This is great, from Baltimore’s Catholic Review:
Vestments once worn by a beloved deacon of St. Rita in Dundalk over five decades of ministry have been gifted to a new generation of deacons at the Catholic Community of St. Francis Xavier in Hunt Valley.
Following the February death of Deacon George Evans – one of the first permanent deacons ordained in the United States – his family offered to give his dalmatics to another parish in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Joyce Evans, Deacon Evans’ widow, felt that her husband’s symbolic vestments should be handed on, just like the ministry itself is handed on.
The Hunt Valley parish took up the family on the offer.
“I was filled with joy when I looked into the sacristy and saw the dalmatics and stoles in different liturgical colors inside the closet,” said Deacon Felix Mmuoh, a transitional deacon serving both the Hunt Valley parish and the nearby parish, Our Lady of Grace in Parkton. “My heart was filled with hymns of praise and thanksgiving to God.”
Later when Deacon Mmuoh learned from his pastor, Father Kevin Farmer, that the vestments had been donated by Evans’ family in memory of their husband and father, and that Deacon Evans was part of the first class of permanent deacons in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, it meant even more.
“I felt humbled and honored to be sharing this ministry with Deacon Evans in a more special way,” Deacon Mmuoh said. “I remember I said back to Father Kevin, ‘God bless Deacon Evans.’”
