Some of it brought me to the point where I didn’t know if I could go on,” he said. “I have suffered a fair amount of pain in my life. Ultimately, Peot’s story of “drifting” now makes sense to him - he knows now just who has been leading him all along. “I would like to get to know these people and to do whatever it is that I can do.” “I am struck that only a few miles from my parish, which is a place of comfort, there are people living with much less comfort,” he said. Something else he learned in formation was to explore more deeply the callings he intuits - like becoming involved in urban ministry, on which he hopes to spend more time as a deacon. “I hate to say I am looking forward to funerals, vigils, and committals but I want to be there for those in pain to offer hope, love and solidarity.” But it’s not just the joyful moments that he anticipates - it’s the somber ones, too.
He is particularly excited by the thought of possibly baptizing a future grandchild or officiating at the future wedding of one of his daughters. When it comes to what he is most looking forward to post-ordination, Peot has a simple answer: “All of it.” “I have had conversations with people that I would never have had before formation and I am richer for what each of these people has given me,” he said. Peot added that formation has helped to transform his other relationships in life, making him more approachable and mindful of priorities. As a group, he said, they are tightly knit and supportive of one another, sharing many similarities (three of them work for the Church and all are fathers). One of the greatest joys of formation for Peot has been becoming close with his brother candidates.
It’s amazing what can happen when you trust the Holy Spirit.” Suddenly, I was spending more time with my family and still getting it all done. “That changed when I put things into their proper order and trusted that God would provide the necessary amount of time. “Many times it felt like there just wasn’t enough time,” he said. “This was great advice.”Īmong the challenges of the process, he said, were the rigorous academic requirements - but that, too, became an opportunity for surrender to the will of God. “A good friend told me to approach it as a great spiritual journey so that regardless of the outcome it would be time well spent,” he said. He approached the process of formation as another step in his spiritual development, not necessarily expecting to be ordained. Of course, it was much more fraught with doubt, but this is what God was calling me to.” Dominic’s, who suggested that Peot inquire about the diaconate. Still, “there was a nagging sense that there was something else I needed to do.”Īfter a year or two of spiritual restlessness, he met with Fr. But he threw himself into volunteering at his parish and renewed his prayer life with vigor. “Of course, there was no more detail to it than that, or at least I was not perceptive enough to hear the rest of the request,” he remembered. It was during Holy Thursday Mass one year that he felt a call to “go deeper” in his Catholic faith. Dominic in Brookfield since 1996, Peot is also a proud father and grandfather. He worked for 42 years in civil engineering with the last 32 years at Ruekert and Mielke before retiring this year. “As God always works, he never gave up and when I turned to Him I found Him there waiting for me with open arms and boundless love.”Ī native of Green Bay, Peot is “a cradle Catholic and Packer fan” and a product of Catholic education through Marquette University, where he studied civil engineering. “It’s a story of becoming lost, but then being found,” he said, reflecting on the journey that will lead him to ordination to the permanent diaconate.
Kurt Peot’s story of faith is, in his own words, “a story of drifting.” Here are profiles of the four men who are joining the ranks of permanent deacons. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Office of Diaconate Formation will see four men ordained as permanent deacons at 10 a.m.
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