By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
Deacon LeRoy Rupp died April 27 at the age of 94 in Cherokee (see the death notice on page xx). Most likely, he was the oldest deacon in our diocese. He led a life of service to his church, family and community.
The Cherokee Chronicle Times paid homage to Deacon Rupp’s four decades of service in a June 2023 article. The reporter, Denny Holton, noted that Deacon Rupp began his service to the church as an altar server through grade school and high school. His service wasn’t limited to the church.
He served in the U.S. Navy after graduating from Cherokee Immaculate Conception High School. He opted to stay in the Navy an extra year due to the onset of the Korean War, serving a total of four years.
Deacon Rupp married Bonnie in 1952 and the couple raised four children. The deacon and his wife visited area nursing homes and he visited parish shut-ins as part of his ministry.
Recounting his many years of service to the Catholic Church, the deacon noted he served under four bishops and 10 pastors. It would be impossible to count the numerous times he proclaimed the Gospel and assisted at the altar during Masses in his ministry.
In February 2024, Deacon LeRoy Rupp submitted his letter of resignation from active ministry at Cherokee Immaculate Conception and Holstein Our Lady of Good Counsel. Parishioners held a reception to thank him for his service.
It would have been understandable for a deacon of advancing years to retire from active diaconal ministry well before his 94th birthday. Deacons serve in persona Christi servi, Christ the servant. Deacon Rupp truly gave a lifetime of service.
Not all men are called to a life of service through ordination to the diaconate or priesthood. Not all are called to religious life or consecrated life, but we all can fill an important role of service.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains on their website usccb.org that service is an essential part of living our faith.
“Service reminds us of our connection to those members of our human family who are most in need. The relationships we form during service help us to see the face of Christ present in the marginalized,” the site reads.
We as a faith community are called to share our gifts to the world as early as we can understand the concept of helping.
Children learn to serve when in parish religious education classes or in their Catholic or public schools as they collect items or funds for food banks, pregnancy centers or other service agencies.
We encourage our children to serve the church as well as their communities. Like Deacon Rupp, many eagerly start their service to the church as altar servers at their local parishes.
As they grow older, young parishioners can participate in projects such as clearing snow or raking leaves for the elderly in their communities.
Many of our Catholic schools and some of our parishes raise funds and spend hours packaging hundreds of thousands of meals for the malnourished in impoverished nations through programs such as Then Feed Just One.
We can have our children serve alongside us to provide an example and an opportunity to serve. Some families work together at a fundraising event likek a parish dinner, serve as a greeter or usher at church, or volunteer at a non-profit organization.
We hope that the groundwork is prepared for the next generation of the faithful through modeling and experience. We hope Catholics continue to offer a lifetime of service to others. We can continue to provide an example today as we follow Our Lord’s command to “love one another as I have loved you.”
“To love as Christ means to put yourself at the service of your brothers and sisters, as he did in washing the feet of the disciples,” Pope Francis said in 2021. “It means making ourselves available, as we are and with what we have. This means to love not in word but in deed.”