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“Dick is really pastoral.
He falls naturally into that
role (deacon). He also has
a great sense of humor.
We’re really fortunate,”
says a Holy Cross
parishioner who has known
I and worked with him for
years.
Life as a permanent
fulltime deacon is busy and
satisfying for the man who
spent 31 years with
Weyerhaeuser Co. before
retiring from a manage
ment position in 1982. He is
now 61.
It’s easy to see how busy
his life is. He preaches
every other Sunday, of
ficiates at baptisms, coor
dinates the high school
CCD classes, gives
I spiritual direction, is in
volved with the parish
RCIA program, celebrates
Communion services, en
courages parishioners’ ef
forts to help street people,
attends class once a week
for three hours, and uses
his business expertise in
the buying of supplies and
equipment for the parish
buildings.
Narey begins preparing
for his Sunday homily ear-
I ly. “I take the readings,
usually on Monday, and
read them, think about
them, look for key phrases.
I pray about them. On
Wednesday I start zeroing
in. If something in the Epis
tle strikes me, I’ll go to the
library and research in bi-
ble commentaries. We
have a very good one here.
By Friday I’m really star
ting to pray and reflect. I
make a short outline with
notes on points I want to
make. I never want to get
lost,” he says with convic
tion.
To add lustre to their
homiletic skills, Narey and
Bedard will attend Aquinas
Institute in St. Louis, Mo.,
from June 23 until 28. The
Dominican workshop,
“Preach the Word,” will be
conducted by Sister Joanne
Delaplane, O.P., and
Father Jude Sicillano, O.P.
“The deacon’s
liturgical role as
preacher, baptizer, and
presider at public
prayer is fairly well
defined, but his ministry
in the field of education,
counseling, administra
tion, and service to the
diocese, parish and
wider community is
very much unspecified
or open ended.” Bishop
Hubbard
Narey’s ministry in the
field of continuing educa
tion becomes more specific
each year. It is something
he feels very strongly
about: “Anyone going into
the diaconate should have
that in mind. It’s almost
like a life commitment to
continuing education.”
This year he began a
three-year course that the
Loyola Institute of Ministry
gives each Thursday at Ho
ly Cross parish. “In two
more years I’ll get a
pastoral ministry degree.
This year we studied
Ministry and Context
which puts you in a pattern
of learning, makes you look
at your culture, institution,
personal life and ministry.
We had to read all of the
Old Testament and we’re
winding up on the New
Testament. The institute is
marvelous for people who
can’t go to the campus in
New Orleans.” Loyola also
holds a Thursday night
class at Holy Cross.
Homework is a major
part of the serious study.
“Loyola tells us it takes six
hours a week. I have found
it usually takes 10 or 12,”
he says.
Another facet of his
education centers on the
RCIA program in the
parish. With Father Cayet
Mangiaracina, O.P., assis
tant pastor, he attended a
workshop in Memphis,
Tenn., two years ago. After
that they began implemen
ting what they had learned
into the parish program.
“One of the things I think
we get hung up on is in try
ing to pour too much educa
tion into them (the can
didates). It’s not a pro
gram, it’s a process,” he
says of the inquiry,
teaching and illumination
stages. “Once you’ve been
through it for a year you
see this.”
Deacons should see
the empowerment of the
laity as one of their
prime responsibilities.”
Bishop Hubbard
One of Narey’s top
responsibilities is getting
lay people involved in
parish life. “We are
enablers. We might
become involved with a
program with the object of
getting the lay people in
volved then taking over.”
He was successful in this
goal with a baptismal class
he led for a year. “I asked
six couples to help me, now
one couple has been work
ing it for the past year.”
This “empowerment” he
terms “just marvelous.”
He used the same ap
proach for the RCIA pro
gram where the
parishioners “more or less
handle the sessions now.”
Another area where he
gets satisfaction from the
empowerment of the laity
is the parish mission to
street people. It began with
some of the men going
down to St. Anthony’s and
Central Presbyterian
Church shelters. Now the
parish takes about 18 dates
each year with members
spending the night at the
shelters and the fourth
Saturday of each month is
Holy Cross day at St. Fran
cis Table at the Shrine of
the Immaculate Concep
tion.
Narey is sensitive to the
fact that many people are
anxious to help but unable,
for many reasons, to go to
shelters and food kitchens.
“When we make sand
wiches the object is to get
as many people to help as
Richard Narey
deacon’s role is varied
possible. I try to make it as
difficult as I can for them,”
he says with his quiet
humor. “Make it hard to
find the mustard, need to
get more bread. It’s very
good for the parishioners.
They feel they’re con
tributing even though they
can’t go down.”
