Deacon served Brooklyn Center parish for nearly 20 years

Deacon Jerome Bisek, who ministered at St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center from 1980 to 1998, died May 7. He was 85. A native of Starbuck, about 2 hours northwest of the Twin Cities, he was ordained a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1980, and focused on AIDs ministry in addition to parish duties.

In 1965, he became director of the St. Alphonsus choir, a role he held for 17 years. Deacon Bisek, whose wife, Ellie, died in 2003, is survived by five children, nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. His funeral Mass will be May 13 at St. Alphonsus.