NDRV1Issue06

Issue 6

If you have enjoyed out first five issues and have not yet renewed your subscription, please remember to do so on our website: www.idc-nec.org

R New

eview

DIACONAL

May 2011

EDITORIAL 2 Ashley Beck and Tony Schmitz

DIACONAL SPIRITUALITY 4

The Character of Diaconal Formation James Keating

DIACONIA OF WORD 11

Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: from the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection – Pope Benedict XVI Paul Watson

15

Diakonia in the New Testament Prosper Grech OSA

19

A Pearl of Great Price – The Riches of Pope Benedict’s Post Synodal Exhortation – Verbum Domini Paul Watson

23

Reviewed... Words and the Word Reviewed... A Cross-Shattered Church; Cuttle Fish, Clones and Cluster Bombs Ashley Beck

26

Reviewed... The Gospel of Matthew: Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Tony Schmitz

DIACONIA OF ALTAR 27

Reviewed... Deacons: Ministers of Christ and of God’s Mysteries Justin Harkin

DIACONIA OF CARITAS 30

Alphons Ariëns, priest and social pioneer Here Hub Crijns & Paul Wennekes

33

Reviewed... Christian Perspectives on the Financial Crash Ashley Beck

36

Reviewed... Work for God’s Sake Ashley Beck

THEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF DIACONATE 38

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism Sara Butler

50

Reviewed... Diaconia, Diaconiae, Diaconto Tony Schmitz

DIACONAL FLORAMATION 52

The second article on Deacons and the Euro will appear in issue 7 November 2011

Reviewed... Servants of All Justin Harkin

DOCUMENTATION / RETRIEVING THE TRADITION 55

The Disappearance of the Permanent Diaconate Tony Schmitz

Contents

Tony Schmitz 25

eview

DIACONAL

Subito Santo!

Published November & May each year by: International Diaconate Centre – North European Circle (IDC-NEC) 77 University Road, Aberdeen, AB24 3DR, Scotland.

Tel: 01224 481810 (from outside UK: +44 1224 481810) A Charitable Company Registered in England In association with The Pastoral Review, The Tablet Publishing Company Ltd, 1 King Street Cloisters, Clifton Walk, London, W6 0GY, UK. Website www.idc-nec.org Board of the IDC–NEC Tony Schmitz (Chair), Ashley Beck, John Traynor, Nelleke Wijngaards-Serrarens, Wim Tobé, Paul Wennekes, Göran Fäldt, Guy Vermaerke Editors Tony Schmitz tony.schmitz@gmail.com Ashley Beck ashleybeck88@hotmail.com Contributions are welcome from readers. Please send material to the editors at the e-mail addresses above.

For style details please consult the website of The Pastoral Review www.thepastoralreview.org/style.shtml Editorial consultants Dr John N Collins (Australia) Rt Revd Gerard de Korte (Netherlands) Revd Dr William Ditewig (USA) Rt Revd Michael Evans (England) Revd Prof Dr Michael Hayes (England) Revd Prof Bart Koet (Netherlands), Rt Revd Vincent Logan (Scotland), Most Revd Sigitas Tamkevicius (Lithuania) Advertisement manager Sandra Townsley Tel: 01463 831133 (from outside UK: +44 1463 831133) sedstown@aol.com Designer James Chasteauneuf © The Tablet Publishing Company Limited ISSN 1759-1902 Subscriptions and membership of IDC-NEC 1 year - £15 / 20 euros (or equivalent in other currencies) By post: IDC-NEC, 77 University Road, Aberdeen AB24 3DR, UK Online: www.idc-nec.org (in all main currencies)

2

Subito Santo ...

In the autumn of 1993 the permanent diaconate was the subject of Pope John Paul II’s Wednesday catechesis. Some of those addresses are quoted in the Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons and the Directory of the Life and Ministry of Permanent Deacons which are the basis of the life and formation of deacons. The long pontificate of John Paul II from 1978 to 2005 encompassed the real growth to maturity of the permanent diaconate, and this was nurtured – as the addresses show – by his own vision and teaching. For this reason alone deacons all over the world, and others engaged in diaconal work, will rejoice at the beatification of John Paul II which has just happened as this issue of our journal reaches you. Blessed John Paul’s ministry and teachings were so deep and wide-ranging that every Catholic can find something fruitful from which to draw some inspiration – deacons as much as others.

In his catechesis at the general audiences in 1993 he said: ‘A particularly felt need behind the decision to restore the permanent diaconate was that of a greater and more direct presence of sacred ministers in areas such as the family, work, schools etc. as well as in the various ecclesial structures.’

