“O God, who have taught the ministers of your Church to seek not to be served but to serve their brothers and sisters, grant, we pray, that these your servants, whom you graciously choose today for the office of Deacon, may be effective in action, gentle in ministry and constant in prayer.” (Collect for the Ordination of Deacons)
Just three weeks ago, I had the sad obligation to announce that our beloved resident, Rev. Msgr. Michael J. Carroll, was leaving our parish to finally truly retire to Villa St. Joseph, the residence for retired archdiocesan priests. On the other hand, this past weekend I had the joyful opportunity to announce that Mr. James J. White IV, one of our longtime parishioners was ordained a permanent deacon and assigned to our parish! Many of you know Jim and his family. He and his wife, Megan, moved into our parish with their five children, James, Peter, Victoria, Christopher and Maura, 25 years ago. Jim has been an active member of our parish over the years in a variety of ways. Besides serving on the Parish Finance Council, he has offered my predecessors and me invaluable service. Like so many parishioners, Jim prefers to work discreetly and most people would be unaware of the many ways in which he has already benefited our parish.
Now, however, Jim will be much more visible as he begins his service as a deacon in our parish. He will regularly assist at the altar where, as deacon he will lead the Penitential Act, proclaim the Gospel and offer a homily, lead the altar servers in preparing and clearing the altar, lead in the Kiss of Peace (when it is reinstated), and proclaim the dismissal. He will also join us priests in baptizing our children, celebrating weddings and ministering at funeral vigils and committals.
The ministry of a deacon is twofold, however, both liturgical and in service. Besides the liturgical ministry that I just described above, Jim will be assigned to serve the parish in a variety of ways. Due to his longstanding involvement in the pro-life movement, he will be asked to work closely with our Respect Life Committee. Since he has an extensive background in buildings (as you may know, Jim is the president and CEO of J. J. White, Inc., a national construction corporation), I will ask him to work with Chris Plasha, our parish facilities manager, to oversee our parish facilities. Other assignments will come as they are identified but you can already see that his service here will benefit us all.
Let me take this opportunity to provide an overview of the permanent diaconate. The earliest reference to deacons is found in St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, where he addresses “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” (Phil 1:1). This letter was written around 53AD, just twenty years after our Lord’s death and resurrection. You will recall that the early Christian community appointed men to serve the needs of the community in order to free the apostles to focus on proclaiming the gospel. This developed into the sacred order of the diaconate, one of the three priestly orders (the other two are priest and bishop). The significant role of deacon in the early Church is clearly seen in the stoning of St. Stephen, the Church’s first martyr, and in the fact that most of the early popes were deacons, not priests, before they were elected pope. Although it has remained a vital role in the Eastern Church even until today, the permanent diaconate gradually declined in the Western Church by the early Middle Ages, becoming seen as an intermediate step toward the ordination to the priesthood. But, in 1972, in response to deliberations that had taken place during the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI reintroduced the permanent diaconate, instituting it as the first of the three orders of priesthood: deacon, priest and bishop. As you will read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Deacons share in Christ’s mission and grace in a special way. The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint (“character”) which cannot be removed and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the “deacon” or servant of all. (§ 1570)
The role of all ordained ministers is to be modeled on the life of Christ, and that of deacons is especially that of Christ the servant. I’m sure you join me in congratulating Jim on his ordination as a permanent deacon and assuring him and his family of our prayers as he begins another vocation – in addition to his marriage which always takes precedence – with God’s grace for the service of His people here in our parish.