Re-Imagining the (Permanent) Diaconate
THE USUAL response from priests when asked for a view of the permanent diaconate is that they are deacons, permanently, and that their ordination to the priesthood does not, in any way, undo their diaconate. When asked what the diaconate is, responses typically describe what the deacon cannot do, comparing the call to that of the presbyter and pointing towards the inability of the deacon to preside at Communion, as though this is a de ciency and somehow reduces the usefulness of deacons in the Church. We are not unique in struggling to understand the diaconate. According to Andrew Orton of Durham University, “this role has also proved particularly controversial, sparking wider ranging debates both within individual denominations and between them in wider ecumenical discussion”. We see in the Preamble and Declaration that the Church is committed to “maintain inviolate the three orders of bishops, priests or presbyters, and deacons in the sacred ministry”. What does this mean? Perhaps the Church was only concerned with maintaining ecclesiological continuity with the pre-disestablished Church. Whatever the aim, the Church is committed, at least according to the Preamble and Declaration, to the maintenance of the diaconate as a distinctive order.
* Full article available in printed copies.
Kevin Conroy
ordained for NSM ministry in 2014, is curate in St Patrick’s Dalkey.