Luke Waltman is one of five men ordained permanent deacons Saturday, June 14, at St. Mary’s Cathedral, St. Cloud. Deacon Waltman felt called to the diaconate as a way to use his gifts and talents to serve the Church.
Current Parish: Our Lady of Lourdes, Little Falls
Hobbies: Hunting (rifle and archery), fishing, woodworking, being outdoors
Favorite Saint: St. Padre Pio
Favorite Prayer: Rosary
Tell us a bit about your current family life.
I am single with two daughters, 21 and 18. My oldest is a para in the Little Falls community schools and my youngest is in the class of 2025 and will be shipping out to Air Force boot camp this summer.
What do you do for work?
I am the director of operations for the Haven of Mercy Area Catholic Community. I work with the business issues — finance, human relations, maintenance — that would have gone to our priest in the past. This allows him to take his time to be a priest and pastor instead of an administrator.
What drew you to the diaconate?
I see the need for assistance to priests in ways that correspond to the selection of the seven in Acts 6. Our priests are pulled in so many directions and I felt God calling me to diaconate ordination to assist using the skills and talents God has given to me. There’s also the call to service, helping others and strengthening our faith community. That’s one of the roles of a deacon and I’m excited to see how God calls me to service in this way.
What surprised you most about studying to become a deacon?
The diversity of thoughts that are all part of Catholic teaching. Our society is so divided and many of us see it spilling over to the Church. We get caught up in our own preferences and sometimes miss the way that other ideas can enrich our faith experiences. Unlike the secular society, that has a “this or that” or “yes or no” mentality, the Catholic Church has a “both and” mentality more often than many of us realize.
We are currently in the process of pastoral planning for our diocese — how can lay people help clergy to create vibrant faith communities?
Laity needs to understand that the changes that are coming are not a result of any one thing, except the decrease in parishioners at Sunday Mass over the past two or three generations. There are difficult decisions that will need to be made — nobody wants to, which is why they hadn’t before. Now we must make changes and respond. Prayers and support for the pastors and all those involved is the number one thing that laity can do.
After that, we need to go out and evangelize. We, all that are baptized, need to tell others about the glory and love of God. We need to preach the Gospel and tell of Jesus, how he’s working in our lives.
In Isaiah 43:19, Revelation 21:5, and Isaiah 65:17, God promises to make “All Things New” — the theme of our planning process. What does this mean to you and what do you think God promises for the Church?
The way we’ve grown up with “Church” is what God wanted for us in those times. We don’t live in that world anymore and we need to respond to the changes. If we go through this process, starting with prayer and keeping prayer at the center, God will guide us to what’s needed for this time. He will make “All Things New” if we continue to ask him to show us his will and we humbly let our own emotions and pride get out of the way.
What do you most appreciate about the Diocese of St. Cloud?
Our diocese is very diverse. We have parishes that more closely resemble an urban church community, something we might see on the east coast of the U.S. We have parishes that are the embodiment of the traditional country church, separated from the next parish by miles. We have parishes that maintain an ethnic heritage several generations removed and some whose parishioners have migrated here themselves.
Having such diversity, I’m glad to see that the diocese is looking to have each community come up with a plan vs. issuing orders that all follow. What works in St. Cloud is probably not going to work for the communities in Little Falls and northwest from there. The openness to that idea is going to make this process difficult and messy but, in the end, the diocese should be stronger and able to thrive.
Pictured above: Deacon Luke Waltman serves as deacon of the Ordination Mass June 14 at St. Mary’s Cathedral. (Dianne Towalski / The Central Minnesota Catholic)
