Meet the new permanent deacons

Anderson graduated from the Education for Parish Service
program at Trinity University in Washington in 2006. He
teaches confirmations classes at St. Joseph and serves as an
acolyte and lector. He is co-chair of the parish pro-life
committee, chairman of the finance committee, ad hoc member
of the parish council, and a past grand Knight and current
Knights of Columbus trustee. He also assists with Arlington
diocesan Office of Multicultural Ministries’ black Catholic
ministries.

Anderson was involved in the “New Beginnings” program at the
Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center in Alexandria and
is a past board member of the Washington affiliate of the
National Black Catholic Apostolate for Life.

Dale Avery

Dale Avery, 55, was born in Bethlehem, Pa., and has been
parishioner of St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax for
seven years. He graduated from Tempe High School in Tempe,
Ariz., in 1973 and earned a bachelor’s in economics from
Arizona State University in Tempe in 1977 and a master’s in
economics from the University of Michigan, Dearborn, in 1983.
Between studies, he worked a summer in rural Tanzania and
another in the Philippines.

Avery and his wife, Sheila, were married in 1981 and have a
daughter and a son. The family moved to Northern Virginia in
1984, then lived in South Africa from 1986-88. Avery has
worked as a manager and economist for the federal government
in the Washington area since 1984.

Avery converted to Catholicism in 1995 after his
then-6-year-old son recovered from cancer. He is an
extraordinary minister of holy Communion, a sacristan and a
lector at the 6:30 a.m. daily Mass at St. Mary of Sorrows. He
also teaches religious education and is a Rite of Christian
Initiation of Adults catechist and sponsor.

Alberto G. Bernaola

Alberto G. Bernaola, 56, was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico,
and has been a parishioner of St. Mary of the Immaculate
Conception Church in Fredericksburg for seven years. He
graduated from Santa Monica High School in San Juan in 1971
and earned a bachelor’s in religion from St. Leo University
in St. Leo, Fla., in 2002. He is in the process of earning a
master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University in
New Orleans.

He and his wife, Miralba, were married in 1974 and have two
sons and a daughter.

Bernaola, who served in the U.S. Army for more than 20 years,
currently is a manager of the Social Security Administration
teleservice center in Manassas.

He organizes the St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception
Hispanic ministry and serves as an extraordinary minister of
holy Communion, catechist, lector and acolyte. He is also a
fourth-degree Knight of Columbus. Prior to his service in the
Arlington Diocese, Bernaola worked with the Hispanic ministry
at St. Joseph Church in Hampton, Va., and served as vice
president of the Richmond Diocese Hispanic Commission.

Steve Dixon

Steve Dixon, 64, was born in Washington and has been a
parishioner of St. Rita Church in Alexandria for nearly 60
years. He was adopted through Catholic Charities in Richmond
when he was 6 months old. Dixon attended St. John Vianney
Minor Seminary in Richmond his freshman year of high school
and gradated from Francis C. Hammond High School in
Alexandria in 1964.

Dixon earned an associate’s in business administration from
Strayer Junior College in Washington in 1966 and a bachelor’s
in business administration from Southeastern University in
Washington in 1969. He graduated from the Institute of
Financial Educations’ School for Executive Development at the
University of Georgia in 1981.

Dixon and his wife, Thana, were married in 1969 at St. Rita.
The couple has twin daughters.

After nearly 40 years in the financial services industry,
Dixon retired from Freddie Mac in 2006. He currently is a
substitute teacher in Alexandria public schools.

Dixon has been active at St. Rita since childhood, serving as
lector, cantor, altar server, youth group adviser and vice
president of St. Rita School PTA. He has been the lector
coordinator at the parish for more than 10 years and has
served as extraordinary minister of holy Communion and
catechist. He is a member of the parish pastoral council and
hospitality committee and is a third-degree Knight of
Columbus with the Edward Douglass White Council in Arlington.

Tom Fursman

Tom Fursman, 61, was born in Minneapolis and has been a
parishioner of St. Isidore the Farmer Church in Orange since
2002, the year the parish was established as a result of a
merger between St. Mark Parish in Gordonsville and St. John
Parish in Orange. Fursman and his wife, Jackie, whom he
married in 1970, previously were parishioners of St. Mark.
The couple has two sons and one daughter.

