Archive for the ‘Deacons’ Category

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Reflection on today’s QOTD

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

We deacons would do well to heed Deacon Sean’s words in the quote for the day. Challenging words, aren’t they, especially when we are weary from whatever and the last thing we may want is another person presenting themselves.

Sometimes, perhaps, we get caught up with preoccupations about what our ministry should be.  “What is your ministry, deacon?”  we often hear.

In all reality, we deacons are to make our primary ministry our families and our careers. We are to lead to Jesus our coworkers in the office, the patients and clients who seek us out, the customers we serve, and the society in which we live. The person in front of us most often must be our wives. Realizing that our primary ministry is to our wives and our children brings to fruition Pope John Paul II’s words of admonition to deacons during the Year for Deacons back in 2000, when he told us that being a deacon is full time. All that we do, we do as deacons. All that we do, if we are married, we do as married men. Both are vocations that completely permeate our entire lives.

Marriage and Holy Orders are both sacraments of service for the sake of others. They are not given to us to make us holier than someone else. We are called to be married and to Orders so others may be brought to Christ and be saved.

Think about it: How many times has your wife led you to Jesus? More than we would like to admit at first glance. Are you a deacon to her? How have you become a better husband since receiving the grace of Holy Orders?

Serve her as you would serve the Church, brothers.

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Quote for the Day

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

I posted this quote a year or so ago, but I offer it again, as it is from Deacon Sean Curtan from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, whom I was privileged to meet several years ago when I attended the profession of my friend Mike into the Secular Franciscan Order.

As an ordained deacon I’m called never to forget that the person in front of me is the most important person at the time and I’m called to lead them to Jesus Christ.” – Sean Curtan, SFO

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Update on the First Permanent Deacon in the United States

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

A few days ago, Deacon Greg Kandra posted on the death of Deacon Paul McArdle of the Brownsville, Texas diocese.  Deacon Paul died last week, and was described as the first permanent deacon ordained in the United States.

This morning I noticed that Deacon Greg posted again on the topic. The very first permanent deacon ordained in the United States is said now to be Deacon Michael Cole of the diocese of Rochester, New York.  He was an Episcopalian priest but received into full communion with the Church by Bishop Fulton Sheen, who ordained him a deacon in 1969.  Unfortunately, Deacon Cole left the Church and began ministry again as an Episcopal priest in Canada.

Read Deacon Kandra’s post at:The Deacon’s Bench

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May He Rest in Peace

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

Deacon Greg Kandra has posted today that the first deacon ordained in the United States, Deacon Phil McArdle of the Brownsville, Texas diocese, died last Thursday, June 24.

Let all of us deacons remember him in our prayers.

Condolences can be sent to: Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 2645 Tulipan Street, Brownsville, Texas 78521.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul rest in peace. To read the posting go to: Deacons Bench

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St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Today is the memorial of St. Ephrem, deacon and doctor of the Church. He was born around 306 in Nisbis, Mesopotamia, to a Christian family. He later fled to Edessa where he was ordained a deacon. He founded a biblical school there that was very well known. He declined ordination to the priesthood, and avoided ordination to the episcopacy.  He was a great scholar, especially of the Scriptures.

He would take the songs of heretical groups and using their melodies would write hymns embodying orthodox teaching. He was one of the first to introduce song into the Church’s liturgy as a means of catechesis.

One of his titles was, “Harp of the Holy Spirit.”

He died around 373 AD.

Deacons, let us imitate our ancient brother. Let us aspire only to our calling as servants of the Lord, and use every means available to us to preach and teach the Word of God, especially to those who may be misled or who may have left the Church but inwardly yearn for the truth.

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Attention Deacons!

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Here is a brief quote from Pope Benedict XVI from his address on May 21 to the Pontifical Mission Societies.

“Preaching the Gospel is the call of God’s children to freedom, to the construction of an ever more just and solidary society, and to our preparation for eternal life….. we, like the Apostle Paul, have no arms but the word of Christ and his Cross… willingness to give their life for Christ’s name and for love of mankind.”

Pretty much sums up the vocation of a deacon — preaching, freedom,  justice, preparation for eternal life, martyrdom. 

