St. Thomas Aquinas Church

Written by Kathy Kuczka

St. Thomas Aquinas has a new deacon! Geza Gereben was ordained yesterday at the Cathedral of Christ the King. I recently spoke with him about his background and about the journey to ordination.

Where were you born? Where did you grow up?

My parents left Hungary in 1956 during the uprising against communism. I was born on September 23, 1962, in Ventnor, New Jersey, just south of Atlantic City, but I grew up in Rockville, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. I have three siblings, an older sister and brother and a younger sister. After graduating from college I got a job in New Orleans and lived there for about a year before moving up to Atlanta with my employer in November of 1986.

Talk about what influenced your spirituality growing up?

My parents were a huge influence on my spirituality growing up, they ensured that we gave thanks but we also prayed. It was church that was missing when I moved away from home and I didn’t go to church until I moved to Atlanta. I started attending Mass weekly at All Saints in Dunwoody. It was there that my spiritual life began to grow and I was going to go to the seminary when I met Beth. My spiritual director at the time told me that both married life and priesthood are beautiful vocations. I was married in August of 1991 and now we have two daughters, Mattie who is getting married in April of this year, and our other daughter Yuri who lives in Knoxville.

What prompted you to become a deacon?

The call of being in the clergy never really left, and around the time that Mattie was graduating from college the call to apply to the Diaconate become louder. I began the process with the information meeting in May of 2015 and formally began as an aspirant in January of 2017. As I was going through formation what was really stunning was just how much I didn't know about our faith and just how rich our faith is. It is stunning the depth and breadth of our faith and how little we all know about it.

What moved you to come to St. Thomas Aquinas?

It was recommended that I transfer to STA after my pastoral (third) year in formation. I was very reluctant as I had been at St. Brigid for over 20 years, and after a lot of praying and discussion with my wife, we made the move after Easter in April of 2021. St. Thomas is a special place--the people are welcoming and inviting and I love the intimacy of the church. It is truly a wonderful place! I am looking forward to be a part of the parish and peoples’ lives, sharing in their joys and sorrows, sharing our faith, and serving this parish community.

We wish Geza all the best in his new ministry!