Embracing a life of holiness and service
“It’s been totally awesome.”
That is how Deacon Al Burleigh describes his 20 years as a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Portland.
“It’s been amazing. It’s gone by fast, but it’s the people. The people are so good. I’m sure that it’s their prayers. It’s their prayers that keep me going,” he says.
Deacon Al serves the churches of St. Agnes in Island Falls, St. Paul in Patten, and St. Mary of the Visitation in Houlton, and that is where he can frequently be found, beginning with 7:30 a.m. Mass on the mornings when it is celebrated.
“When I miss daily Mass or when I’m away for a while, my days just aren’t the same. There’s something here. I can’t explain what it is, but there is something here,” he says. “I have come to realize that I need the Church.”
And that he is happiest when he is serving the Church.
“He loves to be involved in everything that goes on at the church, whether it's a supper, or going down to religious ed, or a meeting that's going on, or whether they're cleaning up here or there, or whatever. He's always there for anything that the Church needs him to do,” says Sonja, his wife.
“Deacon Al certainly is a huge blessing to all of us here at St. Mary’s and the greater community at large. For 20 years now, he has served as a permanent deacon in the community and really has made a difference not just in our lives but the lives of everybody he has reached and come in contact with,” says Father Kevin Martin, pastor.
As a permanent deacon, Deacon Al serves at the altar, shares the Gospel, and, at times, delivers homilies. He can baptize children, bless marriages, and preside at funeral services held outside of Mass. He formerly served as a hospice chaplain and continues to visit hospital patients, shut-ins, and those who are incarcerated.
“I have found that it’s just your presence, especially when someone’s dying or someone’s in the hospital — there’s been an accident or they’re burying their loved one,” he says. “I get the best thank you notes from people when I’m just there and don’t say a word.”
From 2013 to 2018, Deacon Al also worked as an outreach specialist for Catholic Charities Maine Parish Social Ministry, visiting parishes from Madawaska to Machias to offer them support and guidance with their parish social ministry programs. He also sought to provide emergency assistance to folks in need. He recalls the donations of home goods and furnishings he had stacked up so that if people needed a bed or a sofa, he could provide it.
“We had a room here, and that room became Deacon Al’s room. I had it full of everything,” he says. “That wouldn’t hold everything, so then, some of my personal friends, they were truck drivers, and they would give me a trailer, and then I would find a farmer who had a garage. They would let me put that beside the garage, and we’d fill that thing up. I had people giving me more stuff than I could handle.”
With a laugh, he concedes that it might have been a bit out of control, but still, a lot of people benefited as a result.
“Deacon Al’s genuine care was of real comfort to those in need, and they always left knowing someone was praying for them,” says Michael Smith, chief program officer for Catholic Charities Maine. “I have found him to be someone who authentically lives out our call to ‘love neighbor as yourself.’ I wish I could put it into words, but his presence with others is visibly grounded in Christ by the way he listens, understands, and acts. It almost supersedes time and space and is clearly impactful for everyone with whom I have ever seen him engage.”
“When I think of deacons and what deacons are called to do and called to be, how they are to live their lives, I think of Deacon Al. He really epitomizes what a deacon is — just by his demeanor, his affability, his interest in making a difference in the lives of people he meets,” says Father Martin.
Deacon Al, who is a Secular Franciscan, says it is the people who have made all the difference to him.
“They have shared with me their good, happy thoughts and their not-so-happy thoughts, and their struggles, their concerns, their worries. They have shared everything, and it’s so special to hang with them and to help them get through some of the situations that they have found themselves in,” he says.
“He is such a people person. He loves being around people. He just makes people comfortable,” says Sonja. “He just loves being a part of people's lives and trying to do what he can for them.”
While the permanent diaconate may seem like a perfect fit now, Deacon Al says it’s not something to which he aspired. He says, however, “God has ways of messing with us.”
He remembers about 25 years ago when Father Phil Cyr handed him an application for the permanent diaconate, explaining that he had actually had it a while, so there was only about a week left to fill it out and submit it.
“I went home and I said, ‘Sonja, look what Father did.’ And we really didn’t have time to pray about it because I even needed my parents’ baptismal records and stuff. So, I wrote a quick summary of my spirituality, and I said, ‘Boy, once they see this, they’re going to say no way,’ but God has a plan,” he says.
“Every time that we went down for our yearly evaluations, they would always ask, ‘Why did you want to do this?’ And it's like, ‘We didn't.’ We knew nothing about it. Father Phil said to do this, so we did it,” says Sonja.
Deacon Al says the studies were a challenge, so much so that early on, he almost walked away from the program. He recalls an initial retreat during which the candidates were asked to read a chapter of a book and then reflect on it.
“They’re all saying how they were touched or felt something. And I’m thinking, ‘Did I read the same book?’” he says. “If I had a car there, when it came to my turn, I would have stood up and said, ‘Gentlemen, I think what you are doing is totally awesome. I’m going to pray for you, but this isn’t for me. I’m heading out of here.’ But I had no car. I couldn’t go home.”
He credits the support of the facilitators, his fellow candidates, and especially the Holy Spirit for helping him to persevere.
“The Holy Spirit got me through it. I give the Holy Spirit all the credit,” he says.
He also points to the ongoing support and encouragement of Sonja, to whom he has been married for 52 years. At the time he was ordained, they were both school teachers, but she encouraged him to give up that job so that he could fully engage in ministry.
“One thing that I knew he would do was work 24-7 at school — you know how teachers work — and then he would also spend all his time doing what he needed to do at church. I wasn't going to have that,” she says. “So, I said, ‘You need to quit teaching and do what you've been called to do.’ And it worked out. That’s where he's been and where he belongs.”
While it meant less income, Deacon Al and Sonja say it was not something that they worried about.
“We got along just fine, even with three boys,” Sonja says. “I've always said, ‘God provides what you need.’”
Sonja’s support has never wavered throughout the years, something for which Deacon Al says he is grateful.
“When I’m called out in the middle of the night to go to the emergency room at the hospital, she gets up and lights a candle and burns it until I come back. She prays for whatever situation I am in,” he says.
In 2017, Deacon Al was honored with the Deacon of the Year Award, which he says caught him off guard because he felt other deacons were more qualified. Others saw it differently.
“I think it couldn’t have gone to a better person, a better servant of the diaconate. He truly exemplifies the charism of a deacon. It’s obvious by the way he lives his life. It’s obvious by the way he prays his life,” said Father David Raymond at the time.
The appreciation his parish communities have for Deacon Al was evident in the 20th anniversary party that the parishes threw for him.
“Oh man, they went overboard,” he says.
“One thing I said at the reception was that Albert does not understand what's going on here. He does not understand why everybody showed up for this,
