The Permanent Diaconate in the Diocese of Sioux City

Who is a Deacon?

• A deacon is an ordained minister of Christ.  He is configured by the grace of the sacrament to Christ the Head in such a way that he allows Christ to act in him (“In persona Christi”) in the specific ministerial or sacramental acts for which he is ordained.
• A deacon is ordained, not for the sacrifice, but for service.  A deacon is not a priest to offer Mass and Penance; he is a servant (diakonos) as Christ was, who came “not to be served, but to serve.”
• To serve as Christ means to prepare someone to receive Christ as Word of life (Gospel) and as Bread of life (Eucharist).  A deacon’s service has three interlocking parts: liturgical, sacramental, and pastoral.
• Liturgical service includes special roles during Mass, especially proclaiming the Gospel, inviting to the sign of peace, and sending forth in dismissal.  Deacons might also lead the Kyrie (Lord have mercy), the prayers of the faithful, preach a homily, assist the priest as an acolyte, elevate the Chalice during the Consecration, and so on.
• Sacramental service includes being an ordinary minister of communion, for the distribution within Mass, and for bringing the Eucharist and Viaticum to the sick, elderly, imprisoned, etc.  Deacons can lead communal prayer, such as Eucharistic Adoration with Benediction, or the Liturgy of the Hours.  Deacons also officiate at baptisms, weddings, and funerals.
• Pastoral service includes all the “ordinary” or “mundane” aspects of helping the poor and the needy of all kinds (often called “spiritual and corporal works of mercy.”)  This is where the leadership of deacons can be most influential in the community.  This service must always be driven by faith and love for Christ, which is cultivated in the liturgical and sacramental piety appropriate to the deacon.

The basic Qualifications for being ordained a Permanent Deacon are:

• Must be at least 35 years of age at ordination if married, or 25 if single
• Cannot be over the age of 61 to enter formation classes
• Must be fully initiated, practicing Catholic in good standing
• Must have the support and permission of your wife, if married
• Must have the support of the pastor of your parish
• Must have the support of the people of the parish
• Must complete the full application process
• Must have the experience, willingness, and desire to serve others as Christ
• Must have humility, compassion, simplicity, zeal, love for the Truth which is Christ, love for the Church which is Christ’s Body, commitment to faith and love, and desire to grow in holiness
  

The Diocese of Sioux City recruits applicants on a two-year cycle.  A class is being formed to begin in August of 2007.  The next class will begin its application cycle in the early winter of 2008, with admission to Aspirancy and formation to begin in August 2009.

Please contact the Director of Diaconate Formation at any time if you have questions or an interest in discerning vocation to the permanent diaconate.

Aspirancy Path

Once the application has been processed by the Office of Deacons, inquirers who are accepted into the Aspirancy program will be notified.  Aspirancy lasts two years, and is primarily a time for discernment of the diaconal vocation.  This discernment will take place through personal reflection, through the group interaction of the classes and the retreat, and through the evaluations of teachers, mentors and/or pastors, and the Deacon Formation Review Board (DFRB).

It is expected that aspirants will be involved in parish or community service of some kind during this process, for their personal growth as well as for the sake of the discernment process.

Aspirants are encouraged to begin spiritual direction with one of the approved directors available in the diocese.  If an aspirant has a spiritual director of long standing, he is not required to change.

Formation happens formally through the Saturday classes offered in Early, IA.  These classes meet for three semesters of five class days each.  The classes are meant to provide a solid theological base for both discernment and further diaconal development in the Candidacy phase.  There are two kinds of classes.  Intellectual formation is addressed in the college-level courses offered through the Diocesan Church Ministries Program (CMP).  These courses must be taken for college credit, according to the cooperative agreement between the Diocese of Sioux City and Briar Cliff University.  Aspirants will have ½ tuition paid for them by the Office of Deacons.  Human and spiritual formation are addressed in the colloquia offered directly through the Office of Deacons.  For convenience, these colloquia will meet on the same Saturdays as the CMP courses, adding roughly 1½ hours to the class day.

At the end of the first aspirancy year, each aspirant will be evaluated by the DFRB, based on a written self-evaluation and written evaluations from the course instructors, the aspirant’s pastor, and the Director of Formation.  Aspirants showing evidence of a diaconal vocation and progress in formation will be invited to continue for a second aspirancy year.

A similar review will occur after the second year, supplemented by an Aspirants’ Retreat and by detailed psychological evaluation.  This will be scheduled during the spring semester (March-April), with a psychologist indicated by the Diocese.  It will be paid for by the Diocese.  Aspirants showing clear evidence of diaconal vocation, progress in formation, and the intention to seek Holy Orders will be invited to petition for Candidacy after all evaluations are complete.

Summary

Year 1: 

• New Testament (and concurrent colloquium)
• Morality (and concurrent colloquium)
• Ecclesiology/Church History (and concurrent colloquium)
• First year evaluation by Deacon Formation Review Board

Year 2: 

• Old Testament (and concurrent colloquium)
• Ministry (and concurrent colloquium)
• Sacraments (and concurrent colloquium)
• Aspirants’ Retreat (1-day, in-house)
• Psychological testing
• Second year evaluation by DFRB

Candidacy

After satisfactory completion of the theological base, Aspirants who have been invited to petition for admission to Candidacy may do so.  Admission to Candidacy will take place according to the proper Rite.  Candidacy means that the Candidate, his family, and those responsible for his formation all agree that there is both a reasonably clear vocation to the permanent diaconate, and a reasonably strong commitment on the part of the Candidate to pursue that vocation for the Diocese of Sioux City.

Candidacy lasts for three years.  It continues as a period of deeper discernment, but it also begins the formation proper to the diaconal ministry.

Each year, Candidates will take classes (½ tuition paid by Office of Deacons), perform a different supervised ministry experience, attend the candidate retreat organized by the Office of Deacons, and submit to a DFRB evaluation.  Candidates are required to have a spiritual director; if they are choosing a new or a first spiritual director, they must choose from the list approved by the Diocese of Sioux City.

Classes for the first and second year will follow the format and calendar of the CMP at Early, including the colloquia for human and spiritual formation.  Classes for the third year may vary in format.

The supervised experiences of ministry are intended to expand the horizons of the Candidate.  Candidates must choose different ministries each year (e.g. hospital ministry, prison ministry, soup kitchen, RCIA, etc).  The goal is that Candidates will try new things, not only things they are already familiar with, and that over the three years, will have a much clearer idea of what kinds of ministry they are being called to for this Diocese.  Mentors and plans of ministry must be approved by the Office of Deacons.

First-year Candidates who receive positive end-of-year evaluation will be invited to petition for Installation in the Ministry of Lector, and to continue in the program.  Second-year Candidates who receive positive end-of-year evaluation will be invited to petition for Installation in the Ministry of Acolyte, and to continue in the program.

Summary:
Year 1: 

Year 2:

• Occasional Rites (and concurrent colloquium)
• Christology I and II (and concurrent colloquia)
• Supervised ministry (~40-50 hours)
• Function as a Lector
• Second-year retreat (1 day)
• DFRB evaluation
• Installation to Ministry of Acolyte

Year 3:

• Homiletics
• Canon Law
• Function as an Acolyte
• Supervised ministry (~40-50 hours)
• DFRB evaluation
• Canonical retreat (5 days)