40 years as a deacon Deacon Dan Wesley will be recognized Sunday

By: 
Lisa Ingebrand, LRnews@frontiernet.net

Please join Deacon Dan Wesley Sunday, Sept. 25 at 8:30 a.m. St. Andrew Catholic Church, Elysian as he celebrates his 40th year of serving as a deacon *Join the Wesley family for refreshments following Mass.

He’s performed over 250 weddings, dozens of baptisms, and numerous funerals. He has also ministered to prisoners and prayed over victims at accident scenes.

The good and the bad come with the job.

But, Deacon Dan Wesley has the Holy Spirit on his side.

75-year-old Wesley of Elysian has served the area as a deacon for four decades.

This Sunday, Sept. 25, marks Wesley’s 40th year of serving as a deacon. To mark the occasion, Deacon Wesley will be saying the homily for the 8:30 a.m. Mass at his home parish of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Elysian. A reception will be held in his honor following the Mass. All are welcome.

Wesley is currently assigned to the parishes of Montgomery, Shieldsville, and Kilkenny where he assists resident priests. Previous to this, he served as a full-time deacon in the Faribault area for almost 25 years, holding numerous parish administrative positions. He and his wife, Gloria, also provided prison ministry to inmates at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Faribault, worked with the homeless, organized and held the community’s first Hispanic Masses (after attending an intense, threeweek Spanish immersion course), and helped start a chaplain program to support law enforcement and first responders.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years, but they’ve been good years,” Wesley stated. “Really, it’s all about community, serving the community… We’ve made so many friends over the years, built relationships with incredible people who we otherwise wouldn’t have met because of the call we received all those years ago. My ordination has truly been a blessing.”

Wesley was just 29 years old—a young father and farmer—when he and his wife, Gloria, felt the call to pursue a more active role in the Catholic church.

“Both of us were called,” Wesley explained. “We were helping with youth groups in Waterville at the time, and… well, I can’t really explain it, but after one retreat up in Buffalo, we both knew we were being called.”

Unsure of just what they were being called to do, the couple met with their local priest at the time, Fr. Timothy McCarthy, who suggested the...

To see more on this story pick up the September 22, 2022 print edition of the LifeEnterprise or the Montgomery Messenger. 

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