Parishioners from Immaculate Conception, Christ the King and St. Boniface form the city-wide choir for the ordination Mass. (Karen Schwartz photo)

Joseph Chan kneels before Bishop Taylor during the ordination Mass. (Karen Schwartz photo)

During the Litany of Supplication, Joseph Chan lays prostrate before the altar. (Karen Schwartz photo)

Bishop Taylor lays his hands on Deacon Joseph Chan during the Rite of Ordination. (Karen Schwartz photo)

Father Jack Vu of Jonesboro assists Deacon Joseph Chan with his stole and dalmatic, signs of his new office. (Karen Schwartz photo)

During the sign of peace Bishop Anthony B. Taylor embraces newly ordained Deacon Joseph Chan. (Karen Schwartz photo)

Deacon Joseph Chan’s sisters Mercedes C. de Guzman and Immaculada C. Espanto and cousin Jeremy Matthew C. de Guzman bring up the gifts for the ordination Mass in Fort Smith. (Karen Schwartz photo)

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor celebrates the ordination Mass in Deacon Chan’s home parish, St. Boniface in Fort Smith. (Karen Schwartz photo)

Deacon Joseph Chan distributes Communion to Sister Elizabeth Bui Thi-Nghia, RSM, of Springfield, Mo., during his diaconate ordination. (Karen Schwartz photo)

After the ordination Mass Deacon Joseph Chan is greeted outside the church by the bishop, priests, deacons and seminarians. (Karen Schwartz photo)

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Chan’s recovery, ordination inspire Fort Smith parish

New deacon says he will use his impairments to stay closer to the Lord

Published: June 12, 2015

By Maryanne Meyerriecks
Fort Smith Correspondent

Karen Schwartz

Dr. Joseph Chan stands at the altar with Bishop Anthony B. Taylor for the first time after being ordained a transitional deacon at St. Boniface Church in Fort Smith May 26.

Karen Schwartz

Dr. Joseph Chan stands at the altar with Bishop Anthony B. Taylor for the first time after being ordained a transitional deacon at St. Boniface Church in Fort Smith May 26.

FORT SMITH — When Dr. Joseph Chan, former director of Mercy Hospice, entered St. Meinrad Seminary in 2010, he expected to be ordained as a priest this year. In 2013, a devastating car wreck derailed his plans.

After undergoing 18 surgeries and 10 months of physical and occupational therapy, he returned to St. Meinrad to resume his seminary studies, filled with gratitude and surrender to God’s will but having to cope with many challenges, both physical and mental.

On May 26, in the presence of family, friends, priests, deacons and seminarians, Chan was ordained as a transitional deacon at his home parish, St. Boniface Church.

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor shared part of Chan’s self-evaluation in a homily based on John 12:20-33, the parable of the grain of wheat. “I thank God for my deafness and visual impairment,” Chan wrote, “for these have taught me to listen and see with my heart. I have accepted that he (God) fractured me so that I cannot run away from his call… God permitted my memory to be impaired to teach me that it is he alone who can replenish the void in me to gain wisdom. He allowed my alimentary tract to be obstructed so that my appetite would be solely for his word and he continues to inflict me with pain to remind me of his own suffering as a personal invitation to sanctity.”

Speaking to Chan, Bishop Taylor said, “It’s because you offer up your life freely and fully to the Lord that no one will ever be able to take your life away from you… because you’ve already given your life.”

The Mass was celebrated with music from the combined choirs of St. Boniface, Christ the King, and St. Michael parishes and the Tulsa Filipino Choir. Priests from five dioceses — Oklahoma City, Memphis, Lexington, Tulsa and Little Rock — concelebrated Mass with Bishop Taylor. Chan’s siblings and cousins came from Florida and California to rejoice in his ordination. Sister Bernardone Rock, FSE, Chan’s music professor at St. Meinrad, encouraged him to cantor when he returned to his seminary studies.

“Joseph is such an inspiration,” she said. “He is a center of serenity.”

During the rite of ordination, Chan recited the diaconal promises, prostrated himself before the altar and was ordained through the laying of hands. Father Jack Vu of Jonesboro, who had encouraged Chan in his vocation, invested him with the stole and dalmatic symbolic of his role. Bishop Taylor presented him with the Book of the Gospels, urging him to “teach what you believe and practice what you teach.” All of the deacons present shared the sign of peace with Chan, welcoming him to the diaconate.

At the reception following Mass, Chan was greeted and congratulated by numerous friends who had prayed for him and supported him during his long convalescence. He will serve at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church in Bella Vista this summer and return to St. Meinrad Seminary in the fall to complete his studies.

In May 2016, one year later than he had originally planned, Chan is scheduled to be ordained a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock. Reflecting on his diaconal ordination, Chan said everyone is called to be witnesses for Christ.

“There is power in unity,” he said. “This power is bestowed on all of us by God, the source of all power, as long as we abide with his will. Through his gift of genuine power, comes with it — the authority, for all of us, to be witnesses of God’s love and mercy, regardless of our vocations: to a single life, married life, consecrated life or the priesthood, toward a life of holiness.”

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