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WASHINGTON (June 29, 2000) -- Deacon Gerard R. Wilson of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, on Long Island, New York, has been named Executive Director of the U.S. Bishops' Secretariat for the Diaconate. He begins his new position July 10.
He succeeds Deacon John Pistone, who finishes a four-year term and leaves Washington for his home in Chicago. In September Deacon Pistone begins a new position as Formation Director for the Diaconate in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
In his new position, Deacon Wilson will coordinate initiatives of the Bishops' Committee on the Diaconate, implement programs and projects as they relate to the restoration and development of the diaconate in the United States and its territorial dioceses, and assist and support the development of pre- and post- ordination diaconate programs at the diocesan, regional, national and international levels.
Deacon Wilson was ordained a deacon for the Rockville Centre Diocese in 1985, and has been Director of the Office of Deacons there since 1992. He has been president and treasurer of the National Association of Diaconate Directors, a member of the Diocesan Commission on Women in the Church and Society and is a member of the board of the Diocesan Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
He also is a marriage and family therapist.
Deacon Wilson retired from the New York Police Department in 1979, where he was supervisor of the Homicide Squad and on the Hostage Negotiating Team.
Deacon Wilson studied for the diaconate at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington, New York.
He also holds a master of arts degree from Hofstra University, where he studied marriage and family therapy, and a bachelor of science degree from the New York Institute of Technology, where he studied behavioral sciences.
He and his wife Margaret have been married 40 years and are the parents of four sons and grandparents of three girls and three boys.