Fursman graduated from Cooper Senior High School in New Hope,
Minn., in 1967, joined the U.S. Navy in 1968 and was selected
for officer training in 1971. He graduated in 1974 from
Marquette University in Milwaukee with a bachelor’s in
electrical engineering. During his Navy career, Fursman was
stationed throughout the United States and commanded two
nuclear attack submarines and a submarine training facility.
He retired from the Navy in 1999.

Since 2002, Fursman has worked as office manager of St.
Isidore, in addition to serving the parish as lector, cantor
and extraordinary minister of holy Communion. He also plays
guitar in the choir, teaches confirmation and Rite of
Christian Initiation of Adults classes, and assists with
summer Bible study and continuing catechesis for parish
teens.

Paul Gregory

Paul Gregory, 58, was born in North Syracuse, N.Y., and has
been a parishioner of St. Mathew Church in Spotsylvania for
23 years. He attended North Syracuse Central High School and
Herndon High School in Herndon, Va., graduating in 1971.

He earned a bachelor’s in history in 1975 from the Virginia
Military Institute in Lexington and a master’s in national
security affairs/Middle East and Africa studies from the
Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., in 1986.

He and his wife, Melissa, were married in 1975 and have a
daughter and a son.

Gregory served in the U.S. Army from 1975-98, working as an
armor officer, a foreign area officer with a Middle East
specialty and in military intelligence. He has been program
director for BAE Systems in McLean since 2004.

He is a fourth-degree Knight of Columbus in the Bishop John
R. Keating Council in Spotsylvania and is a past grand
Knight. He led a high school youth program called “Faith
Alive” from 2003-05 and has been a spiritual adviser for the
St. Faustina Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
since 2007. He also is involved in the Good Samaritan Home
Visitation Ministry, teaches religious education and assists
with collection counting at St. Mathew.

Jose J. Lopez

Jose J. Lopez, 58, was born in Rivas, Nicaragua, and has been
a parishioner of St. Leo the Great Church in Fairfax for 33
years. Following 11th grade, he moved to the United States to
study English. After he received his GED diploma he studied
business management at Northern Virginia Community College.

He and his wife, Josefa, were married at St. Agnes Parish in
Arlington in 1979 and have two daughters. Lopez and Josefa
co-founded a regional commercial janitorial company in 1978.
Lopez was president and CEO of the business until last year.

He was the Hispanic liaison at St. Philip Parish in Falls
Church, 1981-89, and has been the Hispanic liaison and
coordinator at St. Leo the Great since 1991. He also is a
coordinator of the Hispanic Jail Ministry at the Fairfax
County Detention Center, a member of the Cursillo movement in
the diocese, president of the Institute of John Paul II in
Nicaragua, past grand Knight of Columbus and a marriage
mentor for Hispanics in the diocese.

John J. McClay

John J. McClay, 54, was born in Alexandria and has been a
parishioner of St. Patrick Church in Fredericksburg for 22
years. He graduated in 1974 from T. C. Williams High School
in Alexandria. McClay has worked in the printing industry for
more than 35 years, including at Old Dominion Printing in
Alexandria. He has worked at Master Print Inc. in Newington
since 1983.

McClay and his wife, Margaret, were married at St. Rita
Church in Alexandria in 1975 and have two daughters, one of
whom is a Benedictine sister, and one son.

McClay converted to the Faith in 1993. He has been involved
with the St. Patrick youth group, chaperoning during World
Youth Day in 1993, and has assisted with vocation discernment
retreats. McClay is a lector, acolyte, member of the Legion
of Mary and a Knight of Columbus in the Battlefield Council
in Chancellorsville. He also serves as an extraordinary
minister of holy Communion and takes Communion to the
homebound.

Jeff Meyers

Jeff Meyers, 46, was born in Frankfort, Germany, and has been
a parishioner of St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax for 13
years. He graduated in 1983 from Carlisle Senior High School
in Carlisle, Pa. Meyers earned a bachelor’s in management
from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, 1987; a
master’s in management from the Florida Institute of
Technology, Arlington campus, 1990; and a master’s in
acquisition management from the Florida Institute of
Technology, 1992.

