Role Of Deacon In Church

Deacons should preach less at Mass, Michigan bishop says

Bishop Sample’s 19-page letter, titled “The Deacon: Icon of Jesus Christ the Servant,” cited the principle that the one who presides at a liturgical service or who is the principal celebrant at Mass should also give the homily.

“This should be the ordinary practice,” he said.

Deacons should preach the homily at Mass “for some identifiable advantage for the faithful in the congregation, but not on a regular basis,” the bishop wrote.

He said deacons have the opportunity to preach in other contexts, such as at wake services, funeral and wedding liturgies outside of Mass, baptisms, liturgies of the Word, during the Liturgy of the Hours and during Sunday celebrations in the absence of a priest.

Bishop Sample noted that a deacon also “preaches” through “the witness of his life, especially in his marriage and family life,” as well as in his secular work and his role as a teacher.

The deacon’s ministry in the liturgy is not the “heart” of his service. Rather, he is called especially to serve the bishop by caring for the many works of charity “especially suited” to him, most often under the direction of his local pastor.

Although the deacon is ordained to teach and preach the Word of God, “the most effective preaching he does is through the witness of his life in loving service to the most needy among us,” Bishop Sample wrote in a column summarizing the pastoral letter.

The Bishop of Marquette had stopped accepting new deacon candidates until a study of their role had been completed.

In his letter, he announced that a man will not be ordained simply to “be the deacon” at a particular parish or mission. Instead, there must be “a specifically identified need in the community” recognized by the bishop in consultation with the local pastor. This follows the scriptural example of the early Church, where the Apostles chose deacons to minister to the needs of widows so that the Apostles would be free to pray and preach the Word of God.

In the Diocese of Marquette the prospective deacon will now need to have “a particular service ministry” for which he will be ordained, such as service as a catechist or in care for the poor, the sick, the elderly or the imprisoned.

Bishop issues pastoral letter on diaconate to clear up ...

Calling the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent ministry a “source of tremendous grace and blessings for the Church,” Bishop Sample said there have been, nonetheless, some “misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the essential identity of the permanent deacon.” To address these issues, a study committee was formed in 2009. The findings of that study informed the bishop’s pastoral letter.

Deacon Don Thoren of Marquette, who was ordained 10 years ago, found the letter to be a confirmation of the role of deacons in the Church. “It’s not like he’s reining us in; it’s the bishop affirming what we do,” Deacon Thoren said. “We’re all behind the bishop.”

“We’re just servants,” said Deacon Thoren who has been very active in prison ministry for 30 years. “We are so fortunate to have Bishop Sample.”

A profound understanding of “diakonia,” or service, is needed to grasp the role of deacons.

The ministry of today’s deacons includes “service to the poor, the imprisoned, to the sick and to those who are abandoned and lonely, the modern day ‘widows and orphans.’ (cf. Acts 6),” Bishop Sample wrote.

Looking to the history of the diaconate, Bishop Sample noted that as the work of the Apostles became too demanding, men of “good repute” who met certain qualifications were allowed to share in the daily ministry of the Apostles, including serving at table. However, Bishop Sample explained that Scripture shows us deacons also also preached, baptized, served the Church community and “began to have a liturgical function.”

With permission of the rector of the church, all deacons of the Diocese of Marquette will have faculties to preach everywhere in the diocese, unless limited on an individual basis. However, it was noted that this is a faculty and not a right and priests should normally deliver the homily at Mass. Lay persons may not give the homily.

However, preaching is not necessarily limited to homilies at Mass. In the liturgical and ecclesial contexts, preaching opportunities occur at wake services, the funeral liturgies outside of Mass, Sunday celebrations in absence of a priest, during the Liturgy of the Hours, and other prayer and liturgical services.

“Preaching on the part of the permanent deacon, taken in the broadest sense, encompasses many things,” Bishop Sample wrote. “A permanent deacon ‘preaches’ first of all by the witness of his life, especially in the marketplace through his teaching and witness to those he encounters in the daily regimen of his life and work. Finally he exercises his role as teacher in the various catechetical roles that he fulfills within the Church.

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