Answer Special Call to Serve - King's College

Deacon Gene Kovatch is shown with students at St. Jude School, Mountain Top, at a “blessing of the animals” lesson he had with the children
in conjunction with the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.
DeVizia, who was a member of the Diocese of Scranton’s
first graduating diaconate class in 1993, was sent to King’s
specifically to prepare for the seminary after graduating from
high school. Even after leaving the seminary and returning to
King’s for his degree, he never stopped reading Scripture and
theology. It was not a hard decision for him to join the first
diaconate class. “Bishop Timlin, who instructed me in the
seminary, ordained me a Deacon. His light hearted comment
to my family was, ‘well, he finally made it.’ ”
Devizia, who is Executive Director of Human Services for
Luzerne County, is currently assigned to All Saints Parish in
Plymouth. One of his ministries is visiting the sick. “My mother
died of cancer and my daughter had a serious childhood illness,
so I would have been happy to never to see another hospital,”
DeVizia said recently. “When sick visits was one of my first
assignments, I think it really helped me to define grace.”
Seminary studies were sandwiched between Ziegler’s
freshman and senior years at King’s. Throughout his subsequent
37-years-and-counting career in public service – currently
Executive Director of the Wilkes-Barre Housing Authority –
Ziegler retained “a strong desire to serve God and my Church.”
“My daughter was still too young when the first diaconate
class was forming, so I joined the second class in 1994,”
Ziegler said recently. Ziegler was one of six King’s graduates
that were ordained in 1999, accounting for almost a third
of the entire class. All six will celebrate the 10 th anniversary
of their ordination this Thanksgiving weekend. As the only
deacon assigned to Holy Family Parish in Luzerne, Ziegler
has a full list of responsibilities, including hospital visitations
and sacramental preparations. He has even taught in the two
subsequent diaconate formations and serves as an advisor to
several candidates in the current class.
The recipient of a history and education degree, Roman
admits that he “always had an interest in serving the Church.”
He entered King’s after spending more than three years studying
for the priesthood. He completed his diaconate studies while
working as a probation officer for the juvenile courts in Luzerne
County. “Of the thousands of men in the Scranton Diocese,
I felt honored to be one 19 chosen by God to serve Him,” said
Ziegler, currently assigned to Our Lady of Grace Church in
Hazleton.
Two other members of the 1999 diaconate class, Joseph
Donovan ’76 and Jim Graham ’01, were veterans of the
Pennsylvania State Police. Admittedly, Donovan didn’t know
the responsibilities of a deacon when he was approached to
replace one who had retired from his parish. He, like all of
the deacons interviewed for this story, was very active in his
parish before beginning his studies. He had served as a lector,
Eucharistic Minister and as a member of several committees,
and had recently retired after 25 years as a state trooper.
Similar to some others interviewed for this story, Donovan
described his ordination as ethereal, “almost as if I was watching
the event from the outside.” He also shares the feelings of
others with regard to the rewards of the position. “Sometimes
I feel like a thief, because what I take from my encounters with
others is much more than I feel that I give.”
Jim Graham received an associate degree from King’s in 1976
and returned after his ordination to receive a bachelor’s degree.
He began his diaconate studies just before his retirement. He
was part of the second diaconate class but was not ordained until
2002, on the same day as the celebration of his parish’s newly
built church. “Doing this ministry is an affirmation of God’s
grace,” Graham said recently. Following several assignments
in the Scranton Diocese, Graham continues his ministry at the
Charleston, S.C., Diocese after recently relocating.
Two other members of the 1999 ordination class spent their
careers in the education field. Thaddeus Wadas ’70 taught
reading and was later an administrator for the Greater Nanticoke
School District and Gene Kovatch ’65 was an English teacher at
Meyers High School.
For Wadas, his parish activities, which included teaching
CCD and being a Eucharistic minister, “prompted me to move
in a direction of preparing the way of the Lord.” Although
he, like some others, felt a bit of trepidation at his ordination,
wondering if he could live up to the commitment, Wadas
admits that being a deacon has led to an increase in his
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