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History |
Role of the Deacon
| The
Ministry of Mercy and Justice |
The
Ministry of the Word |
The Ministry of the
Sacraments |
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(To print the "Deacon Manual" please click here.) |
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HISTORY |
| Every Christian is called to take part in the mission of
the Church. That mission has its roots and origin in
Baptism and in the call from Jesus to share the faith.
Among those whom the Holy Spirit calls to serve the Church
are those who receive the grace of permanent commitment to
the ministry of service and Church leadership. On some
of these, the Church bestows the sacrament of Holy Orders.
This sign and sacrament distinguishes them as official
public ministers of the Church. The recipients of this
sacrament are the bishop, priest and deacon. |
| The order of deacon had its origins in apostolic times
and flourished for the first four centuries. |
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"In those days as the number of
disciples grew,
the ones who spoke Greek
complained that their widows were being neglected
in the daily distribution of food,
as compared with the widows of those who spoke Hebrew.
The twelve assembled the community of the disciples and
said,
'It is not right for us to neglect the word of God in order
to wait on tables,
look around among your own number, brothers,
for seven men acknowledged to be deeply spiritual and
prudent,
and we shall appoint them to this task.
this will permit us to concentrate on prayer
and the ministry of the word.'
The proposal was unanimously accepted by the community.
Following this they selected Stephen, a man filled with the
Holy Spirit;
Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas,
and Nicholas of Antioch, who had been a convert to Judaism.
They presented these men to the apostles,
Who first prayed over them,
and then imposed hands on them."
(Acts 6:1-6)
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| The next four centuries saw the rise and the fall of the
diaconate as a permanent state of life and ministry within
the Church. The end of this particular ministry came
in 343 when the Council of Sardica declared that this order
would become a traditional step toward the priesthood.
It was not until Vatican II, In Article 29 of Lumen
Gentium (The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) that
the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent order would
be accomplished in the Roman Church. |
| On the feast of St. Ephrem the Deacon, June 18, 1967,
Pope Paul VI, in accord with the will of Vatican II,
restored the Order of Deacon as a permanent ministry in the
Church in the motu propio, "Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem."
On April 23, 1968, the American Bishops petitioned for the
restoration of the Permanent Diaconate in the United States:
"to complete the hierarchy of sacred orders and to enrich
and strengthen the various diaconal ministries at work in
the United States with the sacrament grace of the
diaconate." This request was granted in August of the
same year. |
| In the Diocese of Pueblo, the permanent diaconate was
not actively pursued in favor of lay ministry training.
But after some years, it was apparent that the Order of
Deacon could complement to the many other ministries already
at work in the diocese. In the fall of 1995 the first
recruitment program was begun and a Deacon Formation Council
was appointed by Bishop Tafoya. Candidates who were
accepted began their formation in September of 1996 - most
in the program of the Archdiocese of Denver, and two in the
program of the Diocese of Gallup. |
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The
Role of the Deacon Today: A ministry of service |
| While service to God's redemptive plan and taking an
active part in society belongs to the baptismal mission of
every Christian, the permanent deacon has a special witness
to give. The deacon is a representative symbol of the
inner connections of three great areas of the church's life:
mercy and justice, Word, and sacraments. |
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The
Ministry of Mercy and Justice |
| From the very beginning, and particularly during the
first centuries, the diaconate has been primarily a ministry
of mercy and justice. Early deacons were concerned
with the widow and orphan: the sick, the dead, and
those who mourned; immigrants and exiles; the homeless and
the hungry. In 1981, a survey of the ministries of
deacons in the United States discovered that, among others,
deacons serve abused children, the aged, battered women, the
bereaved, the blind, the deaf, the divorced, the dying, the
handicapped, the ill, prisoners, refugees, the rural poor,
street people, victims of racial discrimination, etc.
Deacons are serving these people in the name of the Church,
representing the care of Jesus himself. "As by
ordination, particularly and officially committed to
service, the deacon is to inspire, promote, and help
coordinate the service that the whole Church must
undertake in imitation of Christ." [italics added] (PDUS
#36 & #37. |
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The
Ministry of the Word |
| "The deacon's ministry of the Word is also a very
far-ranging one. It may include proclaiming the Gospel
at the liturgy, preaching, catechetical instruction and
other forms of teaching, counseling, instruction of
catechumens, giving retreats. Outreach to alienated
Catholics, parish renewal programs, etc...Besides these more
or less formal occasions, deacons may also have many
opportunities to speak about Jesus Christ more informally,
especially as they carry out their ministries of love and
justice. Deacons who have secular occupations also are
able to witness to the Gospel in the marketplace, where they
meet the demands of their work both as committed Catholics
and as ordained ministers and use the opportunities their
work provides to bring the Gospel to bear on the concrete
circumstances of everyday individual and social life."
(PDUSA #39) |
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The Ministry of the Sacraments |
| "The ancient tradition appears to indicate that it was
because the deacon was the servant at the table of the poor
that he had his distinctive liturgical roles of gathering
the gifts and distributing communion at the Table of the
Lord. Similarly, there is a reciprocal correspondence
between his role as a proclaimer of the Gospel and his role
as an articulator of the needs of the Church in the general
intercessions. In his formal liturgical roles, the
deacon brings the poor to the Church and the Church to the
poor. He thus symbolizes in his role the grounding of
the Church's life in the Eucharist and the mission of the
Church in the loving service of the needy." (PDUS
#28) |
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Return to the Deacon
Manual |
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