HIGH POINT — Monsignor Joseph Kerin has certainly earned his retirement. Back in 1972, he was one of the first priests of the newly-formed Diocese of Charlotte dispatched by Raleigh Bishop Vincent Waters to serve Catholics in western North Carolina.
Father Kerin, as he was known then, was a native of Scarsdale, N.Y., who moved to North Carolina after finishing college. He discerned a call to the priesthood and approached Bishop Waters, who sent him to seminary in 1957.
He recalls meeting a young priest named Father Michael Begley, who was assigned to an orphanage in Raleigh where his brother lived at the time. The two priests' friendship blossomed and eventually brought Monsignor Kerin to his assignment as second chancellor for the Diocese of Charlotte when his longtime friend became Charlotte's first bishop in 1972.
Monsignor Kerin recently granted Catholic News Herald an interview about his experiences in the diocese and reminisced about his role as chancellor and his relationship with both Bishop Begley and Bishop John Donoghue, who succeeded Bishop Begley in 1984.
"The diocese started back in 1972 and at that time most of us were parish priests," Monsignor Kerin recalled. "Monsignor Showfety was the first chancellor when the diocese was established and after about seven years, he was given a position back in a parish and I was appointed (chancellor) by Bishop Begley in 1979.
"Monsignor (Showfety) had the responsibility of setting up the organization, and it was my job as chancellor to be the executive officer of the diocese (after him) to handle the routine running of the diocese while the bishop was concerned with more spiritual matters.
"It was a tremendous experience because it gave me an overview of the diocese that you don't get as a pastor of an individual parish."
Monsignor Kerin said he found being chancellor was an interesting job and considered his role primarily to help pastors do their jobs.
"It was a most pleasant time for me," he said. "The diocese was growing. We started out as a relatively large diocese (geographically), and I was able to see the continuing development of it."
"In those days we lived with the bishop," he noted, in the bishop's residence in Charlotte. "With Bishop Begley, I would answer the phone as kind of a buffer. But with Bishop Donoghue, he would keep his office door open (in the chancery) and many times answer the phone himself (at home and at the office)."
This kind of "open door" policy created some challenging situations for Monsignor Kerin, he recalls, especially when Bishop Donoghue would allow people to walk in unannounced, sometimes seeking financial donations.
"There was one day when he wanted to give a donation to an order of religious sisters. He walked in the office with one of the sisters and asked me to write the check (right then). I told him not to do that to me anymore – to give me more notice.
"He said, 'A cardinal did that to me for 20 years, so I am going to do that to you!' We had a big laugh over that."
As chancellor, Monsignor Kerin didn't have the staff back then that the chancery and diocese have now.
"I was responsible for the operation of the diocese that included all the finances. In those days we could handle it with just a full-time bookkeeper and me."
As the diocese grew, though, they had to hire more staff to take on those responsibilities. Now, the diocesan Pastoral Center has 115 full-time employees that engage in vocation, education, social services, housing and multicultural ministries.
Monsignor Kerin has many stories about his time serving as chancellor for the diocese's first two bishops.
He remembers meeting then Monsignor Donoghue for the first time when the bishop-elect travelled to the diocese before his ordination as its second bishop.
"It was a little bit of pressure on me meeting a new man (who would be installed as the new bishop). When he came down from Washington, D.C., he came to Charlotte with the retired Cardinal (Patrick) O'Boyle, who was about 90 years old, whom Bishop Donoghue had worked for for many years, and he also lived with him and took care of him in his retirement.
"We met them at the airport. I was driving my car, and I locked the keys in the car. So the retired cardinal of Washington comes down with another bishop and my own (soon to be ordained) bishop. I didn't know him very well yet. He said, 'Keep them talking,' (to the others I was with) so I could call someone at the bishop's residence to have them bring my second set of keys."
He confesses at the time the situation was a bit embarrassing, but after a while he was able to see the humor in it.
"It was an interesting way to meet the new bishop."
Monsignor Kerin remained as chancellor under Bishop John Donoghue until 1986.
"After about two years (serving under Bishop Donoghue), I asked him if I could return to parish life."
Monsignor Kerin went on to pastor and help build St. Matthew Church in south Charlotte, now one of the largest Catholic churches in the country with more than 28,000 parishioners, and St. Mark Church in Huntersville, which is the second largest Catholic church in the diocese.
Monsignor Kerin officially retired as pastor of St. Mark Church in 2003. The parish activity center there is named in his honor.
St. Barnabas Church in Arden was rededicated during his tenure, when about 66,200 Catholics called the Diocese of Charlotte home.
Monsignor Kerin celebrated 55 years of priesthood this year and marvels at how his retirement is the first time in his adult life where he has been without responsibilities.
As a closing thought, he shared an observation he read by a fellow priest who also witnessed the changes in the Church since Vatican II: "'How it's changed: when I was ordained I said Mass and people heard Mass. Then I celebrated Mass and the people participated in it. Now, people celebrate the Mass and I preside.' That tells it quite nicely, I think."
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
Chancellors of the Diocese of Charlotte
1972-1979: Monsignor Joseph Showfety
1979-1986: Monsignor Joseph Kerin
1986-1994: Monsignor John McSweeney
1994- Monsignor Mauricio West
FOREST CITY — In the late 1970s, Andy Cilone took a job promotion in the plastics industry and moved to North Carolina from the Northeast with his wife JoAnn and their five children, all of whom were younger than 14. They settled at Immaculate Conception Church in Forest City, where they have helped to build up the Church in many ways – most notably with him becoming one of the diocese's first permanent deacons.
A cradle Catholic who was always active in his parish, Deacon Cilone remembers the challenging transition from a highly Catholic area to the "Bible Belt" in which Catholics were a minority. He wanted to know more about his faith so he could better articulate it to all the non-Catholics he encountered.
