Beautiful: son of a deacon is ordained a deacon

From Michael Alexander in the blog of The Georgia Bulletin: 

Until last Saturday’s rite of ordination to the diaconate, the last time I saw John Timme it was the September 23, 2002 funeral for his father, Deacon Bill Timme. Bill was a well-respected deacon who served at Holy Cross Church in Atlanta for 15 years. He also worked in the Archdiocese of Atlanta’s Metropolitan Tribunal and served as a chaplain at Saint Joseph’s Hospital. Like myself, the Timme family is from Louisville, Ky. They moved to Atlanta in 1970 when Deacon Bill took a new job.

In the room where the men were gathered before the ordination, I was making notes so I could try to connect the faces of the 13 candidates with the names in my program. When I got to John’s name and we briefly talked, that’s when I drew the connection back to his father. I’ve seen John’s mother, Mary Ellen, off and on since the funeral, and occasionally I see his sister Judy, who is a third grade teacher at Immaculate Heart of Mary School, Atlanta. John is the fourth of six Timme children – four girls and two boys.

John said he started discerning a vocation to the diaconate at least a decade ago. He prayed and read Scripture and he felt Christ was leading him in that direction. “I approached my pastor (Father Larry Niese) some 10 years ago about it, and he said ‘no,’ because he thought my children were too young, and he was right,” said John. When he went back a few years later and asked, Father Niese responded with a yes.

So there was John at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Feb. 7, following in his father’s footsteps, 28 years after his dad was ordained, and I was wondering what was going through his mind. John said he was filled with many emotions. “I so wanted my father to be there with me and especially wanted him to vest me,” said John. “I thought all day how wonderful it would have been for us to have served together in some small way. I was sure that he was looking down, beaming ear to ear.”

Read it all. 

Congratulations! Ad multos annos!

Photo by Michael Alexander / Georgia Bulletin