Vocations Today’s deacons define ancient order’s role with diverse ministries
October 6th, 2010
By Dana PerriganAn active parishioner and energetic volunteer outside the church, Ven Garcia was discussing plans for a spiritual retreat with an assistant pastor at the Church of Epiphany in San Francisco several years ago when suddenly, apropos of nothing, the priest asked him if he had ever considered becoming a deacon.
“That was the first time I heard about it,” Garcia said. “My initial reaction, after he explained it to me, was ‘no.’”
Now in his fourth year of the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s five-year formation program for permanent deacons, the 61-year-old retired state worker is on track to be ordained by Archbishop George Niederauer in 2012 in an elaborate ceremony marking his entrance into an ancient and honored order of the Church.
For many Catholics, it is an order whose identity and role remains shrouded in mystery. 
“They see you in your alb and stole standing outside church after Mass and they call you father,” said Deacon Ed Cunningham. “I say, ‘yes, I am a father – I have two children.’”
While deacons may perform many of the offices of a priest – such as baptizing, marrying, burying, and preaching the Gospel at Mass– the ministerial boundaries of this resurrected order are still being drawn. Some work in parishes. Others serve as chaplains in hospitals and prisons. Still others work in shelters for battered women or, like the deacon who ministers to cross-country truckers at truck stops, create their own style of service.
“I think the real role of the deacon,” said Deacon Ray Noll, “is being defined by the people who are deacons now.”
Noll and Cunningham are educators who have been involved in the formation of deacons. There are currently 90 deacons in the Archdiocese, about 17,000 in the country and 37,000 worldwide. The diaconate is a growing demographic within the Church – now with regional, national and international offices – whose origins stem from a complaint over the distribution of food 2,000 years ago.
A group of Greek-speaking Christian widows complained to the apostles that they weren’t getting their fair share of the food being distributed to the poor. In response, the apostles appointed seven men to see that the needs of widows and orphans were addressed. Those who performed this new ministry became known as deacons, after the Greek word for servants: “diakonoi.”
One of the seven, St. Stephen, became the first Christian martyr when he was stoned to death. St. Francis of Assisi, who felt unworthy of the office of priest, chose to remain a deacon throughout his life.
In a letter to Timothy, St. Paul wrote that deacons should be serious, honest and faithful men, temperate in drink and “not greedy for money.”
For a variety of reasons, the Council of Sardica, held in 343 AD, reduced the diaconate to a mere step on the path to priesthood. It remained that way for 16 centuries, until two German priests – Jesuit Father Otto Pies and Father Wilhelm Chamonix, while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp – started the campaign that led to its restoration at the Second Vatican Council.
It was understood at the Council that the deacon had a special responsibility to identify those in need, especially those without power and voice in society. His mandate was to become their advocate, and, whenever possible, inspire the community to respond constructively.
“The role of the deacon in the simplest terms is service,” said Cunningham. “When you think of service, you think of working in a parish, but it goes much further than that.”
A retired teacher, Cunningham was ordained to the diaconate in 1999. In addition to helping his pastor at St. Anselm Parish in Ross, he ministers to inmates at San Quentin State Prison. For the past three years, he has also served as the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s director of formation for the diaconate.
Usually, said Cunningham, those interested in applying to the diaconate have a track record of parish involvement. After being endorsed by their parish priest, applicants are carefully vetted by the Archdiocese. Applicants must be at least 35 years old. Single applicants are required to remain celibate. A married applicant whose wife dies may not remarry without permission of the Holy See. Most, the majority of whom are married and have jobs outside the Church, are not paid.
“My decision to join the diaconate was a very gradual process,” said candidate John Murray, a married classmate of Garcia’s whose girlfriend in college became a nun. “When you’re a lawyer, you look at life with a narrow focus. I was thinking what I could do that – frankly, would make me a better person.”
Those accepted into the program spend their first year studying the documents of the Second Vatican Council, as well as assessing their readiness to serve as deacons. They later take courses in Church history, Scripture, moral and sacramental theology, homiletics, canon law and liturgy. The 1,000-hour formation process includes occasional weekend seminars dedicated to such topics as restorative justice and Catholic social teaching.
Ordained in 1981, Noll, a theology professor emeritus from the University of San Francisco, has worked to educate candidates in the Diocese of Oakland, Archdiocese of San Francisco and Diocese of Santa Rosa. He and his wife, Jean-Marie Noll, also an educator, have served together on several ministries, including mission coordination for the Santa Rosa diocese and helping the homeless.
“I’m often in a position where I can encourage lay men and women to get involved with the parish,” said Noll, a resident of Petaluma, “because I’m the guy down the street with the mortgage, just like them.”
The wives of deacon candidates attend classes with their husbands. Some, like Noll and his wife, often end up working as a team.
Director of the Permanent Diaconate in the San Francisco Archdiocese since 1993, Deacon Leon Kortenkamp said deacons may create their own social justice programs, which may include enlisting community involvement and obtaining funding, similar to the operation of a non-profit. As an example, he mentioned the ministry of a deacon who set up a program to serve battered women.
Since being ordained in 1999, Deacon Chuck McNeil has, in addition to working at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco, been involved in several ministries. He
October 6th, 2010
By Dana PerriganAn active parishioner and energetic volunteer outside the church, Ven Garcia was discussing plans for a spiritual retreat with an assistant pastor at the Church of Epiphany in San Francisco several years ago when suddenly, apropos of nothing, the priest asked him if he had ever considered becoming a deacon.
