By Dcn. Greg Sass
Director of the Permanent Diaconate

The annual Permanent Deacon Community Retreat was held August 23-25, at the Terra Sancta Retreat Center, Rapid City. This year’s retreat was titled “Evangelization — Going Forth at the Spirit’s Prompting.” It was based on the passage (Acts 8:26-40) about Deacon Philip being prompted to “head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.” There he encounters an Ethiopian eunuch, who is reading from the book of Isaiah, who Philip then instructs and baptizes.

The retreat was directed by Archbishop Thomas Gullickson. Archbishop Gullickson was a priest ordained in 1976 for the Sioux Falls Diocese. In 1985 he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See with postings in Rwanda, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Jerusalem, and Germany. In 2004, he was ordained a bishop at the Cathedral in Sioux Falls and served as the Apostolic Delegate and Nuncio for the region of the Antilles Episcopal Conference, Nuncio in Ukraine followed by Nuncio in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Upon his retirement at the end of 2020, he returned home to Sioux Falls.

Archbishop Gullickson broke down various sections of the passage from Acts into separate presentations. These were “The Wilderness Road,” “Minister as St. Philip,” “Preparing Yourself for the Road,” “The Value of Christian Witness,” and “Challenge for the Road.” After the talks there was time for prayer and reflection and small group discussions. There was also daily Mass, Holy Hours, Morning and Evening Prayer, Reconciliation, and opportunities for the community to share about their ministry and lives. The retreat was beneficial to the diaconate community with one deacon stating, “I always enjoy men who can take theological principles and apply to daily life.”

Next year’s retreat will be a joint retreat with the Diocese of Cheyenne. It will be held August 22-24, 2025. It will be directed by Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, who hosts shows on EWTN radio and TV, and has written six books.