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Rotterdam man among 4 ordained as Catholic deacons
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    A man who grew up playing baseball in Rotterdam and marching with his trumpet in the Schalmont High School band was ordained as a Catholic deacon Saturday.
    Matthew Wetsel, 28, of Rotterdam, became a deacon — the last step before the priesthood — along with three other men from Troy, Valatie and Herkimer County. The ceremony was at Assumption/St. Paul Church in Mechanicville.
    His boyish grin earned him the nickname of “Peter Pan” from Bishop Howard Hubbard and some lighthearted ribbing from his college friends, who drove up to watch the ceremony.
    “I have stories, but all of them are bad,” began friend Kelly Danish.
    But she was just teasing. Wetsel had nothing to fear from her stories.
    “Last summer, my grandmother died. She was in hospice for two weeks. He was the first person I called,” she said. “He had great things to say about her passing. I can’t believe I’m the one saying this — I’m an atheist! But he gave me so much good advice.”
    Another friend, Kevin Marshall, said Wetsel could draw people into his faith.
    “He makes himself so easy to open up to. He makes them all feel like family,” he said. “That’s what the church needs.”
    He added that he’s not Catholic.
    “Maybe I would be if there were more priests like Matt,” he said.
    Wetsel called himself “just like anybody else” and said he’d simply chosen to become a priest because it was what would make him happiest.
    He was so excited to become a deacon that he bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited by the church door.
    “This is wonderful,” he said. “Being a servant for his people — it’s such an honor and privilege to continue his ministry.”
HUBBARD’S CAUTION
    That was the theme of the ceremony. Hubbard lectured all four candidates at length about the importance of service. He told them that the biggest temptation among...............>>>>..............>>>>...........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....2&Continuation=1

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His boyish grin earned him the nickname of “Peter Pan” from Bishop Howard Hubbard