2024 marks the 50th Jubilee of the Permanent Diaconate here in the Archdiocese of Denver. Through preaching, service, worship and prayer, deacons serve the people of God in unique ways through their various ministries and lives. This article is one of a series of articles the Denver Catholic will publish in 2024 which will feature local deacons and/or a diaconal ministry. There are many Deacon Saints who were martyred for their faith. In this year of Jubilee, the deacons of the Archdiocese of Denver are asking for prayers through the intercession of Saint Euplius of Cantania, deacon and martyr. Learn more about this Deacon Saint here.
“I want you to ask the Lord what he wants for your life.”
The invitation made decades ago still resounds for Deacon Luke Oestman, one of the Archdiocese of Denver’s newest permanent deacons.
Born and raised Catholic, Deacon Oestman was involved in the life of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Yuma from a young age. But the question posed to him by the parish pastor at the time led him to encounter the Lord.
Traveling for World Youth Day Rome in 2000, Deacon Oestman and the other Colorado pilgrims visited Assisi. They had Mass in the Basilica’s crypt church, and afterward, Deacon Oestman was moved to deeper prayer.
“I walked up and I knelt down right beside St. Francis’ tomb, and I said that prayer that my priest had encouraged me to pray: ‘Jesus, what do you want for me?’ And I encountered God. His presence was so real. It was like what I’d been searching for was found,” he shared, recalling the tear-filled gift of prayerful clarity. “Something in me broke open to the Lord in the newness of this experience with the Lord. And from that moment, I think the Lord was calling me to serve the Church. Very similar to St. Francis, just to be a servant to the Church.”
It wasn’t until a few years after this experience that his life began to change, Deacon Oestman shared. Thanks to the discipleship of some Protestant missionaries, he began to walk with the Lord and read the Scriptures anew.
“I learned the art of coming to know God’s voice through the Scriptures. I fell in love with the Church,” he shared.
From Yuma, he went to study at Franciscan University of Steubenville, then worked as a parish Director of Religious Education before studying at the Augustine Institute. During his graduate studies, Deacon Oestman discovered the possibility of dedicating himself to evangelization full-time, especially through the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS).
For the last 15 years, he has worked with FOCUS nationwide on college campuses and in parishes. But even as he served, he felt called deeper.
“My heart started to come alive, and I started to think, ‘Wait, I think I want to serve the Church more formally than as just a missionary,’” Deacon Oestman said.
He began discerning a vocation to the diaconate, experiencing healing and confirmation along the way. Eventually, he and his family moved back to Yuma, and Deacon Oestman farmed and raised his family while remaining involved in FOCUS.
Convinced he was called to the diaconate, Deacon Oestman applied for the formation program. He left the application in the hands of the Lord, recognizing there were plenty of reasons it might not work out: he was just shy of the one-year residency requirement, he had a number of young children, and he lived two and a half hours from Denver.
Despite all the reasons to the contrary, he was invited to a discernment retreat at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver. Feeling the weight of all those reasons, Deacon Oestman made his way into the chapel, where he found a relic of Pope St. John Paul II and a stained glass window of St. Francis of Assisi, a divine reminder of his initial encounter with the Lord on his way to World Youth Day in 2000.
“I prayed that prayer 20 years ago in Assisi, and I’ve been trying to be faithful to it ever since,” he said, recalling the powerful moment in prayer. “I was just like, ‘God, whatever you call me to do, I’m willing to do it.’ And now, because of a little sacrifice of time or money or whatever, I’m second-guessing this call to become a deacon. And the Lord confirmed that call in my heart that whatever human, worldly things I’m worried about, whatever sacrifices, the Lord is asking this. He’ll overcome any obstacle.”
And overcome he has. Whether the death of his father, the birth of two new children, or any other challenge, the Lord sustained Deacon Oestman throughout his formation – and continues to do so.
“There were a lot of obstacles there, but the Lord helped us overcome all of them. It’s been a beautiful invitation into deeper intimacy with him and greater service to the Church and my family. And I think it’s enriched our experience of the Church and of our family life as well,” he shared.
Having just celebrated his first anniversary of ordination, Deacon Oestman is the youngest permanent deacon in the Archdiocese of Denver – though only by six months, he quickly added. Just as before his ordination, he and his family continue to serve the people of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Yuma and St. Andrew Parish in Wray while also serving as FOCUS’ Director of Priest Accompaniment.
Between his age, large family, rural assignment and passion for evangelization and accompaniment, Deacon Oestman has a unique perspective on his newfound vocation. As he helps with baptisms, weddings, funerals and visits to the sick, he recognizes that many he encounters might not be Catholic, but he knows them well because of the small-town reality of his ministry.
“As someone with a missionary heart and a part of this community, I know many of them, or they know me. I’ve just been able to make them feel welcome and to encourage them to give the Catholic Church a second look again,” he said. “They have a level of trust with me because I’m another farmer that they recognize from the feedlot dropping off corn a couple of years ago, but at the same time, they also hear a message that leads them to an encounter and a conversation with the living God.
“It’s very relational,” Deacon Oestman said of his ministry in Yuma and Wray. Whether it involves meeting with couples seeking marriage alongside his wife, preparing parents for their child’s baptism, or even rushing to the hospital to console a family amid a medical tragedy, Deacon Oestman is an integral part of the community, walking with the people and leading them to Christ.
“These families are families I know well, and I hope God will give me the grace to continue to walk with them, to accompany them deeper through the stages of faith,” he shared.
A new deacon, he was already being called to visit parishioners in challenging times, all because of his deep, generational relationships with the families and the community.
“I didn’t have to go searching,” he said. “It can be heavy to walk with these families who are my age. They’re in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and their children or they are sick and facing really hard diagnoses. But it became a joy to have those conversations about Heaven, trusting our Heavenly Father and the power of the sacraments when they did receive them.”
With his ministry to the people of eastern Colorado and priests across the country through FOCUS, a simple question prayed in earnest two decades ago has blossomed into an incredible vocation of service. Step by step, the Lord led Deacon Oestman closer to himself, eventually calling him to be configured to Christ the Servant. Despite the challenges and curve balls, he and his family have continued to step up to the plate and minister to each person God places in front of them.
“The Lord’s call is the only reason I would ever do anything this crazy,” Deacon Oestman concluded. “I had a lot of friends asking, ‘What do they pay you for this? What are you going to get afterward?’ As far as the world is concerned, I get nothing, but it’s the call and that beautiful service that make it all worthwhile. The Lord calls and gives an overabundance of grace on the other side.”
