May 27, 2021 Nicholas Wolfram Smith Christopher Major’s road to the diaconate started with a simple statement after Mass one Sunday at his parish, St. Isabella in San Rafael. As everyone gathered after the liturgy ended, Deacon Jim Myers approached him and said, “I think you have what it takes to be an outstanding deacon.” “That was amazing, he saw something in me that I didn t see in myself,” Major said. Major understood the seriousness of what becoming a deacon meant: not just a five-year commitment to formation, but a lifetime of service to the church, and through Holy Orders, “joining the apostolic tradition.”