Word is filtering through the diaconate community today that Paul McArdle, the first deacon ordained in the United States, has died.  
He was 76.

 I received the following comment on my blog this afternoon:

My name is Fr. Mario A. Castro, I am the Pastor of Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Brownsville, Texas, where Deacon Paul McArdle served for over 17 years. This is to inform all readers that Deacon Paul McArdle, first Deacon to be ordained in the United States, passed away this past Tursday, June 24th. His Rosary will be held at Good Shepherd Catholic Church Sunday, June 27th, at 7:00 pm and the Mass of Christian Burial will be held Monday, June 28th, at 11:00 am; also at Good Shepherd Catholic Church.

Eternal rest grant unto him, Oh Lord, And let perpetual light shine upon him.

Good Shepherd Catholic Church

2645 Tulipan Street

Brownsville, Texas 78521

Jim Alt, editor of Deacon Digest, forwarded to me this afternoon an article from 1995 that described a remarkable life. Deacon McCardle was born in 1933 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and was a seminarian in the Passionist Community for nine years. He married in 1967. He and his wife Barbara had four children.

Paul McCardle began training for the diaconate in 1969 and was ordained a year later at SS Cyril & Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan by the late Bishop Charles helmsing of the Kansas City, Missouri diocese. Deacon McCardle did a lot of missionary work and taught part time at a high school in Belize for several years. From 1979 to 1985, he served as a full time pastoral assistant at Christ the King Parish in Brownsville, Texas.

If anyone has more information or other pictures, please pass it along.  He will be in many prayers this weekend.