The street people fund
the parish maintains has
been increased con
siderably through the ef
forts of one woman, Ruth
(Bunny) Bohaczwk who
came to him last year with
an idea of putting on a
variety show to benefit the
homeless. “Father A1 (the
pastor, Father Alberto
Rodriguez, O.P.) thought it
was a great idea and the
parish council approved it.
We made about $1,500.
We’ll do better this year.”
With money raised from
the show and program
book, Narey says, a check
was sent to The Open Door
Community on Ponce de
Leon Avenue which pro
vides hospitality to the
homeless and those in
prison, and to St. Francis
Table. The rest was added
to the parish fund for street
people and used over the
winter months.
Narey is- pleased that
there is a core group of
seven or eight people in the
parish who handle the work
for the homeless since he
“backed out.” Most of the
candidates now in the
diaconate program are in
volved.
The fact that Holy Cross
had five members certified
as master catechists by the
archdiocese makes him ex
tremely proud. “The peo
ple we’ve had (attaining
this level) are top quality.
They’re Catholic-oriented
with good backgrounds.”
For some time in the
future we should avoid
any institutionalization
of the diaconate and
allow its growth and
development to be
limited only by the
movement of the
Spirit.” Bishop Hubbard
“We think you have the
qualities, we don’t know if
you have the calling,”
Narey was told when he
began diaconate training.
“I took it because I
wanted to do something in
the Church. I certainly
didn’t expect to be a CCD
Marjorie Narey
....family supports
his ministry
coordinator at my age. I
love the kids. I’ve learned a
lot from them. It’s been a
great experience,” he says
of the two years spent coor
dinating religious educa
tion for high school age
students. “I’ll probably do
it one more year, then I’d
like to move on to
something else.” What that
might be he isn’t prepared
to say now.
“The focal point of the
deacons’ mission and
ministry is the human
person who has been
charged by God with a
dignity that is unique,
sacred and inviolable.”
Bishop Hubbard
There is an aura of
strength and compassion
about Narey that prompts
easy communication and
relates to his skill at giving
spiritual direction. A large
part of his ministry, this
role as spiritual advisor to
people in the parish and in
the diaconate, keeps him
involved in the late after
noons and evenings with
those who cannot see him
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PAGE 11 — The Georgia Bulletin, June 20, 1985
earlier in the day.
He can offer reverence
and joy through his
celebration of Communion
service at ultreyas
(Cursillo meetings), for
youth groups and in homes.
What is a deacon’s Commu
nion service? “After the
Liturgy of the Word we do
the petitions and then move
on to the Our Father, then
complete the rest of the
Mass. We cannot do the
consecration, so we always
take consecrated hosts.”
Whether counseling, giv
ing Communion, preaching
or studying, Narey keeps in
mind what he sees as his
obligation as a deacon to
“be in the world and to
react to what we encounter
in the environment we are
in.”
Sometimes this concerns
the business side of parish
life. On a Monday morning
he will make a bank run.
Later in the morning there
is the weekly staff meeting.
“There is good com
munication with each
department advising the
other what they are doing,”
he says. The give and take
continues through lunch at
the rectory where the
discussion with the pastor
might focus on the advan
tages and disadvantages of
investing in a new energy
system for the church plant
to replace the 20-year-old
model now showing signs of
its age.
“We work well toge
ther,” Narey says of his
association with Father
Rodriguez. “My concern
when I first came here was
to cut down cost, change
our buying habits.” He’s
achieved good results but is
still looking for ways to cut
costs.
Like any loyal employee,
Narey doesn’t discuss his
monetary arrangement
with his parish except to
say he’s paid a salary for
his work as CCD coor
dinator. As a deacon, he
has an expense allowance
for car mileage in perform
ing his duties.
“What deacons
need to avoid is a new
clericalism wherein
they transfer from the
ranks of lay amateurs to
clerical professionals
and seek to carve out
roles that solidify their
own position in the
heirarchy of the
Church...” Bishop Hub
bard
There is “Reverend”
before his name in the
weekly parish bulletin.
Sometimes “strangers”
call him “Father” when he
dons his alb, a longsleeved
white vestment, for
liturgical celebrations at
Holy Cross. He doesn’t
wear a Roman collar, none
of the deacons in the ar
chdiocese of Atlanta are
permitted to. “Walt
(Bedard) and I have talked
about it and neither of us
want any part of it.” Yet he
can see situations where it
might be helpful, especial
ly at jails or hospitals
where “it would give better
entry.”
He has heard deacons
referred to, in jest, as
“Hierarchial weirdos.” He
smiles when he uses the
label. It’s a far cry from
what he is, what he does.
His three years as a full
time permanent deacon
have given him a full life
and the priceless satisfac
tion of knowing he helps
people to richer spiritual
life.
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