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By Nicole Seiferth

When you think about deacons in the church, Bob Zito, a Wall Street lawyer who recently became parish deacon at Trinity Wall Street, would like you to think of them in one place: standing at the door.

“At the door of the church, the deacon has one foot in the church and one foot in the world,” Zito said. “He’s welcoming people into the church and he’s helping them as they go out into the world. That’s where the deacon belongs.”

Zito should know. He was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church nine years ago —but his passion for ministry is still as strong as it was on the first day of his ordination.

“Since I was a child, I always felt called to do something in the Church,” Zito said. “I always felt that no matter how much I tried to ignore it, God kept tugging at my shirtsleeve and saying, ‘Bob, I need you to do this.’”

Zito’s journey to the ordained ministry was a long one. He grew up in the Roman Catholic Church where he knew that the calling he felt was incompatible with the possibility of being married. In college, he began attending an Episcopal church, met his future wife, and went on to earn a doctorate in law at New York Law School.

It was only after joining the Church of the Incarnation in Manhattan that he began to learn about the diaconate, at the urging of a priest.

“Deacons are typically in the world,” Zito said. “We call them vocational deacons because they have a job; they aren’t employed by the Church. That’s an important aspect: deacons are believed to have a prophetic voice because they are in the world, interpreting the needs of the people [for the church].”

In the Episcopal Church, deacons are one of three ordained orders, which also include priests and bishops. It’s a widespread misconception, Zito said, that deacons are not ordained.

“In a way we are priests, but we have a different type of priesthood,” he explained. “That priesthood is in the world.”

Zito’s full time work in the world is practicing corporate law at a Wall Street firm—work that he thoroughly enjoys. But he’s “happiest working for the Church.”

In his new role as Trinity’s deacon, he sees his ministry as being twofold. “One is evangelism, particularly during the week,” he said. “The Wall Street community could use a little religion.”

To that end, Zito hosted a weekly Bible study at Trinity called The Bible on Wall Street during Lent.

“The other part of it is that I live in the neighborhood. I’m hoping by being in the community, I’ll be able to generate a sense of church community. I want people to consider Trinity at the center of their community. That is to say, Trinity is not just a place for worship, but where you can live and meet people, and live a holy life among holy people.”

Nicole Seiferth is assistant editor for website and parish publications.

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