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I’ve been a full fledged member of the Catholic Church for almost twenty years, yet, there are still things that make me scratch my head. Surely, I’m not the only person who looks around my Catholic Church and thinks, “I wonder what that’s all about?”
One of those things I always wondered about were deacons. Who are these fellows? What do they do? How does one become a Deacon?
I did not grow up in the Catholic Church, and the first church I attended did not have deacons. According to a 2009 study by the USCCB, there are as many as 16,000 Deacons in active ministry. Â In my current parish, we are truly blessed to have a wonderful deacon, who was willing to sit down (via email) and chat with me about his role in our Church.
Deacon Gerry Mattingly has been an ordained Deacon of the Roman Catholic Church since August 2006. His road to the Diaconate spanned over twenty years, as he first began to contemplate the role of a Deacon while at St Rita. His brother in law was among one of the first Deacons ordained in our Archdiocese (Louisville). After retirement, Gerry completed a two year Archdiocesan Ministry Formation program, then applied to become a Deacon after much prayer and discernment.
He had this to say about the training process:
My wife and children have always been supportive of me becoming a deacon. My wife, Mary Jo, said that she could see that I was being called by God to serve. After discussing this with her several times, I think she probably saw my being called before I did. One of the conditions of becoming a deacon just before ordination is that the deacon candidate’s wife must sign a letter to the Archbishop granting her permission for the husband’s ordination to the Order of Deacon.
The process to become a deacon when I entered the Deacon Formation Program in July, 2002 was a four year program, with two years of formal training at Spalding University. The formation has since been changed. It is now a five year program with four years of training provided by Saint Meinrad Seminary. The first year of diaconate formation is a year of aspirancy. You and your spouse, if you are married, attend classes and discern whether this is truly what God is calling you to. During our formation, wives were expected to attend all of the training classes for four years with their husbands. After the second year of formation the Archbishop conferred on us the Order of Reader at a special Mass. After the third year of formation. we received the Order of Acolyte. After the fourth year of formation, Archbishop Kelly ordained 13 of us at the Cathedral of the Assumption on August 26, 2006.
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He has truly answered the call toward the ‘New Evangelization’, heading up three blogs: his personal blog, Deacon Gerry, as well as blogs for his parishes, St Francis Xavier and All Saints. Parishioners can find inspirational stories, as well as news of upcoming events at the individual churches. You can also find him on Twitter,and maintaining the Facebook page for St Francis Xavier.
Every year, deacons from all over the U.S. gather at Xavier University in Cincinnati for a conference and continuing education. This year’s keynote speaker was Deacon Greg Kandra from the Diocese of Brooklyn. The topic of Deacon Greg’s talk was “Evangelization in the Digital Age”. The basic point of Deacon Greg’s talk was that if we as deacons and our parishes are not using the Internet and social media, we are not reaching a sizable portion of our parishioners, especially teen and young adults. When I got home from Cincinnati, I decided to give blogging a try. Another driving force for me was that our sister parish, All Saints, didn’t have a website and both parishes needed a vehicle that had an inviting appearance and could be used to disseminate information on a real time basis to parishioners. The goal of all the blogs is to expand the view of the readers. Sometimes, we have a myopic view of the Catholic Church. We need to remember that the Church is truly “catholic”, with a little “c”. I never dreamed the positive response that I have received from parishioners and others about the blogs. I also never dreamed that people from all over the world would visit the blogs. Blogging has definitely became a passion of mine.
When he’s not busy blogging, you will find him taking Communion to the home bound and elderly in our community, serving as the Worship Committee Chairperson, and scheduling Communion Ministers. He is responsible for planning funeral liturgies, and meeting with the deceased’s family. He counts this as one of his areas of expertise as a Deacon – to be present for those people in their hour of need.
Do you have a Deacon (or two) in your parish? Have you thanked him for answering his call to serve?
You can read more of Dianna’s interview with Deacon Gerry over at The Kennedy Adventures, in her weekly Saints and Scripture Sunday link up. She discusses all things faith and family, and would love to have you stop by!
