It is precisely such a "revisioning" that many historians and theologians of the diaconate have been engaged with for many years, so it is affirming to hear two prominent church leaders express such a view.

In particular, Cardinal Cupich and Cardinal McElroy raised the question of whether it remained necessary or even desirable to ordain seminarians to the diaconate prior to ordination to the presbyterate.

This suggestion is not new.

I want to offer some rationale as to why eliminating a seminary diaconate (what I have referred to elsewhere as an "apprentice model" of the diaconate) is not only possible but necessary for envisioning a mature and fully formed diaconate for the future.

By way of introduction, it should be remembered that in the ancient and early medieval church, direct ordination was common, with sequential ordination in the pattern of the cursus honorum a later development that developed regionally.

This system of "coming up through the ranks" was revamped and simplified at the request of the world's bishops at the Second Vatican Council and implemented by Pope Paul VI in 1972.

It should be noted that these changes affect the Latin Rite of the church.

The rite of tonsure (which brought a candidate into the clerical state and made him eligible to receive subsequent ordination) was suppressed, as were the minor orders of porter, lector, exorcist and acolyte.

Pope Paul retained the functions of lector and acolyte as lay ministries that no longer required ordination.

Finally, he turned his attention to the three major orders of subdeacon, deacon and presbyter.

He suppressed the subdiaconate and tied entrance into the clerical state to diaconal ordination. The pope's actions resulted in the three orders we currently have: episcopate, diaconate and presbyterate.

Experience in ministry

The overall purpose of sequential ordination was to ensure candidates for the higher orders had gained experience in ministry before assuming greater responsibilities.

In the seminary system, tonsure, the minor orders, then subdiaconate and diaconate were all tied to different stages of seminary formation.

Seminarians nearing the end of the process would be ordained deacons and then sent into a parish setting for a period of time prior to ordination into the presbyterate.

This has been replaced by a pastoral year that normally precedes diaconal ordination.

In a practical sense, one might question the purpose of requiring ordination to the diaconate as a prerequisite to presbyteral ordination.

Of course, it is sometimes suggested that diaconal ordination is essential for those en route to the presbyterate (and episcopate) because it grounds them in the foundation of all ministry: the church's diakonia.

While this sounds reasonable, it would also seem to be the case that all ministry, lay, religious and ordained, is to be grounded in diakonia and therefore more of an effect of baptism than holy orders.

The new edition of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Program of Priestly Formation includes a "Vocational Synthesis Stage," during which a seminarian-deacon would go "outside the walls" of the seminary into a parish assignment for some period of time, likely six to 12 months.

The text takes pains to declare that this is not a stage in which the seminarian is undergoing "on-the-job" training, but that he is coming into a fuller appreciation of the demands and blessings of the clerical state.

Still, the whole feel of this section of the program of formation is of an apprenticeship, as the seminarian-deacon is incorporated into the community of the clergy within the diocese, an incorporation that is still focused on his eventual ordination into the presbyterate, not an appreciation of the diaconate in its own sacramental identity.

The sacramental "goal" lies ahead.

Finally, I would further point out that a seminarian's formation, no matter how lengthy, is focused in one direction: the presbyterate.

At no point is the seminarian discerning a vocation to the diaconate, which serves merely as a final step in his preparation for presbyterate.

It is truly an apprenticeship model. But a vocation to one order does not and should not presume a vocation to another.

Words matter

With this in mind, let us turn to two major considerations revealed in the language often used to describe the diaconate.

First, we must immediately retire the use of adjectives to describe a deacon as either a "permanent" deacon or a "transitional" deacon.

For decades now, scholars and bishops have pointed out that there is only one Order of Deacons, just as there is only one Order of Presbyters and one Order of Bishops.

All ordinations are permanent, so calling a deacon a "permanent" one is redundant, and calling a seminarian-deacon a "transitional" deacon is sacramentally wrong.

All deacons are permanent.

We do not refer to a presbyter who is later ordained a bishop as a "transitional" priest!

The U.S.C.C.B. recognized this years ago and renamed the secretariat responsible for the diaconate.

It had been known as the Secretariat for the Permanent Diaconate, and the actual Committee of Bishops responsible was known as the Committee on the Permanent Diaconate.

In the mid-1990s, the word "permanent" was removed from both the committee's name and its supporting secretariat.

Although this realization was made decades ago, we still encounter references to men being ordained into the permanent diaconate or into the transitional diaconate, as if there were two separate orders of deacons.

Why is this such a big deal? Because words matter.

To think of the diaconate as a temporary stop on the road to somewhere else minimizes the sacramental significance of where one is already.

How many deacon-seminarians have heard comments on the day of their diaconal ordination, "Well, you're almost there, aren't you?"

