By Catholic Stewardship Consultants
www.CatholicSteward.com
When Deacon Jerome Bettencourt and his wife, Kara, began thinking about retirement, Hawaii was not where they expected to land.
After years in Los Angeles, their plans initially pointed toward Washington state. But family needs, connections to Hawaii and what Deacon Bettencourt came to recognize as God’s quiet direction ultimately led them somewhere else. Last summer, the couple made the move to Hawaii, where Jerome now serves at Sacred Heart Church in Pahoa.
“I didn’t know much about Hawaii,” Deacon Bettencourt said. “But I had all these connections,” including friends and family who lived here.
Nearly a year later, what once seemed unexpected increasingly feels like exactly where he belongs.
“I really feel now this is where I was meant to be,” he said. “I really feel good about moving here.”
For Deacon Bettencourt, it isn’t the first time his life has taken a turn he didn’t anticipate.
He entered seminary at the University of Notre Dame intending to become a priest. He spent four years in college seminary and continued into graduate studies and the novitiate. But when his father became ill, he left to help care for his family.
“(I) really did feel a bit ashamed, resentful about going off the path, and it shook me. … It made me rethink my vocation,” Deacon Bettencourt said.
His path shifted, but the call to serve never disappeared.
Deacon Bettencourt became an educator, beginning a 40-year career. Along the way, he remained active in the Church, serving in youth ministry, leading Catholic school retreats and finding other opportunities to put his faith and experience as an educator to use.
He began considering the diaconate in his 30s. He entered a Jesuit diaconate formation program for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and was ordained in 2011. He served the archdiocese for 14 years.
Deacon Bettencourt has come to understand the diaconate less in terms of a specific ministry and more in terms of being available wherever he is needed.
“I really feel deacons are servants,” he said. “I serve where it’s needed. Wherever I go, I see what’s needed.”
That philosophy followed him across the Pacific.
After arriving at Sacred Heart, Deacon Bettencourt did not come with a predetermined list of ministries he wanted to lead. Instead, he learned about the parish and looked for places where he could be useful. When he discovered there was a need for someone to write summaries of the Mass readings for the parish bulletin, he took on the task. He also began helping with the parish food pantry.
“It’s different from being a priest,” he said, noting that while priests share many of the same responsibilities from parish to parish, deacons bring different gifts and experiences to their ministry. “I don’t go into a parish ever and presume what I’m going to do. That’s not being a servant.
“I want to serve God through serving my pastor, my parish, my bishop; that’s my main thing, to do that the best I can with the gifts I have.”
Deacon Bettencourt’s new surroundings are considerably different from those he left. The parish where he was ordained had about 10,000 registered families and eight Masses each Sunday. Sacred Heart has fewer than 1,000 families and three Sunday Masses.
For the deacon, the smaller setting has brought an opportunity to experience parish life in a more personal way.
“It’s a very different experience. You really get to know people,” he said. “When you have 500 deacons in the diocese, you can’t know everybody. It’s a really different culture in that way. Here you can have relationships with people, and you get to know people a lot better.”
This year also brought another significant transition. After four decades as an educator, the end of the school year arrived without a classroom waiting for him in the fall.
But retirement from education has given Deacon Bettencourt something he has never had before — the opportunity to devote himself full-time to ministry.
“I’m looking forward to doing ministry full time,” he said. “I like Hawaii, I like the island, I like the people here. The culture here is very different from California. It’s much more relational than transactional. It’s very much about making connections with people, listening to their stories. I find it refreshing and wonderful.”