Deacon reflection 2

Why are there deacons and why me?

After the bishop’s invitation to consider the diaconate, I began to read and pray.

The diaconate as a permanent grade of the sacrament of Holy Orders had been restored after the Second Vatican Council. Between the Middle Ages and Vatican II, the diaconate was considered almost exclusively as a step on the way to the priesthood.

There were a few cases of men who remained deacons. Saint Francis of Assisi is said to be among them. There was also a suggestion at the Council of Trent to revive the permanent diaconate. There were discussions during the nineteen century.

During the Second World War, priests in the Dachau concentration camp seriously discussed the diaconate in the light of what they considered to be a church out of touch with the world. After the war, some of those priests and other theologians wrote on the topic. There were also laypeople who began discussions and formed Deacon Circles. Pope Pius XII at one point said it was not yet time for permanent deacons.

But the bishops at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) took up the questions and in the Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, opened the way to the ordination of men, even married men, to the diaconate as a permanent grade of the sacrament of Holy Orders.

They began paragraph 29 with a description of the deacon:

At a lower level of the hierarchy are deacons, upon whom hands are imposed "not unto the priesthood, but unto a ministry of service." For strengthened by sacramental grace, in communion with the bishop and his group of priests they serve in the diaconate of the liturgy, of the word, and of charity to the people of God. It is the duty of the deacon, according as it shall have been assigned to him by competent authority, to administer baptism solemnly, to be custodian and dispenser of the Eucharist, to assist at and bless marriages in the name of the Church, to bring Viaticum to the dying, to read the Sacred Scripture to the faithful, to instruct and exhort the people, to preside over the worship and prayer of the faithful, to administer sacramentals, to officiate at funeral and burial services. Dedicated to duties of charity and of administration, let deacons be mindful of the admonition of Blessed Polycarp: "Be merciful, diligent, walking according to the truth of the Lord, who became the servant of all."

They then suggest the restoration, with an openness to ordaining “men of more mature age, even upon those living in the married state.”

I knew this but I had to read the Decree on Mission, Ad Gentes, to really see how I might be a candidate for the diaconate.

In paragraph 16 the bishops wrote:

Where Episcopal Conferences deem it opportune, the order of the diaconate should be restored as a permanent state of life... For there are men who are actually carrying out the functions of the deacon’s office, either by preaching the Word of God as catechists, or by presiding over scattered Christian communities in the name of the pastor and the bishop, or by practicing charity in social or relief work. It will be helpful to strengthen them by that imposition of hands which has come down from the apostles, and to bind them more closely to the altar. Thus they can carry out their ministry more effectively because of the sacramental grace of the diaconate.

When I read this, I was stunned.

Soon after I came to Honduras in 2007, I began helping in the training of catechists in the parish of Dulce Nombre de María. With a new pastor in 2013, I soon began going out several Sundays to distant villages to preside at Celebrations of the Word with Communion. I also have been involved in efforts to respond to the needs of the poor – first through visiting a kindergarten in a poor neighborhood in Santa Rosa, and a lunch program for kids; then through assisting in the diocesan Caritas office; and then more recently in efforts in the parish of Dulce Nombre.

The bishops at the Second Vatican Council were proposing that those who had been involved in one of the three areas of evangelization, worship, or service to the poor might be ordained to the diaconate “to strengthen them by that imposition of hands which has come down from the apostles, and to bind them more closely to the altar.”

I had been serving in all three areas. Maybe what I needed was “the sacramental grace of the sacrament” and the life commitment to serve.

 And so I continued my discernment.

Grinding coffee in a distant village while with Caritas 

A glaring omission at the US deacons congress

This past week I attended the US National Diaconate Congress in New Orleans, celebrating fifty years of the permanent diaconate – or, perhaps better, the diaconate as a permanent state of life – in the United States.

There were several very good main speakers that have given me much to chew on and to help me understand better my vocation and the vocation of the deacon. I will reflect on this later.

