St. Michael Welcomes Our New Chief of Staff, Deacon Walter Stone

By now, you have likely seen a new smiling face around our parish offices or on the altar at Mass! Deacon Walter Stone arrived at St. Michael the first week of January in his new role as Chief of Staff of the parish. Deacon Walt joins us from St. Patrick Cathedral and St. Catherine of Siena, where he has been assigned since his ordination to the permanent diaconate in 2009. He brings a wealth of experience to his work here in our parish and looks forward to this new adventure as St. Michael’s Chief of Staff.

When Deacon Walt was a young child, his family moved from the greater Chicago area to a farm in rural Indiana. He was raised in a Catholic home — to this day, he likes to joke that the Holy Father probably checks with his mother before making any big decisions!

As a young man, Deacon Walt attended a Franciscan seminary for a time. As part of the program, the seminarians were all asked to go to a co-ed institution before they began to make vows. Deacon Walt went to study at Rosary College — now Dominican University — in Illinois. There, he met his future wife, Diana, and realized that he was being called to a vocation in family life. However, the Lord wasn’t yet done with Deacon Walt. In the 2000s, with the support of Diana, he discerned a vocation to the permanent diaconate.

When Deacon Walt retired from the private sector several years ago, he was asked to become the Business Manager at St. Catherine of Siena. There, he was aided by his years of experience as what he terms a “human protocol converter” with EDS, where he had helped clients implement new IT systems and procedures. Following his work as Business Manager at St. Catherine, the diocese asked Deacon Walt to be the Chief of Staff at the cathedral. Now, he is excited to be filling a similar position at St. Michael.

The Chief of Staff supports, reports to the Pastor, Fr. B and coordinates, supports, supervises the administrative responsibilities for St. Michael parish. “The pastor and myself are two sides of the same coin,” Deacon Walt says of his role here. “He’s the spiritual leader of the parish, and for all things temporal in the parish — the administrator of the parish — that’s me.”

When Deacon Walt first learned he was being assigned Chief of Staff at St. Michael, he looked up the parish vision and mission statements, and was thrilled to see stewardship at the core of our identity.

“I was very excited to see stewardship in the mission because I’m a big believer in the stewardship model,” he says. “The four pillars of prayer, hospitality, faith formation and service are important to me. People have a tendency to compartmentalize their lives, and stewardship strives to knock that down. So you’re the same person at work and at home with the family that you are in church on Sunday — really living the faith and not just doing stuff.”

While Deacon Walt’s primary pastoral work will continue to take place at St. Catherine, he will also be seen on the altar at St. Michael helping out with Masses here and there. During parish business hours, he may be found in the office as Chief of Staff. He looks forward to getting to know everyone in our faith community.

“I like the dynamic part of what I do,” Deacon Walt says. “The longer I thought about this position [when I was assigned here], the more excited I became. St. Michael is a beautiful parish. The mission of the parish is to bring people closer to God, and as long as we continue to do that, I’m going to be a happy guy. We never want to lose sight of that.”

Deacon Walter Stone