Dcn. Christopher Barrett

permanent deacon

Christopher Barrett lives in Braeside, Ontario. He is retired from a 32 year career in sales and marketing at Domtar, a multinational pulp and paper company. He and his wife, Anne, have 4 children and 6 grandchildren. He & Anne have lived in the Arnprior area for more than 30 years. They are members of St. John Chrysostom Parish in Arnprior. Together, they are catechists for the parish Confirmation program. Chris has been involved in music liturgy for most of his life and he currently plays the organ and is a cantor at both St. John Chrysostom in Arnprior and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Braeside. Chris was ordained to the Permanent Diaconate for the Diocese of Pembroke on July 7, 2018.

Vocation Story

I have known for as long as I can remember that God loves me. I have always felt Christ’s intimate presence in my life. Through grace, I have spent my life growing in love for Him and sharing His love with others. I can recall clearly the weekend that I received the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist. At the age of seven, I was profoundly moved by the reception of these Sacraments. Daily Mass and frequent reception of the Sacraments was an important part of my youth and has continued through adulthood. Through the sacramental life of the Church, personal prayer, family support, and good priest mentors, I have learned to listen to God more carefully and to discern where he is calling me.

I have known for a very long time that God was calling me to discern a vocation to the Permanent Diaconate. While it seemed unlikely that such a vocation would be possible for me to realize while pursuing my career and raising a family, providentially, God opened up a new path for me with an opportunity for early retirement and a desire to investigate a life as a Permanent Deacon.

The year after my retirement, in 2011, Anne and I walked the Camino de Santiago, an 800 km pilgrimage from St. Jean Pied du Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. On this journey, Anne & I walked and prayed with a special intention to St. James the Apostle and to Our Lady, to help us discern the genuineness of this call. Within two months of our return from Spain, I made a formal request to Bishop Mulhall for consideration for candidacy for the Permanent Diaconate. At the same time, I applied and was accepted into the Distance Learning Masters of Theology program at Franciscan University of Steubenville where I continue my studies. On December 2, 2015, I celebrated the Rite of Admission to Candidacy at St. Columbkille Cathedral with Bishop Mulhall. As a diaconal candidate, I continue in the formation program offered by the Archdiocese of Ottawa. The journey so far has been challenging but rewarding.

In describing what it takes to be a good ordained minister (bishop, priest or deacon), Pope Francis says that one is not chosen because they are smarter, or have more talents than others but are chosen by the power of the Holy Spirit for the sake of the good of the people of God. Awareness that everything is a gift, everything is grace, helps them not to fall into the temptation of putting themselves into the center of trusting only in themselves. One of our formators told our class last year that the Church doesn’t need more deacons, the Church needs holy deacons. The vocation of deacon carries the profound responsibility to pour out one’s life in service to others, just as Christ who came “not to be served, but to serve.” So the significance of the deacon lies as much in who they are as what they do. I pray that God will continue to be with me as I journey through this time of formation and that God’s will be done wherever He leads me.