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Kathleen@so much to say says
We have come into an abundance of deacons in our parish. When I was working as liturgy director there was only one, but now we have 4 plus an emeritus, and two more in formation. At the diocesan level, we have candidates for the diaconate who are NFP users and are planning to become teachers as part of their ministry–something we sorely need! I’m thrilled at the growth in the program.
Dianna says
What a wonderful resource that will be! I’ve never heard NFP even mentioned at my parish, much less anyone step up as a teacher!
Angie says
Just a couple of years ago, we got two deacons between our parish and the other parish that shares priests with us. (They have one and we have the other.) During one homily, the deacon shared some about being a deacon (it tied in with the gospel that day in some way, can’t remember now).
Anyway, at the end of Mass, the young guy in front of us pulls out a cell phone and starts texting. I thought, “What the heck?” I couldn’t help but see what he wrote though, and I realized it was just like he couldn’t keep it in any longer. Whomever he was typing to, he wrote, “I know what I’m being called to do! I think I’m supposed to be a deacon who is married!”
Dianna says
What an awesome story! I love it that this man in your situation was young! Most of the deacons I’ve come in contact with have been past retirement age.
sarah harkins says
This is a great article- and so important for us Catholics to know. With more and more deacons helping out in our parishes, it so good for us to recognize and appreciate what they do. My dad is a deacon and I must admit, I didn’t have a clue what they really did or what was their purpose at Mass or otherwise. Now I have MUCH more respect for their role. It’s sad that some traditional Catholics and traditional priests even see Deacons as taking the jobs that are supposed to be the priests. My father was a victim to such ignorance and was turned away from the parish we grew up in. it was definitely their loss!!
I’m going to try to get my dad to write an article like this for me blog. THanks for the good idea!!
Dianna says
This was exactly why I had the idea for the article …. I thought, “surely I’m not the only one who’s curious!”
I was amazed at the wide variety of their responsibilities.
Wendy Buda says
My Monday morning Study Group is reading Acts of the Apostles and in chapter 6 we start to see the institution of Deacons in the Church out of a desperate need to care for widows. The Apostles appointed 7 men (6:5) to care for the material needs of their community by acts of service while the Apostles were left to care for the Spiritual needs (as our Priests do today). Reading this part of Acts has really set the stage for helping me to understand the future hierarchy of the church. In our Parish we have been blessed with a vibrant man who truly fills the role of Deacon 🙂
Dianna says
Thank you for this reference — I’m going to be sure and look this passage up for more learning.
Lisa says
Thanks for writing this. I am sitting in my chair reading this article today, when I should be getting ready to take my kids to meet my husband and their dad who is attending classes this weekend. He is in his final months of a 6 year formation program in our diosese. Ordination is set for Pentecost Sunday, 2011. People ask my all the time what is a deacon and what does a deacon’s wife do? I would love to direct them this article. Thanks for being there as a resource for all us out here.
Dianna says
Lisa,
Thank you so much for your kind words!
What an amazing journey you and your husband are sure to have had … and what an amazing experience you have in front of you! That’s SO exciting!
Some of my favorite pictures I’ve seen in my diocese’s newspaper have been from ordination of deacons. Photos of the candidates lying prostate moves me so much — what joy you must be feeling!
Congratulations to you and your husband! Please be sure to tell him we thank him for answering the call to the diaconate!
sarah harkins says
I just posted a similar article written by me and my dad, who is an ordained deacon: http://theclayrosarygirl.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-does-my-deacon-do.html
Joanne says
I’m reading this late because I read Sarah’s blog first. Thank you for this great post. God willing, my husband will be ordained in June after five years of formation. I really believe that most people don’t have a clue as to what a deacon does. As a wife of a candidate, I’ve attended many classes with him and have become acutely aware of the formation process. Without a doubt I know that my husband has been called to serve as a deacon and I support him fullly. Although, given that most people, especially in our diocese, aren’t aware of what a deacon’s responsibilities are, I expect the coming years to be full of transition for us and whatever parish he is assigned to. It should also be interesting because we are young(er) and have had two more children during his formation process so we have an inkling that his ministry will revolve more around youth or marriage ministry (we are involved with NFP promoting).