Coming Home:
Deacon John Neal
Assigned to STM
By Claudia Cangilla McAdam
The deacon most recently-assigned to St. Thomas More didn’t have far to travel. After five years at the Church of the Risen Christ, Deacon John Neal is pleased to serve now at STM where he and his wife Donnie have been parishioners for more than 15 years.
“I’m looking forward to being ‘back home,’” he said, “and discovering what ministries I need to plug into. That’s what I’m anticipating. I’ll let the good Lord lead me where He wants me to be.”
Being led by the Lord is how Deacon Neal sees the way his life has played out. A self-proclaimed “army brat” who grew up all over the world, Deacon Neal’s family settled in Aurora in 1963 when his father retired from the army. His high school and college years were spent in Colorado then he left for New Mexico and a job teaching high school.
To supplement the income needed to care for their growing family, Deacon Neal also worked at a radio station. His on-air talents were such that he was soon hired by the NBC television affiliate in Albuquerque where he spent two years as a news reporter and weekend anchor.
After returning to Denver in 1974, he spent eight years on the air at channels 4 and 7 before leaving to work for Bill Daniels in the cable industry. During that period, he earned an MBA at the University of Denver. And, while he was learning the skills to further his business career, he began learning more about the Catholic Church.
“My wife and I were Episcopalians at the time,” he said. “We were really disenchanted with the direction the church was going. We both had been independently listening to what the Holy Father, John Paul II, had to say and we were reading those kinds of works. We decided that we wanted to give the Catholic Church a try.”
“Then we talked to the pastor of Good Shepherd Parish, Monsignor John V. Anderson, and he told us, ‘Sure, I’d love to have you investigate things.’ So for about six months, we just went and sat, and then we were brought into the Church, on sort of a fast track by Msgr. Anderson.”
While still immersed in the business world, John started down the road to the permanent deaconate. “Not for any particular theological reasons,” he explained. “I just felt that for some reason, God wanted me to do that, and that’s what I did.”
“The plan was that when I was ordained, I would like to work for the church in a more full-time capacity. But I couldn’t do that unless I had enough money, so we set things up so that we would have enough to augment whatever I would be paid for doing my work today.”
Deacon John was ordained to the deaconate in 2000. His work today involves serving as the Director of Operations and Development for St. John Vianney Seminary. Deacon Neal also acts as a master of ceremonies for Archbishop Chaput, directing the Liturgy during Masses the Archbishop celebrates at the John Paul II Center, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Coception, or while visiting parishes around the state. “That’s been very rewarding because I’ve developed a very comprehensive understanding of what correct liturgical practices are as they relate to any kind of Mass,” he said.
Deacon Neal also relishes the educational aspects of his duties, saying that he has enjoyed the years he has spent teaching RCIA and baptismal instruction, “and serving at the altar—that’s a great blessing. To be able to be there, to minister to the people, and to get to know the people—that’s the really exciting part of it.”
In addition to his work for the Church, Deacon Neal still keeps his hands in a couple of business projects. “My wife says I’m type-A. I don’t think so, but maybe I am. I need to be busy; I need to be doing things,” he said. If not work-related, his activities center around his family. He’s blessed with two grown children and four grandsons, all of whom live nearby.
And what does he like to do in the little free time he has? “Fly-fishing,” he said simply. It seems an appropriate pastime for this “fisher of men.”