And how many so-called permanent deacons have heard, "O.K., so when is your real ordination?" meaning, "When will you be ordained to the presbyterate?"

One newly-ordained deacon recalls a family member commenting after his ordination that the ceremony "was almost like a real ordination"!

A deacon is a deacon is a deacon.

Maintaining an apprentice model in the seminary dilutes and distorts all of this.

Second, the apprentice model perpetuates a distorted image of the diaconate.

As experienced by a seminarian, the diaconate is largely liturgical, school-based and, if the seminarian is lucky, parish-based.

This makes sense if the diaconate is seen as a kind of "on-the-job training" for the presbyterate.

But it does not reflect the realities, challenges and lifelong commitment to the diaconate faced by other deacons not aspiring or preparing for the priesthood. Continue reading

The group includes two men who are in their fifth year of studies for the priesthood. They are likely to be the first clergy to have undertaken their entire formation within the Ordinariate. Read more

Stan Vanuytrecht, 58, responded to an advertisement placed by Fr Alois Moser, which asked for someone with a "connection to Christian belief" and "at peace with themselves".

Francis has, of course, been busy with other things. The seventy-eight-year-old Jesuit now in the third year of his papacy seems quite serious in his efforts to reform the Roman Curia, by all accounts a bloated bureaucracy resistant to change. The pope's early movement toward transparency in Vatican financial matters earned him enemies within the system, and his ongoing efforts to uncover fiscal improprieties do not exactly grease the wheels needed to move the Curia forward to reform. Francis's dual efforts—curial and financial reform—support his larger agenda and aim: preaching the Gospel and living its message.

But, what about women? In interviews and writings, the pope often returns to the topic of women's roles in the Church. Within a few months of his election, Francis called for a "more widespread and incisive female presence in the Church" in an interview with Antonio Spadaro, the Jesuit editor of La Civiltà Cattolica, one of Italy's oldest periodicals and the only one whose text is approved by the Vatican's state department.1 The papal interview, translated into several languages and printed in sixteen Jesuit journals, caught the attention of the major Spanish daily newspaper El País,2 which suggested Francis might be considering female cardinals. The report brought a papal response: "I don't know where that comment came from!"

Even so, Francis repeated the same call a few months later in his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel): "we need to create still broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church."3 He repeated that phrase when speaking before the Pontifical Council for Culture's February 2015 plenary assembly on women in the church.4 The event was perhaps a response to another papal suggestion—development of a "theology of the woman in the Church"—made on the papal plane ride back to Rome from the 2013 World Youth Day in Brazil. Continue reading

• Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University, and a leading authority on women deacons in the Catholic Church.

Karatea-Goddard is the Bishop of Palmerston North's Assistant for Maori Apostolate.

The ordination took place on 7 June and was attended by people from Wairoa, Ohakune, Te Awa o Whanganui, all the marae of the Rangitikei, Manawatu and Tararua, and from the local and Maori boarding colleges.

In his homily, the Bishop of Palmerston North Charles Drennan, assured Maru, Danny's wife, and their tamariki and mokopuna, that 'in God's vision for humanity there is no such thing as competing vocations; love is not apportioned. Danny's primary vocation,' he explained, 'remains the vocation of marriage.

'His service as a deacon will come through his vocation as a husband and father. The strength of his ministry as a deacon will be a reflection of your aroha as a married couple and family.'

Bishop Charles went on to say: 'I was delighted yet not surprised to learn that as a Maori couple, part of your preparation for this day was a pilgrimage in which family and faith were again woven together, as you visited relatives and the sacred ground of your tupuna o te whakapono.'

Source

• Wel-Com
• Image: FaceBook

Although euthanasia is legal in Belgium, Ivo Poppe, 57, is facing charges because there is no evidence patients consented to his actions.

Poppe allegedly killed his victims at the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur Menin by smothering them or giving them a fatal dose of insulin.

The deacon worked at the hospital as a nurse from 1980 until 2002, when he was ordained.

The married father of three adult children continued to visit the hospital as a pastoral assistant until he began full-time work as a deacon in 2011.

It is unclear whether he killed anyone while serving as a deacon.

According to police, Poppe kept records of his alleged victims. He confessed to the killings when confronted.

Poppe's lawyers say he was motivated by compassion when he carried out his actions

Police believe he was just a serial killer, using the hospital as cover.

Poppe is being examined by psychiatrists before his trial.

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Bruges said: "Euthanasia and deacon: these are two words which do not belong together in the same sentence."

Bishop Jozef De Kesel said: "We can only condemn and deplore the matters with which he has been charged. "

Bishop De Kesel expressed sympathy for the families of victims.

