at St. Joseph’s Villa, where he became friends with the Most Rev. Joseph L. Federal, sixth Bishop of Salt Lake City.
Deacon Farrell has fond memories of serving alongside Msgr. Francis Pellegrino, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Salt Lake City from 1963 to 1977 and St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Helper from 1978 to 1985, among other assignments. Msgr. Pellegrino had a great sense of humor and shared stories of his time working in the mining town of Bingham, Deacon Farrell said. “We became very good friends, and my fondest memory is of working with him. It was his spirituality that I really enjoyed working with him, also working with Fr. Stanislaus” [Herba, a retired priest who worked at numerous parishes in the diocese].
Deacon Paul Graham
Deacon Graham was the youth minister at St. John the Baptist Parish in Draper and also helped with youth at Juan Diego Catholic High School as well as did prison ministry under the late Father James Blaine. He transferred to Immaculate Conception Parish in Copperton in 2020. In addition, he was a certified spiritual director for the Utah Army National Guard until about two years ago.
One special memory Deacon Graham has is attending a special deacons Mass at the Vatican and serving at the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with Pope Francis presiding, he said.
He added that his most meaningful personal experiences were presiding at the weddings of both of his daughters, and baptizing all four of his grandchildren.
Deacon John Keyser
Deacon Keyser has ministered at St. Thomas More Parish in Cottonwood Heights, Immaculate Conception Parish in Copperton and St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Salt Lake City.
Deacon Keyser said he has many experiences of being with people, particularly when they’re dying. “One time a man of little faith was dying, and I went to speak with him about where heaven was. I knew that he was baptized as a child, and I went over the process and significance of his baptism. I said, ‘The faith that you have now that you were given in your baptism is what you’re about to enter into eternity with. What I want from you,’ I said to him, ‘is, I want you to put a good word in for me wherever you go.’”
Deacon John Kranz
The first eight or nine years of Deacon Kranz’s ministry were at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Holladay with Monsignor M. Francis Mannion, who was pastor from 2003 to 2012; that included hospital ministry. Following that was a few years at St. Thomas More Parish in Cottonwood Heights; the last eight years have been at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. While in the deacon formation program, he served in prison ministry for a couple of years.
“Being involved in the beautiful sacraments in the lives of families from baptisms to First Holy Communions to Confirmations, and even in the presence of the dying, have been and will always be a tremendous blessing I will forever cherish,” Deacon Kranz said. “However, being ordained at an early age, I had a unique and wonderful opportunity to be a deacon while my own daughters were in elementary school and all the way through them graduating through college. My daughters both went to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School, my youngest daughter finished at Cosgriff, and both graduated from Judge Memorial Catholic High School.
“At each of their graduations I was able to be the Deacon of the Mass. For me, those were wonderful opportunities and memories; however, if you ask my girls about it, having their dad as a deacon was not necessarily a true blessing at times. Having a dad as deacon at the parish that the school is attached to was for them a challenge at times and set what may have been unfair expectations from others.
“I actually say that jokingly because, in general, we all agree as a family that it was truly a blessing, although it came with its challenges as well. But being the Deacon of the Mass for their First Holy Communions, their Confirmations, their Christmas programs, their graduations, eventually their weddings, and in the future being present for the sacraments in the lives of their children are and will be memories I will cherish more than all others for the rest of this life.”
Deacon David Osman
Deacon Osman ministered at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Holladay, and also did hospital ministry.
Deacon Osman said when he first started in the diaconate, Msgr. M. Francis Mannion, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish at the time, “told me that he was going to be having me do a lot, and I did. I served in all kinds of capacities. He was a tremendous pastor for me; to serve with him was a real pleasure. He gave me a lot of leeway and I got to do a lot of things that maybe some other deacons didn’t do; for example, calls for someone who was dying or had died, and that was special. A lot of my duties also were annulments, and I got to be very good at it.”
Deacon George Reade
Deacon Reade initially served at St. Ambrose Parish in Salt Lake City for 18 years, during which he did hospital ministry at the University of Utah Hospital, Primary Children’s and Huntsman Cancer Institute. For the past 10 years, he has served as the diocesan real estate manager and chancellor.
“My fondest memory was my ordination: celebrating it with my wife, Mary, and with my classmates and their wives, all of whom have been such a blessing in my life,” Deacon Reade said.
Deacon Marcel Soklaski
Deacon Soklaski ministered at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Sandy and at Our Lady of the Snows Station in Alta (open during the ski season).
One of the most satisfying experiences Deacon Soklaski had was serving as an alcohol and drug abuse prevention coordinator and being able to work with people calling in for themselves, family members or spouses, or talking one on one with people, he said. “Also my first baptism, to be able to see the little girl that I baptized, being able to watch her grow up and feeling good about it being my first baptism,” he said.
Deacon Tom Tosti
Deacon Tosti has ministered at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Park City since his ordination.
Two years after the deacons’ ordination, Deacon Aniceto Armendariz, who went through formation with Deacon Tosti and served with him at St. Mary’s, was murdered. Deacon Tosti said his most special memories were officiating at the wedding of Deacon Armendariz’s daughter, and baptizing his grandchildren. “These memories were special because he wasn’t there to do it,” Deacon Tosti said. “He was my best friend in formation. He wasn’t here to walk his daughter down the aisle. He wasn’t there to baptize his own grandchildren. It was just a very special time.”
Deacon Manuel Trujillo
Deacon Manuel Trujillo has ministered at the parishes of St. Olaf in Bountiful, St. Rose of Lima in Layton and St. Thomas Aquinas in Logan. He also has done jail ministry for 20 years; he semiretired about three years ago.
One of his special memories was when, “seven years ago, I was called to do a blessing of a home,” Deacon Trujillo said. “The lady’s boyfriend wanted to sacrifice her and was about to light her on fire, but a neighbor called the police. I made excuses, but finally went. The lady told me she had prayed, and her boyfriend passed out.”
After Deacon Trujillo blessed the home, the lady started attending church; she still calls him to this day to thank him for saving her life.
He also is touched that people to whom he ministered in the jail still come up to him, he said. He recalled that a waitress recently told him that he went to her house and prayed for her, and that saved her life. “I said, ‘Thank God, he is the one who save your life. He is the one that called me to this ministry,’” Deacon Trujillo said.
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