By Karen Girard, Special to your Catholic Herald

WEST BEND — Everyone’s vocational calling is unique. Deacon Ron Schneider of St. Frances Cabrini Parish brings his own talents and life experience to ordained ministry.

Deacon Schneider and his wife, Erla, grew up in Ozaukee County — he in Port Washington and she in Saukville. His employment with a major airline took him to Washington, D.C., and the couple made their home in Maryland.

As members of St. Matthias Parish in Lanham, Md., they learned via a parish bulletin article of an opportunity for hospice training. He and Erla became certified hospice caregivers in 1988.

“You got as much or more out of (volunteering for hospice) as the patients did. You got to know the family and patients,” said Erla, explaining the draw of hospice volunteering. Some people in hospice live for six months to a year, she said, and caregivers grow close to them.

Her husband agreed.

“You get so much more than you give,” he insisted. “The standard question (people ask me) is, ‘How can you do that? It’s so depressing.’ It isn’t depressing at all because of the beautiful relationships you make.”

He noted that when a person moves into a new neighborhood, everything is more cautious; it may take months or even a year to get to know one’s neighbors.

“In hospice, you’re right down on the goal line. … It’s very intense; you can develop relationships in hospice in a matter of a day or two that out in the neighborhood might take six months,” Deacon Schneider said.

The Schneiders said they are grateful for all that hospice does for the patients. And while it is painful to say goodbye to the new friends they’ve made, Erla said, they’ve come to accept these deaths.

“You don’t go into hospice thinking it’ll be long-term,” she said.

It was also a bulletin announcement through which Deacon Schneider learned about the diaconate.

“I didn’t know anything about the diaconate until I read the article. It sounded interesting,” he said.

The first year of training involved discernment, followed by three years of academic training. He took his training through the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

Erla attended most classes with him.

“They strongly encouraged the wives to come if they possibly could,” she said. “It was good; it helped me as much as it helped him. You learn more about the Catholic faith, the church’s history, and how to pray.”

“It was difficult,” said Deacon Schneider, “but it was also fun.”

He said they made some great friends — friendships that continue to this day.

Deacon Schneider was ordained in 1996. His ministry included services to his home parish of St. Matthias, teaching pastoral care within the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and hospice chaplaincy.

The Schneiders moved back to Wisconsin last May, with Deacon Schneider’s desire to continue his ministry. In order to ensure a smooth flow to the paperwork accompanying such a move, Deacon Schneider contacted the Office of the Permanent Diaconate in Washington, D.C., asking them to contact the Milwaukee Archdiocese and to request a transfer of ministerial faculties.

Over the years, Deacon Schneider had performed some diaconal services for family and friends at St. Frances Cabrini. He said he has always had high regard for this parish, and when the time came to move back to Wisconsin, he asked the pastor, Fr. Jeff Haines, if he could join the pastoral care team. Deacon Schneider then sent a letter to the Milwaukee Archdiocese’s Office of Permanent Diaconate, with supporting documentation, requesting an assignment at St. Frances Cabrini.

While the transfer and accompanying paperwork went as smooth as one could hope, the lengthy process continues. Deacon Schneider said he is still technically a deacon for the Washington D.C. Archdiocese. After one year, he can request to be formally released by them, and become incardinated into the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

The deacon hopes to promote devotion to the Divine Mercy, with classes beginning Feb. 1 at St. Frances Cabrini Education Center.

“The whole thrust of Divine Mercy is that people should not lose faith,” he said.

Deacon Schneider explained how Jesus appeared to a Polish nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska between 1931 and 1938, instructing her to spread the Divine Mercy message and devotion.

According to Deacon Schneider, Jesus asked that his image, as it appeared to her, be painted and venerated; that the first Sunday after Easter must be instituted in the Catholic Church as “Divine Mercy Sunday”; and how to pray an alternate intercessory prayer called the “Chaplet of Divine Mercy.”

Deacon Schneider’s ministry also involves visits to homebound parishioners, bringing them Communion, as well as providing spiritual care to members in hospice.

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