2026 Vocations Awareness Supplement
Deacon Woodard feels ‘very fulfilled’ bringing diaconal identity to his life
Deacon Russell Woodard blesses a woman’s throat on Feb. 4, 2024, the feast of St. Blase, at St. Agnes Church in Nashville where he serves as both deacon and parish life coordinator. (Submitted photo)
By Natalie Hoefer
When Deacon Russell Woodard describes the role of a deacon, “servant” is the first word that comes to mind.
“ ‘Deacon’ comes from the Greek word diakonos, which means ‘servant,’ ” he explains. “If you read the sixth chapter of Acts, the first deacons were created to assist widows who were being neglected.
“We [deacons] are charged with caring for those on the margins of society, to take the place of Christ the servant.”
Deacons are also charged with sharing the word of God and assisting with and celebrating certain sacraments.
Ordained to the permanent diaconate in 2012, Deacon Woodard strives to bring these three facets of a deacon’s identity to all aspects of his life, from his personal relationships to the charitable work he’s involved with, to his full-time job as a parish life coordinator (PLC) since 2010.
‘I see myself as a servant’
Deacon Woodard was about halfway through his deacon formation when he was asked to serve fulltime as PLC for
St. Anne Parish in New Castle and the former St. Rose of Lima Parish in Knightstown in 2010.
Prior to his 2012 ordination, he asked another deacon who served as a PLC how to differentiate between that position and the role of deacon.
“He said, ‘It’s easy.’ Then he said, ‘Well, no, it’s complicated,’ ” Deacon Woodard shares with a laugh.
With four years in both roles in New Castle and Knightstown, six years at Holy Trinity Parish in Edinburgh and the last four years at St. Agnes Parish in Nashville, Deacon Woodard has learned how to bring his identity as a deacon to his fulltime PLC position.
Take the diaconal charge to share the Gospel, for instance. In light of that call, and because “we are all called through our baptism to evangelize,” he says, as PLC he recently brought a training program through the Evangelizing Catholics organization to teach St. Agnes parishioners “to evangelize people they come in contact with every day just through regular conversation.”
Deacon Woodard also says that, as a deacon and as a PLC, “I see myself as a servant.”
So, when he hears of a need in the broader community, he considers “how we as a parish can help better serve our neighbors and help those people on the margins.”
For example, he committed the parish to serve meals once a month at Mother’s Cupboard Community Kitchen in Nashville, joining that effort.
“He’s always there when it’s St. Agnes’ night to serve, and I know he volunteers there more than that,” says parishioner Sarah Dill. “He’s usually up front where those who come in can get canned food and bread. He’s always warm and welcoming with them, being as hospitable as possible.”
He also encourages parishioners to volunteer with the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Brown County and to take Communion to the parish’s homebound—ministries he himself assists.
“I try to serve and be an example to the people in the parish,” says Deacon Woodard. “We need to get out and help these people on the margins.”
It was that particular diaconal call that influenced his decision to apply for the archdiocese’s deacon formation program in 2007.
‘He brings a presence of love’
“I’ve always liked serving people,” Deacon Woodard says. “As a teen, I picked up furniture for [the] St. Vincent de Paul [Society]. I was 16 when I started taking Communion to the homebound.”
During deacon formation, candidates are encouraged to try different types of ministry. For a time, Deacon Woodard volunteered with and coordinated the biannual 40 Days for Life campaigns in Bloomington.
He also became involved in corrections ministry at the Plainfield Correctional Facility and later at the New Castle Correctional Facility. He started serving on the Brown County Jail ministry team “shortly after he arrived in Nashville,” says the facility’s chaplain, Thom Miller.
“He is there at least once a week. He comes in almost every week when I do [cell] block visits. He’s someone I count on as a leader of the visits when I can’t be there.”
The diaconal “servant” aspect of his identity shines through Deacon Woodard, he adds.
“He has a heart for the guys we work with, and you can see his compassion,” says Miller. “It’s a ministry of presence—we go in to listen. A lot of these people carry a lot of heavy burdens ... . He’s good at offering resources, transportation, clothes. But more than anything, he brings a presence of love and listening to people who need to be heard.”
Miller, who works full time as an intermediate school math teacher, appreciates Deacon Woodard’s “rich knowledge and understanding of Scripture. When people ask questions about the Bible or theology, I just kind of look at him.”
Before making rounds in the blocks, the ministry team stops in the jail office “to pray in gratitude for the ability to minister to these people,” says Miller. Deacon Woodard is “the one who usually prays in the office and in the blocks. I love to hear him pray.”
Prayer is also a way he brings his identity as a deacon to his relationship with others.
‘I’ve been very fulfilled’
Outside of serving parishioners, those on the margins or his family and friends, “One of things I really do is I pray,” says Deacon Woodard.
“Anytime they have a need, I tell them I’m praying for them. I tell people to give me prayer requests.
“I spend a lot of time in prayer. That’s part of the life of a PLC and a deacon, but it’s also something I do for my friends and family. That’s very important for me.”
As PLC, Deacon Woodard brought that prayer aspect of his identity to St. Agnes by initiating a parish holy hour for vocations every Wednesday evening, and he instituted adoration between the morning and evening Masses on the first Friday of each month. As a deacon, he is able to offer Benediction after adoration.
“Adoration is important to me,” says Deacon Woodard. “That was something I wanted to institute, and people have responded.”
He reflects on his own time in prayer almost 20 years ago as he discerned his call to the diaconate.
“When the third person [from his parish at the time] said, ‘You ought to think about being a deacon,’ I was like, ‘OK, God, you’ve got my attention,’ ” Deacon Woodard recalls. “It’s something I realized God had been preparing me for for a long time.”
He recalls Father Joseph Moriarity, a priest of the archdiocese, telling him, “If you can find peace in whatever you’re doing or in a decision you make, you can be assured you’re doing God’s will.”
“That’s what I’ve found in this vocation,” says Deacon Woodard. “I’ve been very fulfilled.”
(For more information on the archdiocese’s permanent diaconate program, go to archindy.org/deacon-formation or contact Deacon John Jacobi, archdiocesan associate director of deacon formation, at 812-946-0873 or jjacobi@archindy.org.) †
