“We’re blessed to live in a diocese that is growing like crazy,” said Timothy J. Dockery, diocesan secretary for Stewardship and Mission Advancement. “People are moving to South Carolina because there are a lot of jobs here.” He added that many retirees are also choosing to transplant here.

Whether they are cranking up careers or downshifting for the golden years, people need places to pray, and Catholic parishes have opened their doors to all. In return for that wonderful welcome, new parishioners see the needs across the state and are stepping up to serve alongside locals.

“The retirees are an absolute godsend to our Church. They’re really involved,” Dockery said.

Some help with Catholic Charities of South Carolina; others volunteer for prison ministries; still more pitch in where legal and medical services are required. 

It’s a beautiful sight to behold, and the diocese is supporting these efforts through the 2025 Catholic Appeal of South Carolina (CASC). The goal for this year is the same $5 million to help fund several projects and programs, including Catholic schools, seminary, Catholic Charities of South Carolina and many more ministries and programs. It also supports the men in formation for the permanent diaconate.

Diaconate support

The Office of the Permanent Diaconate is responsible for recruiting and training deacons, ordained clergy who serve the Church in places where the bishop identifies a need. They assist in many ways beyond Sunday Masses through selfless giving to the Church, most in addition to having families and standard occupations.

But before they can be ordained, candidates must go through a rigorous, five-and-a-half-year educational program to earn a degree in theology and be trained in the specific duties of the order. It requires a man’s discernment plus support from his wife and pastor, and the people in the pews.

Deacon Scott Bowen, ordained in 2023, said the cost of tuition is shared between the diocese, the candidate and his parish. 

The permanent diaconate ordination class of 2025 has 20 candidates. One of its members, Deacon Juan Cantu, was ordained early due to special circumstances, but he still must pass the canon law course with his peers — two of whom are Hermes Florez from Venezuela and Binh Nguyen-Davis from Vietnam.

People in the pews directly contribute to bringing these and more deacons into a growing diocese through their support of the Catholic Appeal.

Venezuela to Johns Island

Florez, who was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, earned his doctorate of medicine from the University of Zulia 32 years ago, and his Ph.D. and master of public health from the University of Miami School of Medicine. He visited Florida to participate in a diabetes study and decided to stay when former President Hugo Chávez took over his home country in 1999.

“It was safer to stay in South Florida,” Florez noted.

He moved to coastal South Carolina because of a promotion, and now the doctor is the chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). He said he helps care for patients at a free clinic on Johns Island, as well as military clientele at the Veterans’ Administration Medical Center in Charleston.

Florez has a full schedule. But, at age 56 and with three children “all grown up now,” Florez is beginning to listen to another call.

“Inside, maybe the Lord was guiding [me] to serve as a deacon,” Florez said of the decision he and his wife made. “Maybe the Lord wants me to go in that direction.”

From a medical standpoint or a focus on faith, Florez is dedicated to helping in his community. He said he has a vocation to serve.

“I will continue my faculty responsibilities at MUSC, and the bishop will decide how he wants me to serve.” Florez said he is embracing discipleship while he goes through the discernment process, and he takes “this responsibility very seriously.”

He has taken care of those who are physically ailing his entire career. Now he has an opportunity to work on saving souls starting at his home parish, Church of the Nativity on James Island.

“I have told Father Thomas [Kingsley, pastor of Nativity] I will help in any capacity he needs me to help,” Florez said. “It’s a privilege to serve him. He is an inspiration.”

Vietnam to Lancaster

Nguyen-Davis feels the same way about service.

“The Lord set us on fire, that’s for sure,” Nguyen-Davis said of his diaconate class.

He called the studies and the training very humbling and uniting. “It creates a bond between us and Christ, and at the same time a bond between the brotherhood.”

Nguyen-Davis said he feels blessed to be here. He certainly was not thinking about the diaconate as a young boy in Vietnam.