That last one is always a difficult one for deacons.  The call to martyrdom is part of the call of the diaconate. We have to have a conceptual grasp of that as well as a lived experience. How we live that on a daily basis needs to be worked out.

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Retirement for Deacons? Not Usually!

Monday, May 24th, 2010

I ran across a posting on Deacon Greg Kandra’s blog (www.blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/) about Deacon Lou Weitzel, 90 years of age, from the diocese of Lansing, Michigan, who is going strong.

I hope to have the same energy Deacon Lou has when I am that age. It is a wonderful vocation.

God bless him.

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Ministry to the Dying

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

I recently and unexpectedly attended to a dying man.

As a deacon, my role is to bring Viaticum, to arrange for a priest to hear the person’s confession and to anoint him, and then to be present in person and in prayer.

It is a privilege to be present during the last hours of someone’s life and to offer a prayer and a blessing. Most of us don’t want to think about that phase of life. We feel ill-prepared for it. We fear it. It is though a time of privilege, a time when a person becomes very much alone with himself and his God, yet needs the presence of the Church and the immediate family.

I am amazed at the power of the Eucharist in times like this. The peace that our Lord in his Eucharistic presence brings to a believer. How we who are ordained also become Christ in a different way.

Something sacred is seen in a good death. I thank God I could witness it last week, and be Jesus the Servant for this man one last time.

Posted in Deacons, General Interest | 1 Comment »

God’s Grace Works in Unexpected Ways

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

One of the things that has amazed me since ordination is how much more frequently people approach me and speak of their faith or lack thereof. These are people who often have no idea that I am a deacon, or that I believe.  Perhaps some of  my brother deacons can shed some light on this.  

I recall my initial screening interview with the Diaconate Advisory Committee, and one of the questions put to  me was how my secular occupation (clinical social work) would change after ordination.  I was stumped for a moment, not having given that much thought, but I recall my response, “I will probably continue to treat my patients in the same way I have always tried to treat them, but there will be something different about me after ordination that I hope will be evident to them.”

I think they approved of that answer, even though it was unrehearsed, and spoken in the moment.

I think I was right in my prediction.

The change is grace, and  its effects upon those with whom I come in contact. God has got a hold on me in  a new way, and he works through me now in a way different from before, in spite of my shortcomings. Somehow, old obstacles are removed; his grace is at work.

I saw it today in the face of an elderly man who told me he recognized that God had unexpectedly sent me into his life.  All I did was bless him and give him the Eucharist. (By the way, this was after my day job. I was serving him as a recognized deacon of his parish.)

I saw it yesterday in the story of a patient who spontaneously talked about her struggle with faith even though she only knew me as her therapist, nothing more.

I saw it in the face of an agitated man unable to speak or open his eyes because of a stroke, and who was probably near-deaf. All I did was give him a tiny bit of the Eucharist, touch his arm, and gave him a blessing.  He calmed down. He didn’t seem afraid for a few minutes.

This is God stuff.  This is the grace of Holy Orders, Baptism and the Eucharist at work. My job is to get out of the way, and make myself available…… disposed.

Posted in Deacons, General Interest, Spirituality | 1 Comment »

A Portrait of the Diaconate in the U.S.

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Last month, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate from Georgetown University along with the United States Council of Catholic Bishops released a wonderful overview of the permanent diaconate in the United States.

Did you know…..

Twenty-one dioceses have more than 200 deacons.

Eighty-one percent of all deacons are in active ministry.

There are 17,047 permanent deacons in the US today.

Ninety-two percent of deacons are married.

The diocese with the lowest ratio of Catholics to deacons is the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska (0ne deacon for every 519 Catholics).

The diocese with the highest ratio of Catholics to deacons is the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (one deacon for every 16,001 Catholics).

Eighty-five percent of deacons serve in the diocese in which they are incardinated.

Ninety-one percent of all deacons are over 50 years of age, with 62% over the age of 60 years.

Deacons are slightly more ethnically diverse than priests.

Sixty-one percent of active deacons have a bachelor degree or higher.

Only nine deacons last year were laicized (relieved of their clerical obligations/status).

Only 18% are compensated for their ministry.

