Retirement for Deacon Robert Ayers

CLIFTON  In Deacon Robert Ayers’ role as director of property administration for the Paterson Diocese, his job could be described best by the quote, “When one door closes, another one opens.”

For the past 12 years, he has assisted many pastors and parish administrators dealing with the challenge of vacant buildings and facilities they may have at their parish, such as when parish schools close, by opening new doors for the parish. Parishes with empty buildings would seek guidance from his office to find renters to lease these buildings to build needed financial revenue for the parish. Now, Deacon Ayers will be closing one door and opening another personally, as he began his retirement Feb. 28.

Bishop Serratelli said, “Thank you Deacon Bob for the great work you’ve done helping parishes with properties. You’ve been extremely easy to work with. As an ordained deacon, you’ve lived a life of service for the Church. I’m sure you will continue to work in many other ways for the Church.”

“I’m going to honestly miss working with the many priests I got to know, the parish staffs and prospective tenants and tenants,” said Deacon Ayers. “I enjoyed it and enjoyed bringing the two parties together. Before they both signed, it had to be a win-win situation and I enjoyed putting something together where both landlord and tenant were satisfied.”

In his final days on the job, he helped Annunciation Parish in Wayne find a new tenant for a parish facility. The parish made the announcement this past weekend at Masses to the parishioners. The building, which was vacant for several years, opened on March 1 with the North Jersey Friendship House as the new tenant.

Father Ricardo Ortega, pastor, said, “Deacon Bob has great sense of responsibility as well as remarkable Christian charity along with common sense and prudence. It was a long process to find a tenant and we had ups and downs but it was great working with Deacon Bob and we are grateful to him.”

The North Jersey Friendship House offers a diversity of services to those with disabilities and it was located in Bergen County. Many of its clients were from Passaic County and the organization hoped to find a location more convenient to its clients.

“While it was a necessity for the parish, the company that will lease our space has a great mission and we are happy to provide a place for them to grow in their work,” Father Ortega said.

Also in Wayne, Deacon Ayers helped Our Lady of the Valley Parish with the leasing of its former parish school several years ago. Father ST Sutton, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Newton, worked with the deacon for the first time when he served as parish administrator there. “Deacon Robert was first and foremost professional. He was also ‘real’ and had a great concept of ecclesiastical property as well as the need to help each parish that I have been assigned,” he said.

For a parish, it is sad to have to close a school, but leasing the empty building is a financial necessity.

Father Sutton said, “I am not sure the parish could continue financially today. He has a great sense of humor and is a wonderful asset to the Diocese, to the priests of the diocese, especially those who have been assigned the daunting task of renting church property. Deacon Bob is one of those rare breeds of clergy that have a spiritual as well as a business background. He has made significant revenue for the Diocese and has helped secure the rental of many parish properties in the Diocese. You will be truly missed all the way in Sussex County, but I know that I have not only gained much knowledge from our business relationship, but also I have gained a friend. You will be truly missed and now the Diocese has the task of finding someone to follow in your shoes.”

While he is retiring from his position as diocesan director of property administration, Deacon Ayers will still be serving in his ministry as deacon at St. Philip Parish in Clifton. Married for 45 years to his wife, Linda, they will be traveling to the Bahamas soon. He also has two adult children, Rob and Melissa.

“I worked since the day I graduated from college and it will be quite different not to have somewhere I have to be, but I’m sure that feeling is normal. Definitely looking forward to this time off,” he told The Beacon, which he assisted in moving from its previous location at 597 Valley Rd. to the St. Pope John Paul II Center at 775 Valley Rd., next to the Diocesan Pastoral Center.