By A.M. Kelley
Superior Catholic Herald
Four permanent deacons ordained
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RICE LAKE -- The first time James Frederick was asked to join the diaconate program his response was "no way."
The second time, he hesitated. "I didn't think I was qualified," he said.
Now four years, 32 weekends of classes and one weekend retreat later, Frederick has overcome those doubts.
He and three other men, Mark Priniski, Thomas Fuhrmann and Dennis Geisler were ordained on June 8 by Bishop Peter Christensen at St. Joseph Church in Rice Lake.
Frederick looks forward to a ministry with Fr. Vincent Bromley, the pastor of Sacred Heart in Radisson, and St. Peter in Winter.
A bachelor, Frederick is 65 years old and an Ohio native. Since 1993 he has called Radisson home. Bromley said the new deacon has also made Sacred Heart Parish his home.
"Jim has developed a real sense of unity in that little parish," Bromley said, by spearheading a remodeling project and keeping a weekly Bible study program together for 10 years.
Frederick made a career for himself in the U.S. Navy. He joined in 1961 and was a quartermaster chief 20 years later at retirement. The branch of the Navy he worked in took him into deep waters; he was in submarine services and spent as many as 60 days in a stretch underwater.
"You learn to get along with people," he said.
When he left the seas, he settled in Texas and was only 38 years old. He worked for a railroad, the Veterans Administration and was also self-employed.
During these years he got "more involved with the church," and took adult religious education classes and taught fourth grade CCD classes.
Frederick survived an arduous career under the seas but the Texas heat drove him north to homestead near hunting acreage he had purchased south of Radisson in northern Rusk County.
Bromley expects Frederick to be involved in liturgies, to take over the "general supervision of Sacred Heart--the practical everyday stuff," and to continue to promote Bible study and set up a Eucharistic program for homebound parishioners.
"We can't work him too hard," Bromley said, "because he came here to retire."
Priniski was attracted to the diaconate program because of Deacons Paul Ochodnicky and Michael Cullen.
"I was so impressed with Paul and Michael and what they did," he said. "They are my role models."
Ochodnicky serves with Fr. Gerald Hagen at St. John the Baptist in Prentice and at St. Paul the Apostle in Catawba, and Cullen is the parish director of St. Peter in Cameron.
Cullen found Priniski's comment "humbling."
"You don't know when you're affecting your neighbors," Cullen said, "just living a normal Christian life."
On the other hand, he felt that Priniski inspired others by "sharing his gifts, music and liturgy. I'm just delighted that he's thinking of developing his gifts more in serving the diocese as a deacon."
Priniski is 55 and a member of Good Shepherd Parish in Rib Lake. As the parish's music minister, he wears a hat that fits comfortably; he's been involved in music ministry since his teen years at Holy Name High School in Escanaba, Mich.
He and his wife Jane began the diaconate course work together in December 2003. They have been on parallel paths since meeting while attending Northern Michigan University in Marquette. Mark graduated with a bachelor of music education and later earned a master's degree in educational technologies from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Jane has also had a career in education and teaches third grade in the Rib Lake School District, where both she and her husband have worked for 21 years.
They married in 1975 and have two children: William, 27, who works in professional theater in the Chicago area, and James, 22, a student at the UW-Stevens Point.
Priniski has been involved in parish liturgy planning with Fr. Bernie Byrne.
Priniski isn't the only member of his family with a musical gene. Of his six siblings, four brothers and two sisters, all but one of them sang in the choir for their brother's ordination. The cantor was his goddaughter and the pianist, his sister, Katie Gravelle.
The ordination, for Fuhrmann, reflects a long-held wish.
"Since I was young I wanted to be a priest," he said. "I made my own vestments and said Mass."
But on the night he set out to ask his parish priest how to get into the seminary, the priest just happened not to be home. That must have used up Fuhrmann's courage for the moment because he never made a second visit.
Instead he embarked on a career in education, first as a teacher in Germantown, Wis., where he met fellow teacher Sharon Piater who became his wife 37 years ago.
With degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee, and a Ph.D. in educational administration from UW- Madison, Fuhrmann went on to work as a principal, athletic director and district administrator for various school districts.
Now the couple lives in Weyerhaeuser and he has taken a "retirement" job managing Washburn County Head Start for the Indianhead Community Action Agency in Spooner.
The four-year study to become a permanent deacon was sparked after the funeral of an uncle about eight years ago. His cousin, who is a priest, was the celebrant and brought up the subject of the diaconate. This time, when Fuhrmann set out to meet with his parish priest and discuss the program, he wasn't discouraged. And later, a meeting with Deacon Tim Kuehn, the director of the permanent diaconate and lay ministry program, got him started on the road.
Sharon Fuhrmann attended the classes with her husband, as most wives of candidates for the diaconate do.
"We will face the community together," she said. "I learned more about the faith. It was extremely interesting and worthwhile."
Priniski expects his assignments to include assisting at liturgies, visiting the sick and after taking an as yet unscheduled course in homiletics, preaching.
It was a pilgrimage that convinced Geisler to check into the diaconate program.
"It really lit the fire," he said.
The pilgrimage was his wife Mary's idea. In 2000 she wanted to go to Lourdes.
"I went along as a tourist," Geisler said, "and left as a pilgrim."
When he returned to his parish, Our Lady of Lourdes in Dobie, he started paying attention to comments from fellow parishioners.
"They said I would make a great deacon," he recalls.
There are many different ministries for deacons in a parish.
"What you need," Geisler said, "is a deep faith and a willingness to apply your talents to serve God and the community."
For starters, he enjoys teaching adult and high school RCIA classes and will work with Fr. Dave Oberts, who pastors the Dobie parish as well as St. John the Evangelist in Birchwood and Holy Trinity in Haugen.
Geisler grew up on farm in Exeland in Sawyer County and graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. He and his wife own the Animal Health Center in Rice Lake.
They've been married nearly 38 years and have four daughters and sons-in law. They are Kara and Gary Jeter of Eden Prairie, Minn., Kelley and Greg McConnell of Annapolis, Md., Linnea and Chris Brunclik of Bloomington, Ind., and Sarah and Neal Crawford of Dodgeville, Wis. They also have 11 grandchildren.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2008