May 22, 2010
Deacons and their wives present retreats at Christ the King
By Denise MacLachlan
Herald staff
From left, Deacon David Ford and Lorie Ford and Nancy Link and Deacon Bob Link have joined the retreat team staff at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center in Citrus Heights. The two couples will bring to their ministry at the retreat center their formation and training in the church as well as their experiences as married couples and parents. Denise MacLachlan/Herald photo
Two permanent deacons and their wives will be part of the team presenting retreats beginning this summer at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center in Citrus Heights.
Passionist Brother Kurt Wernert, director of the retreat center, invited Deacon David Ford and his wife Lorie Ford, and Deacon Bob Link and his wife Nancy Link, to join the retreat staff to succeed Sister Marcella Fabing, who will be retiring from the retreat center after 17 years on staff.
Sister Fabing, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, said that she is not retiring from ministry, but just retiring from ministry at the retreat center.
Having commuted from her community in the San Francisco Bay Area for the first five years of her ministry at Christ the King, and having lived in Sacramento separate from her religious community for the following 12 years, Sister Fabing said that it was time for her to return to community life.
Brother Wernert said that it has taken five people to fill Sister Fabing’s shoes. In addition to the two married couples, Brother Wernert also invited Passionist Bother Tom Bonacci to join the retreat team. The larger staff will help meet retreatants’ needs to meet individually with retreat ministers during retreats.
Brother Wernert is pleased to be able to offer more one-to-one time to retreatants, but is especially enthusiastic about bringing married couples to help present retreats.
“Sister Marcella’s feminine presence has always been very important to our retreat model,” Brother Wernert said, “and now we have the opportunity to bring in the richness of the faith experience of married couples. These are people trained by the church in ministry, who bring their faith, wisdom and experiences as married people and parents.”
Permanent deacons and their wives go through the five years of the deaconate formation program together, Brother Wernert noted, and both husbands and wives minister in the community.
“Their faith and training and their experiences in married life will surely speak to the retreatants,” Brother Wernert added.
Deacon Ford, who was ordained in 2008, is assigned to St. Teresa of Avila Parish in Auburn, where he and his wife Lorie have raised five children. Deacon Link, ordained in 1983, is active in gospel justice ministry in the Diocese of Sacramento. He and his wife Nancy, members of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Sacramento, have raised three children.
