Future deacons reflect on their call to ministry — Part 1
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Archbishop-designate W. Shawn McKnight has summoned 14 men to the diaconate — 13 of them for the permanent diaconate and on seminarian for the transitional diaconate.
They will be ordained during Mass on Saturday, June 7, in the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City.
The permanent diaconate candidates and their wives have been preparing since 2020.
This is the first in a series of articles profiling the candidates:
“Humility and sacrifice”
When members of the previous diaconate ordination class came and spoke to the current group of candidates several years ago, Harvey F. Million Jr. sensed a special presence among them.
“I don’t recall what they said, but I do recall leaving that day thinking that they are men of great hope,” he said. “That’s how I want to be.”
Mr. Million grew up in Centralia and has been a member of Holy Spirit Parish his entire life.
He entered diaconal discernment and formation not yet knowing whether God was calling him to be a deacon.
He has revisited that question many times during the process.
“I believe even more strongly now that God has called me to this office and has put people in my life to prepare me to step out into the mystery of what he has planned,” he said.
Mr. Million aspires as a deacon to be a faithful witness to Christ and his Church.
“I hope to serve others with humility and sacrifice, reflecting Christ’s love and mercy for all humanity,” he said.
He holds a master’s degree in business administration and has been a small-business owner in his hometown for over 20 years.
He and his wife, Stacey, have been married for almost 33 years. They have raised five daughters, three of whom are married.
The couple has eight grandchildren, including one who will be born later this year.
Mr. Million believes his greatest opportunities as a deacon to lead people to Christ will come with faithfully celebrating the Sacraments of the Church and praying the Divine Office.
“It is through these that we are strengthened as individuals and as a community,” he stated.
Ordination does bring him trepidation, but he’s also excited to be of service to the Lord and his people.
Mr. Million said he’s inspired by all the deacons and priests of this diocese who have influenced him throughout his formation.
He has also “been blessed to have the support of my wife, my family and the clergy and parishioners of Holy Spirit Church,” he stated.
“I have been blessed with a great formation director who has prepared me, I have a great spiritual director who guides me, and a generous business partner who has allowed me the time I needed to complete formation,” he said.
Mr. Million asked for prayers for his ordination class, “that we be faithful to the office of the diaconate, that our families and communities will be strengthened by our presence and that we will always remain humble servants.”
“I need God”
Service is in Denis P. Gladbach’s DNA.
“My parents raised my four siblings and me with a work ethic, committed to Christian service,” said Mr. Gladbach, a member of Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish in Jefferson City.
Yet, he did not fully understand the need to serve until he was supporting his children in their youth projects.
“Regardless of what we were involved in, the component of service kept coming up,” he said.
When he was asked to consider the diaconate, the focus on service stood out for him.
“I look forward to serving my parish, my diocese and my community with my ordination,” he stated.
Through that service, he wants to share God’s Good News.
“I hope to be able to communicate with those who used to be members of the faithful, but through misunderstanding of Catholicism in the past, chose a different path,” said Mr. Gladbach. “God’s love is for all. Humans make errors. Come back.”
Mr. Gladbach was born in Kansas City into a Catholic family — his mother from Marshall, his father from Indian Grove.
The family moved to Jefferson City, where Mr. Gladbach attended St. Joseph Cathedral School and Helias Catholic High School.
After graduation, he joined the U.S. Army, served active-duty time and returned to Jefferson City.
He met his wife, Wendy, joined the Missouri National Guard and graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla with a degree in mechanical engineering.
Job opportunities moved the family from Rolla to Minnesota, to Iowa and back to Jefferson City.
The couple raised four children and sent them to Catholic schools.
Retired from the Missouri National Guard after 40 years, Mr. Gladbach is currently a project engineer at the Maneuver Support Battle Lab at Fort Leonard Wood.
Mrs. Gladbach owns and operates Ana Marie’s Bridal in Jefferson City.
They are active members of their parish and sing in the parish choir.
Mr. Gladbach is convinced that his greatest opportunity to promote hope, beginning during this Jubilee Year, will be through humble service — “to my parish, to my diocese, to my community.”
One area of ministry he hopes to pursue is for military members of the Missouri National Guard.
“Obviously, we are short on priests,” he noted. “There are none in the Missouri National Guard. My desire is to provide Catholic ministry to soldiers during their training.”
He believes humility and service will be his most effective avenues to leading people to Christ.
“Opportunities for all to help others,” he said. “Through working together, we learn from each other and our shared experiences.
“Any challenge appears daunting, but if a group can each achieve little victories, a lot more can be accomplished,” he added.
He emphasized the need for full reliance on God.