The Cilones quickly became active in parish life. When Deacon Cilone lost his job in 1979, he leaned on his faith to get him through and found another job to provide for his family within a month.
"I was so thankful," he said. "I started with a plastics company in Shelby. There was a great feeling of thanksgiving."
That same year, Father John Murray, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, approached him and asked him to consider applying for the inaugural class of permanent diaconate candidates that was being formed.
"He said, 'Don't worry, Andy, you can do it!' I thought it would be a great way to enhance the knowledge of my faith, to learn more about it. Also, I was pretty involved in the Church anyway, so I went ahead and put my application in."
And the rest, as they say, is history.
He was accepted along with 20 other candidates. For the next three years they received intense formation and training, and on May 29, 1983 – Trinity Sunday – they were ordained as the diocese's first permanent deacons.
Deacon Cilone describes what it was like to be one of the "original" deacons ordained that day nearly 30 years ago.
"It was quite a celebration. It was like a wedding," he said. "With the large class we had, it was in Ovens Auditorium (in Charlotte). It was a great day. All my family came in from all parts of the country. They surprised me with my baptismal godmother from my hometown."
The first class was ordained by Bishop Michael Begley, the diocese's first bishop; also in attendance was Monsignor Anthony Kovacic, who helped launched the permanent diaconate; and Mercy Sister Mary Thomas Burke, who served as the director of deacons' wives.
Reflecting on nearly 30 years as a deacon for the diocese, Deacon Cilone said, "It has been a constant growing, learning more. You develop your ministries as you go along."
You can see what he means by all the ministries he serves in at his parish of 37 years. He cantors at Mass. He also serves as the director of religious education, works in prison ministry, makes visits to the hospital and to the homebound and brings Holy Communion to Catholics in the community who cannot attend Mass because of illness or infirmity.
He also serves as the diocese as the vicar of the Hickory Region for the permanent diaconate. He assists 21 deacons and four deacon candidates in that region, assisting in the formation of the permanent diaconate candidates.
In addition to those responsibilities, he and his wife JoAnn enjoy spending time with their 10 grandchildren. "My wife is just as active as I am!" he added.
Deacon Cilone has advice for men who may be considering the diaconate:
"If their desire or goal is to grow in the faith and to serve the Church, it's a great way to do it. What I tell most people about what is special about the permanent deacons is that the greatest thing you do is to make a commitment to do various things in ministry...that's the difference.
"You make a commitment to serve the Church. Commitment is one of the greatest attributes needed in pursuing the permanent diaconate."
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
The Permanent Diaconate in the Diocese of Charlotte
Think deacons have always been part of your parish? Think again.
The diaconate is a relatively recent revival of the ancient ministry the Apostles established when they ordained Stephen and six other worthy men to assist them in caring for the needy in the early Church in Jerusalem. The word "deacon" comes from the Greek "diakonia," which means "service.
Over the centuries the diaconate developed as a seminarian's step towards the priesthood rather than as an ordained ministry unto itself (one of three types of holy orders: deacon, priest and bishop). During the Second Vatican Council, however, the Church encouraged restoring the diaconate to its unique and ancient sacramental role.
"Permanent" deacons – so named to differentiate them from "transitional" deacons, who are on the path to becoming priests – serve as ministers of the Word, the altar and charity. They can proclaim the Gospel, assist the priest at the altar and give homilies during Mass; they can witness at weddings and officiate at burials, administer the sacrament of baptism and assist in distributing Communion; and they engage in works of charity for their parish and the diocese. As the Church in western North Carolina has grown over the past 40 years, the 91 deacons presently serving in the diocese have become invaluable help in our 92 parishes and missions.
But it wasn't always this way. The diocese's first deacons were ordained in 1983 – less than 30 years ago.
In 1968, Pope Paul VI approved the U.S. bishops' request to revive the permanent diaconate in this country. The first deacons in the U.S. were ordained in 1971.
In Charlotte, work got underway in the spring of 1978, when the diocese's Presbyteral Council appointed a planning committee to study the potential for a Permanent Diaconate program.
Bishop Michael Begley appointed Father Richard Burton, Father Thomas Walsh, Father Frank O'Rourke, Deacon Ted Krizman and his wife Crystal Krizman to the committee. Father Joseph Kerin served as chairperson. After the committee met for the first time on April 11, 1978, Bishop Begley expressed his wish to establish the permanent diaconate here.
Like many other dioceses, Charlotte had a lot to learn about the restored ministry and how best to set up a program, select and train candidates, and define the duties and role of deacons in the diocese. Diocesan clergy and laity worked on these issues over the next two years
In 1980 the Permanent Diaconate program was officially established by Bishop Begley. He appointed Monsignor Anthony Kovacic, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury, as its first director. Twenty-two men were accepted into the inaugural class. Classes began in September 1980, with the first session being held at the now-closed Sacred Heart College in Belmont.
On May 29, 1983, 19 men were ordained to the permanent diaconate at Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte – marking the culmination of three years of intense preparation. Jim Collins and Kurt Fohn, the other two candidates, were ordained later, and they went on to be ordained as priests for the diocese.
These 21 men were the diocese's first "ministers of service" – mature men of faith who, ordained by the laying on of hands, gave a permanent visible witness of their "yes" to God, who called them to share in the sacramental ministry of Jesus Christ by serving His Church.
Said Monsignor Kovacic in his address to the candidates at their ordination, "We look confidently to the future ... Deacons, you have your pastors and above all, with our generosity, your spirit of service and initiative you will always have abundant grace to which you are entitled by the sacrament you received."
— SueAnn Howell and Patricia L. Guilfoyle, Catholic News Herald