April 2005 - Deacon Pedro Juarez

When Pedro Juarez left a well-paying job at the Levi-Strauss Company to serve the Catholic Church as a full-time deacon, he knew it was a higher calling - but he wasn't sure is he was fit to take a leadership role in the church.

He discussed his desire to become a deacon with Diocese of Amarillo Bishop John W. Yanta. And the Bishop looked at him with a level gaze and asked, "What is the reason you're here?"

Juarez considered the question. Should he tell the Bishop about the late nights when he sensed the presence of Jesus telling him to pursue a life in the Church? Should he simply describe to him the times when helping people provided the only real satisfaction in his professional life?

"I don't really know," he ended up saying.
The Bishop smiled and said, "Do you love Jesus?"
Juarez had a ready answer for that.
"More than anything, Bishop."

And Bishop Yanta described to him the method that Jesus used to pick his apostles. Many were uneducated and seemed unworthy, and yet Jesus saw with great clarity the love and purpose in their hearts. He told Saint Peter, a common fisherman, to leave his nets behind to follow him, to become a "fisher of men."

Assured by the Bishop's words and his own strengthening sense of purpose, Pedro Juarez became ordained as a permanent Deacon in 1997, and has since served in the rural Texas Panhandle towns of Wellington and Shamrock with love, grace, and compassion.

Sometimes the phone rings at 3 o'clock in the morning. A family is in trouble. A drugged teenager is on the verge of committing suicide and claims to be hearing the devil urging him to take his own life. Deacon Juarez is there in a matter of minutes, calms the weeping adolescent and gets the family through the crisis.

After Father Hector Madrigal's Sunday Mass at Our Mother of Mercy Church in Wellington, Deacon Juarez brings the consecrated host in a golden ciborium to local shut-ins - the sick, elderly and the nursing home bound.

They take the Eucharist with trembling hands, and are so gratified by the loving presence of Deacon Juarez and his Communion ministry. Deacon Juarez spends time with them, reading to them, playing cards - even singing them their favorite songs.

Although he cannot absolve them of sins, he speaks to them of reconciliation and prays for them, preparing them for confession with Father Hector. Families continually tell Deacon Juarez how much his visits mean to their aging, sick parents. They describe how their loved one's mood improves, and how they become more communicative.

"I want to show them that the Church loves them very much," Deacon Juarez says. "And that if they can't come to Church right now, the Church will come to them."

A gifted, impassioned, and caring man, Deacon Juarez is doing what he can to minister to poor Catholics in the dry and dusty Texas Panhandle. He relies on a small monthly stipend from Catholic Extension in order to continue his important work here. If you'd like to make a donation to support Deacon Juarez and other missionaries who work so hard to bring the Faith to deserving Catholics in poor and remote areas, please click here: Donate now, securely