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Darlene
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| Joined: | Mon Oct 9th, 2006 |
| Location: | Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania USA |
| Posts: | 868 |
| First Name: | Darlene | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Christian, trusting His love and forgiveness |
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Posted: Tue Jan 23rd, 2007 01:55 pm |
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Hello Again,
While watching a recent Journey Home episode, the guest mentioned that he was a deacon, yet he is married. Are deacons in the Catholic Church generally married? Can women be deacons? What is the office of a deacon, that is, what duties do they perform within the Church?
Darlene
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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. II Corinthians 13:14
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CajunRick
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5085 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Tue Jan 23rd, 2007 03:37 pm |
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Darlene wrote: Are deacons in the Catholic Church generally married?
Married men may become deacons, but they must be married prior to ordination. Deacons may not get married; i.e., the marriage cannot take place after the ordination.
Can women be deacons?
No.
What is the office of a deacon, that is, what duties do they perform within the Church?
A deacon may baptize, witness marriages, and perform funerals without mass. He reads the gospel and may preach. He assists the priest on the altar and is an ordinary minister of holy communion (as opposed to a lay person or acolyte who is an extraordinary minister). He prepares the cup for offering at mass. He is the primary minister of the cup. He especially serves as an assistant to a bishop during liturgical celebrations. He may serve as administrator of a parish that does not have a resident priest. He can preside at communion services and administer blessings.
He cannot consecrate the Eucharist, forgive sins, anoint the sick, or celebrate any other sacrament besides baptism and marriage. (Deacons cannot witness marriages in the Eastern Churches.)
If he is married and his wife passes away, he can be ordained to the priesthood.
If deacons, priests, and bishops are all present at mass, deacons will read the gospel, prepare the cup, elevate the cup at the concluding doxology (Through him, with him and in him...), call for the sign of peace, and minister the cup at communion. If there is no Lector to carry the Book of the Gospels he will carry it, otherwise he will process with the celebrant (bishop or priest) and serve as his assistant.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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Steven Barrett
Member
| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 799 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Mar 8th, 2007 11:52 am |
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 Come to think of it, a Catholic deacon has roughly the same ministerial functions as a Baptist minister. Deacons can also give homilies. But thanks be to God, they can't get away with rambling on for 40 minutes or so because he'll be conveniently boxed in by the liturgy and a priest who'll never stand for an overly loquacious show-hogging subordinate!
I've been giving some thought to becoming a deacon since I've returned to the fold. May God please not call her home sooner, but if I should become a widower, I couldn't think of a better way to spend my last years while still keeping the reins firm as pater familias. I'm in no rush to make any decisions and this isn't something one should rush into.
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For anyone suffering from a mental illness or has a loved one with a mental illness, my book "Lead kindly Light: A Devotional For The Mentally Ill" might be of some help: http://www.lulu.com/ (Use search box at the top of page.)
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RSWinCO
Member
| Joined: | Sun Mar 25th, 2007 |
| Location: | Colorado USA |
| Posts: | 9 |
| First Name: | RS | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lutheran (LCMS), Lutheran (ELCA), Catholic |
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Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 01:41 am |
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What are the requirements to begin training to become a deacon? I know that a man's wife must give her consent. Must she also be a Catholic? How long must you have been a Catholic before you can become a deacon? I read five years somewhere. I understand that the formation program takes four years. Does that mean that you can begin studying after a year, just so long as you have been a Catholic for at least five years when you're ordained, or must you have been a Catholic for five years before you can even begin studying to become a deacon?
I have more than a pasing interest here. I just came into full communion at the Easter Vigil, but would like very much to begin studying for the deaconate at the earliest opportunity.
Thanks
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"Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt." John Henry Cardinal Newman
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5085 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 06:00 am |
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RSWinCO wrote: What are the requirements to begin training to become a deacon? I know that a man's wife must give her consent. Must she also be a Catholic?
A man's wife does not have to be Catholic, but does have to consent and in some dioceses, participate in the training and spiritual discernment.
It is left to the bishop to determine the specific rules regarding who can enter the formation process for the diaconate. Contact the vocation director in your diocese for specific information.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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Gnyssa
Member
| Joined: | Sat Nov 18th, 2006 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 29 |
| First Name: | Gnyssa | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Episcopalian, Roman Catholic since 2003, RC priest 2006 |
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Posted: Sat Jun 2nd, 2007 08:38 am |
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In my diocese the diaconate training program is five years. But it is a program run on weekends and evening, and it assumes you have a secular job, so the training is outside ordinary working hours. You do not have to go to a seminary. In our diocese, the wives are required to attend the classes with their husbands, which requires some serious committment from her.
There is no requirement, that I am aware of, in the canons which requires a period of time between your confirmation in the Church and ordination. Canon 1033 requires only that one be confirmed first. Canons to require that a married man be 35 years of age, have his wife's consent and that six months must elapse between the conferral of minor orders and reception of the diaconate. Minor orders are normally given at some point in the training, about a year before the end, and bring the obligation to say the Liturgy of the Hours daily. In this, as in many areas in canon, the Diocesan Bishop is the interpreter of canon and he may require a specific period between confirmation and ordination. I would imagine that five years of study would more than be enough.
If a married deacon lost his wife, he could apply for the priesthood. But then he would also have to fulfill the same requirements of any lay man who wanted to be a priest and that would include time in a seminary. Many bishops require that a man live a celibate life for some period of time before entering priestly training to see if he is really prepared to embrace this lifestyle. In my diocese we do have one older man who is a widower and a deacon who is in training now.
I encourage you to contact your Diocesan vocations office and begin a discussion as soon as possible. They generally want to get to know you well before training begins, and the sooner you begin the discernment process, the sooner they can consider your application. We always need good men in the diaconate.
Gnyssa
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