This was a time to make contacts but I also had a chance to meet an old friend whom I’ve known since summer camp in the 1950s! Msgr. Tim Shugrue worked with the permanent diaconate in his archdiocese and in the US for a number of years.

I knew that I would be an anomaly – being the only permanent deacon in the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán and only the third permanent deacon ordained in Honduras. I am also one of the few celibate deacons, for all that’s worth.

Though many presentations made reference to the church teaching on the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent order, there was a glaring omission.

Not one of the speakers I heard in the major sessions or the workshops mentioned a critical passage in the Second Vatican Council’s “Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity,” Ad Gentes, paragraph 16:

Where Episcopal Conferences deem it opportune, the order of the diaconate should be restored as a permanent state of life, according to the norms of the Constitution on the Church. For there are men who are actually carrying out the functions of the deacon’s office, either by preaching the Word of God as catechists, or by presiding over scattered Christian communities in the name of the pastor and the bishop, or by practicing charity in social or relief work. It will be helpful to strengthen them by that imposition of hands which has come down from the apostles, and to bind them more closely to the altar. Thus they can carry out their ministry more effectively because of the sacramental grace of the diaconate.

I am biased because this is a passage that was critical in my discernment in response to the bishop’s invitation to consider the diaconate. I had been working with catechists and visiting remote villages for Celebrations of the Word with Communion and practicing the works of mercy and justice.

When I read this, I nearly fell over backwards and saw that “the sacramental grace of the diaconate” might be a way that God would “strengthen” me in my feeble efforts.

As I continued my discernment process I came across several articles by the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner on the diaconate. In “On the diaconate,” written before the Second Vatican Council, he noted:

…the diaconate already exists de facto in an anonymous form in the Church of today. In these circumstances, it is right that those who are already vested with this anonymous diaconate should also have the sacramental commission conferred upon them, because in principle it is possible for there to be a sacramental diaconate in the Church, and such a sacramental commission is reasonable and productive of grace.

I believe that this passage challenges the church to understand the diaconate more as the ordination of the diakonia that a person is already practicing, orienting this diakonia to the service of the church, animating the diakonia of the entire People of God,  and serving as making visible the connection between the altar and the daily life of the faithful.

The words of Father Paul Mc Partlan ring true for me:

“The deacon stands at the altar and prepares the gifts with clean hands, but he stands also where the practical need is greatest, getting his hands very dirty.”

I have modified his insight in this way, reflecting on the way I perceive my diaconal vocation:

The deacon stands at the altar and prepares the table of the Lord with clean hands, because he has gotten his hands dirty, serving at the table of the poor.

In this way, the diaconal ministry is not a privileged position in the church but, in part, a way of sacramentalizing what diaconal persons are already doing and who they already are. It is, however, not a reward for service, but a calling to deepen our identity as servants, in the image of Christ the Servant.

I believe that further reflection on this passage from Vatican II’s Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity might help the diaconate in the US and in the world better serve God’s and God’s people – at the table of the Lord, at the table of the poor, and at the table of daily life in one’s work and one’s family.

Servant of the mission of liberation

As I began to discern the bishop’s suggestion that I become a candidate for the permanent diaconate here in the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán, one passage from the Second Vatican Council stood out, from “The Decree on the Missionary Activity on the Church,” paragraph 16:

Where Episcopal Conferences deem it opportune, the order of the diaconate should be restored as a permanent state of life, according to the norms of the Constitution on the Church. For there are men who are actually carrying out the functions of the deacon’s office, either by preaching the Word of God as catechists, or by presiding over scattered Christian communities in the name of the pastor and the bishop, or by practicing charity in social or relief work. It will be helpful to strengthen them by that imposition of hands which has come down from the apostles, and to bind them more closely to the altar. Thus they can carry out their ministry more effectively because of the sacramental grace of the diaconate.

Isn’t this what I am doing? I felt a call to ask for the grace of the sacrament – to better serve God’s people here.

