By John Rohlf, The Message assistant editor
Editor’s Note: Over the past couple of months, we conducted interviews with the newly ordained permanent deacons shortly before or shortly after the Aug. 8 ordination. Over the next few months, we will publish stories in The Message in the order the interviews were conducted. We will also post video from our interviews on our Facebook and YouTube pages.
After a period of time discerning the priesthood earlier in his life, Deacon Jack Tuinier said his skills, gifts, knowledge and needs of the church were “coalescing around the permanent diaconate.”
Deacon Jack Tuinier is one of 16 men who were ordained to the permanent diaconate during the Rite of Ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacon Aug. 8 at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville. Deacon Tuinier is assigned to St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Dale. As the lone member of the 2026 diaconate class who is not married, Deacon Tuinier made a promise of celibacy during the ordination.
Originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan, Deacon Tuinier came to the area in 1992, when he went to St. Meinrad College. After graduating college, Deacon Tuinier decided to stay in the area and suggested his parents move here with him.
“They had me after 25 years of marriage, so I figured it would be easier for me to have them close by than me going back and forth,” Deacon Tuinier said. “So they thought yeah, that was a new adventure for them as well. So they moved down. So we all got here in 1997 and we’ve been living here ever since. And I just love the area here.”
Despite not being raised Catholic, Deacon Tuinier said he had a Catholic influence in his life from an early age. He was raised Lutheran, but Deacon Tuinier attended a Catholic grade school, which was across the street from where he lived. Deacon Tuinier’s parents wanted him to have “a good, strong Christian education,” he said. Growing up, Deacon Tuinier said his parents were very religious and they had faith talks, prayed and read the Bible.
In his junior year of high school, Deacon Tuinier made the decision to enter the Catholic Church.
Deacon Tuinier believes being exposed to different faith perspectives growing up was “immensely helpful” not only in his personal life, but also in his ministry. Deacon Tuinier has worked at Christ the King Parish in Ferdinand for the past seven years, where he is the Director of Youth Ministry and Faith Formation.
“When I’m approached by a non-Catholic or when I have non-Catholics who are wanting to come into the church through the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) process, I get where they’re coming from … When Catholics have misunderstandings, I know exactly where those misunderstandings are coming from. I can relate to that. And so I can kind of shift the focus and shift them back a little bit on track.”
Deacon Tuinier added he would never trade his faith upbringing, adding it also helped him develop his love for scripture.
Years before entering the permanent diaconate Class of 2026, Deacon Tuinier previously discerned the possibility of entering the priesthood. This began as early as kindergarten. Upon seeing the priest walk down the aisle at Mass in kindergarten, Deacon Tuinier said he “knew I wanted to be a priest.” Despite his parents saying he meant he wanted to be a pastor, Deacon Tuinier said by fifth grade, he was very solid in the idea he wanted to be a priest. He believes this was the decisive grade in his formation, he said.
Over the years, the call to ministry shifted from the priesthood to the permanent diaconate, Deacon Tuinier said.
“I’ve always had a call to ministry,” Deacon Tuinier said. “I’ve always had that call. But I found that God always doesn’t do it in a straight kind of path.”
Deacon Tuinier said in his time working in ministry at Christ the King, the discernment narrowed more, with his skills, gifts and knowledge coalescing around the permanent diaconate. Deacon Tuinier said that is where he felt God was calling him and where he could be of service to the church of Evansville through that.
Deacon Tuinier believes in discerning where his true gifts and talents lie, it became more clear God was calling him to the permanent diaconate instead of priestly ministry.
“Deacons are not ordained to the priesthood, but to the ministry and that service mode of Christ’s priesthood,” Deacon Tuinier said. “Just by seeing my life choices and the things that I have been doing, and especially taking care of my parents until they are passing, those were all kind of diaconal ministries. And so I seem to enjoy the diaconal ministry. It’s truly what John Paul says, that the diaconate is the church’s service sacramentalized. So I could see that very clearly playing out in my own life.”
Prior to his ordination, Deacon Tuinier said he was particularly looking forward to having the ability to read the gospel and preach the homily.
“That’s kind of always been in my wheelhouse,” Deacon Tuinier said. “I love to do that. And so even the times when I had like communion service and did a reflection on the readings or the gospel, that’s usually come together pretty well. And I was able to do that. Just, it was comfortable. It was natural for me. So that’s one of the aspects that I’m looking forward to.”
Deacon Tuinier said he is also looking forward to celebrating the sacrament of Baptism or any of the other sacramentals a deacon gets to do, including blessings of rosaries or other medals.
Deacon Tuinier said the four years of permanent diaconate preparation was fabulous, especially with the group of men who he went through preparation with over the past four years. Those relationships with the other 15 newly ordained deacons would not exist without the program, Deacon Tuinier said, adding he now has 15 close brothers he did not have previously.
“This has been a fun experience. A fun journey with my classmates, with the people that I’m ministering with,” Deacon Tuinier said prior to the Aug. 8 ordination. “So I’m just excited for the next phase, the next season of my life as an ordained person.”