These statistics seem to debunk some myths about permanent deacons.  They are remarkably stable in their dioceses, despite the impression some have that they move from diocese to diocese.  They are highly educated for the most part, with many having graduate degrees in various fields in addition to or instead  of theology. They remain faithful to their diaconal vocation. Most of us, despite our advancing years, are active in ministry.  We do almost all of it free of charge!

I think history will look back on these years and ask, “Why didn’t we fully utilized the talents and charisms of the diaconate? These men are remarkably dedicated. Most only need to be asked to serve, and they show up.

To parishes that may be struggling with certain aspects of parish life, or to dioceses that have unmet needs, I think we need to turn loose the deacons, especially in the areas of social justice and the corporal works of mercy.

We have a lot to offer.

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Words of Encouragement

Friday, April 30th, 2010

If you are a priest who is discouraged by the crisis in the Church regarding the abuse children and the Church’s response to this inexcusable crime, take a look at what Archbishop John R. Quinn, retired bishop of San Francisco said at the National Federation of Priests Councils in Houston, Texas on April 13.

www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=12258

I think married deacons are in a prophetic position in regard to all of this.  We potentially can act as agents of healing here, and understanding. On one hand, we are clergy and we have direct experience with our brothers in Holy Orders that the laity simply do not have.  We have the ability to have compassion for them.  But almost all of us are also fathers to children. We deeply understand that our children come first. Within the ranks of clergy, we are better situated than others in most situations to have instinctual, raw compassion for child victims and a natural sense to protect.  We can advocate for all children from a vantage point that out celebate brothers cannot.

Compassion for priests and bishops is sorely needed.  Compassion for our children is obligatory, primal, and cannot be compromised under any circumstances.  Those who are complicit in exposing our children to sexual trauma deserve our forgiveness but our children deserve justice.

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Crisis in the Church, a Post-Script

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

I was visiting a parish today and one of my brother deacons was the homilist.  As you know, today is Good Shepherd Sunday, and Deacon John began with an engaging recalling of his boyhood experiences with a sheep herd, a delightful story of a newly appointed bishop, and then skillfully, sincerely, honestly, lovingly and very effectively preached on the world-wide scandal in the Church of priests and bishops who have neglected their flocks and scattered their sheep because of their sexual perpetration of minors.

Deacon John, I commend you for what you did today in speaking the truth with love. You exercised your prophetic ministry as deacon. In that one hour, you evidently lived the three-fold munera of the diaconate:  Servant of Charity, Servant of Liturgy, and Servant of the Word.

Bless you!

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Deacons and Marriage

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

I’d like to quote Herbert Vorgrimler in his book,  Sacramental Theology, (pg. 27o):  

“… all that a deacon does is done as a member of the hierarchy, of the clerus; whether married or not, the deacon makes it clear that the liturgy must have concrete consequences in the world with all its needs, and that work in the world that is done in the spirit of charity has a spiritual dimension.  Sacramental ordination asks for and effects in deacons the grace to perform this service.” (Italics are author’s)

Vorgrimler says that all we do is done as a member of the hierarchy. It is so tempting at times to compartmentalize our lives as deacons — “diaconate ministry”  from “occupational responsibilities” from “family responsibilities”.  If we fall into that trap, we betray our identities and we fragment our vocations, doing harm to all three aspects of our lives.

There are profound implications here for diaconal spirituality when it becomes identified with marital spirituality, as it is  for most deacons.  The richness of this has only begun to be explored by the theologians  (at least in contrast to the vast writings and thought on Holy Orders and celibacy).

To be a married deacon is in some way a calling to more fully and deeply understood marital spirituality.  A call to the diaconate after marriage can only be well understood if it is seen as a divine call to a form of marital spirituality that not only plummets the mysterious depths of our relationship with our wives but arises from its foundation.  Our marriages are transformed and necessarily are called to new heights.  After ordination, we love and communicate and give ourselves to our wives as clerics, as deacons, as Icons of Jesus the Servant. 

How then does the grace of ordination affect our wives,  for we are in marriage no longer two, but one?

Try to wrap your mind around this.  A lot to apprehend and appreciate.  A lot for which to be grateful. A great source for meditation and prayer.

