For decades, Deacon Jim Blume has felt called to minister and serve the poor, whether they be lacking in material goods or spiritual counsel. A secular (third-order) Franciscan, he says his closeness to the poor has always been a part of who he is.
“I’ve always had a feeling, a sense of being called to service of the poor,” Deacon Blume shared. “It has always been a part of who I am.”
As he sought a concrete expression for that desire, a practical way to live out this call, Deacon Blume discerned the diocesan priesthood in the minor seminary and then discerned with the Capuchin Franciscans in Kansas. But as he continued to discern, he realized that, although he was not called to religious life, he was called to live out Franciscan spirituality.
Over the next several years, Deacon Blume would integrate Franciscan spirituality and its emphasis on serving the poor into his daily life, aiding people with disabilities and their families across Western Kansas. For nearly thirty years, he worked to develop a robust network of services, eventually becoming CEO of that very network.
As his career grew, though, he felt a tug to something greater. Thanks to the invitation of friends, neighbors and fellow parishioners, Deacon Blume began to consider the permanent diaconate, with a special emphasis on serving the poor.
Because his home diocese did not have a program of formation for the permanent diaconate, Deacon Blume looked west and connected with a former Capuchin brother: Archbishop Charles Chaput, then-archbishop of Denver. With the archbishop’s blessing, Deacon Blume made the move to the Mile High City to join the Archdiocese’s robust diaconate formation program, led by Deacon Al Sandoval, who would become a mentor to Deacon Blume.
Since his ordination in 2007, Deacon Blume counts himself blessed to have served in various parishes around the archdiocese, including Annunciation Parish in Denver and St. Pius X Parish in Aurora. In addition to his parish ministry, Deacon Blume has continued to serve the materially poor in homeless shelters and to serve grieving families through Precious Lives, a ministry of the Archdiocese of Denver and Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of Colorado (CFCS). Though he is now officially retired from ministry, Deacon Blume remains involved in service to these families.
Precious Lives “provides a dignified funeral service and burial for babies that were lost during a pregnancy or at birth,” CFCS’ website explains. These children “are welcomed into our care for placement into one of our Catholic cemeteries at no cost to the family. As a ministry of the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, we live our vocational call of the Corporal Work of Mercy to bury the dead. No matter if families are Catholic, Protestant, another faith tradition, or of no faith, we serve all families.”
While serving the Precious Lives ministry, Deacon Blume accompanied families in some of the darkest days of life as they processed the loss of their unborn or newborn child.
“They come wounded and with this kind of void or emptiness,” Deacon Blume explained. “For a young couple, this pregnancy, this kind of new life, is a kind of refocusing of hope. So, from their experience, they’re hurting when that is almost ripped out of their coupleness. For the mom, that literal emptiness of losing that baby hurts. They come with a void that is a type of hurt that goes beyond words. So, for the Church to be there to touch that void for them is a beautiful part of the Church’s pro-life ministry.”
The important pro-life apostolate–and others like it, like the archdiocesan Behold Your Child ministry–offers families an opportunity to “fill the void of loss with faith,” as CFCS states in their mission statement. Precious Lives creates a space for prayer, grief, healing and closure, all within a community of compassionate individuals, many of whom have also experienced the loss of a preborn or newborn child. To that end, once per month, CFCS hosts a prayer service and burial for these children and families at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery in Wheat Ridge.
“I would be there early, so when the couples came into the chapel, I could spend time with each couple, learning the name of their preborn baby and crying with them often,” Deacon Blume shared.
Now officially retired from ministry, Deacon Blume has taken a step back from the ministry he served so faithfully for so long. Despite health challenges, long drives and the challenges of aging, he remains as active as he can be, quipping, “A deacon doesn’t retire! I’m ordained a deacon to serve.”
Given his challenges, though, Deacon Blume’s ministry has shifted from what it used to be. Whereas his ministry used to be one of presence, it is now primarily a ministry of prayer.
“As my external ministry has slowed down, I have shifted to prayer ministry,” he explained of the informal post. “I just had a funeral at St. Simeon Catholic Cemetery, and so, I’ve kept the names of the mom, the husband and sisters of this young, young woman who died in my daily prayers.”
More than a simple platitude, Deacon Blume sees his current ministry of prayer as a commitment to and an extension of his diaconal vocation and service. Though he cannot be as active in ministry as he used to be, he can serve his people by uniting himself to them prayerfully and lifting them to the Father.
“I feel so blessed that, by praying for people, I can still feel my diaconate,” Deacon Blume concluded. “At our ordination, we make a vow to pray for and with the Church in the Liturgy of the Hours. Those words ‘for and with’ are right in the ceremony, so that is part of the deacon’s call, not just ministry, but then it’s got to be prayer. Prayer has to be a part of that.”
