Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Dcn Andy Weiss, Deacon in the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, via phone call on February 10th, 2024. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
Tell me a bit about your faith journey.
I was born and raised Catholic. I was in the Air Force and had a temporary stay in Spain, but those I listened to had anti-Catholic sentiment and this caused me to leave the Church when I was 20. For three and a half years, I was an anti-Catholic Protestant. I bought the King-James Bible and got to a point of crisis. At his point, I told God to explain to me or I will leave organized religion. I opened the Bible to the book of Romans and this was what helped keep me in organized religion.
Coming back to the Catholic Church was a long journey, but because of my experience with reading the Bible and listening to various arguments from Protestants. I would study the arguments using a bible dictionary, concordance, Bible, notepad. I would do a word study to look up all the references to better understand what that meant.
In the 1990s, I met my wife in a “chat-room” on Catholicity. And after we got married, my wife and another Catholic we also met online “ganged up” on me and said that I should be a deacon. In 2009 the formal process started, I had a desire to preach and bless things. I got ordained in 2015.
How has the sacrament of Holy Orders impacted your marriage?
It’s a balancing act. We must make time for one another. You can get sucked into the ministry. We were taught in our studies that my primary vocation is marriage and to my family. The diaconate is my secondary vocation.
I have to be conscious of my schedule. In addition to the diaconate, I also design websites. We have a Shroud Museum in our city, and I made the website. I must organize my time and ensure I make time for my wife and daughter. The permanent diaconate has made me more conscious of my time and how I spend it.
Describe the fruits of the permanent diaconate in your life.
It started in the program itself, I could have taught a lot of the classes but I was there to learn. The diaconate is about forming you into a person.
One of the important aspects of the diaconate is our devotion to Mary. The last part of Church teaching was Mariology, and I didn’t understand at this time. We wrote an article about our relationship to Mary. It was then that I realized that I couldn’t be a good diaconate without Her help. I formally gave myself to the Blessed Virgin Mary in January 2018 using the book “33 Days to Morning Glory.” I scheduled to have the book end on January 1st, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. During my homily, I said, “It’s like I’m looking at my Mother for the first time.” This was a deep experience for me.
What do you see as the fruits of the permanent diaconate for the Catholic Church?
What happened to me was a transformation. The Church ordaining men who have one foot in the secular world and one foot in the faith world, leads to transformation. I noticed when I wore my clerics while doing ministry people would assume I was a pastor. It gave me an opportunity to explain I was a Catholic deacon.
The deacon models to the laity what it means to be a servant for the Church. While the priest stands In persona Christi (in the Person of Christ), the deacon represents Christ the Servant. Paragraph #1570 of the Catholic of the Catholic Church says:
“Deacons share in Christ’s mission and grace in a special way. The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint (“character”) which cannot be removed, and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the “deacon” or servant of all.”
Well said, the diaconate is like a bridge to God. What’s the most misunderstood aspect of the diaconate?
I don’t think Catholics are catechized well. One day I had my alb on and a fellow parishioner said, “Hello Father.” I clarified I wasn’t a priest. It’s interesting to see the laity’s relationship with deacons.
The diaconate opens opportunities to ask questions about the faith. People feel more comfortable reaching out to us when we are out in public (i.e. the store, etc). The permanent diaconate opens a channel to extend the ministry of the priest. We are there to assist the priest. Even while at the store, we are extending his pastoral mission.
Who’s your favorite saint-deacon?
Probably Saint Ephraim. He likely saw the Shroud of Turin. He was a great preacher and a Doctor of the Church. Of course, I can’t leave out Saint Francis of Assisi, he would be my number two.
What advice would you give men discerning the permanent diaconate as a vocation?
Have a regular prayer life. Once ordained, deacons have to pray as a minimum Morning and Evening Prayer. Then they should talk to their priest.
The laity are known for their devotional life: praying the Rosary, the Chaplet, etc. But I think if the clergy kept a better devotional life we would have a better clergy. We have to use our own personalities in our faith and work.
Could you tell me about your Facebook profile picture?
That’s an interesting one. I’ve been working for the Air Force for 43 years. There’s an organization within the Air Force, the 49th Materiel Maintenance Group, Base Expedition.
I’ll leave you with a few last thoughts. In my honest opinion, the greatest fruits of Vatican II are the permanent diaconate and the Mass of Paul VI. The New Mass has the more active participation in the liturgy with the vernacular and the role of the deacon.
About Deacon Andy Weiss:
Dcn. Andy Weiss is a Deacon in the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, assigned to St. Jude’s parish. He is a husband and father, an IT professional, and volunteer speaker and webmaster, creating http://ShroudNM.com, a non-profit New Mexico Corporation dedicated to the study and popularization of the Shroud of Turin.
Weiss has a Masters in Religious Education from Loyola University, New Orleans through their LIMEX program. He has been interviewed several times by the hosts of the podcast StrangeCatholics.