Posted in Deacons, Sacraments, Spirituality | 11 Comments »

Quote for the Day

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

“Be not the greatest, unless in your greatness you are the servant of all.” — Bishop John M. Quinn, August 22, 2009

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Attention Deacons!

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

“The servant of God cannot know how much patience and humility he has within himself as long as everything goes well for him. But when the time comes in which those who should do him justice do quite the opposite to him, he has only as much patience and humility as he has on that occasion and no more.” – St. Francis of Assisi

We would do well to recall this in our prayer.  St. Francis couples patience with humility.  In my short time of diaconate ministry, I have found that both virtues are hallmarks of a good deacon. We are not always well-received, nor well-understood.  What may be ours in justice does not always come to us, yet in all things we are called to patience endurance and humble service.

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Early Morning Diaconal Thoughts

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

I am up extra early this morning. I will be leaving for the office in about 15 minutes, having been up  since 4 AM. 

I strikes me that Lent is about half over now. I wonder if the world has made many changes since its beginning a few weeks ago. Lent is a time of sowing seeds and fertilization of the soil. We have to wait for the sudden eruption of growth that will undoubtedly occur. For us, time is such a linear thing, one day leading to the next and a lifetime being about 75 years, that we tend to think God is slouching, delaying and is chronically late. The truth of the matter is time is ever present in God’s sight and present for all time. The seeds of change sown during Lent will come to fruition and a great harvest will be gathered. We may not be living our earthly lives at that time, but we will see the fruit in the life to come.

The ordination prayer for deacons begins, “Draw near, we pray, Almighty God, giver of every grace, who apportion every order and assign every office; who remain unchanged, but make all things new.” God makes all things new even in his immutability, his perfection, his stability. Newness in the midst of the eternal “now,” the eternal constancy characteristic of God. It is God who gives us our calling, our office, as deacons and who calls us into the workings of his trinitarian life through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who binds us to his Son, Jesus in his oneness with the Father. Through our ordination, we are given an authority which comes from the Father, the authority of compassion, forming us into the Icon of Jesus the Servant. Our union with Jesus in this way is truly an outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the world, an outpouring which has lasting effects.

May God bless each of you today in a special way.

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The Case for Humility

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Great reading from St. Irenaeus in the Office today. He makes the case for humility. An excerpt, my English translation:

“He commands us to follow him, not because he has need of our service, but to give us salvation. To follow the Lord, in fact, is to participate in salvation, just as to follow the light means to be surrounded and infused with brightness/clarity….

“And so it is with our service to God; it adds nothing to God, and on the other hand, God does not have need of the service of men; to those though that serve him and follow  him, he gives life, incorruptibility and eternal glory. He apportions his benefits to those who serve him because they serve him….

“The glory of man consists in persevering in his service. While God has need for nothing, man has need of communion with God.” — St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Lib IV, 13

Attention Deacons! Just in case we start having an ego problem. We are merely the messengers. God gives salvation to his people. We help others follow.

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The Diaconal Voice of Christ

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

I ran across a beautiful paragraph  in reading a talk given by Archbishop Roberto O. Gonzalez Nieves, OFM, Archbishop of San Juan de Puerto Rico backon February 19, 2000 on the identity, functions and prospects for the permanent diaconate.  Here it is:

“When he is ordained, a deacon is commanded by his Bishop, the successor of the apostles to preach the Gospel. This brings about a change deep in his being. The deacon’s physical breath is now inspired by the Holy Spirit so that what he will preach and teach will not sound like a mere human voice. From that moment on, the deacon’s preaching and teaching must be the voice of Christ, true God and true man.”

I think that is a  wonderful paragraph to use as a source of meditation….”the deacon’s physical breath is now inspired by the Holy Spirit…. the voice of Christ….”.

To read the entire address, log on to:

www.vatican.va/roman_curia

then click on “congregations” followed by a click on “clergy”, then on “Jubilee 2000 deacons”.

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For the Love of Stephen!

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Being a deacon blogger, I can’t help but post on St. Stephen, whose feast we celebrate today. As you know, he is the Protomartyr that is, the first martyr of the Church.  He was also among the first deacons of the Church, being chosen by the Apostles along with six others, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.

