The Deacon's Bench
Further proof that deacons come from everywhere: this profile of a candidate from the Keene Sentinel in New Hampshire:
With some people, you can divine their personality, their psyche, by looking at their faces. In Fintan P. Moore Jr.’s case, it’s his eyes; they sparkle and stay laser-focused on you. He’s paying close attention to what you’re saying. He’s listening carefully; he’s thinking.
When you learn more about him, you figure out why that is. He’s spent his career, 40-plus years now, studying and helping people in trouble — certainly in distress, often in crisis.
“Life ain’t easy; we all have our problems and crosses to bear. People say they don’t; they’re lying,” says the trim, fit 64-year-old Keene resident. During his diverse careers, he has worked as a therapist at a mental hospital, a policeman, and now he’s a soon-to-be ordained deacon in the Catholic Church.
“I’ve always asked myself what can I do to help people,” he says, relaxing at his home in West Keene on a beautiful summer afternoon.
He’s so focused, so energized, these questions come easily: What makes you tick, what drives you?
He’s unequivocal in his answer; it’s quick and forceful.
“My faith in God. It defines me. It’s who I am. It always was,” he says, clutching his chest with two flexed fists. “It’s all right in here.”
His background is fascinating and diverse, yet there is a strong current that runs through it, a theme: seeing people at their worst, and trying to help.
“Human behavior is fascinating, fascinating,” he says. “The way people behave, it’s always a stumper. You learn more every day until you go into the grave. There’s a lot of brokenness out there, spoken or unspoken. We all got it.”
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