Deacon Michael Hangan msc Assoc, 24 April 2024
Deacon Michael Hangan has finally found his calling and “It feels good to be here.” I find this interesting, as he has been working since 1978 and has had senior management roles. Yet he has “never felt more relaxed and confident in what I am doing than now.” This includes feeling enabled to take on new aspects of the role and he reflects that perhaps “it is the Holy Spirit guiding me.”
While Michael’s mother might have liked him to become a priest, he instead got married and had 4 children. But in 2007 he really started his journey into ministry through a youth ministry coordinator position. From small-scale involvement with youth in his parish, he was catapulted into facilitating such ministry across the state. Michael helped form young people to go to the Sydney World Youth Day 2008, but thought of himself as too old. But they said, “you have to come with us!”
So Michael attended as a leader, and it was here that his “epiphany” happened. It was in Barangaroo, at the final station of the Way of the Cross. Michael found, and still finds, it hard to describe exactly what happened, but he went very quiet for about 2 weeks. While he was trying to work out in his head what had happened, his family kept asking, “Are you alright?” Eventually, he replied, “I really don’t know…I have this feeling that I need to change something.”
After speaking to his parish priest, he was given more ministry roles in the parish, but Michael reflected that “this is not what I really wanted to do.” The diaconate hadn’t featured before in his thinking, but all of a sudden the archdiocese started advertising about it in his parish. On a Friday, Michael spoke to his priest, who immediately spoke to the Archbishop. On the Monday morning, Michael met with the Archbishop and he laid out a course of study and formation. Michael discerned for a week, talked to family and friends, and by the next week he had begun!
After 4 years of study with the Broken Bay Institute, Michael was ordained on Pentecost Sunday 19th of May, 2013, by Archbishop Adrian Doyle. Since then, he has kept himself very busy, both in his parish and the archdiocese. While the religious order priests of his parish come and go, Michael is the continuous conduit for knowledge and has been working part-time as the parish manager. He performs many funerals, as well as deacon duties at Mass, baptisms, weddings and Liturgy of the Word with Communion.
Michael also looks after all of the Catholic cemeteries in the state, trains parish staff in parishioner databases, is the Catholic Mission diocesan director, the treasurer of the Regional Council for St Vincent de Paul and secretary of the National Association of Deacons. If that is not enough, he is also renovating a house!
Of all these ministries, Michael says that his “forte is the journey towards the end of life.” He appreciates the time spent with a person preparing for the end, as well as with the families before, during and after. One time in particular he remembers journeying with a woman in her late 80s who was at peace and ready to die. However, her family was really struggling to say goodbye. He sat with them and tried to help them to work through their issues. Eventually, he said to the woman, “They’re worried, they are not understanding. Just say, ‘I need to go now, I am going to a better place, I am at peace with where I’m going.’” Then he guided the family to come in while he stayed nearby. She said, “I’m going to go now, you have Michael to help you with the journey, I will be at peace, I’ll have no more worries, I’ll be happy.” After more counselling from him, they all came to an understanding and she peacefully departed. Michael has continued to connect with the family, knowing the preciousness of every relationship and the privilege of his diaconal role.
Liturgy on the Margins 