A few month ago I read a few essays that Karl Rahner had written about the permanent diaconate in the early 1960s. In “On the Diaconate,” he argues for the restoration of the permanent diaconate, noting that there are already persons performing the office of deacon, without being ordained.

…the diaconate already exists de facto in an anonymous form in the Church of today. In these circumstances, it is right that those who are already vested with this anonymous diaconate should also have the sacramental commission conferred upon them, because in principle it is possible for there to be a sacramental diaconate in the Church, and such a sacramental commission is reasonable and productive of grace.

“On the Diaconate,”  p, 199

In another essay, “The Theology of the Restoration of the Diaconate,” p, 189

what we are asking here is whether in our Church of the present day the office of deacon is de facto being performed. If, and to the extent that we have to answer this question in the affirmative, or if and to the extent that we have to say that it is absolutely necessary for there to be such an office, given the circumstances of the present day, then this office is to be set up. And if an individual is already suitable for this office, then it seems to me to be necessary on theological grounds that grace should be conferred upon him, which does exist in the Church precisely for the official functions that he is de facto performing.

I thought I had read most of the really significant for the passages on the diaconate from church documents. Yet last Wednesday, sitting in a clinic waiting for a doctor’s appointment, reading Alberto Villegas Betancourt’s  Diácono Permanente: Quién es y qué hace, I came across this quote from the final document of the Latin American Bishops’ Conference meeting in 1979 at Puebla, Mexico, paragraph 697:

The deacon, collaborator of the bishop and the priest, receives his own specific sacramental grace. The charism of the diaconate, a sacramental sign of “Christ the servant,” is very effective in bringing about a poor, servant Church, that exercises its missionary function for the integral liberation of the human being.

Can God work through me, bringing us to be a poor, servant Church? Can God work through me for integral liberation of al God’s people?

I sometimes have my doubts.

 If, as planned, I am ordained on July 9, may God give me the sacramental grace to be such a missionary – at the service of the Word, the Altar, and the Poor.

The deacon in missionary lands

When the bishops at the Second Vatican Council decided to restore the diaconate as a permanent order, many were thinking that this would be important for the poor countries of the world where priests were few.

Surprisingly, this has not been the case. Most of the deacons in the world are in the United Sates and other developed countries.

There have been a few efforts to restore the diaconate among the poor countries of the world. One of the most famous and controversial was the effort of Bishop Samuel Ruiz of San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico, who ordained a large number of indigenous deacons. Sadly this effort was curbed and ordinations to the diaconate suspended for twelve years. They were recently resumed. I wish someone would write an objective of this experiment since it might be of great help to the church in Latin America. But here is an article that gives some background.

The Vatican II documents speak of the diaconate in several places but the one passage that struck me most deeply was in Ad Gentes: The Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church, ¶ 16:

Where episcopal conferences deem it opportune, the order of the diaconate should be restored as a permanent state of life according to the norms of the Constitution "De Ecclesia." For there are men who actually carry out the functions of the deacon's office, either preaching the word of God as catechists, or presiding over scattered Christian communities in the name of the pastor and the bishop, or practicing charity in social or relief work. It is only right to strengthen them by the imposition of hands which has come down from the Apostles, and to bind them more closely to the altar, that they may carry out their ministry more effectively because of the sacramental grace of the diaconate. 

As I’ve mentioned before, when I read this I asked myself if I was not already carrying out some of the functions of the deacon’s office.

• I have been “preaching the word of God” as a trainer of catechists in the parish of Dulce Nombre for many years and by sharing reflections at Sunday Celebrations in some villages in the parish.
   
• I have been assisting the pastor of Dulce Nombre, visiting “scattered Christian communities,” trying to help the base communities and others serve their communities better and by spending Holy Thursday and Good Friday in remote villages.
   
