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.
A convert to the Catholic faith, Deacon Scott Griffin was one of 16 men recently ordained to the permanent diaconate.
Deacon Griffin, who is originally from Dayton, Ohio, was one of 16 men ordained to the permanent diaconate Aug. 8 at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville. He was Lutheran for 32 years before converting to the Catholic faith after getting married to his wife, Melinda.
Prior to the deadline to enter the 2026 permanent diaconate class, Deacon Tom Evans, director of the permanent diaconate and deacon at St. Matthew Parish in Mount Vernon, asked Deacon Griffin three times to consider the permanent diaconate. Deacon Griffin is assigned to St. Matthew Parish and is a registered member there.
Deacon Griffin said he at first ignored the request and later listed reasons he could not be a deacon, including being Lutheran for 32 years and being over the age limit to be in the deacon class. Deacon Griffin said Deacon Evans “shot those reasons down and asked me again.”
At that point, Deacon Griffin decided to go to St. Matthew’s and pray for an hour every morning the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
“I told God praying out loud that I didn’t want to become a deacon,” Deacon Griffin said. “I told him that I had retirement coming and I wanted to golf. I wanted to fish. I wanted to do all these things with my friends. I wanted to travel …”
Deacon Griffin added he did not want to go back to college, noting he spent over five years trying to get a four year degree. He asked for an angel or some kind of sign he was supposed to enter the permanent diaconate class.
After praying the same prayer for four days, Deacon Griffin said he had not had any revelation. As he was sitting in the empty chapel, just quiet and not praying, wondering what he would tell Deacon Evans, he said “what I heard from the pew behind me was, ‘All I’ve heard was I.’”
“At that, I think my heart of stone was crushed,” Deacon Griffin said. “When I could finally speak again, I said, ‘What is your will?’ He said, ‘I brought you here to Mount Vernon. I want you to give my love to those people in Mount Vernon.’ So my conversion to this diaconate was a little different than some people who were discerning. I was pretty much all in after that, as you can imagine. It was very moving and very revealing. It’s very rare for God to talk to people like that. And I realize that. And so he must have wanted me to do this.”
Throughout the four years of preparation for the permanent diaconate, Deacon Griffin said one thing that was interesting was the camaraderie of the group he became a part of. The group of now ordained deacons really helped each other all the way through the process, Deacon Griffin said.
Deacon Griffin said throughout the preparation, one thing he learned was his gift for public speaking.
“I didn’t realize that one of my gifts was public speaking,” Deacon Griffin said. “Being able to give a homily. Being inspired by the scripture and seeing it in a way that some people did not. It was really the homiletics class in these four years that brought that out. And I was kind of amazed even at myself that I could come up with these inspirations and portray those to people.”
Deacon Griffin said one thing he did not expect throughout the process was the parish support from members of St. Matthew Parish. He said he “expected to have to go through all this alone” and the parish really stood behind him.
“Not only did I feel that God wanted me here in Mount Vernon, but I think everybody else did,” Deacon Griffin said. “And when we were all talking about where we’re going to end up, most people looked at me and said well, you know where you’re going to end up. Deacon Tom is getting up there in years. You only have one deacon there and so it was kind of obvious that I would be here, which I think that was very comforting.”
Deacon Griffin added Deacon Evans has been a great mentor for him at every little thing, every step along the way.
“Having knowledge that he would stay a deacon and serve with me was just a great comfort to me,” Deacon Griffin said.