By Dc. Tom Cuskey, editor
The official announcement came from Bishop Douglas J. Lucia in early July, welcoming Tom Andino to the diocesan formation team. The new director of Deacon Formation assumed his duties in early August and, with a few weeks under his belt, The Catholic Sun sat down with Andino for a “get acquainted” interview.
First question, “Do you feel any more comfortable today than you did three weeks ago on day one?” was met with a resounding “No!” and a humble laugh.
“Somebody asked me yesterday what my word was in the day, like, what’s your word today or for this season of your life?” he shared. “The word that came right away — and I just tried to get it to leave — was openness.”
The openness lesson was something the Covid pandemic brought home when so many people came to face the reality that “we have very little control over a lot,” in our lives, he said.
While control may be something to long for, Andino has had a firm grip on his life path. He holds a Master of Arts in Theology from St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Rochester, with a concentration in liturgy and liturgical music. His undergraduate degree is from SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music from which he also earned his teaching certification.
Much of Andino’s professional career was spent at Le Moyne College. He served as director of Liturgy and Music from 2003 to 2023. From 2017 to 2023 he also served as director of Campus Ministry, supervising an office and staff that provided pastoral care and student support as well as assisting with retreats and formational opportunities for the Le Moyne community, among other duties.
After stepping away from Le Moyne last year, Andino turned his focus to his other career as a music director and liturgical consultant to St. Michael’s Church on Syracuse’s Onondaga Hill, something he has done since 1998. He has also worked with various diocesan offices and parishes, planning special liturgies and serving as cantor and choir director when needed.
Also, starting in 2015, Andino was a part-time instructor in the diocesan formation program he now oversees. He was not currently looking for a new position but was approached by diocesan leadership to consider helping to guide and nurture the deacon formation program as director. While the director’s experience is still very new to him, the basics of the ministry are not.
“I think first and foremost, it’s about the people,” he said. “It’s always been about the relationship and being intentional, and so starting with the people in the program, getting to know them, getting to know the people who all work together to run this program.”
Andino adds there are “people that I don’t know yet,” as the program moves toward a new formation model, one reflecting those being followed in many other dioceses, including those in our neighboring dioceses. The challenge of helping to build something new brings out Andino’s musical training.
“I feel like the deacon program right now is [like] somebody [who] has just commissioned a new work,” he said. “And the person that you ask to write the piece, will say, ‘Tell me about what you hope for it, or for your community, or what are we celebrating?’ There are all those questions. And over time, that person starts to piece things together, until you have something that you can see and touch and hear. I think that’s kind of where we are.”
Andino said that, currently, “we have a program that has served the diocese really well.” He added that Bishop Lucia and the team responsible for the growth in formation programs want to ensure that the trend continues and keeps up with evolving needs in the diocese.
“The program currently is heavily intellectual,” he said. “I think he [Bishop] wants to pay some more attention to the human and the pastoral and the spiritual.” And that includes helping to fill the void that may exist in parishes sharing pastors.
“[Deacons are] going to be in more positions of leadership, serving the people in your parish. So how do we form you for that … for that human aspect, to relate to people and leadership?” he added.
Andino sees a grace in his vocation in lay ministry that will help him as the planning and execution of the deacon formation program gets underway.
“I’m not a deacon. I didn’t go through the program, so I’m not wed to, well, ‘we’ve always done it this way, or when I was in it, this happened.’ But I know my own ministry, [and] to be secure in that. The end goal is to form these men for ministry.”
