Deacon Lynn Sherman dies at age 76; played key role in building St. Benedict Church in Falcon

ALEXANDRIA, Va. Deacon Lynn Sherman, a retired deacon of the Diocese of Colorado Springs, died Dec. 26 in Virginia. Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Jan. 11 at Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria, followed by burial at Bethel Cemetery. 

Deacon Sherman was born Feb. 18, 1946, in Brockton, Massachusetts. He served for 24 years in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana, working in patrol, investigations, the training academy, and the public information office. He and his wife Barbara have two children, Roger and Theresa. He was ordained a permanent deacon by New Orleans Archbishop Francis Schulte on Dec. 2, 1989. He served at his home parish, Visitation of Our Lady in Marrero, and later at Immaculate Conception Parish.

He and Barbara moved to Colorado Springs in 1996, where Deacon Sherman worked for the Colorado Springs Police Department as the Public Safety Telecommunication Manager. He was assigned to serve at Our Lady of the Pines Parish in the Black Forest section of Colorado Springs, assisting Father Gerry Borer.

In 2006, Bishop Michael Sheridan named him director of the newly-created St. Benedict quasi-parish in Falcon, which at the time was celebrating Mass in the gym of Falcon Middle School.

When the parish acquired property in Falcon in 2012, Deacon Sherman led the effort to begin a capital campaign to convert an existing barn into a church. Although the parish sought funding from Catholic Extension to meet its goal, in the end it was donations from St. Benedict parishioners and other parishes in the diocese that allowed the project to move forward.

Groundbreaking on the church construction project took place on March 26, 2017, and Bishop Sheridan dedicated the new church on Oct. 8, 2017.

“Our story is the parish that turned a barn into a church,” Deacon Sherman said in an interview with The Colorado Catholic Herald.

He is survived by his wife Barbara, his children Theresa and Roger, daughter-in-law Miranda and a grandson, Reid.