Deacon Michael Daly has been around the block more than once.The 21-year Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office veteran has worked on patrol, in detention facilities, Internal Affairs and Staff Inspections, all to keep people safe. Deacon Daly brings that experience and passion for safety to his new post as Director of Safety and Security for the Archdiocese of Denver.“I’m firmly convinced that my law enforcement career was the training ground God put me in,” Deacon Daly said. “I worked with so many people that were bereft of God, so many people that just lived in a world of vanity, pain and fear and were trying to escape it. Seeing all of the evil of the world and wanting to work with people in a positive atmosphere, it made sense to me to apply to the diaconate.”Having first been called by God to the diaconate in 2003, he muddled through discernment, thinking he wasn’t worthy of a vocational call.“I thought, ‘I’m young; I can’t do all these things; I don’t know what a deacon is; all the deacons I know are old; so I just don’t fit the bill, nor am I worthy,’” Deacon Daly shared. He struggled through discernment for five years before a powerful experience in Confession led him to say “yes” to God’s call.After another two years of family discernment, Deacon Daly entered formation even as his family grew. Ordained in 2015, he has served at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Lakewood, working with the youth ministry and religious education programs, among other ministries.His vocation of service to the people of God has led him through Jefferson County, where he has protected and served the people of the western Denver metro area for decades. Following his retirement from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Deacon Daly continues to protect and serve God’s people by supporting archdiocesan parishes and schools.“I’m a dad, and as a dad, I have a responsibility to make sure that when I go to work, my kids and my wife are relatively safe and secure in our home,” Deacon Daly told the . “Similarly, our pastors and priests have a responsibility to ensure that their spiritual children are relatively safe and secure in the church.”To support priests and parishes in improving safety and security across the archdiocese, the Archdiocese and Deacon Joe Donohoe, the former director of deacon personnel, formed a committee of deacons with experience in law, law enforcement and fire/rescue. Deacon Daly was one of the first members brought aboard the committee.“Ultimately, we wanted to help pastors ensure that they have parishes and schools that are welcoming and relatively safe for their parishioners to worship God and that they have their kids in school environments that help them increase their intellect and faith without the worry of the evil around these spaces,” Deacon Daly said.His participation in the archdiocesan committee seemed to be a divine invitation, bringing together Deacon Daly’s experience in risk identification and mitigation, his faith and his hope for a safe, joy-filled and thriving future.A tall order with over 100 parishes across northern Colorado, the job of ensuring safety and security and bringing that hope-filled future to fruition grew quickly, and the Archdiocese brought Deacon Daly aboard full-time at the beginning of 2024.“The time and efforts the committee had started with needed to increase so we could stay ahead of the issues our society is facing – especially with protecting our kids and the entire flock. To provide the places for our faithful to come to know God and their faith and to worship him, it’s become my job, my service, to help make this a reality,” Deacon Daly told the . “I do everything with my own kids in mind. If it’s good for keeping my daughter safe, then it’s good for the rest of the kids and for even more than that."Since his first day at the Archdiocese, he has continued assessing archdiocesan parishes and schools' safety and security needs at all levels, from the unthinkable tragedy down to the everyday concern. Deacon Daly and his team have worked with pastors, parishes, schools and communities to foster community efforts to keep each other safe, healthy and secure. In so doing, they have implemented a robust system to ensure every school can implement its own safety and security measures specific to each location.“This is huge since each school is so unique. I can help each one develop measures specific to each school’s needs,” Deacon Daly said of the collaborative effort with the Office of Catholic Schools. He hopes to roll out the new safety and security plans to archdiocesan schools at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year.In the meantime, Deacon Daly continues to visit parishes and schools across northern Colorado to help them create and implement procedures to ensure their communities are safe, welcoming, secure and hospitable.Though a tall order and a serious job, Deacon Daly said it’s important to remember that these challenges are not new for the Church Jesus founded. In fact, Jesus himself promised that, in the world, his disciples would know “trouble,” but quickly reminded them to “take courage, for I have conquered the world” (John 16:33).“The Church has been victim to attacks since it was founded by Jesus,” Deacon Daly said, pointing to a long history of Catholic and Christian persecution around the world, among which the United States is “pretty well off,” despite a recent uptick in social unrest.“We want to take this time, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, to evaluate the current risks of our time and locations, develop appropriate steps to mitigate these risks, while still keeping our missionary spirit – evangelizing the world around us and drawing others into the Church, which is a refuge,” he concluded. “We live in a broken world, but we have faith in God that, ultimately, he’s got us. He’s going to take care of us. We don’t need to be afraid, but we still have this responsibility to watch out for each other.” +++ 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 ministriesand 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
Comments