Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Deacon Wyatt Jones Jr. was 'a true servant'
Deacon Wyatt Jones Jr. was 'a true servant'
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published June 27, 2008
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Deacon Wyatt Jones preaches at Precious Blood Church in this file photo. |
Detroit Deacon Wyatt Jones' story of how near the brink his youthful rejection of the Church took him was an inspiration, said Ona Harris, "because it shows the power of God how God can transform us because that's what He did with the deacon."
Deacon Jones died June 19 of complications of brain cancer. He was 61.
After high school, Wyatt Jones Jr. figured he was through with the Catholic Church and maybe any church. And he emerged from military service in Vietnam even angrier with an America still grappling with a legacy of racial injustice. He became involved with the radical Black Panther Party in California. Then, disillusioned with that, he became a drug dealer.
As he told The Michigan Catholic in 2002, "I wound up just about ready to shoot someone one night about something that made no sense to me on reflection."
But "as I was getting ready to shoot this guy, my (late) mother or someone spoke to me I believe it was my mother, because it was like I heard her voice calling me 'Junior' and all of a sudden I realized, 'What am I doing? What is this all about?'" he said.
Deacon Jones said he came to understand "that hate only consumes the hater I don't care how justified you may make it, that's what it does."
He moved back to Detroit to take care of his father, Wyatt Jones Sr., who had suffered a stroke. He would take his father to Mass every Sunday at St. Cecilia Church on Detroit's west side, but "just wheel him in there and leave, then come back when he was ready to go."
But one Sunday, he stayed for the Mass, and hearing Msgr. Thomas Finnigan preach led to a desire to come back again. Under the influence of the late Msgr. Finnigan, St. Cecilia's pastor, the future deacon was drawn into active participation in the parish. Not only had he returned to the Church, but began developing a desire to serve it. Deacon Jones also credited the influence of his wife, DeBorah, for helping him to put things in perspective, and for inspiring in him a sense of ministry.
Harris, office administrator at St. Peter Claver, Detroit, Deacon Jones' last assignment, said she used to tell him his story was like that of "Saul who changed into Paul."
Deacon Jones' homilies called on his hearers to put their faith into action. He once told his congregation he could not understand why Catholics were not more enthusiastic about evangelization, "because if Catholics really believed what they claim to believe about the Eucharist, they should want to run forth from Mass and share that belief with others." Harris recalled how Deacon Jones' singing he would sing at the beginning and end of each homily would sometimes move members of the congregation to tears.
As Harris put it, "His homilies were so powerful, you knew the Spirit was behind them." And she added, "I always felt it was God speaking through him to us."
Cardinal Adam Maida said Deacon Jones "was a true servant a deacon in every sense of the word."
"In his service to the Detroit Archdiocese, he gave his life for the well-being of the Church. He had a special passion for Catholic faith formation, and was a witness and role model for a generation of young men and women in our community. We owe him and his family a debt of gratitude for service above and beyond the call of duty," the cardinal continued. Deacon Jones "had a noble heart," said Catherine Wagner, an archdiocesan official who worked with Deacon Jones in various capacities over the years. "The archdiocese has lost a great churchman," she said.
"Wyatt Jones loved God, loved his family, and loved the Church. He had a great commitment to young people, and served as a model of what a Catholic man should be," said Wagner, director of the archdiocesan Department of Parish Life and Services.
While Deacon Jones held a number of positions with the archdiocese, he also was deeply involved in education at both Loyola High School and the former St. Martin de Porres High School and in parish work.
He also wrote a column, from time to time, for The Michigan Catholic.
Deacon Jones had been pastoral administrator of Precious Blood Parish in northwest Detroit from January 2002, and then continued to serve St. Peter Claver Parish formed by the 2005 merger of Precious Blood and St. Francis de Sales parishes until the effects of his brain cancer caused him to discontinue active ministry in May 2007.
On the evening before his father died, his son Wyatt Jones III was able to tell the deacon how he had just learned his job would be changing at Loyola High School, the Jesuit-sponsored school Deacon Jones helped found. Instead of director of admissions, his new title would be his father's old one dean of students.
"As kids, a lot of people want to grow up to be like basketball players, but I always wanted to be like my father he was my inspiration," Wyatt Jones III said.
Kathleen Walker, a sister of Deacon Jones by adoption, said, "Wyatt was larger than life, but it was his spirit that was larger than life. He knew no strangers, because anybody he met became a friend."
Speaking of his influence on her own life and ministry she is coordinator for Urban Youth Ministry in the archdiocesan Office of Youth Ministry Walker continued, "For me, to know Wyatt was to truly know God's mercy here on Earth. And so, Wyatt was a mentor and constant guide for me."
Born Dec. 19, 1946, in Detroit, Jones was ordained a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Detroit on October 15, 1994.
His assignments included director of the Office of Black Catholic Affairs, co-director of the Office for Church in the City, and director of the Office for Ethnic and Urban Concerns.
Besides dean of students at Loyola Academy, now Loyola High School, he later served as the school's chaplain.
As a permanent deacon, he ministered at St. Francis de Sales, St. Cecilia, Our Lady Gate of Heaven, Annunciation/Our Lady of Sorrows, and Precious Blood (now St. Peter Claver) parishes, in Detroit.
He is survived by his wife of 29 years, DeBorah (nιe Eastman); three sons, Wyatt III, Thomas and James; a daughter, Marion; four grandchildren, Travis, Nicholas, Jazzmin, and Christian; two brothers, Clarence Watson of Cleveland and Rodney Jones of Detroit; and two sisters, Lucy Mae Colvert and Patricia Hayes, both of Detroit.
Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn was to be principal celebrant of his funeral Mass Thursday, June 26, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit. Burial was to be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Detroit. Memorials to Loyola High School, 15325 Pinehurst, Detroit 48238.
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