“I left when I was 8, on my own,” he said. “I left with boat people. There were 57 of us.” He said they ended up in Indonesia, where he spent a few years before he was sponsored by a distant relative to come to the U.S. Eventually, he landed in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area and was adopted. That is when his faith began to take root.

“I was being raised by a non-Catholic Christian, who taught me how to love God and to love neighbor,” he said. “They took me in as a foster child, adopted me and treated me like their own.”

Now, as a parishioner at Our Lady of Grace Church in Lancaster, he wants to give something back. “There were a lot of people who supported me … Hopefully, I can contribute to society and to serve the Lord.”

Nguyen-Davis works in product development for nutrition and supplements, and he is a key member of the diaconate class of 2025. He has been praised for his insights during discussions to help the class grow closer. He said he has taken to heart the advice of Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS.

“He has met with every one of us. He’s very supportive. He emphasizes the joy in serving the Lord. The joy starts with us,” Nguyen-Davis said.

And looking back on his journey — from Vietnam to the United States, to Our Lady of Grace and into the diaconate — he plans to carry it forward by serving with joy.

Militant atheist to deacon

Deacon Bowen did not travel as far geographically as Florez or Nguyen-Davis. He and his family ventured from Lumberton, North Carolina, across the border to Myrtle Beach and to St. Andrew Church.

His faith journey, however, was a bit more rocky.

“In high school, I flirted with Christianity,” Bowen said, but it never took, and then two tragedies scarred his belief.

“My wife and I had lost two pregnancies. One was an ectopic pregnancy,” Bowen said. He almost lost his wife in the ectopic pregnancy, and it shattered any faith he possessed.

“That angered me quite deeply. It resulted in a very militant atheism,” the deacon explained.

He said his wife turned to God, but he turned away, and it put an incredible strain on their marriage. Bowen said he spent a year studying 12 different religions and searching for the truth, eventually writing a book on the experience called “Project Conversion: One Man, 12 Faiths, One Year.” 

As part of that faith exploration, he attended Wednesday Mass. Then it clicked.

“Catholicism was the only thing that made sense. It is the truth,” Bowen stated. He converted to the Catholic faith and his family did, too. “My wife and two daughters joined the Church in 2014.”

They began attending St. Francis de Sales in Lumberton, where Bowen said he fell in love with the Mass and the service.

“I was drawn to it like a magnet, and I couldn’t get away from it,” he said. “I began serving in the Church. I was in the throes of ministry from the get-go.” 

He said Deacon Alex Vincent noticed and took him under his wing. “[Deacon Vincent] said, ‘If you want to be a deacon, you need to start acting like it,’” so Bowen did.

Now Bowen is an ordained deacon, serving the Church in South Carolina.

“The diaconate … provides a strengthening, a grounding,” Deacon Bowen explained. It is “essential in reaching folks on the ground.”

It is also reaching students in grades 6-8 at St. Andrew School, where the deacon works as a full-time religion educator.

“This is more than just teaching. It’s a ministry,” Bowen stated. “I am catechizing families. We are praying more. We are taking the faith more seriously. I’m ordained to reach Christ’s people. Not just the students, but also the families. They need that ministry, too. We are fighting against the tides of secularism.”

Fishing in the middle

Deacon Bowen said he believes a lot of people are concerned more about being relevant than being right. The Church, however, is authentic, he added. It has standards, and that is attracting more people to Christ’s flock.

“I think we’re coming into another period of springing forth,” he stated. “The diocese is growing on the coast. There are a lot of conversions. Our OCIA program is very healthy here. It’s fun being in the middle of this.”

With a thriving diaconate, Deacon Bowen believes that the diocese can make even more headway as fishers of men.

“The candidates are typically men in some type of family life. They have huge life experiences,” and they play a key role in bringing people to Christ.

This ministry of service is appealing, and men are coming from far and near to answer a call to serve this growing diocese. The Church opened its arms to embrace more believers, and more men are needed for its diaconate.

Support of this year’s Catholic Appeal of South Carolina can help train new disciples to draw people to the truth and offer them an authentic, faith-filled, joyful place to worship our God.