Truck stop chaplain Deacon Rich Seveska, right, talks with Abdi Rizak at the Foristell Travel Center in Foristell, Mo., in 2012.
By DENNIS CODAY
A little more than one in five deacons are financially compensated for their work in ministry, according to the latest study of the permanent diaconate done for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Twenty-one percent of deacons are financially compensated for ministry, including full-time and part-time work, and among this group, most are involved in some kind of parish ministry work, according to “A Portrait of the Permanent Diaconate: A Study for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2012-2013,” conducted by CARA and released in June 2013. Sixteen percent of deacons who are financially compensated for their ministry, full-time or part-time, are responsible for one or more parishes under Canon 517.2, which permits a bishop to entrust the pastoral care of a parish “to a deacon, to another person who is not a priest, or to a community of persons.” That is about 100 dea-
cons, the authors of the study estimate. Here are more highlights from the findings in the study’s section on ministry and compensation. Among deacons who receive financial compensation: Q Twenty-five percent are paid for a full-time parish ministry, such as director of religious education or youth minister; 20 percent work part-time for these parish ministries. Q Twelve percent work in parishes, but in in “nonministerial” positions, such as administration, business or finance. Q Fifteen percent work for their diocese in either a ministerial position, such as diocesan directors of religious education or youth or in administration, business or finance. Q Almost three in 10 work as chaplains, 14 percent in hospitals and 15 percent in prisons.
—CNS/St. Louis Review/Lisa Johnston
—CNS/Catholic Courier/Mike Crupi
Deacon Peter Dohr places ashes on the forehead of 3-year-old Quinn Dale as Quinn’s grandfather, Gary Brundage, looks on during an Ash Wednesday service at St. Rose Church in Lima, N.Y., last year.
NATIONAL CATHOLIC
REPORTER THE INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE