'Trust me, I'm a deacon'

 
By LORI BERGLUND
Special to Lumen Media
 
Jeff Stanek wants you to trust him. After all, he’s a deacon. In a world where misinformation — particularly about the truths of the Catholic faith — is often rampant, Deacon Stanek of Holy Trinity Parish in Webster County is lighting a candle in the world of social media to shine forward with messages that tell the story of what Catholics believe.

“My goal is to get people thinking about our faith,” Deacon Stanek said of his new weekly venture, aptly named, “Trust me, I’m a Deacon,” on the website and social media platforms of Holy Trinity Parish.

The series of brief talks began earlier this summer and Deacon Stanek is hoping that it will help educate people from cradle Catholics, to newcomers to the faith, or even the increasingly greater number in society known as “nones,” for having no church home, nor faith affiliation.

In his brief videos, Deacon Stanek is not seeking to break new theological ground, but to shed light on the little things that set Catholicism apart in a secular world. Even something as simple as holy water is a topic that both cradle Catholics and the nones can learn a little bit more about.

To the nones, seeing a Catholic bless himself with holy water can be a confusing series of splashing water and hand gestures. Even to regular Mass-goers, the practice of dipping one’s hand in a font of holy water and making the sign of the cross can often become a habit done without thought of why, or what it means.

That’s why Deacon Stanek tackled the meaning of holy water and how it is to be used in his most recent video launch. Tackling such taken-for-granted subjects as holy water, gives long-time Catholics a reminder and refresher course in the little things that make the faith so special. If just one person slows down as he or she enters the church, pauses at the holy water font, and blesses him or herself with greater thought as to the true act of prayer that the sign of the cross really is, then Deacon Stanek’s video has hit its mark.

Deacon Stanek records a video on holy water“I really like to talk about the little things in our faith that can get overlooked,” he said.

Ordained a deacon just one year ago in August, Deacon Stanek is uniquely positioned to reach out to those without a regular church home, or to those who simply want to know more about their Catholic life. Raised Methodist near Callender in rural Webster County, Deacon Stanek was never very active in his faith as a youth.

One thing he was certain of, is that he had no interest in Catholicism.

“My famous last words were, ‘You’ll catch me in a Catholic church over my dead body,’” he candidly recalled.

It was his wife, Elizabeth, raised a Lutheran, who first had an interest in the Catholic faith when the couple decided to enroll their children at St. Edmond’s Catholic School in Fort Dodge.

“We liked the structure of the school and the Christian-based education, not Catholic,” Deacon Stanek said.

It was Elizabeth who first started attending Mass when they became part of the St. Edmond family. She was the first to enroll in RCIA and become Catholic. With time, Deacon Stanek began to be attracted to the Catholic faith as well.

“Slowly but surely, they got me to come to Mass,” he recalled. “And then, it all started falling into place for me.”

He enrolled in RCIA, and it soon became apparent that, if he was going to be Catholic, he wanted to give his new faith everything he could.

“I knew I really wanted to serve the Lord the best way I could,” Deacon Stanek said. “It just kind of morphed into becoming a deacon, which is the highest calling for a lay person.”
He credits the senior deacons at Holy Trinity as being role models and encouraging him along the way.

It’s a powerful lesson that Deacon Stanek wasn’t born a Catholic; he chose to become one, and that gives his videos a unique set of credentials for those out there who, like he once was, can’t imagine being a Catholic.

“I approach these as, ‘How would I say this to me, 20 years ago?’ My audience are people who are like me back then,” he noted.

In upcoming videos, Deacon Stanek hopes to delve into prayer. There are many ways to pray, but they are all simply different forms of talking with God.

‘I’d like to talk about many different aspects of prayer,” Deacon Stanek said.

Prayer is another subject that is apt to both the nones and regular Mass-goers. Those who have no faith history, may have no idea how to pray. And regular Mass goers can sometimes have a season of dryness in their prayer life. Mother Teresa also talked of going through a long period of dryness, but her faith never dimmed.

Whether it’s learning how to pray, how to deepen one’s prayer life, or why Catholics do what they do, helping others learn more about the faith is his one goal in the new video series. He welcomes ideas and suggestions for future topics.

“I totally encourage people to send me messages or come up to me after Mass,” the deacon said.

One thing viewers will not get from Deacon Stanek is a long, drawn-out lecture.

“My goal for the videos is to keep it under three minutes,” he explained. “It keeps me concise, gets the point across, and keeps it interesting.”

Deacon Stanek is living proof that one should never say never to the Catholic faith. In many ways, it was St. Edmond’s Catholic School that was a bridge to his family to enter the faith. Now, as a deacon, he is seeking to build more bridges for those who just want to learn a little more about this thing called Catholicism.

“We are always learning,” he concluded.