It was explained to me that deacons were lay people with special training who could distribute communion, preach homilies, administer baptisms, and officiate Catholic marriage ceremonies. They could not however hear confessions, anoint the sick, say Mass or consecrate the bread and wine.
I didn't remember seeing Mr. Sanchez in the pews prior to 1986 but I was glad he became a deacon. His voice was calm but deep, making him sound a bit like James Earl Jones. The sermons he gave were usually interesting and very relatable because he tended to talk about family life. After suffering though many boring sermons in my childhood, he was a much-needed breath of fresh air for St. John's and when you saw Deacon Sanchez up on the altar, you knew it was going to be a good Sunday morning.
During one CCD class, Deacon Sanchez dropped by to give each student their own religious booklet on topics he thought they'd find interesting. Mine was entitled “The Good Earth” which was a Biblical overview on the environment that encouraged stewardship, not exploitation of the world God created for us. At the time I didn't think much of it but over the years it did help me to have a greater respect for the environment and be wary of adopting certain political views based solely on party lines. This was a point made abundantly clear when some of the dirtiest cities suddenly had clean air during the Covid-19 lock-down of 2020. I still have the booklet to this day and will always think about Deacon Sanchez when I read it.
When our family decided to leave St. John's for good and start attending St. Mary's, not having Deacon Sanchez at Mass was one of our only regrets...but it wasn't the last I would see of him. During my college years, I was very passionate about the pro-life movement but grew increasingly frustrated by the ignorant tactics of some anti-abortion activists. Under the leadership of St. Mary's pastor Fr. Richard Johnson, a parish pro-life group was formed so I decided to attend their first meeting hoping to steer the group away from being too fanatical. To my surprise, Deacon Sanchez was there because he had been asked to offer advice to this fledgling ministry. One of the first things he said was for us to not stoop to the level of those pro-file activists who yelled at women entering abortion clinics because condemnation and angry fists didn't do much to change people's hearts and minds. Satisfied that he said what had been on my mind, I decided to keep quiet.
Sadly, I didn't see much of Deacon Sanchez after that except for a couple of chance encounters at my local bank branch. Then after many years, I ran into him and his wife at a local supermarket. He looked about the same except for a few wrinkles but his voice was slower and weaker. I asked him, “Do you know who I am?” He smiled and said my name but his wife looked at me and shook her head as if to indicate something was wrong. I had forgotten I was still wearing my I.D. badge from work and he had just read my name without remembering me. Apparently, he was struggling with memory loss. I never did see him again after that and in April of 2022, I opened the newspaper to see his obituary. I was surprised to read he was 92 because he certainly didn't look that old. I decided to attend his wake a few days later.
At the funeral home, there were the usual photo collages of different moments in his life. He had proudly served with the navy and a younger version of Mr. Sanchez looked very dapper in uniform. There were also a few framed newspaper articles from the long-defunct Beverly Times that discussed his reasons for becoming a deacon. He said he wasn't called to it right away but became more attracted to the vocation a little bit at a time. Then I read a quote from him that shook me to the core. When talking about his goals for St. John's, he said “You can't call yourself a Christian community if you leave even one person behind.” In that moment, I thought about how lauded a few of my former pastors at St. Mary's were for building up such wonderful communities of faith while at the same time, they turned their backs on me.
The Deacon Sanchez interview continued by saying while he might not be able to find an answer for everyone's problems, he would steer people in the right direction to give them the help they needed. When my family had left St. John's, I was still filled with the hope that my life would get better so I never brought my struggles to Deacon Sanchez. I wondered what help he could have given me had I stayed.
I arrived at the wake a few hours after it began so attendance was light but visitors continued to trickle in here and there. His wife told me the problem with living so long was that almost all his contemporaries had already passed away. We talked about the Church and many other things. When she mentioned growing up in Lynn, I told her that's where my dad was from. I wondered if she had ever met him and just didn't know it. Like my dad, she knew local sports legend Harry Agganis and even had to sit on his lap when they all piled into a car on a trip from the beach. I also met Deacon Sanchez's four adult children and their extended family. Everyone was glad to see me and I made sure they knew how much I appreciated their dad's time at St. John's. While on my way out, I saw a couple approach the family and upon introducing themselves they said, “Deacon Sanchez had married us 15 years ago.” His legacy lives on.
While this blog features a lot of complaints about the Church and many of my priests, I have nothing but kind words for Deacon Tomas Sanchez. I'm glad to have known him...if only for a little while.