He is a certified professional contract manager and completed
his diaconal training through Notre Dame Graduate School of
Christendom College in Alexandria. Meyers and his wife,
Kristen, married in 1992 and have two sons.

He has worked as a contracting officer for the General
Services Administration in Arlington since 1987 and is
currently acting director for the medium and heavy vehicles
division in acquisition operations.

Meyers is a seventh-grade religious education teacher;
extraordinary minister of holy Communion, taking Communion to
the sick and homebound; and sacristan. He also assists with
the parish food pantry and at Masses as an altar server and
acolyte.

Cong T. Nguyen

Cong T. Nguyen, 55, was born in Vietnam and has been a
parishioner of St. Philip Church in Falls Church for more
than 20 years. He graduated in 1973 from a high school in the
Ninh Thuan Province in Vietnam and immigrated to the United
States in 1977. He earned a bachelor’s in electronics
engineering from Capital College in Laurel, Md., in 1987. He
has worked as an engineer for Sprint Communications Corp. and
Global One in Reston and for the Department of Justice since
2003.

Nguyen and his wife, Antoinette, were married in 1983 at Holy
Martyrs of Vietnam Church in Arlington and have one son and
two daughters.

Nguyen served as a parish council secretary and as volunteer
rectory secretary at Holy Martyrs of Vietnam and was a
sacristan, lector, catechist and choir member. He also was
part of the maintenance and construction team that renovated
Holy Martyrs of Vietnam, 1980-83. A parishioner of St. Philip
since 1990, Nguyen has served as extraordinary minister of
holy Communion, lector and sacristan. He also has been a
member of the Knights of Columbus.

Paul Ochenkowski

Paul Ochenkowski, 61, was born in New Haven, Conn., and has
been a parishioner of St. Veronica Church in Chantilly for
eight years. He graduated from Notre Dame High School in West
Haven, Conn., in 1967, earned a bachelor’s in history from
the University of Virginia in 1971 and a master’s in history
from Harvard University in 1977. He served as a U.S. Navy
Supply Corps officer for 26 years and retired in 1997 as a
Navy captain. While in the Navy he served in Vietnam, and he
was present during the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Ochenkowski has taught social studies at Bishop O’Connell
High School in Arlington since he retired from the Navy, and
he currently teaches advanced placement history and is
chairman of the social studies department. He and his wife,
Mary Lynne, were married in 1987.

Ochenkowski has served as a Catholic lay leader on two Navy
ships and sang in several church choirs at Navy duty
stations. He serves as a lector at daily Mass at O’Connell
and as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion at student
Masses. He also is a lector at St. Veronica.

Dave Powers

Dave Powers, 55, was born in Little Rock, Ark., and has been
a parishioner of St. Raymond of Peñafort Church in
Springfield for seven years. He graduated from Memphis
Catholic High School in Memphis, Tenn., in 1973. He earned an
associate’s in administration of justice from Monterey
Peninsula College, Monterey, Calif., 1975; a bachelor’s in
criminal justice from California State University,
Sacramento, 1977; a master’s in management from Webster
University in St. Louis, 1981; and a doctorate in management
from California Coast University in Santa Ana, 1994. He is
working on a master’s in theology from Notre Dame Graduate
School of Christendom College.

He and his wife, Susan, were married in 1986 and have three
daughters and one son.

Powers joined the Army in 1978 and served for more than seven
years as a military police commissioned officer, completing
military service at Fort McClellan in Alabama as a captain in
1985. For the last 21 plus years, Powers has worked as a
Department of the Army civilian. He is now an Army
Acquisition Corps member and manages the Army’s Force
Management System Project from Fort Belvoir.

Powers is a Knight of Columbus, serving two years as grand
Knight, and has been involved with the prison ministry at the
Stafford Detention Center. He has served as a member of the
“Welcome Wagon” committee at St. Raymond of Peñafort
and is an extraordinary minister of holy Communion. He has
taught religious education classes, led youth groups and
served as lector. Powers previously was parish council
president for St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in Fort Monroe,
Va., and was involved in peace and justice issues while
working at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

Joseph Santiago

Joseph Santiago, 50, was born in the Bronx, N.Y., and has
been a parishioner of Holy Family Church in Dale City for 13
years. He graduated from Regis High School in New York City
in 1979. He earned a bachelor’s in political science with a
minor in theology from Fordham University in New York in 1983
and a master’s of public administration with a concentration
in public finance from New York University in 1986.

