The Reverend Mike Ryan, the first ordained permanent deacon of the Catholic Church in New Zealand, died in Rotorua last Tuesday.
“I lost a very dear friend this week. We had known each other for only a few years but we got together regularly to talk about life and faith and all sorts of other things”, says Garth George.
“He was a man rich in years, rich in experience and rich in wisdom and was always prepared to share his life with others.”
George says there are now several dozen permanent deacons in the Hamilton and Auckland dioceses – in itself a lasting memorial to the life of Mike Ryan.
Garth George is a columnist, who is published in the NZ Herald
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