Name: Wayne Bellefeuille
Age: 60
Spouse: Margaret (Meg)
Home Parish: All Saints in Lakeville
Residence: Lakeville
Profession: Lead systems engineer at a bank in Minneapolis
Children: Joshua (31), Erin Fakler (29), Alicia (27), Ross (25)
Birthplace: Frazee
Q) What inspired you to pursue the diaconate?
A) The seed was planted 20 years ago on a sidewalk in Minneapolis when I bumped into a former pastor, (the late) Father Eugene Tiffany, and he told me he was praying for vocations the previous night and my name came to his mind, and that he believed I was supposed to be a deacon. A couple years later I felt the call to be a deacon at a Cursillo Retreat, but discerned it wasn’t the right time. And then seven years ago I felt the call more clearly at a Net Ministries Lifeline Mass that Archbishop (Bernard) Hebda held for the youth on vocations. When I discussed it with Meg the following morning, we both decided that we needed to investigate and discern it.
Q) What made you certain this was your call?
A) I came into the process with no real desire to be a deacon but wanted to serve and obey God. It took several years of prayers and discernment by me, Meg and our formators before I was certain this was how I was truly being asked to serve. And, eventually, God put that desire on my heart to serve him specifically as a deacon.
Q) What aspect of diaconate ministry are you most looking forward to?
A) I most look forward to serving at the altar, presiding over baptisms, and going out into the diocese to serve however our archbishop wants me to serve.
Q) What areas of ministry are you especially interested in?
A) I am not sure yet. I have done so much with the youth in terms of youth ministry, coaching and Scouts, so that would be a natural fit for me. However, I also have a real heart for the dying and their families, so I could see me continuing to be involved with hospice ministry, hospital ministry and ministry with families for funerals.
Q) What role will your family play in your new ministry?
A) My wife, our four children and our three grandchildren are all very supportive of this ministry. I will continue to look for ways to balance and integrate family life and ministerial life.
Q) Where do you see the greatest needs in the local Church?
A) The greatest needs are for individuals to have a personal encounter with Christ and then build a relationship with him so they can experience his love and mercy. There is a need to know that Christ is already at work in their lives even (and especially) in those times of suffering.
Q) What part of your formation has been the most rewarding?
A) What has been most rewarding in formation has been the focus on prayer as the path to encountering Christ and forming our will to his. We learned how to pray Morning and Evening Prayer from the Divine Office, using Lectio to reveal what his word is speaking to us, and a wonderful School of Prayer class that taught us many different aspects of prayer and spiritual discernment, including using spiritual imagination in prayer. And my wife had the time and desire to do most of the classes with me.
Q) Who has been a model for your ministry?
A) Deacon Gordon Bird at All Saints in Lakeville has been a great model, showing me how to balance the life of being a deacon while attending to his vocation as husband, father and grandfather. He was the first one to tell me to simply “trust the process” of formation since it is all in God’s hands.
Q) What do you most hope to offer the Church through this vocation?
A) I hope to offer myself to others as a gateway to Christ’s mercy and love. I believe God has given me the charism of service to help me recognize any gaps that need to be filled and then his Spirit will provide me the graces to help fill those gaps in building his Church. What exactly that looks like will be totally dependent on him, who knows all.
Q) What has been the most challenging part of pursuing this vocation?
A) The most challenging part for me was to simply trust the whole process. Once I was able to really trust, which was centered in an increased prayer life, I was given the peace and confidence to pursue all aspects of the formation process, which included balancing my time with family, work, classes and homework.
Q) What can the Church do to inspire other men to answer the diaconate calling?
A) Continue to form men and couples to a life of prayer and holiness through small group communities. It is God who will inspire them to hear and conform to his will.
Q) What advice would you give another man discerning the diaconate?
A) Do not be afraid of the process of discernment, which is always centered in prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If married, pray with your wife and discuss it with her. Continue to gather information at a Deacon Discernment Day and then pray again knowing that God knows best and will indeed reveal his will to the called.
