PERU — Funeral Masses are planned in LaSalle and East Peoria for Deacon Ron Rager, a member of the first class of permanent deacons ordained for the Diocese of Peoria, who is being remembered as “a man of service, who had a heart of charity.”

“Truly loved his God and truly loved his neighbor,” said Father Robert Rayson, who worked with Deacon Rager at St. Hyacinth’s and St. Patrick’s in LaSalle. “This is a huge loss for us.”

Deacon Rager died unexpectedly on Jan. 4, 2010, at Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru, where he also served as pastoral care coordinator and bereavement facilitator. He was 66.

There will be visitation on Friday, Jan. 8, from 4 to 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, 725 Fourth St., in LaSalle and on Saturday, Jan. 9, from 9 a.m. until the funeral Mass at 10 a.m. Father Rayson will preside and Father Daniel Ebker, administrator at St. Mary’s Parish in Canton, will be the homilist.

Msgr. Charles Beebe, episcopal vicar for the diaconate, will offer a reflection at the end of Mass.

On Monday, Jan. 11, there will be visitation at 9 a.m. at St. Monica’s Church, 303 Campanile Drive, in East Peoria, where Deacon Rager ministered for 25 years. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated by Father Kenneth Marchulones, pastor, at 10 a.m.

Burial will follow at Fondulac Cemetery in East Peoria.

BORN IN Peoria on March 18, 1943, Deacon Rager was the son of Lester and Alida (Diehkus) Rager. He graduated from Washington High School in 1961 and married Nancy McCann on Oct. 30, 1962. She survives him.
After serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1962 to 1966, Deacon Rager went to work for Caterpillar Inc. and stayed for 33 years.

A member of the diocese’s first class of permanent deacons, he was ordained by Bishop Edward W. O’Rourke on Dec. 12, 1976, in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria. While at St. Monica’s Parish, he assisted with the Friendly Visitor Program, Christ Renews His Parish, and the Afrishare Program, among others.

After making a Cursillo weekend in the 1970s, he also was active on many Cursillo and Teens Encounter Christ teams.

In addition, he was a notary auditor for the Marriage Tribunal of the Diocese of Peoria.

Deacon Rager worked for Harbor Light Hospice in Peoria for two years before he moved to Peru to start his ministry at Illinois Valley Community Hospital, where he worked until the day of his death.

Assigned to Resurrection Parish in LaSalle, he offered a calm pastoral presence when the parish was closed in 2007, along with Queen of the Holy Rosary Church, according to Father Rayson.

“He was a very important person during the transition,” Father Rayson told The Catholic Post. “He was supportive of me and my staff and as we moved forward he strove to help people build bridges to deal with the changes in the area.

“He gave people an understanding that the church is much bigger. He was just an amazing person in this whole process,” Father Rayson said.

Deacon Rager did part of that in the final homily given at Resurrection Church, when he reminded parishioners that “change is hard to accept and ever so easy to criticize.”

“We are being asked to move beyond what we have grown to know and love,” he said, in order “to become an even stronger community that we are today.”

JOINING St. Patrick’s Parish, Deacon Rager assisted the Catholic parishes of LaSalle with marriage preparation, baptismal preparation and Communion calls. Nancy Rager also got involved by working as Father Rayson’s secretary.

“Deacon Ron truly was the epitome of service,” Father Rayson said. “It was very clear that service to the church and service of God’s people was at heart of what he did.”

“He was a deacon’s deacon,” said Msgr. Beebe. “He was a member of the first class and I always called him a first-class deacon.”

He praised Deacon Rager for continuing his formation throughout his ministry and said he was an inspiration to all who knew him.

“Not only in pastoral ministry but in his own life, he exemplified Christ the deacon,” Msgr. Beebe said. “This is a real loss for our community. His death is being felt very deeply by all of us who knew him.”

DEACON Rager was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Virginia, and his son, Vance.

In addition to his wife, Nancy, he is survived by his daughter, Virginia Pokryfke, of Spring Valley, two grandsons, and his sister Joyce Lott of Papillion, Neb.