Deacon John Rieger

Deacon John Rieger

Deacon John Rieger demonstrating the "Devil Bopper"

From the Fall 2010 Edition of Clippings Magazine

Interviewed by Bill Lawrence

You can now call him the “Daredevil Deacon” if you want, and I don’t think he’d mind.  John Rieger, our smiling and articulate deacon, jumped out of a single prop Cessna at 12,000 feet over Queensland in New Zealand in July (with a parachute of course), and with him also jumping (with parachutes) were three of his daughters: Kathryn (age 20), Courtney (18) and Patricia (17). Fourth daughter Meghan (12) watched and photographed from the ground.  Each jumped “in tandem” that is strapped to a professional jumper.  John’s reaction, “thrilling…surreal!  Greatest part was the camaraderie of sharing such an experience with my daughters.”

Defining John Rieger is not a simple challenge – he has many irons in the fire.  Personable, easy to talk to, he exhibits a quiet spirituality as well as a smiling energy for most things (you can understand the parachute jump).  He is the son of Mary and John, he has six brothers and sisters, all now on Long Island, and 17 nephews and nieces.  He and his wife Ellen married in 1987, a year after he joined the firm of Thacher, Proffitt, and Wood as a lawyer, where he stayed until 1993.  He and Ellen have been parishioners since 1989.  His high school was St. Pius X Seminary in anticipation of becoming a priest.  He received a BA in Philosophy from the Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception in Douglaston, a Juris Doctorate from NY Law School and a MA in Theology in 2008 after four years at the Seminary in Lloyd Harbor.  That same year he was ordained Deacon.

He has been in partnership since 2000 with two brothers, John and David Tunney (their great uncle was Gene Tunney, the heavyweight boxing champ) in the operation of four restaurants.  The “Blue Honu” (“turtle” in Hawaiian) is on NY Avenue in Huntington.  The other three, each named “Besito” (“little kiss”) are one each in Huntington, Roslyn, and West Hartford.

He and his family have travelled abroad extensively, to Paris, Australia, Germany, even attended a Passion Sunday Mass in Thailand.  His kaleidoscopic career at one time had him as a legal representative to the Sultan of Brunei in Indonesia who was interested in buying the NY Palace Hotel, formerly the Helmesly, which John himself managed from 1993 to 1998.

Q: As deacon, your homilies have been very well received. Tell us how you prepare for a homily.

A: I spend two or three days reading and praying the Scriptures, going over the readings, hoping the Holy Spirit will guide me to the “pearl” of the readings, then usually spend four to twelve hours in writing.  The story-telling priest John Shea, who has many interesting parables involving God, has been an inspiration.

Q: What would you say is the most important issue facing the Church today?

A: How to feed the flocks at community celebrations.  How to inspire and motivate the people into active participation, make them more active, to give people a reason to come to Mass, to participate.

Q: How important is the deaconate?

A: First of all, a deacon is not a "little priest".  He is in a solid ministry separate from the priesthood.  It is an involving ministry called on to preach, to serve.  In it you must believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach."

He is, has done and has been, many things: a deacon, a lawyer, a parachute jumper, almost a priest, a financial consultant, a world traveler, a restaurant owner, a hotel manager, has rope-climbed over the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef, and been the legal representative for the Sultan of Brunei from Malaysia.

A Princeton psychologist would call him “an overachiever”.  A Harvard sociologist would say he is “finding himself”.  Jews would call him a Mensch and that is the Eppis. (Google Leo Rosten.)