By Alison Bradish
Weekly family dinners with his wife’s grandmother became increasingly challenging.
The couple never completed their sacraments. Neither had been brought up in a home where faith was an important element. He was pretty much an atheist throughout his youth.
After three years of dodging questions about why they had not baptized their son, the young couple relented, attended a few RCIA classes and then quietly walked away. The story could have ended there.
Now he is the Director of Communications and Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Regina and she works as pastoral services support. They also lead a ministry together.
Meet Deacon Eric Gurash and his wife Melissa.
The parents of two realized a restlessness was brewing after their second child was born and they questioned their stance on baptism once again, but neither of them wanted to broach the subject with each other.
Then one day Deacon Eric passed Holy Child church and said out loud what he was thinking. His wife finished his sentence. It was time to get their daughter baptized. Completely shocked they were both thinking the same thing, they wondered what was happening as they were not self described “Jesus people”.
“We started revaluating and having a conversation about if we were going to be really serious about this. We were really convinced though, that either we were going to be all in on this ‘Church’ thing or we weren’t going to bother getting her baptized or any of that at all,” Deacon Eric says. The second time around they participated fully in RCIA and instead of a burden, it was a completely different experience.
Deacon Eric says his initial reluctance to embrace faith gave him empathy for families coming to sacramental prep classes with some hesitation. “I could really relate to those families who struggled to make Mass a priority in their lives. I was conscious of the fact that we were not telling them how hard it was going to be to change those habits. The habits of sleeping in on Sundays, the habits of thinking this is the only day I have to myself, and all the other stuff you fill your days with. We walked through all of that as a family,” says Deacon Eric.
Deacon Eric’s thirst for learning led to his parish priest asking if he would consider studying theology to work as a pastoral assistant. He and Melissa moved to Edmonton with their two young as Deacon Eric completed studies at Newman Theological College. At that time people started asking if he was going to become a Deacon. Since he was still new to the faith it had never occurred to him. He began to realize as a lay person who was eager and excited to work for the Church, many people saw this as a natural progression. When the Archdiocese of Regina announced a permanent diaconate program, at the suggestion of his parish priest, Deacon Eric applied and was ordained June 15, 2018.
Now he and his wife lead a ministry fueled by their experience of caring for their daughter who suffers from mental health challenges. For years they hid how difficult things were at home for their family as they grappled with her particular condition and their family’s shared reality of stress, anxiety and brokenness. Eventually, it became too much to keep back. In a small Bible study group, Deacon Eric let down his guard and shared what he had felt others did not want to see, the true situation of his family.
This small, but profoundly life changing act, helped others share their struggles and opened a new avenue of ministry. He and his wife saw the need for safe spaces within the Church for people to share the toll mental illness was having on their families. Spaces where people could be themselves and honestly reveal their battles. A place to seek out Christian fellowship without fear of not being a good Christian because they were having trouble coping.
They formed what is known today as Emmaus Family Support, a peer led group for caregivers that meets monthly at Holy Rosary Cathedral. Meetings are not solely for Catholics but are Christian based. It is pilot project they hope to expand to other parishes moving forward.
It is a ministry Deacon Eric balances with his liturgical ministry at Holy Rosary Cathedral, and a demanding role as Director of Communications and Evangelization. While communication covers almost every aspect of the Archdioceses work, he enjoys his job. For a short period of time he worked in radio and feels it is a gift to engage in the medium again as co- host of the Archdiocese of Regina’s Thinking Faith Podcast.
“At its heart that’s what the Christian mission is all about it’s communicating the Gospel in particular places and particular times using the tools at hand, this is what we have been trying to do more intentionally and purposefully over these last two years in communications,” says Deacon Eric.
He looks with hope towards the future, as the faithful connect in new ways, and is grateful for the call to be part of that process.
