CHARLOTTE — Deacon Crescenzo “Chris” Thomas Vigliotta has been assigned as a permanent deacon to St. Gabriel Parish in Charlotte, effective April 22.
Deacon Vigliotta and his wife Elizabeth relocated to Charlotte from Enfield, Conn., to be closer to family.
He was born March 4, 1943, in Bethpage, N.Y. He grew up in New York and attended Catholic schools in Long Island. Upon graduation he went to work in the family duck farm business and after a year he enlisted in the U.S. Marines, where he served as a Catholic lay leader. In 1966, just before his discharge, he and his wife Elizabeth were married. In February they celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary.
After his military service, he returned to the family business in Long Island, where he and his wife became active in his hometown parish of St. John the Evangelist. From those formative years of parish life, he was ordained a permanent deacon Feb. 19, 1983, and assigned to his home parish, where he served for 25 years.
In the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., Deacon Chris was employed as a Catholic chaplain at the Suffolk County correctional facility. His ministry as a chaplain entailed one-on-one counseling, cell visits, group workshops and sacramental preparation. His work in prison ministry became so involved that the bishop assigned him full-time to it. His wife Elizabeth also served as moderator for the Jail Parenting Program.
During his assignment to prison ministry, Deacon Chris established “Beginning a New Life,” a program to help inmates return to mainstream life upon their release.
After 32 years of diaconal service in the Rockville Centre diocese, he served for three years in the Archdiocese of Hartford at St. Bernard Parish in Enfield prior to moving to the Charlotte diocese.
— Deacon John Martino