• I have been “practicing charity in social or relief work.” For a number of years I helped in Caritas, the social action department of the church in Santa Rosa; I helped in a diocesan program to form leaders in Catholic Social Thought; I am accompanying a group of small coffee farmers forming a cooperative to market coffee in the US.

And so I wondered if what I really need was “the sacramental grace of the diaconate” to strengthen me to deepen my commitment to serve the poor.

This description of the diaconate helped me to see that the bishop’s call to consider the permanent diaconate might be a way to better serve the poor – to strengthen them to be signs of God’s kingdom here in western Honduras.

Deacon as barrier or bridge

When Padre German asked me about the diaconate, one of the first concerns I raised was whether this would create or increase a barrier between the people I serve and me.

There will always be some barrier between the people I serve and me. I am white, born in privilege, even if my parents were blue collar workers. I have college degrees. I have a US passport. I have savings. There is much that makes us different, much that could divide us.

The deacon is not a member of the laity. 

In a country and a church where there is a strong sense of the difference between clergy and laity, would becoming a deacon, and therefore a member of the “clergy,” put me up on a pedestal and separate me even more from people who are so involved in the church?

I think a lot of this depends on the person. But there is also what I would call the danger of clericalism and a theology that separates, rather than promoting communion.

Some have spoken of the diaconate as a bridge between the hierarchy and the laity; Pope John Paul II noted:

Some saw the permanent diaconate as a bridge between pastors and the faithful. 

The image of bridge is appealing to me, especially since my spiritual director once helped me see how my ministry in the US was a type of bridge, connecting people there with the poor of the world.

But a word of caution. Some commentators have seen this image of the deacon as bridge as emphasizing a breech that is not there, according to the theology of Vatican II.

Whatever our ministry in the People of God it flows from the mission and ministry of Jesus. Our call comes, first and foremost, from our baptism and confirmation. In baptism we become members of Christ Jesus, prophet, priest, and king.

I have been reading a book of Kenan Osborne, OFM, The Permanent Diaconate: Its history and place in the Sacrament of Orders, that lays this out in terms of the theology and ecclesiology of Vatican II.

But this temptation to look at our ministry as supremely important is all too real. Yesterday in a meeting with base community leaders, one of them said that his calling came from the ministry he has in the church. I didn’t respond but later suggested that our calling comes first and foremost from Jesus – and is experienced primarily in our baptism.

But it is all too easy to see the differences that separate us than to affirm the unity of our calling by our baptism.

Thus I see the deacon as called to be, as some have written, an agent of communion and solidarity, an animator of participation in mission in the People of God.

I close with this extended quote from Paul McPartlan that has helped me to work through my concern about the danger that a deacon many be a barrier:

The term bridge [as a description of the permanent deacon], however, also has some problems, which are important to identify. The deacon is spoken of as a bridge precisely to stress the connectedness of church and world, liturgy and life, pastors and faithful.… The danger, however, is that the very image itself suggests a gap that needs to be bridged (and, moreover, that is not bridged unless there is a deacon)— that is not our basic view of things. Yes, there was a gap between the church and the world prior to Vatican II, but there should not have been; and if we call the deacon a bridge as a matter of course, we are in danger of implying that there is of course a gap between the church and the world, between the pastors and the faithful, and so on. As the International Theology Commission says, the idea of the diaconate as medius ordo (that is, bridge) “might end up by sanctioning and deepening, through that very function, the gap which it was supposed to fill.” I would suggest that it is truer to the vision of Vatican II, particularly as set forth in Gaudium et Spes, to speak of the seamlessness or solidarity between the church and world, and to speak of the deacon as a splendid and very special sign of that seamlessness and solidarity.

If I am ordained a deacon, may I experience it as another call by God to be a sign and an agent of solidarity who helps us all to see our common calling in Baptism to be prophets, priests, and servant-kings, signs of the Reign of God in our world.

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Paul McPartlan's essay, "The Deacon and Gaudium et Spes," can be found in The Deacon Reader.