Stephen was stoned to death by the Sanhedrin after testifying before them about Jesus.  Saul, later to be St. Paul, was there and silently held the cloaks of those who threw the stones. 

Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe writes that the love of St. Stephen is what conquered the hardness of Saul’s heart. That is an interesting thought. Scriptures tell us that Saul was converted on the way to Damascus when he encountered Jesus and was thrown from his horse and blinded. But maybe the love of St. Stephen planted the seed of faith.  One has to wonder why Saul didn’t cast any stones at Stephen, but stood silently by. Perhaps even then the grace of God was knocking at the door, thanks to the love of Stephen.

Here is an excerpt from one of St. Fulgentius’ discourses (my translation of the Italian)

“The love therefore that brought Christ from heaven to the earth raised up Stephen from the earth to heaven. The love that was first in the King now shines forth in the soldier. 

“Stephen, then, to win the crown that his name signifies, had love for his weapon and he conquered all. By means of love he did not give in to the Jews that were infuriated against him; by means of love for his neighbors he prayed for those who stoned him. With love he confronted the erring so they would change their ways; with love he prayed that those who stoned him would not be punished.

“Sustained by the power of love that conquered Saul, who was cruelly inflamed against him, he merited to have as a companion in heaven he who had been on earth his persecutor. The same holy and indefatigable love desired to conquer with prayer those he couldn’t convert with words……

“Love therefore is the source and origin of all good, the best defense, the way that leads to heaven. He that walks in love cannot err, nor fear. It guides, it protects, it brings us to our proper end.”  – Fulgentius of Rupe, Disc. 3

I think a good source for our meditation today is the thought that love is what conquers, not human words really. We are called to speak the truth with our words, but especially by our lives which hopefully demonstrate radical love for all.

If we really loved each other from the heart, we Christians really loved from the heart all whom we meet, we would have to build new churches.  We would have to build new seminaries. We would have to expand our diaconate formation programs.  We would have a very hard time keeping up with our marriage preparation programs.  People would be flocking to the Church in droves, uncountable numbers of people, saying, “Look how they love one another!”

It is how the Church grew so rapidly in the early years.

It could happen again.

Deacons, for the love of Stephen, let us give genuine witness to our faith!

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The Deacon as “Confessor”

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Nearly ten years ago, the Church celebrated the Jubilee Year of Deacons. I liken it to this year’s Year of the Priest. I was reading a homily of Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, then President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, which he delivered on February 19, 2000 regarding the life, family and spirituality of the diaconate.

In it, he speaks of the deacon’s vocation to be  a “confessor” of the faith. A confessor is one who is cast forth on a road filled with danger, like a lamb among wolves.  Here is segment of the homily:

“The Sacrament of Baptism configures the deacon in his freedom to the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord….. The Vocation of a deacon is to be a “confessor” of the faith.  He seeks to revive this ancient title in democratic modernity.  He searches for that sanctity which informs the inner life of the university, of politics, of economics, of marriage and family.

“…. during his ordination the deacon was entrusted with the  Blood of Christ. Central to the deacon/confessor’s anthropology is his self-awareness in Christ crucified… 

“In the early and medieval Church a confessor was one who suffered for confessing the faith, but was not called to martyrdom. The term applied to holy persons….

“On the threshold of a new millennium, a confessor is one who has been cast forth, handed over by God. Where has he  been cast forth? On the road he has chosen, on the road he has hurled himself on. The deacon/confessor has cast himself forth into the heart of danger like a lamb among wolves. The road of the poor and outcast, not simply the altar, is his vocation. And at every curve  and bend of that road he will find challenges and suffering. St. Paul would describe it as warfare. The deacon’s walk is a heroic one. For the cup of blessing which he ministers is a participation in the Blood of Christ.

“…. Thus the deacon discovers that persecution constitutes the normal condition of the Church in her relation to the world. That is why the deacon is cast forth in hope.”

Our calling compels us to be willing to be hurled forth into the dangers of the contemporary human condition, that is, to be Icons of Jesus Incarnate, who hurled himself into a sinful world to redeem it.

Something to think about — confessors of the faith, sharers in the persecutions of Christ — whenever we elevate the Precious Blood of our Lord at Eucharist.

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