He and his wife, Damaris, were married in 1991 and have a
daughter and a son.

Santiago taught fourth grade at St. John Vianney Catholic
School in New York and since 1987 has worked for the U.S.
Government Accountability Office, first in New York and now
at the national headquarters in Washington.

He has served as a lector, extraordinary minister of holy
Communion, religious education teacher, Rite of Christian
Initiation of Adults catechist and as a confirmation retreat
facilitator. He also is a third-degree Knight of Columbus
with the John Paul I Council in Dale City and provides
training for Spanish-speaking catechists.

Marques Silva

Marques Silva, 40, was born in Indianapolis and has been a
parishioner of St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax for 22
years. He graduated in 1989 from Paul VI Catholic High School
in Fairfax and in 1993 from Franciscan University in
Steubenville, Ohio, with a bachelor’s in mental health and
human services and a minor in theology.

Marques and his wife, Christine, were married in 1994 and
have four children.

He was youth director and assistant director of religious
education at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Great Falls and
has worked in development for the Salesians of Don Bosco in
Arlington and Aid to the Church in Russia in McLean. Silva
also was executive director of Exodus Youth Services in
Fairfax. He currently is senior account executive of Pulsar
Advertising in Alexandria.

Silva serves as a catechist, sacristan and extraordinary
minister of holy Communion; leads a Thursday evening men’s
group; assists with a retreat for those facing serious
illnesses; and leads a monthly festival of praise at St. Leo
the Great Parish in Fairfax. He also has been involved with
youth ministry and marriage mentoring.

John A. Wagner

John A. Wagner, 66, was born in Newark, N.J., and has been a
parishioner of St. John Neumann Church in Reston for 31
years. He graduated from Bishop Hartley High School in
Columbus, Ohio, in 1962. Wagner earned a bachelor’s in
political science from St. Peter’s College in Jersey City,
N.J., in 1967 and a master’s in conflict management from
George Mason University in Fairfax in 1988.

Wagner and his wife, Joyce, were married in 1971 and have two
sons.

He volunteered with the Peace Corps in Dominica in the
Caribbean, and he began a career with the Federal Mediation
and Conciliation Service in 1973, eventually working as
special assistant to the national director. He became
director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution and
International Affairs Division in 1987, providing conflict
management services nationally and internationally. He
currently assists clients with conflict management and
organizational improvement part-time.

Wagner is chair of the St. John Neumann religious education
committee and was co-coordinator, along with his wife, of
confirmation preparation. He also assists with marriage
preparation and is an extraordinary minister of holy
Communion, acolyte and lector.

Robert Warner

Robert Warner, 44, was born in New York City and has been a
parishioner of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Lake Ridge
for more than 15 years. He graduated from Chaminade High
School in Long Island, N.Y., in 1984. Warner graduated from
Villanova University in Villanova, Pa., with a degree in
political science in 1988 and received a commission as second
lieutenant in the Marine Corps.

He trained as an infantry company commander at the U.S.
Marine Corps base at Quantico and as an artillery officer in
Oklahoma before reporting to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
He served as a Marine infantry officer in the Persian Gulf
War, 1991, and in Panama, 1989. He retired from the Marine
Corps Reserve as a lieutenant colonel in 2008.

After working on Capitol Hill for several years, Warner
received a fellowship in Germany from the Robert Bosch
Foundation, which gave him the opportunity to travel
throughout Europe. When he returned from Germany, Warner
worked for Scitor Corp. as a defense contractor from the
Pentagon. He is currently a federal employee working for the
director of national intelligence.

Warner and his wife, Eileen, were married in 1994 and have
one daughter and one son.

He helps runs the baptism preparation classes at St.
Elizabeth Ann Seton and leads a group that ministers to the
sick. He also serves as an extraordinary minister of holy
Communion and is head lector.