Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8 — The Georgia Bulletin, June 20, 1985
Diaconate Class
(Continued from Page 1)
to a relaxing summer. “I
don’t remember when I
had a weekend off,” he said
with good-natured chagrin.
As for next year, both he
and Paul Dietz can expect
much the same format as
this past year, with a few
goal-oriented changes that
should enhance the pro
gram.
Next October, the men
will be officially admitted
as “candidates,” the first
step in their journey
toward the permanent
diaconate. “This is rougly
what was done as ‘tonsure’
before the reforms,” ex
plained Father Bill Hoff
man, director of the Ar
chdiocesan Office of the
Permanent Diaconate. In
May, the candidates will be
installed as “lectors” dur
ing a closing retreat
scheduled for Forrest Hills
near Dahlonega. The re
maining steps, acolyte and
deacon, will be taken the
following year.
Father Hoffman pointed
out that next year he hopes
to provide opportunities for
the men and their wives to
get to know each other out
side the classroom environ
ment. “There’s so many of
them that it’s difficult to
get together during the
Saturday classes,” he
realized this year. He also
expects to give the men
more time to fine-tune their
preaching, a task they will
be expected to undertake in
their role as deacon.
Another goal for the
1985-86 program will be a
closer focus on the mar
riage relationship and its
importance to the can
didate’s overall approach
to the diaconate. Father
Hoffman stressed that
while two-thirds of the can
didates’ wives attended the
Saturday classes, it
became apparent that
many felt they were on the
fringe of the program. “We
ing committee which car
ried out initial interviews
with men who applied for
admission to the diaconate
program will again be
visiting with candidates
and their families. The
committee, composed
In the coming months.
Father Hoffman hopes his
flock of candidates will
concentrate on acquiring
some hands-on experience
in their local parishes. He
has encouraged them to ex
pand the range of their
Deacon Walt Bedard,
who serves as associate
director of the Ar
chdiocesan Office of the
Permanent Diaconate,
hopes that the candidates
will not become too.preoc-
cupied with finding their
Deacons Were Part Of Early Church
What is it that these 60 men, who are studying for the
permanent diaconate, and their wives have embarked
upon?
In 1967, following the direction of the Second Vatican
Council, Pope Paul VI released a document restoring the
permanent diaconate in the Church, which had not been
used since the fourth or fifth century in the Western
Church. This opened to men, married and unmarried,
the opportunity to serve as ordained ministers of the
Church, but in different ways than priests. Permanent
deacons may celebrate the sacraments of marriage and
baptism, preach at Mass and officiate at Communion
services. They do not perform the priestly sacraments of
the Eucharist and confession and the anointing of the
sick
Parish work, including religious education, counsel
ing, work with families and the elderly, are available to
deacons, who are ordained as there is a need seen in the
archdiocese and who are assigned by the bishop to a par
ticular service. But there is likely to be much more
ahead in diverse ministries that reach into the world
beyond the parish, said Father Bill Hoffman, who is the
director of the permanent diaconate for the archdiocese.
Noting this year’s assignment of a permanent deacon,
Larry French, to work in the area of advancement of in
tegrated housing, Father Hoffman said, “I think there
will be many more of those kinds of things happening.”
Prison ministry, work with refugees and in sanctuary
for aliens who have fled to the United States from other
countries, in nursing homes and hospitals, and as ad
ministrators in priestless parishes are roles permanent
deacons have taken on in other dioceses, he said.
“The diaconate ministry has so few hard and fast
guidelines that it is almost up to the individual deacon to
look around, see what needs to be done and make a pro
posal,” he observed.
However, there is also a developing sense of what the
diaconate can best be to serve the Church and proclaim
the Gospel actively. As needs are identified and deacons
are available to serve in these areas, the Church can ex
tend itself, giving a more formal recognition, by the
assigning of a deacon, that this area of service is one the
Church embraces. A deacon is automatically in a leader
ship role, called not only to perform the work, but to
“encourage other people” to do the same, said Father
Hoffman. “He becomes a catalyst.”
At the moment there are 18 deacons ordained in the ar
chdiocese. Nationally, according to an October 1983
survey, there are over 6,600 permanent deacons and
over 2,000 candidates. Sixteen dioceses have over 100
deacons. When they arrive at ordination, after several
years of study, deacons are expected to give about 10
hours of service a week to their diaconate work, pro
viding this does not interfere with their family. Some
give much more to the Church, but most deacons also
have full-time jobs and families. While other ar
rangements may be worked out with parishes where
deacons serve, there is normally no financial compensa
tion, other than reimbursement of work-related ex
penses.
The diaconate is open to unmarried men 25 years or
older; once ordained they may not marry. Married men
35 years or older are also eligible for the diaconate; if
their wife dies they cannot remarry, unless special per
mission is granted by church authorities in Rome.
have to deal with that,” he
said, emphasizing that a
greater effort will be made
to involve the women more
closely in the process.
This summer, the screen-
Sfc.
chiefly of laypersons who
assist and advise the direc
tor, will, in the future, be
augumented by a greater
representation of minority
Catholics. “The diaconate
program currently in
cludes six black Catholics,
five Hispanics and one
Korean,” Father Hoffman
said. Broadening the base
of the screening committee
will mean fuller represen
tation for minorities, he
feels.
PIZZA PIZZAZZ
ministry, try new avenues
of service and get a feel for
what options are theirs for
long-range service.
“We suggested a broad
experience with a number
of different ministries
rather than have the men
lock themselves into one
thing for nine or 10 mon
ths,” he said. The object
would be to help candidates
zero in on an area of church
ministry that would be
suitable for them.
niche in church service.
“There seems to be a con
cern among the candidates
about having something to
do. That’s an area that’s
got to be addressed. They
worry too much about
that,” he feels, adding that
‘‘they’re all into
something, and it’s all
good.”
A major stumbling block
for diaconate programs in
any diocese, he said, is the
fact that it’s “really new.
You can’t go back in
history and say this is what
a deacon does because
each time you’ll find
something different. In
another hundred years or
so we’ll know the answer to
that question.” For now, he
insists, ‘‘I think it’s
blossoming.”
Both Paul Dietz and Dick
Johnson have a fairly good
idea of what they would
like to do when they
become deacons, although
each has expressed a will
ingness to be open to the
needs of the Church at the
time of their ordination.
Since Dietz is the only
diaconal candidate from
his home parish of Holy
Family in Marietta, he ex
pects to continue his work
in adult education there.
Currently chairman of the
par ish board of education,
he believes that the
diaconate “lends more
credibility” to the service
he renders to the Church.
Johnson likewise plans to
continue in his present
work. “I’m fully commit
ted,” he said of his link to
Catholic education in
Georgia. “This job is a
ministry, not just a profes
sion.”
Without ordination to the
diaconate, he reasoned, his
work could be “opem
ended not necessarily a
commitment. There would
always be the back door
you can slide out. I look for
ward to that commit
ment.”
Johnson, who, like Paul
Dietz and many of his
classmates has looked for
ward to entering the
diaconate program for
some time, is enthusiastic
about his candidacy thus
far.
“It’s a great renew pro
gram,” he reflected, and
“a tremendous asset to the
archdiocese. There’s an
awful lot of talent out there.
We just need to spot it,
train it and use it.”
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