“I am no better than anyone else,” Mr. Gladbach stated. “God reminds me daily of my humanity. I need God to be successful.”
Mr. Gladbach asked for prayers for God to help him “be grounded in humility, maintain a conviction of service, and maintain a pleasant willingness to acquire God’s grace for my diocese, my parish, my family and myself.”
“Out of the ditch”
Brian M. Lutz thinks back to something Father Joseph Corel said while teaching the deacon candidates a class on moral theology.
The priest talked about how their role will be to help “keep people out of the ditch.”
“I want to do that and help them stay on the path to salvation,” Mr. Lutz stated. “I want to meet people where they are and help them recognize that Christ loves them in all their brokenness and wants them to be with Him for eternity.”
Mr. Lutz grew up in Boonville, the oldest of two sons in a Catholic family.
He received all of his sacraments, from Baptism to Marriage, in Ss. Peter & Paul Church.
He attended the parish school and the former St. Thomas Aquinas High School Seminary in Hannibal.
He and his wife, Patricia, got married in 1997. They have a daughter, Rachel, who is 25.
Mr. Lutz worked for 23 years as the general manager at HiTek Mobility in Columbia, but made a career change in November 2024. He is now the facilities coordinator for the Cathedral of St. Joseph.
He said he’s always felt a calling to serve the Church in some form.
“Maybe I did not always hear or understand the calling, but it had always been on my heart,” he stated.
Having had time to grow closer in his relationship with God, “and because of great people being placed in my life at just the right time,” he wants to help others with their journey toward God and eternal life.
“I consider it a great privilege to be led by the Holy Spirit to assist people in that journey,” he said.
Mr. Lutz often states that he’s not seeking to become a deacon because he is holy, “but because I want to become more holy.”
He recognizes that the diaconate is a gift from God “not something I think I deserve, but something I am willing to do for God’s glory.”
Mr. Lutz especially enjoys youth ministry, which he’s been involved with for 13 years in his parish, and would like to do more with adult faith formation, and marriage preparation.
He’s grateful for the formation he’s received over these past four-and-a-half years from Archbishop-designate McKnight, Deacon John Schwartze and “many of our amazing priests in the diocese.”
Because of them, Mr. Lutz is confident that he’ll be able to help answer people’s questions about faith, “so they can have a better understanding of the truth, so they can grow in their personal relationship with Christ.”
He’s excited to be ordained during the Jubilee Year of Hope.
“Hope is such an awesome word, basically because it means that there is still a chance,” he stated.
Hope prompts him to reflect on St. Dismas, the penitent “good” thief who was crucified beside Jesus.
“Dismas was on the cross, ready to die, and was able to ask forgiveness from his heart, and he was rewarded with eternal life,” Mr. Lutz stated.
With that understanding, he wants to teach others and encourage them to enter into a relationship with Christ, “because there is always the hope of eternal life if we desire it in our hearts.”
“Hope is that thing that people hold onto when all else seems lost,” he stated, “and I want to help them to know that hope is enough to start ourselves on to the next step to life eternal.”
“I would like to help those in my parish, community and Church to see and identify what it is that is our beacon of hope,” he said.
Mr. Lutz asked for prayers for God to continue to guide him in his ministry and help him serve God well.
“And that I will continue to allow the Holy Spirit to work through me so that the words of the Holy Spirit, not my words, are spoken to the people,” he said.
“Bring the light”
When he was younger, Kenneth J. “Ken” Arthur enjoyed being an altar server and gave some thought to becoming a deacon someday.
He forgot about it for a while, but God reminded him.
“Several years ago, while I was in prayer, the thought of becoming a deacon returned many times,” said Mr. Arthur, a lifelong member of St. Patrick Parish in Rolla. “This thought turned into a constant tug.”
He hopes as a deacon “to serve God and his Church and bring the light of Christ to others and help them grow and strengthen their faith.”
Mr. Arthur and his wife, Alisa, got married after college. They have three children.
He has spent most of his career in information technology, currently as an IT manager.
He highlighted the importance of deacons serving as ministers of charity.
“Deacons are actively involved in helping those in need such as the poor, the sick, and the homebound in our communities,” he noted.
Mr. Arthur hopes to focus on the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, and ministry to people in hospitals and nursing homes.
He believes that each human encounter can present an occasion to minister.
“Every time I see someone in the grocery store or out in the community, I have the opportunity to bring the light of Christ to them by showing them Christ’s love and sharing our faith with them,” he said.
He believes a deacon can promote the virtue of hope in his parish by living the Gospel and loving others as Christ loves them.
He asks for prayers “for God to bless and strengthen me in my ministry of service.”