Last month, the Daily Mail reported that five people die each day on average at the hands of doctors by legal euthanasia in Belgium.

The number of euthanasia cases in Belgium increased by 27 per cent in 2013, compared with the previous year's figures.

In 2003, Belgium was the second country in the world to legalise euthanasia after Holland liberalised its law a year earlier, becoming the first country since Nazi Germany to permit the practice.

Earlier this year, Belgium legalised euthanasia for children who are terminally ill and have unrelieved suffering.

Critics say safeguards around such laws have been shown to be meaningless.

Recent surveys suggest at least half the euthanasia deaths in Belgium are not reported by doctors, who just perform them and carry on.

Sources

• UCA News
• Catholic Online
• Daily Mail
• Image: xpats.com

He will be ordained by Bishop Charles Drennan, the Bishop of Palmerston North, on Saturday, at 11am, at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Broadway Avenue.

"Danny and [his wife] Maru are already widely involved in serving the Maori Catholic community as well as civic groups. What has made a deep impression on me is the way the Maori community itself has discerned Danny's spiritual gifts. Maori ministering to Maori is a great blessing," says Bishop Charles Drennan.

Karatea-Goddard is of Maori and Chinese descent.

He and Maru serve on the Te Runanga o te Hahi Katorika ki Aotearoa as treasurer and national secretary respectively.

They also take lead the Hato Hohepa Maori Catholic community in Feilding.

Karatea-Goddard will continue his pastoral ministry with special focus on Maori pastoral care and formation in the Manawatu region.

"For me, with Maru alongside and with my community this has been a long journey of discernment about what is best for our faith community. The result has been a decision that has sprung from the community and from myself to take this step to acknowledge the role of pastoral care for Maori that comes from within the Maori Catholic community," he says.

"I'm proud of both my Maori and Chinese heritage and I hope to continue to be of service to the Church and people from all walks of life."

Te Runanga o te Hahi Katorika ki Aotearoa is the national body established by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference to advise the bishops on the pastoral care and evangelisation of Maori.

Source

Supplied NZCBC: Simone Olsen, Communications Adviser, New Zealand Catholic Bishops, 021 611 052

Argentinean Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who heads the Vatican department for Eastern Catholic Churches, said the next pontificate should see women having more leadership positions in the Vatican and beyond.

"The role of women in the world has increased and this is something the Church has to ask itself about," he said.

"They must have a much more important role in the life of the Church ... so that they can contribute to Church life in so many areas which are now, in part, open only to men .... This will be a challenge for us in the future."

Cardinal Sandri said women "must also be co-participants in the dialogue and the analysis of the life of the Church and in [other] areas, even in the formation of priests, where they can play a very, very important role".

In Germany, the Catholic bishops' conference devoted one day of a three-day plenary meeting to considering the role of women in the Church.

Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz called for a "convincing job profile for women that also requires a sacramental blessing and a liturgical ceremony for a binding commitment".

Cardinal Walter Kasper, former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, suggested creating a new diaconal office for women.

He envisaged women being officially appointed for pastoral, charitable, catechetical and certain liturgical services at a special "Benediction", as abbesses used to be. Then they could participate in synods, pastoral councils and commissions.

This "deaconess" role would be different from the classic deacon's role, he said. The deaconess would not be nominated through the sacrament of orders, but through a blessing.

Cardinal Kasper argued that many women already perform the functions of a deacon, so in principle the matter could not be ignored.

He said such changes "would do the Roman curia good".

Sources:

Reuters

The Tablet

America

Image: Kipa-Apic

Deacon Samuel Maetara, 33, is from Malaita Province in the Southern region of the Solomon Islands. He says that he feels called to serve the poor, rejected and marginalized and believes that he is called to do that as a Marist priest.

He began his formation at Marist College, Bomana, Papua New Guinea in 2005.
 In 2007 he went to Fiji for his noviciate year before returning to Bomana in 2008 to continue his studies.

In 2009 Samuel transferred to Marist Seminary Auckland and continued studies at Good Shepherd College. In 2011 he worked at Chanel College, a high school in Samoa, and this year returned to continue his formation at Marist Seminary and complete his studies at Good Shepherd College. During the year he made his lifelong commitment to Marist life by taking Final Vows.

Tom Rarakani, Samuel's oldest brother, traveled from the Solomon Islands to represent his family at the Samuel's ordination.

Tom has a background in teaching. At one stage he had a senior role in the ministry of education for the Solomon Islands and currently he is a fulltime student at the University of the South Pacific (Honiara Campus), where he is doing a doctorate in Business Studies. He is married with children and hopes to complete his studies next year.

Source

• Marist Seminary Auckland
• Image: Marist Seminary Auckland