Deacon Rod Walker

Listen to the interview about Advent HERE.
Listen to the interview about the 12 Days of Christmas HERE.

12/16/21

My wife Annette and I, with our two children Alex and Andrew, moved to Hastings in the spring of 1997. We lived in Prior Lake from 1983-1987 and Bloomington from 1987-1997. When our boys were just starting grade school, we decided to find a community that could foster the positive experiences Annette and I both had growing up in Austin MN. Fast forward twenty years… Alex married Angie (Fazio - a Hastings  native) in 2017. They live in Hastings and gave us our first grandchild (Thomas) in March. Many of you know Andrew, as  he was very involved in music ministry at SEAS in the past. Andrew recently joined St. John the Baptist in Savage as their Director of Liturgy and Music.

The community of SEAS played a big part in drawing me toward responding to my deacon call in 2014. My experiences with various SEAS prayer groups, being a confirmation catechist, and being part of the Phase-2 facility expansion process (1998-2006) each in their own way slowly revealed God’s call for me to serve Christ as a deacon. 

I was quite surprised and pleased to learn that I was assigned by Archbishop Hebda to SEAS. Home parish assignments for deacons have been quite rare in the past. I am looking forward to working closely with Fr. Dave and Fr. Matt in defining what my role in the parish and broader community of Hastings will be.  That role will certainly include getting to know as many of you as possible. Please introduce yourself or just say “Hi Deacon Rodney”, or Deacon Rod. Either works!

Deacons serve in parishes and other ministries as volunteers. I am an IT consultant and working full-time for a few more years. Look for me at SEAS primarily on the weekends and some evenings during the week. And when spring rolls around – look for me around town riding my red Harley Street Glide or walking with Annette. Doc says I need more exercise!

12/27/2019