February 7, 2008

The Diaconate Program

Over the next few months, The West Tennessee Catholic will publish a series of articles relating to the diaconate. This first article deals with the formation journey that men who aspire to become deacons in the Church undertake.

By Deacon Frank Williams

Director of Diaconate Formation

In February of 2003, a group of thirty-two lay men, along with their wives, began a journey of discernment and formation designed to prepare those men to become deacons in the Catholic Diocese of Memphis.

On Saturday, April 19 at 11 a.m., twenty-two of these men are scheduled to receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders when they are ordained as Permanent Deacons by Bishop J. Terry Steib, S.V.D.

The men have journeyed for five years of study, prayer and discernment _ more than 1,000 hours of formation devoted to the human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral dimensions of the individual. And through it all, their wives studied, prayed and discerned with them, shared their journey and, along with their families, will play an important role in their ministry as deacons.

Our faculty for these studies consisted of priests, deacons, religious and lay men and women who contributed to their formation process. We are indeed blessed by God to have such dedicated and educated men and women to serve as our faculty during this process.

We remember with fondness and love Father Gabriel DiFederico _ may he rest in peace _ who began this journey in 2003 as Director of Formation and also are grateful to his successors. We thank Father Al Kirk who serves as our Director of Spiritual Formation. Our entire faculty has had a profound effect on this group of candidates for ordination and we are grateful to each and every one of them for their role in the formation process.

The deacons to be will be ordained ministers, as priests and bishops are. From the very earliest days of the church deacons were understood to occupy a special place in the Christian Community, set apart along with the `presbyters' (bishops and priests) for a special role modeled on that of Christ himself. The first definite reference to deacons in this sense _ perhaps as early as 53 A.D. _ occurs in St. Paul's letter to the Philippians, which is addressed to "all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with their presiding elders (bishops and priests) and the deacons." (Phil. 1:1 NJB)

By the Middle Ages (around the fifth century) the office of deacon was all but lost. Diaconate was seen as a step in the journey toward ordination as a priest. So it remained for many centuries. There were deacons in the Western church, but they were men on their way to becoming priests. Few people imagined it being any different.

At the time of Vatican II (1967) Pope Paul VI gave specific directives for implementing the restoration of the diaconate in an apostolic letter (Diaconatus Ordinem) published in 1967. In 2004, the Bishops of the United States issued a document entitled The National Directory for the Formation, Life and Ministry of Permanent Deacons in the United States. These documents are still the basis of the Church's current practice and policy regarding the Permanent Diaconate.

The class of 2008 will be the fifth class of Deacons to be ordained in the Diocese of Memphis. The last class of Deacons was ordained in the year 2000.

During Bishop Steib's homily at that ordination liturgy, he said in addressing his new deacons "Do you know how long I have waited for you?" It was the first class ordained since he had become Bishop of Memphis and his gratitude for the deacons and the work they would do in the diocese was obvious.

One of the dictionary definitions of the word "journey" is "passage or progress from one stage to another." The Church waited almost fifteen hundred years; Bishop Steib waited almost fifteen years; the candidates (and their wives) have waited five long years to become deacons. An old Chinese proverb says "A journey of 10,000 miles begins with a single step." The journey of these candidates and their wives toward the permanent diaconate, has begun well. With God's Grace it will continue.