Since the beginning of Christianity, the diaconate has been primarily a ministry of love and justice. As members of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, they proclaim the Gospel and preach at liturgical services; they lead the community in prayer, and conduct baptisms and witness marriages, and they address the needs of the community in an active ministry of outreach and service to others. Pope John Paul II described diaconal ministry as “. . the Church’s service sacramentalized.” Pope Paul VI offered the vision that the Permanent Diaconate is a “. . .driving force for the Church’s service.”
The word “deacon” has its origin in the Greek word for “servant.” Since the renewal of the Permanent Diaconate by the Church Fathers at Vatican II, we have come to understand that deacons have a unique expression of ordained ministry, called to “pour out their own lives in service to others.” Deacons help the Church link the two greatest commandments of Christ: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” As explained by nationally-recognized author Deacon William Ditewig, the Church sees the deacon as “. . a sacramental witness to Christ within the community, and the deacon also serves as a prophetic reminder to all the baptized of their own responsibility to care for others.”
Most Permanent Deacons are married and also have family responsibilities, a consideration Council participants saw as a blessing for the Church, as deacons would be a direct presence of their sacred ministry outside the church environment. By his call to ordained ministry, a deacon is engaged in his ministry at home, at work, or wherever he is participating in activities not directly related to the church, as an example of an authentic witness and teacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Deacon Ditewig concludes: “It is precisely in his leadership and presence outside formal ecclesial structures, that the deacon can often enable and empower others to exercise their own . . . responsibilities as Christians.”
Within the letter to Timothy (3:8-10, 12-13), we read of the qualifications for men being considered for diaconal ministry in the early Church: “Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money: they must hold fast to the mystery of faith with a clear conscience. And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”
Many men inquiring about the Permanent Diaconate often ask, “So what is REALLY expected of me as a Permanent Deacon?” While the deacon is most visible at liturgies and other ecclesial functions, he must be an intentional disciple both on and away from the altar. The National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States, developed and approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, explains the expectations of a diaconal vocation as follows: “The diaconate is lived in a particularly powerful way in the manner in which a deacon fulfills his obligations to his secular occupation, to his civic and public responsibilities, and among his friends and neighbors. This, in turn, enables the deacon to bring back to the Church an appreciation of the meaning and value of the Gospel as he discerns it in the lives and questions of the people he has encountered. In his preaching and teaching, the deacon articulates the needs and hopes of the people he has experienced, thereby animating, motivating, and facilitating a commitment among the lay faithful to an evangelical service in the world.” (¶58)
(Excerpts from the article appearing in the January, 2014 issue of Deacon Digest, by Deacon Joseph R. Ferrari, Ph.D. Used with permission.)
Deacon Ferrari was returning home with his wife from a pre-ordination gathering of candidates and wives with Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of the Diocese of Joliet, and she asked him why he didn’t offer a response to the Bishop’s challenge, “How are you ready for your calling?” Deacon Ferrari shared with her, “I felt I could not, because I would not be able to fully explain my point of view. I would have said, ‘I hope I don’t BECOME a deacon. Instead I pray I will always be BECOMING a deacon.”
Deacon Ferrari submits that a principle of human developing is in “becoming.” He explains how this applies to formation as a deacon: “One never ‘becomes’ because change is lifelong. Incidents during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood are phases of life in a continuous, integrated process of change. . . Toward the end of the fourth year of formal formation, it finally hit me—I won’t be ‘done as a deacon’ at ordination. . . Despite receiving a broad, enlightened, and essential education on many of the Church’s teachings and ‘ologies,’ it’s just a beginning. So I am always ‘becoming a deacon.’”
In this on-going process of ‘”becoming,” Deacon Ferrari acknowledges that there will be times when there is a questioning of the calling; when the ordained deacon can doubt his skills and abilities to be prudent and effective in his diaconal ministry. But it is within these times that he appreciated the assistance of his spiritual director, especially in the more troubling times when he felt he was in “disaster mode.” Deacon Ferrari shares, “ . . .that is the mystery of spiritual direction. Our spiritual directors see God in the mystery and even in the misery. They join us in the becoming, seeing the face of Christ in all. It’s all a BECOMING.”
One of the realities that Deacon Ferrari also addresses is the confusion among many of the laity as to what the role of the deacon is. He notes that many describe today’s deacon as having “one foot in the laity,” and “one foot in the clergy.” But he challenges this model explaining, “To me, deacons need to have both feet planted in the clergy. . . After ordination, we do not speak in our voice, but in the voice of the Church.” He continues, “But—and this is what I think needs to be remembered always—deacons have both hands in service. We are here to serve, as we are always BECOMING Christ the suffering servant. It is the hands of the deacon that witness the charity and compassion of Christ in the world. We come to serve the laity.”
Deacon Ferrari concludes with the personal observation, “I doubt I will ever BECOME a deacon. I hope and pray, however, that I continue to grow into this calling, always BECOMING.” He looks to the example of Saint Lawrence, a diaconal patron of the early Church, and hopes to emulate his example of service and unshakable faith. “With the years of formal formation classes having now ended, I, too, can say, let me enter the next phase of BECOMING, because I am ‘done on this side.”
Deacon Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., was ordained for the Diocese of Joliet in 2013. He is currently a professor of psychology at DePaul University.