They called him the ‘ninja deacon’: More on murdered Deacon Pat Logsdon

They called him the ‘ninja deacon’: More on murdered Deacon Pat Logsdon November 6, 2017

The New York Times has more on the deacon stabbed to death last week. Take a look:

The deacon, Patrick Logsdon, was the manager of Anthony House in Roosevelt, N.Y., in Nassau County. For more than 30 years, Mr. Logsdon, 70, took in up to nine men at a time, giving them a bed, home-cooked meals, help finding a job and, above all, a tough-love attitude, said James Pfeifer, 61, who worked at the house with Mr. Logsdon for four years.

The men, many of whom had spent decades in prison, were allowed to stay for six to eight weeks, during which time they were expected to behave with dignity and prove they were trying to get their lives back on track, Mr. Pfeifer said.

“He would say, ‘You can’t con the deacon,’” Mr. Pfeifer recalled. Mr. Logsdon, who was known as Deacon Pat, would walk around town to check up on residents and make sure they were not getting into trouble. “Guys would call him ‘the ninja deacon,’ and say, ‘Where did you come from?’”

He was tough as nails,” Mr. Pfeifer added. “But he was about giving someone another chance.”

…In a statement on Saturday about Mr. Logsdon, the diocese said: “Even at the time of his death, he was carrying out the Gospel message of caring for the poor as he has done faithfully for 33 years. Let us seek healing and comfort in the one true God during this time of great loss.”

Mr. Logsdon’s faith was the driving force behind his work, but with the exception of a sign outside the house that said “Pray Hard,” he never imposed that faith on his residents, Mr. Pfeifer said.

The deacon’s acts of ministry extended far beyond the work of Anthony House. He spent hours each day on the phone with prisoners, some of whom were serving life sentences and would never have the chance to enter Anthony House and find help.

“He had a crick in his neck from propping the phone in between his neck and his chin,” Mr. Pfeifer said.

Mr. Logsdon didn’t foot the bill for all of those calls, though: One man in nearby Garden City, who had once asked the deacon to pray for his son, was so grateful to him that he paid the bill each month, Mr. Pfeifer said.

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