by Marie Elena Giossi

You may not know his name, but you’ve seen his face at almost every Mass, parish celebration and school visit Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has attended over the last decade.

Deacon Jaime Varela is the man who works behind the scenes with the man who leads our diocese.

His official title is assistant to the bishop and asked what that means, he laughs and says, “many different things.”

He is responsible for keeping the bishop on schedule and ensuring his day goes as smoothly as possible. He arranges parish and school visits, serves as the bishop’s master of ceremonies at Masses, helps the bishop prepare homilies in Spanish and drives the bishop to and from all of his daily appointments.

He started working as a part-time assistant to the bishop in February, 2004, and based on their ability to work well together, the bishop asked him to sign on full-time in September of that year. Though he had a great career as the executive chauffer for the board chairman of Nabisco brand foods, which granted him access to some fancy places and celebrity events, he has no regrets.

Like Family

“I respect Bishop very much. The relationship we have is much more than employer and employee. I’m more than his driver or his master of ceremonies. It’s more like family,” he said. “He’s put a lot of trust in me, and I do the same with him.

“He’s a hardworking man. I know he wants what’s best for the diocese. I see firsthand all that he does to achieve his vision of having a stable diocese,” he said.

“He likes to visit parishes to see the people, hear what is going on and break bread with them,” he said.

When Superstorm Sandy hit, the deacon wasn’t surprised that the bishop wanted to visit the affected parishes in the Rockaways, Belle Harbor, Coney Island and Gerritsen Beach in the following days.

“He wanted to know where his priests were, to ensure they were safe and see firsthand what had happened to the people and their homes,” he said. “He wanted the priests and the people to know he was there for them.”

The deacon knows how deeply the bishop cares about this diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, every parish and school, and every person, especially the children.

He revealed that Catholic Schools Week is one of the bishop’s favorite weeks of the year because he enjoys visiting schools and having the opportunity to speak with the children. “He wants to see what’s in their hearts and their minds,” he said.

Stump the Bishop

Before the bishop leaves, he plays a game of “Stump the Bishop,” in which students get to ask the bishop questions about anything but new math.

Keeping up with the bishop and his busy schedule can sometimes be a challenge, but Deacon Varela enjoys the pace. He admires how hardworking the bishop is, even to the point of doing work in the car. The bishop makes telephone calls, sorts through his mail and reviews his Spanish homilies with the deacon.

There is downtime too. “Sometimes,” the deacon said, “we laugh and joke about different things,” including some of the funnier “Stump the Bishop” questions.

Through the years, the deacon and the bishop have come to know each other’s families and seen each other through difficult times, including the bishop’s quadruple bypass surgery four years ago.

“His brother Frank DiMarzio and I were with him the day of the surgery and stayed until we received word that the operation was a success,” he shared.

They have also shared happier times, like the bishop’s birthday last year. They were visiting a parish when the bishop received word that his niece gave birth to twins. A few hours later, Deacon Varela’s grandson Daniel was born.

“All four of them share a birthday,” the deacon said, “and he baptized my grandson at the cathedral.”

Admiration

He admires how the bishop has risen to the challenges he has faced through the years, ministering to a diocese of many languages, uniting different ethnic groups, reorganizing the parishes and schools and putting the diocese on firmer footing financially.

“People look at him as a boss, but he doesn’t like that. He likes people to see him and know him as a human person,” the deacon said.

“He’s a man who really cares about the diocese, and he’s shown over the last 10 years that he’s willing to put out into the deep.”