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The Diaconate: The Purpose of the Deacon is to Serve

(Dn. Jeevan Liston D'souza SAC, Dn. Jithesh Leonard D'souza SAC, Dn. David Minin Fernandes SAC - Center)

(Article by Dn. Jeevan Liston D'souza SAC)

Acts 6:2-4 gives us the institution of the order of Deacon. The purpose of the deacon was to serve. The word for deacon comes from the Greek word which means "to serve." (1) This is the first separation we see in those called to spread the Gospel message. The apostles continued their ministry of prayer and preaching the good news. The apostles understood that there was another whole side of ministry and that was to serve the needs of the people. This continues today as some men are called to a ministry of prayer and preaching and some are called to serve more practical needs. Jesus wants the whole person to be served. Just as He both healed the sick and fed the multitudes He too expects us to serve the whole person as well. 

For this reason, the Church gives utmost importance to the ordination of Diaconate. This is the divinely instituted ecclesiastical ministry. “This ministry is exercised in different degrees by those who even from ancient times have been called bishops, priests, and deacons.” (2) Catholic doctrine, expressed in the liturgy, the Magisterium, and the constant practice of the Church, recognizes that there are two degrees of ministerial participation in the priesthood of Christ: the episcopacy and the presbyterate. The diaconate is intended to help and serve them.


For this reason, the term sacerdos in current usage denotes bishops and priests but not deacons. Catholic doctrine teaches that the degrees of priestly participation (episcopate and presbyterate) and the degree of service (diaconate) are all three conferred by a sacramental act called “ordination,” that is, by the sacrament of Holy Orders: Let everyone revere the deacons as Jesus Christ, the bishop as the image of the Father, and the presbyters as the senate of God and the assembly of the apostles. For without them one cannot speak of the Church. (3)


Moreover, the Church understood that at a lower level of the hierarchy are to be found deacons, who receive the imposition of hands ‘not unto the priesthood, but unto the ministry.” (4) At an ordination to the diaconate only the bishop lays hands on the candidate, thus signifying the deacon’s special attachment to the bishop in the tasks of his “diakonia.” (5) The Diaconate, is conferred as a step towards Presbyteral ordination. Though this is an interim state, it is an order by itself. It is a necessary pre-condition for the reception of the Presbyteral Order that the candidate has received the order of Diaconate. The minimum age for the ordination to Diaconate is 23. (6)


Today Deacons share in Christ’s mission and grace in a special way. (7) The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint (“character”) that cannot be removed and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the “deacon” or servant of all. (8) Among other tasks, it is the task of deacons to assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries, above all the Eucharist, in the distribution of Holy Communion, in assisting at and blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel and preaching, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to the various ministries of charity. (9)


We are physical as well as spiritual beings and when our physical needs are not met, it is hard to concentrate on the spiritual. As James says in his letter, what good does it do to wish a person a good day and then do nothing to help him have one. The apostles understood that and so the order of deacons began. This is the reminder to me as I step forward to the sacred order through the ordination of Diaconate, to believe what I read, teach what I believe, and practice what I teach, and plunge myself into the ministry of service. For the rest of us, not all of us are called to the order of deacons, but we are called to reach out and help alleviate the needs of the poor and needy as best we can.


  1. The Dictionary of the Theological Terms, 2nd Ed., by Donald K McKim( Oxford: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 768.
  2. LG 28.
  3. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Trall. 3,1: SCH 10,96.
  4. LG 29; cf. CD 15.
  5. Cf. St. Hippolytus, Trad. ap. 8:SCh 11,58-62.
  6. Cf. Jose Pulickal, A Dictionary of Canon Law ( Trissur: Biblia Publications,2004), 145.
  7. Cf. LG 41; AA 16.
  8. Cf. Mk 10:45; St. Polycarp, Ad Phil. 5,: SCH 10, 182
  9. Cf. LG 29; SC 35 § 4; AG 16.

 

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