Ronald Choo

Andrew Gerakas

George Thorp Jr.

Thomas Miyashiro

Richard Port

By Patrick Downes, Hawaii Catholic Herald

Richard Port said he received his first glimpse at the possibilities of a permanent diaconate while he was a Peace Corps worker with his wife Ann in Africa. It was before the church had reinstated the ministry.

Ministries of a deacon   Hawaii’s first deacons have been involved in the following ministries over the past 25 years • Compiled by Richard Port   Liturgical Baptisms and parent preparation classes for infant baptism Marriage and couple preparation Weddings Wake services Funeral services Graveside services Communion services Benediction Stations of the Cross Diocesan Diocesan committees Diocesan Pastoral Council Diocesan Board of Education Development of diocesan guidelines for pastoral councils Diocesan Deacon Council Deacon Formation: core team Deacon Formation: curriculum committee Deacon Formation: speaker Catholic Charities committees Peace and Justice Committee Diocesan Synod committees Respect Life Office Family Life Commission Basic Christian Communities School Superintendent Office - asbestos management Campaign opposing assisted suicide Post Abortion Counseling: Project Rachel Parish and pastoral Parish administration Parish pastoral council Hospital ministry Care home ministry Home visit ministry Pastoral care ministry Bereavement ministry Prison ministry Retreat spiritual director and speaker Spiritual director for parish societies St. Vincent de Paul Society House, car, office blessings Maintenance and renovation committee Education Catechist Religious education instructor RCIA director and catechist Pre-Jordan Youth program School board committee member Ad hoc committee parish school Natural Family Planning Other National U.S. Bishops Committee for a Human Life Amendment National Right to Life Publication of two religious books Established Blessed Virgin Mary’s Small Christian Community Established Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary Established Confraternity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

A missionary priest, on one of his infrequent stops to an African village, told Port that he wished he had men who could preside at prayer services, baptize, distribute communion and perform graveside services when he could not be there. In a word, he needed “deacons.”

Later, after Port settled in Hawaii and became active in church and community affairs, he realized that that kind of service had not only become a reality, it was also an opportunity for him. He joined the first class of deacon candidates in Hawaii. The class celebrates its 25th anniversary of ordination on Dec. 5.

Port’s classmate Andrew Gerakas sees the diaconate as part of the evolving “revolution” of lay people taking an active role in the church by virtue of baptism and confirmation.

Although deacons are ordained clergy, they emerge from and remain imbedded in the laity, he explained.

One of the deacon’s jobs is “to encourage the laity to fulfill their destiny,” he said. “We understand the lay life and are involved with lay people.”

“The diaconate has grown to be an ordained sign of service open to everybody,” Gerakas said.

Deacon Thomas Miyashiro, another class member, said he learned early on that his vocation involved the broader community.

“I realized I represented the church in what I said and did,” he said.

He views his diaconate as a life-long growing process involving the support of many people.

“I am a deacon in life-long formation,” Miyashiro said. “I have matured with the prayers and support of my wife, son and family, parish staff and people, diaconate community and diocesan community.”

Deacon George Thorp Jr. would concur. He said that these 25 years have been a time of spiritual growth and joy.

“We have grown in the love of God,” he said, to “see others with the eyes of Christ.”

“It has been a real joy all these years especially to work with young people” in the pro-life field, he said.

He said it has also been a great blessing to “bring the love of Christ” to parishioners in the small city parish where he works.

Ronald T.Y. Choo is grateful for being accepted by the parishioners in the three churches he has served. They allowed him to be a “part of their lives,” he said, “through witnessing their marriages, baptizing their children, and being there to comfort them at the death of someone in their family.”

A deacon’s service usually extends beyond a parish. In preparation for this 25th anniversary, Port assembled a list of more than 50 ministries attributed to his class. (See box on right.)

One of them, prison ministry, has thrived under deacon leadership. Choo considers his involvement in this special work, when it first emerged in the diocese, as a “high point” in his diaconate. The ministry grew from serving one to four Oahu correctional centers and is now in the capable hands of another deacon, “who has taken it to another level,” he said.

Choo speaks for all his classmates when acknowledging the important role of his spouse.

“Of course, all of this could not be possible without the support and understanding of my wife Catherine,” he said, “who at times had to rein me in when I would forget that the vocation of a deacon is family, work and church — in that order.”

Thorp’s first wife Marcia died several year ago and he has recently remarried thanks to a dispensation from church rules prohibiting widowed deacons from marrying again. “God is blessing me all over again,” he said.

Overall, Port said, “It has been a wonderful 25 years. I feel so blessed, so grateful.”