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Bishop Taylor ordains ‘remarkable’ McFall a deacon

Before converting to Catholicism 16 years ago, McFall was a Baptist minister

Published: May 28, 2015         

By Dwain Hebda
Little Rock Correspondent

Dwain Hebda

New deacon Norman McFall is applauded by Bishop Anthony B. Taylor, diocesan priests and his brother deacons and seminarians outside St. Joseph Church in Pine Bluff May 20.

Dwain Hebda

New deacon Norman McFall is applauded by Bishop Anthony B. Taylor, diocesan priests and his brother deacons and seminarians outside St. Joseph Church in Pine Bluff May 20.

PINE BLUFF — “Wait, no, that’s not right.”

So said Bishop Anthony B. Taylor during the Promise of Elect, as before him stood Norman McFall, a seminarian over whose diaconate ordination Mass Bishop Taylor was presiding May 20.

“That’s the one about celibacy,” Bishop Taylor said, leafing through a large leather-bound book containing the various prayers and charges of ordination. “We’re not doing that one.”

The lighthearted gaffe — during which McFall jokingly wiped his brow in mock relief — underscored the surreal picture playing out in front of family, friends and row upon row of diocesan priests, deacons and seminarians at St. Joseph Church in Pine Bluff. McFall, a 58-year-old former Free Will Baptist minister, with wife and adult son on the front row, was about to take the last step before his priestly ordination next year.

A path, as Bishop Taylor said in the opening lines of his homily, “the most remarkable of anyone I have ever ordained.”

“You … had the integrity to listen to Jesus speaking in your heart and the courage to follow where he was leading you, as difficult as that was, humanly speaking,” Bishop Taylor said.  “You were able to do this because you had experienced Jesus’ love, about which he speaks so eloquently in the Gospel reading you have chosen for your ordination: ‘As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.’”

“Everything here is nostalgic and present as well,” McFall told Arkansas Catholic. “Years ago, when I was a Baptist pastor here in town, I just felt really drawn to the Catholic Church. I came over here during Lent and I asked in the office if I could come in the nave and walk around and look.

“I remember just walking around, the statues were covered in purple. I had no idea what I was doing here, but I just knew God was drawing me here.”

McFall’s curiosity drew him closer into Catholic doctrine and liturgy. He began to attend Mass regularly, even as he continued to shepherd his own congregation, at one point traveling on mission trips to Brazil to convert souls to the Baptist faith.

His wife Laura initially thought his interest was more educational than vocational.

“At first I thought he had gone down one of his little study avenues,” she said. “He likes to study different things and I thought well, you know, he’s going to study this a little while and decide that was just a thing he was going through. But he kept studying and kept saying that he felt God was calling him to the Catholic Church. I was like, ‘OK, wasn’t expecting this.’”

It wasn’t until Laura attended RCIA classes that she too started to feel drawn to the Church, eventually converting in 1999 in a change of perspective and understanding that took more than just an open mind.

“It’s really a miracle. I never would have even passed by or come into this church growing up here,” she said. “I was taught wrong about the Catholic faith, you know, worshiping Mary and all those misconceptions out there. We’ve always wanted to do God’s will in our lives and this is where it’s led us.”

McFall is among a small group of men who were ordained in other Christian denominations, converted to Catholicism and then sought permission from the Vatican to be priests through a special provision.

Laura McFall was by her husband’s side throughout his journey to the diaconate; uprooting to move to Indiana and work in the kitchen at St. Meinrad Seminary where Norman studies. And, she was at his side as he stepped forward to accept the responsibilities of the diaconate.

The new transitional deacon showed no visible signs of emotion throughout, answering his charge in a clear, calm voice. He displayed the slightest smile when invested with the stole and dalmatic by Deacon Bud Bryant.

“It’s just a really neat community of love here,” McFall said. “People are excited, their joy is just running over and they’ve just been so loving and kind and that’s where my mind is today. I’m trying to be open and aware and listening to how God is present.”

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