Bishop Earl Fernandes has appointed Deacon Frank Iannarino as the director of ministry and life for the permanent diaconate in the diocese and Deacon Steve Petrill as the director of diaconal formation.
Deacons Iannarino and Petrill previously held the titles of director and associate director, respectively, in the diocesan Office of the Diaconate. Their appointments to the new positions became effective May 1.
As director of ministry and life of the diaconate, Deacon Iannarino will be responsible for planning and directing all activities and operations in relation to ordained deacons. He will authorize action, after consultation with the director of diaconal formation, the vicar for clergy and the bishop of Columbus, for the good of the Church in the diocese.
Deacon Iannarino, who had served as director since 1992 when Bishop James Griffin established the diocese’s Office of the Diaconate, will continue to lead 11 candidates currently in formation who hope to be ordained in 2024.
Ordained as a deacon in 1989 by Bishop Griffin, Iannarino also currently serves as a deacon at Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare Church, procurator-advocate for the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal and an adjunct instructor at the Pontifical College Josephinum Diaconate Institute. Previous assignments include administrator at Columbus St. John the Baptist Church and chaplain at Columbus Bishop Watterson High School.
As the director of diaconal formation, Deacon Petrill exercises responsibility for the inquirer, aspirant and candidate formation in the diaconate. He also oversees the design, implementation and evaluation of the formation program.
Deacon Petrill will begin to screen a class of aspirants and direct a new candidate cohort who will be chosen to begin in January 2025.
Named associate director of the Office of the Diaconate in 2022, Deacon Petrill currently serves at St. Brigid of Kildare Church. He previously was assigned to Powell St. Joan of Arc Church after his ordination by Bishop Frederick Campbell in 2016.
Deacon Petrill is a professor of psychology at Ohio State University. He also serves as a board member at the Josephinum.
The permanent diaconate was restored in the United States after the Second Vatican Council. The ordination of the first permanent deacons in the Diocese of Columbus took place in 1975.
Deacon candidates who are selected during the inquiry process study for four years in the Diaconate School of Theology before receiving the sacrament of holy orders.
Permanent deacons serve part time or full time in parishes, schools, hospitals, prisons or other ministries. They assist bishops and priests in proclaiming the Gospel at Mass, administering the sacraments and doing charitable work.
Most of the 120 permanent deacons in the diocese are married and have jobs outside the Church or are retired.