Diaconate began 35 years ago |
 |
 |
|
Written by DEACON ALFREDO M. DIAZ, Vicar for Deacons
|
|
Friday, 01 August 2008 01:00 |
On Sept. 20 four men will be ordained to the Order of Deacon. This will be a joyful occasion for the men and their families and also for the parishes to which they will be assigned.
Thirty-five years ago Deacon Jose Romo and Deacon James Campos (deceased) were the first two deacons to be ordained for the Diocese of Toledo. Since then almost 300 men have responded to a life-long commitment of service to the Church of Toledo.
Where did the diaconate come from? This question is still asked by many who have not experienced the ministry of the deacon.
The service of deacons in the church is documented in the Scriptures and in the literature from the early fathers. In the Acts of the Apostles, the "seven" are mentioned and later St. Paul refers to deacons and the bishops in Philippians. In his First Letter to Timothy, Paul lists the qualities and virtues they should possess to exercise their ministry worthily.
The Patristic literature provides substantial evidence and witness of the diaconate in the early church, including the Didache in which St. Ignatius of Antioch considers a church without bishop, priest or deacon unthinkable. And again, the Didache urges the churches to "appoint ... for yourselves, bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord...." The Didascalia Apostolrum, in delineating the relationship of the bishop to the whole of the church, states the deacon is to "minister to him, as Christ does to His Father; and let him serve Him unblameably in all things, as Christ does nothing of Himself, but does always those things that please His Father."
Until the fifth century the diaconate flourished in the western church. After this time it experienced, for various reasons, a slow decline that ended in its surviving only as an intermediate stage for candidates preparing for priestly ordination. There were, however, a few in the history of the church who did choose diaconate as their permanent vocation. St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Philip Neri are among several deacons canonized to sainthood.
The Second Vatican Council restored the Sacred Order of Deacons "as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy "to be ìa driving force for the church’s service or diakonia toward the local Christian communities, and as a sign or sacrament of the Lord Christ Himself, who ‘came not to be served but to serve.’ "
Since that time the diaconate has flourished and the number of deacons ordained totals more than 14,000 in the United States alone. Several documents have been published by the Vatican and the bishops of the United States to order and guide the formation and ministry of permanent deacons. In 2005 the bishops of the country promulgated the National Directory for the Formation, Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States, now normative for all of the dioceses in the country.
The Diocese of Toledo has been blessed with the commitment of three bishops who have supported and promoted the diaconate as an important enrichment for the mission of the church. They have appointed capable people to guide and implement a diaconate formation program that meet the needs of the diocesan parish communities; Father Cleo Schmenk was the first director of formation and presently Father William Kubacki was appointed in 2006.
The diocese is blessed, as stated in the National Directory, with "men who are called to a truly diaconal ministry in the church, whether liturgical or pastoral, charitable or social, strengthened by the imposition of hands, which has come down from the apostles, and more closely united to the altar so as to exercise their ministry more fruitfully through the sacramental grace of the diaconate."
Indeed, at the initial grade of the hierarchy of the Sacrament of Holy Orders are deacons, whose ministry has always been greatly esteemed in the church.
|
|
Last Updated on Friday, 07 November 2008 08:59 |
