Arlington deacon’s reminisces about 13-year ministry that taught him lessons about the faith of the poor and marginalized

SEATTLEBy John Wolcott

For 13 years of his ministry, Deacon Phil O'Loane wandered at night through frightening neighborhoods, stepped cautiously through dark alleys and spent long hours ministering to the poor, despondent and homeless in downtown Seattle bars.

Those experiences really changed my misconceptions about street people, said O'Loane, who serves at Immaculate Conception Church in Arlington with pastor Father Tim Sauer.

For instance, it's easy to think street residents are faithless people, but I found a lot of faith in so many of them, he said.

'Do small things greatly'He vividly remembers the night a distraught woman called him at the Operation Night Watch office in downtown Seattle, saying she was a prostitute who wanted to kill herself. Her stepfather, who always told her she was his favorite, had sexually abused her, leading her into a world of pimps, drugs and men who continued her abuse.

She called just as a raggedy man came in from the streets for help, O'Loane said. I offered him a chair, then turned around to try to help the distraught caller. We talked for nearly 45 minutes. I calmed her and gave her several phone numbers of shelters and agencies who could help her. She promised she'd call them.

As he swung his chair back toward his street visitor, O'Loane was surprised he was still there and puzzled about why the man was bent over with his head down.

When I asked him if he was alright, he raised his head and told me he was just praying all that time for me and the woman on the phone, he said. Then he dug into his backpack, rummaged around and came up with a small card he wanted me to have … it read,

'If you can't do great things, do small things greatly!'

“That was a prime example to me of how much faith in God so many of the street dwellers have — levels of faith you wouldn't expect.

Those years were filled with surprises and touching memories for O'Loane. He visited with a street musician in Pioneer Square who said he once performed with the Rolling Stones.

Deacon O’Loane wore his Roman collar into bars where he always ordered his usual drink,  a 7Up, and scanned the crowd for people who needed kind words, prayers and encouragement. Then, he stepped back into the night to find and help Christ's lost sheep, or to let them find him.

‘Value of being there’I remember spending hours walking through Seattle streets and dark alleys one night when my mother was in the hospital with terminal cancer and wondering what I was doing here, he said In one of the bars, a regular there came over and suggested I talk with the bartender, who had just lost his mother. That night in Belltown we had something in common to talk about.

O'Loane realized street ministry wasn't for everyone but he continued to find it personally rewarding, especially whenever he could make a difference in someone's life.

I always felt the value of being there, in Christ's name, as a sign of God's presence, he said. People do recognize the presence and value of clergy who are concerned about the poor, the homeless men and women who live on city streets.

“I told Archbishop Hunthausen, years after he ordained me in 1989, that he wouldn't believe the number of people on the street who knew who he was and the social justice he stood for. He was humble about the praise but he always recognized the value of applying the church's social justice values to the real world.

For years, the retired archbishop has been an inspiring role model for both Phil and his wife, Rodi, he said. He also has great respect for fellow deacon Terry Marcell, now a pastoral assistant at Christ Our Hope Parish in Seattle, who first urged O'Loane to join him in street ministry.

The Operation Night Watch program offers meals, referrals to shelters, emergency care, non-judgmental conversation and clergy counseling for those who have a need. When Operation Night Watch was temporarily established for a few years in downtown Everett, O'Loane served there as well.

I'd always wanted to be in the streets on Christmas Eve but Seattle was too far away to make all of my schedules work out, he said. But Everett was closer and I remember one Christmas Eve when I was in a bar on North Broadway, packed with people. This one man, who was drinking and crying, came over to ask why I was there. I told him I talk with people who need it.

A short time later, he came back, looked me in the eye and said, 'Do you have time to talk to me?' That really touched me deeply. He'd fallen back into drinking after a fight with his wife on Christmas Eve and wanted to make things right again. I talked to him about Christmas and its message about forgiveness and he went home to try again. That's when I knew I was where I should have been that night.

‘A unique experience’A lifelong Catholic, O'Loane has always made space in his life for helping others.

I grew up in Bellevue, living across from Sacred Heart Parish, where I went to grade school, he said. I met my future wife, Rodi, on the school bus that dropped me off at Seattle Prep and took her to Holy Names. After graduating from Prep in 1964, I spent one year in St. Edwards Seminary in Kenmore, then left and got a couple of years of college under my belt before I began a 48-year career with West Coast Paper Co. as an outside account manager.

He and his wife have been members of Immaculate Conception in Arlington since 1972. They have two daughters, Michele and Shawn, and two granddaughters. His wife and oldest daughter, Michele, are family law attorneys in Everett.

Like his involvement with Operation Night Watch, his path to the diaconate also started with someone asking him. In fact, several people asked him.

When the program was first beginning, and we lived in West Seattle, my wife urged me to get involved and then a priest friend I had known in seminary made the same suggestion. But I didn't think much about it at the time. Again, in the early ’80s, when Father

Oliver Duggan was pastor at Immaculate and while we were on our way to a Super Bowl party, he suggested I look at the program, he said.

But it was years later when another friend, Sister Patricia Wren, urged me to consider ordination. By then, all those urgings convinced me to look into it. As part of our formation program we needed to choose a ministry of charity. That's when Terry Marcell suggested street ministry, and I found I loved it.

O'Loane's service at Immaculate Conception in Arlington was interrupted for seven years when Archbishop Murphy asked for his help at St. Pius X in Mountlake Terrace, while the pastor, Father Sean Fox, was recovering from a stroke and was unable to prepare homilies.

It turned out to be a unique experience for me as a deacon, he said. I preached for the first several months at all of the Masses, which was a great help for me in preparing and delivering so many more homilies than usual.

He's served in many ways in the archdiocese, including 12 years on the Seattle Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission under Archbishops Hunthausen and Murphy. Today, he's still providing Mass homilies at Immaculate Conception, but people in need are still close to his heart.

Deacon Phil continues his life of service to people in need as spiritual advisor for the North Sound Society of St. Vincent de Paul and also for the Immaculate Conception conference of St. Vincent in Arlington.

June 27, 2013