On April 26th, Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Holliston honored Deacon Marty Breinlinger for fifty years of service as a permanent deacon.

Deacon Marty has been an integral part of the St. Mary’s community since his ordination to the diaconate in 1966, so the parish went all-out for his anniversary, honoring him specially at the 11:30 a.m. Mass, giving him a painting of the first seven deacons, and also presenting him a signed letter and a Franciscan cross from Sean Cardinal O’Malley. After the Mass, the parish celebrated with a catered lunch and cake.

When Vatican II reformed the Catholic Church from 1962 to 1965, one of those reforms was the restoration of the permanent diaconate.

“It just sort of happened,” Deacon Marty said with a laugh. “They announced that they were bringing back the ministry which had been gone for about a thousand years. I loved everything about it.”

Forty men entered the first diaconate class with Deacon Marty. Of those 38 were ordained in 1976, five are still alive, and Deacon Marty is the only one still functioning as a deacon.

Through it all, Deacon Marty is very firm on one thing: the role of Mary Alice Breinlinger, his wife. “The story is not complete unless she’s part of it.”

Mary Alice Breinlinger, his wife of 64 years, says, “I supported him fully.” She describes her role this way, that while Deacon Marty is taking care of the parish, “I’m taking care of him,” but her role goes far beyond that. Mary Alice worked for many years as the Diocesan Family Life Director.

Deacon Marty jokes that although Mary Alice was known as “the deacon’s wife” at St. Mary’s, in the chancery office, he was known as “The Director’s husband.”

For 24 years, they ministered together, starting with marriage prep and premarital counseling. Mary Alice has a degree in social work, and worked with DSS, helping teenage boys who’d run afoul of the law, and also with court-ordered remediation of family violence. She brought those skills to bear alongside Deacon Marty’s ministry, as well. “We did a lot of work on family violence,” Deacon Marty says, “going to different parishes and speaking on how to be alert for it.”

During most of this time, Deacon Marty worked for Polaroid for 30 years as a chemical engineer, and after that taught at Clark for 14 years. But even there, his ministry skills came to the fore. “Part of my work there was as an ombudsman, doing conflict resolution.”

Deacon Marty is shown here with his wife of 64 years, Mary Alice Breinlinger, also very involved with the church as a Diocesan Family Life Director. Photo by Jane Lebak

When asked what is his favorite part of his ministry as a deacon, Deacon Marty jokes, “It’s not homilies!” Instead, it’s the more direct connection to individuals that becomes the highlight of the diaconate. “I really like doing something for individuals,” he says. “I’ve done a fair number of weddings and a fair number of funerals.” And then, “I like baptizing babies.”

At one of his earliest baptisms, before the Vatican II reforms were fully understood by the public, he was talking with a family before the ceremony and mentioned his own family. The father was surprised and thought that now there were married priests. “I had to explain early on what this was all about,” he says of the difference between a deacon and a priest, “so that people would understand the different character.” Deacon Marty says. “That’s what this [the diaconate] is about, taking care of people. The original concept was for St Stephen to take care of the widows. I like to think that’s what I am.”

Deacon Marty looks forward to continuing his ministry for as long as possible. “It’s been a real honor and a pleasure to be here at St. Mary’s,” he said during the speech at his anniversary  “I’ve loved every minute of it.”