Deacon Stephen Pickett is known for his inspiring preaching, which he insists is not his own doing, but the working of the Holy Spirit. LENOIR — As Deacon Stephen Pickett marks 20 years of ordained ministry, the 71-year-old St. Francis of Assisi parishioner is reflecting on the faith, family and witness that shaped his vocation and continues to guide his preaching.
Known for heartfelt, Spirit-filled homilies, Pickett said the words parishioners hear are not his own, but the Lord’s.
“My homilies come from God and are never mine,” he smiles. “I have written things, and the Lord has told me not to use those. I have torn them up and gone off the cuff... I empty myself out and let the Lord come in. My hope is that it touches a heart, it changes a life and it brings someone closer to our Lord.”
Rooted in faith
As he looks back on two decades of ordained ministry, Pickett returns often to the roots of his vocation. A Catholic from birth, he was baptized at St. Ann Church in Fayetteville.
“I am told that my baptism was the first integrated baptism in the Diocese of Raleigh,” he says.
Being an African American in Cumberland County wasn’t easy in the 1950s. Although Fayetteville’s public schools did not integrate until 1962, St. Ann opened its integrated Catholic school in 1956 – just in time for Pickett and his sisters and brothers to attend.
The priests and sisters faced strong opposition, and Pickett watched with admiration as his pastor defended his flock.
“Father William Ryan kicked down a wall and fired the construction company when a worker said, ‘The people starting with an N did not matter.’”
He and his classmates were confronted with racist rhymes on their walks home from school, he recalls. “In my mind I realized you had those people and then you had the Catholic kids. And these Catholic kids were different.”
“I didn’t grow up with hatred in my heart for people. I grew up by the example of my parents, my parish, and my school community,” he says. “We are all people of the highest God. We are all trying to get to a place called heaven. We use the word ‘race’ wrong – there is only one race, the human race.”
His faith and family taught him that human dignity comes from God, not man. Even so, he credits the faces of his youth with helping awaken his call to serve.
“I am a deacon because I became what I saw. Father Joseph Lawson Howze, who later became Bishop Howze, was at my house being fed by my mother. We had three African American seminarians. I saw Father Wilton Gregory before he was a cardinal, Father Martin Carter and the religious brothers – all African American men of God.”
“If you can believe it, you can achieve it,” he says. “They put the possibility in my heart. We need more images that look like the people in our parishes, so they know God wants them to serve as well.”
He is pictured at right with Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, who is on the path to sainthood.A Call to serve
At 15, Deacon Pickett boldly announced to everyone he would be ordained.
“I always wanted to serve the Lord,” he says. “But, I knew I would be married.”
He met his wife, Deborah, at a CME church while giving a Black history talk. They have now been married 35 years.
“We met that day and have been together ever since,” he laughs.
Deborah converted to Catholicism, and they attribute their marital happiness to prayer and faith.
Before moving to St. Francis of Assisi, he was in discernment and formation at Our Lady of Consolation. He was ordained in 2006.
“It was all God’s timing. I came out of the pew and onto the altar,” Deacon Pickett says. “God is here at St. Francis, and good people are here.”
Hope for the future
Deacon Pickett says the Lenoir parish’s growth reflects more than demographics.
“Father (Alfonso) Gámez gives us more opportunities to experience the sacraments,” he explains. “Because of that and his love, I have seen an increase in this parish from the cradle to the grave.
“I consider ourselves a bright light on the hill. My hope is that we grow and that young men from this parish will spring up to become priests and deacons.”
— Lisa M. Geraci
