Still serving after 40 years

Deacon Tom Powell and his wife Lydia (photo by Kevin Kelly / The Catholic Key)

From The Catholic Key in Kansas City-St. Joseph:

Deacon Tom Powell wasn’t ordained to win awards. But he won one anyway.

True to his calling to service, Deacon Powell wasn’t available in Jefferson City in October to receive his Citizenship Award — given to one person in each of Missouri’s four dioceses — during the annual Missouri Catholic Conference General Assembly.

“I was preaching that day,” Deacon Powell said. In other words, he was serving the people of St. Anthony Parish, still living out his call to the ordained service of which, this year, will number an even four decades.

And like all deacons, Deacon Powell will be quick to add that he is only the ordained half of a team. His wife, Lydia, has been with him every step of the way, even though she had two small children and another on the way when he was ordained to the permanent diaconate in the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 24, 1975.

“The wife has to go through at least some of the classes and some of the meetings, and I had to sign a consent” to allow Deacon Powell to be ordained, Lydia Powell said.

“I felt he had a calling,” she said. “He always wanted to be out, helping people who were needy.”

Though technically “retired” at age 76, Deacon Powell said there really is no such thing as a retired deacon. He will continue to serve in whatever capacity he can as long as he is physically able.

And there’s this:

“I never felt I was a deacon first,” he said. “My vocation is being married. Second is my kids. Third is my service as a deacon.”

Deacon Powell, however, said that service as a deacon “is a way of life.”

“You have to live what you preach,” he said.

“I have never worn a (Roman) collar, but I respect those who do,” he said. “I felt my role as a deacon was service to the people, and some people might think that collar was putting me on a higher level, and I don’t want that.

“The deacon has to be close to the people in order to be able to work on people’s needs,” he said. “It’s the difference between sergeants and generals. We’re the sergeants who are executing the orders.”

There’s much more good stuff at the link. Read it all.