Permanent Diaconate Vocations
Ordained Ministry of Service Called To:
Share - Witness - Counsel -
Console - Proclaim - Celebrate
In order for the Good News to become incarnate, it is necessary for the church to have ordained ministers in all of the various communities. The presence and witness of deacons from all communities will more successfully identify ministerial needs and advance the response of meaningful Christian Services.
The Permanent Diaconate is open to all men of our various Catholic communities who meet the basic requirements and seek to respond to the call to serve following prayerful discernment. The Archdiocese welcomes inquiries from men in all walks of life and backgrounds.
Introduction
The fathers of the Second Vatican Council, in their Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), recognized the Church's need for an officially sanctioned group of men "dedicated to duties of charity and of administration. These duties, so very necessary for the life of the Church, can in many areas be fulfilled only with difficulty according to the prevailing discipline of the Latin Church. For this reason the Diaconate can in the future be restored as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy." (Lumen Gentium 29). With these words, the Council stated its willingness to revive a venerable office of the Church.
An Ancient Office...
The origins of diaconal ministry can be found in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 6:1-6). As the Church began to grow, it became obvious that "some to serve" were needed so that those who were "sent to preach and spread the word" could properly fulfill this ministry.
The care of the poor, especially widows and orphans, was a special and major concern. Here, as elsewhere, the evidence shows that deacons were directly responsible for this work.
St. Paul specifically addresses deacons in the letters to the Philippians and to Timothy; and St. Ignatius of Antioch writes of diaconal ministry. During the apostolic age, the diaconate had a significant position among the ministries of the Church. The five centuries from 100 to 600 from St. Ignatius of Antioch to St. Gregory the Great (one of the more well known deacons), has often been called the Golden Age of the Diaconate.
As the Church developed structurally, the diaconate began to decline, with the office of presbyter (priest) taking on increasing importance. With a few important exceptions, the diaconal order was for centuries only a transitional state in the steps toward priesthood.
...A New Office
During the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church begun by Pope John XXIII, steps were taken to restore the Diaconate as a distinctive order in the Latin Rite. This restoration began with the document Lumen Gentium in 1964 and was completed by Pope Paul VI's promulgation of General Norms in 1967. The National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States called for the restoration of the Diaconate for this country in 1968.
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