Image via Wikipedia
“That was the first time I heard about it,” Garcia said. “My initial reaction, after he explained it to me, was ‘no.’”
Now in his fourth year of the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s five-year formation program for permanent deacons, the 61-year-old retired state worker is on track to be ordained by Archbishop George Niederauer in 2012 in an elaborate ceremony marking his entrance into an ancient and honored order of the Church.
For many Catholics, it is an order whose identity and role remains shrouded in mystery.
Image via Wikipedia
While deacons may perform many of the offices of a priest – such as baptizing, marrying, burying, and preaching the Gospel at Mass– the ministerial boundaries of this resurrected order are still being drawn. Some work in parishes. Others serve as chaplains in hospitals and prisons. Still others work in shelters for battered women or, like the deacon who ministers to cross-country truckers at truck stops, create their own style of service.
“I think the real role of the deacon,” said Deacon Ray Noll, “is being defined by the people who are deacons now.”
Noll and Cunningham are educators who have been involved in the formation of deacons. There are currently 90 deacons in the Archdiocese, about 17,000 in the country and 37,000 worldwide. The diaconate is a growing demographic within the Church – now with regional, national and international offices – whose origins stem from a complaint over the distribution of food 2,000 years ago.
A group of Greek-speaking Christian widows complained to the apostles that they weren’t getting their fair share of the food being distributed to the poor. In response, the apostles appointed seven men to see that the needs of widows and orphans were addressed. Those who performed this new ministry became known as deacons, after the Greek word for servants: “diakonoi.”
One of the seven, St. Stephen, became the first Christian martyr when he was stoned to death. St. Francis of Assisi, who felt unworthy of the office of priest, chose to remain a deacon throughout his life.
Image via Wikipedia
In a letter to Timothy, St. Paul wrote that deacons should be serious, honest and faithful men, temperate in drink and “not greedy for money.”
For a variety of reasons, the Council of Sardica, held in 343 AD, reduced the diaconate to a mere step on the path to priesthood. It remained that way for 16 centuries, until two German priests – Jesuit Father Otto Pies and Father Wilhelm Chamonix, while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp – started the campaign that led to its restoration at the Second Vatican Council.
It was understood at the Council that the deacon had a special responsibility to identify those in need, especially those without power and voice in society. His mandate was to become their advocate, and, whenever possible, inspire the community to respond constructively.
“The role of the deacon in the simplest terms is service,” said Cunningham. “When you think of service, you think of working in a parish, but it goes much further than that.”
A retired teacher, Cunningham was ordained to the diaconate in 1999. In addition to helping his pastor at St. Anselm Parish in Ross, he ministers to inmates at San Quentin State Prison. For the past three years, he has also served as the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s director of formation for the diaconate.
Usually, said Cunningham, those interested in applying to the diaconate have a track record of parish involvement. After being endorsed by their parish priest, applicants are carefully vetted by the Archdiocese. Applicants must be at least 35 years old. Single applicants are required to remain celibate. A married applicant whose wife dies may not remarry without permission of the Holy See. Most, the majority of whom are married and have jobs outside the Church, are not paid.
“My decision to join the diaconate was a very gradual process,” said candidate John Murray, a married classmate of Garcia’s whose girlfriend in college became a nun. “When you’re a lawyer, you look at life with a narrow focus. I was thinking what I could do that – frankly, would make me a better person.”
Those accepted into the program spend their first year studying the documents of the Second Vatican Council, as well as assessing their readiness to serve as deacons. They later take courses in Church history, Scripture, moral and sacramental theology, homiletics, canon law and liturgy. The 1,000-hour formation process includes occasional weekend seminars dedicated to such topics as restorative justice and Catholic social teaching.
Ordained in 1981, Noll, a theology professor emeritus from the University of San Francisco, has worked to educate candidates in the Diocese of Oakland, Archdiocese of San Francisco and Diocese of Santa Rosa. He and his wife, Jean-Marie Noll, also an educator, have served together on several ministries, including mission coordination for the Santa Rosa diocese and helping the homeless.
“I’m often in a position where I can encourage lay men and women to get involved with the parish,” said Noll, a resident of Petaluma, “because I’m the guy down the street with the mortgage, just like them.”
The wives of deacon candidates attend classes with their husbands. Some, like Noll and his wife, often end up working as a team.
Director of the Permanent Diaconate in the San Francisco Archdiocese since 1993, Deacon Leon Kortenkamp said deacons may create their own social justice programs, which may include enlisting community involvement and obtaining funding, similar to the operation of a non-profit. As an example, he mentioned the ministry of a deacon who set up a program to serve battered women.
Since being ordained in 1999, Deacon Chuck McNeil has, in addition to working at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco, been involved in several ministries. He
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
developed a ministry involving parishioners, who conduct prayer services twice a week at the San Francisco County Jail. McNeil, 50, recently became assistant chaplain at San Quentin.
“It’s been a very good experience,” said McNeil of his 11 years in the diaconate. “It’s been an amazing experience. I feel like I’m still trying to grow into the vocation.”
Dana Perrigan is in formation to become a permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
“It’s been a very good experience,” said McNeil of his 11 years in the diaconate. “It’s been an amazing experience. I feel like I’m still trying to grow into the vocation.”
Dana Perrigan is in formation to become a permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
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