Deacon retires after 30 years of doing God's work

FORT RECOVERY - After 30 years of service, an area deacon who has baptized more than 500 children has retired.

John Parker of Fort Recovery became Mercer County's first permanent deacon after his ordination in 1985. He also had taught Latin and English at the Fort Recovery High School and was a driving instructor for 23 years.

As a Catholic deacon for the Mary Help of Christians Church parish, he performed more than 100 weddings and more than 500 baptisms - 12 for his own grandchildren.

Parker, 80, feels a connection to all those he has baptized, regardless of family ties.

"A lot of the people in this community have either been taught to drive by me or have been baptized by me or both," he said. "It's kind of a neat perspective for me because I can stand back and see where these babies grow up to be young people in school and then I see them date and decide to get married. I'm kind of like a grandparent where I can just stand back and watch."

Parker originally intended to become a priest. He grew up in Hamilton and after graduating from high school attended a special Latin school in Kentucky, where he had Latin classes 13 times a week for two years. He eventually went to the Pontifical Gregorian University in downtown Rome, where he spent more than a year studying for priesthood.
"I wouldn't trade that year for anything," he said. "I went past The Colosseum every day and our classes were real close to the Trevi Fountain. I remember looking down on St. Peter's with my classmates from the flat roof of the school."
Although he had spent two years learning Latin, Parker had never been taught to speak it or listen to it. He struggled at the university where the professors spoke only Latin, so much so that it convinced him he wasn't cut out for priesthood.

"That was hard. I didn't even know what my questions were on tests," he said. "I just figured that was a door closing on priesthood, that I wasn't cut out to be a priest because I couldn't do some of the basic things."

Nearly two decades passed. Parker married his wife, Jan, and the couple had four children. The Parkers, who celebrated 50 years of marriage last August, met in Cincinnati where John Parker worked at a credit bureau. His wife-to-be worked at the bank where he cashed his checks, which he remembers were about $18 for a week's worth of work.

"I like to say she fell in love with me for my money," Parker joked.

Permanent deacons differ from priests in that they cannot forgive sins or say Mass. Until the Second Vatican Council in 1962-1965, most deacons were transitional, taking a step on the way to priesthood. After Vatican II the diaconate was reactivated, partly in response to a shortage of priests.

Ironically, Parker noted, one of the first things Vatican II did was restore the vernacular in Mass, meaning congregations could hear the service in their own language rather than in Latin.

Years after the diaconate was revived, Parker attended an Archdiocese of Cincinnati meeting for men interested in serving. A large number attended, leading Parker to tell his wife there was a "fat chance" he would be accepted.

However, Parker's longtime feeling he was meant for the church was affirmed when he received a call informing him he had been accepted.

"I must have walked on air," he said. "I had always felt called. It's just a feeling, hard to describe. Eventually it came true."

Jan Parker had to be consulted before he underwent the yearlong training. She readily consented.

"I knew that's what he wanted and we were with God. We could be his servants," she said.

The role of a deacon's wife was uncharted territory at the time, she explained.

"At first we didn't know what the deacon wives were supposed to be doing and I asked the priest, when John was ordained, what I should be doing. And he said he didn't know but said, 'just wait. Your calling will come,' " she said. "Well, it did come."

During her husband's 30 years of service, Jan Parker helped in any way she could, mainly by coordinating the numerous weddings conducted in the four-church parish.

John Parker retired last year due to his health. A statue of the Holy Family was placed at Mary Help of Christians Church to honor both John and Jan Parker's service to the parish.

Becoming a deacon might not have been his original plan, but he doesn't seem to regret the detour. Looking at a picture taken at their 50th anniversary, in which he and his wife are surrounded by their family, he just smiled.

"What if I had stayed in the seminary? This wouldn't have happened," he said.