Nun to Follow Her Brother in Hispanic Ministry Post

Armida Deck, a Roman Catholic nun with a doctorate in Hispanic languages, was named director of Hispanic Ministry for the Catholic Diocese of Orange, becoming the first woman to oversee the county’s 350,000 Catholic Latinos.

Deck will succeed her brother, Father Allan Deck, who has directed the ministry since the office was founded in 1975. She will assume the office June 1.

Deck said she plans to continue the diocese’s support for Latino programs, begun by her brother, “so that no office here forgets the Hispanic Catholic population.

“There is a movement in the church on behalf of Hispanics and we want to be a part of that,” she said.

She will direct an office of six. The office functions under Archbishop Tomas Clavel, vicar for the Latino community.

Deck is from the Sisters of Carondelet, a religious community founded in France with a U.S. headquarters in St. Louis.

She had worked in religious education in the Orange County ministry office in the late 1970s and was named acting director while her brother took a leave in 1980-81.

Born in Los Angeles, the new director attended Mount St. Mary’s College and UCLA and received a doctorate in Hispanic languages and literature from St. Louis University.

Father Deck’s academic background had helped him become one of Orange County’s immigration experts. The new director said immigration is an area she intends to become more knowledgeable about in the future.

Her brother is leaving to study in Rome for a year. After that he plans to help train new Jesuit priests in Northern California.