December 10, 2025

By Darcy Fargo
Editor

As he continues to prepare for ordination to the priesthood at St. Vincent’s Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Deacon Tyler Fitzgerald, a seminarian of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, was honored with a prestigious award for his service as a deacon.

On Nov. 20, at the St. Vincent Seminary’s annual Convocation, part of its annual Founder’s Day Celebration, Deacon Fitzgerald was presented the school’s annual Diakonia Award by the Very Rev. Edward Mazich, O.S.B., S’98, SSL, STL, DPhil, the seminary’s rector.

“This honor recognizes a seminarian whom both the student body and the faculty recommend as exhibiting outstanding academic performance, service to the Seminary community through contributing to student morale and spirit, leadership within the community, as well as creative outreach to others,” the seminary said in a social media post. “The recipient of this award is nominated by the entire Seminary community and chosen by the faculty. The recipient must: be a member of the graduating class; have outstanding academic performance; show service to the community by contributing to student morale and spirit; show leadership; be (recommended) by the student body; demonstrate creative outreach; have one full year of study (full-time or part-time in ordination and/or degree programs) completed at Saint Vincent Seminary.”

“I knew of the award,” said Deacon Fitzgerald. “My first year at St. Vincent’s, the award went to a good friend of mine. He’s now in Ottawa, and he joined our family for Thanksgiving. So, we had two recipients of the same award under the same roof.”

Deacon Fitzgerald said he learned he was receiving the award only an hour before it was presented.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” he said. “But it also wasn’t a surprise.”

Deacon Fitzgerald said he has held leadership roles in the seminary’s Leadership Forum, and he has been part of an accreditation committee along with seminary students, faculty and administration. But he said he believes it’s his presence and ministry with his fellow seminarians that made him stand out.

“One dimension of the award is ‘creative outreach,’” Deacon Fitzgerald said. “In what was really a head nod to my time in Clayton and the legacy of Father Art LaBaff, I would hold ‘porch time’ once a week. For a while, it was known as ‘Thursdays on Third,’ since I was on the third floor. After night prayer, it was a pretty well known fact in the house that my door was open, there was always snacks and drinks and music or a movie. There were never formal invitations, but anyone could just go to Fitz’s room and hang out and talk. It was really a good opportunity to get to know a lot of the guys – their struggles, their stories, their vocation journeys.”

Deacon Fitzgerald said the practice had such a great impact on him and others that he hopes to incorporate some version of it in his future ministry as a priest.

“Sometimes seminarians or priests get a reputation for being callous and distant,” he said. “It always amazed me and touched my own heart how people would open up. We had a policy of not talking about high theology or classes. We talked about excitement about ordinations, family struggles, divorces, families that aren’t supportive – anything. I certainly plan to take that into my ministry – just being there as a normal priest who can talk to a variety of groups and share lighthearted moments over coffee and cake and really encounter people in their struggles and in their beautiful faith.”

Deacon Fitzgerald said he was especially touched by the award considering he was nominated by his classmates.

“It touched my heart,” he said. “I put a lot of effort into being in the community and opening my door to people. I love being there in creative ways for the men in this community. I’m honored they nominated me because I brought Christ to them. It means a lot to me. I’ve fallen in love with this diaconal ministry by trying crazy ways of serving. It’s beautiful. I get to bring Christ to a tough crowd. The Lord is choosing to work through me and giving me that grace and that great blessing.”

Now wrapping up his fall semester and preparing to come home for Christmas break, Deacon Fitzgerald enters his final semester of seminary studies before, God willing, he is ordained as a priest.