The great celebration in Rome of his beatification gives deacons and those who support deacons the opportunity to renew our ministry and grow in understanding of Blessed John Paul’s teaching, as has been done through conferences and collections of essays. One of his most important legacies was in the area of social teaching, of which deacons are expected to have a specialist knowledge – as shown in his early encyclical on human work (Laborem Exercens), his teaching about the virtue of solidarity, his adoption of the notion of the

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

a second Spring? ‘preferential option for the poor’, his support for the working rights of women, his defence of Sunday as a day of rest, and his tireless witness against war. Deacons, most of whom are married, will also be attuned to Blessed John Paul’s teaching about marriage, family life and sex, drawing on his long experience as a teacher and a pastor before he became pope. So all of us will join in the cry ‘Subito Santo!’ which was heard at his funeral Mass in 2005: those to whom we minister in the world have so much to learn from his teaching. We also look at current issues in social teaching through reviews of various books – covering collections of sermons and the question of how far financial systems should be regulated.

A Second Spring for Exegesis?

Are we, in this second decade of the third millennium, witnessing a Second Spring in hermeneutics? If so, the two volumes of Pope Benedict’s crystalline Jesus of Nazareth as well as Verbum Domini will come to be seen to have played a key role.

In this sixth issue of our journal we look at both publications and we also reproduce a paper by the Augustinian scholar Prosper Grech given at the Patristics conference in Rome two years ago which was devoted to the diaconate. (The complete Proceedings of this significant conference came to hand just in time to give only a Short Notice of this important collection of research papers in this issue. We hope to translate and publish the more important ones in future issues.)

Women Deacons: Yes or No? This is a question that has been debated in the course of both pontificates and we cannot shirk tackling it. In what many consider the best book on the subject, The Catholic Priesthood and Women: A Guide to the Teaching of the Church, Professor

Sara Butler, Chester and Margaret Paluch Professor of Theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, the major seminary of the Archdiocese of Chicago and since 2004 a member of the International Theological Commission, deliberately excluded consideration of the diaconate. Accordingly we commissioned her six months ago to consider explicitly the question of women deacons. We are pleased to publish what we are sure will be considered a landmark essay, a model of the development of doctrine within a hermeneutic of continuity, exemplifying the reform, renewal and rediscovery called for by the Second Vatican Council.

Joint National Assembly and International Conference This issue of our journal is published just over a month before the first Northern European Circle – IDC Study Conference, which is also the fifth national Assembly of Deacons in England and Wales, taking place in Twickenham at the end of June.

This will be an event of great importance and there will be reports about this journal, the fruit of cooperation within the diaconal world in northern Europe, and we hope that many readers will have the chance to meet the editors of this journal and our editorial board. We are grateful that our publisher and partner journals, The Tablet and The Pastoral Review have kindly agreed to sponsor the conference.

Readers and Subscribers Finally, a plea to our readers: If you have been receiving a free copy of this journal, please take out a subscription. If you have already done this, please make sure it is renewed. For any young journal finances are always delicate, particularly at a time of financial austerity all over Europe, and our future depends on you, and on a secure financial base. The most convenient way to do so is by paying online in all main currencies at our website: www.idc-nec.org ■

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

3

Editorial

R

Ashley Beck and Tony Schmitz

New

James Keating

Character

Deacon James Keating is the Director of Theological Formation at the Institute of Priestly Formation at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, and from next month will also become the Director of the Archdiocese of Omaha Permanent by letting Christ do the work. As one medDiaconate Programme itates upon the meaning of diaconal character, one realizes that Holy Orders mediates a gift to be received and not simply or such a “simple” station in the tasks to accomplish. If a deacon receives Church’s hierarchy, the vocation of the this gift subjectively, the various and comdeacon is complex. The complexity arises plex relationships that make up his life will from the net of relationships in which the become a support to him in his ministry deacon finds himself upon ordination, a and will no longer be rivals for his time and net that is not to be escaped but embraced. emotional capital.

Unfortunately, the intricacy of the relationships of the diaconate can tempt a man to despair as he makes efforts to What Is this gift, the please all of his constituencies: wife, chilcharacter of Holy Orders? dren, bishop, pastor, employer, parishInsofar as it is a grade of holy orders [sic], ioners, diocesan officials, fellow deacons, the diaconate imprints a character and and more. Along with these relationships communicates a specific sacramental and the various calls they carry, the deagrace. The diaconal character is the concon also feels pressed to “perform” well in figurative and distinguishing sign, indelibly his ministries, which can be various and impressed in the soul, that configures the often emotionally consuming; however, one ordained to Christ, who made himself looking at the vocation of deacon from the perspective of what Christ is sharing with him, the deacon can receive clarity on a vital truth: it is not the quantity of acts of service that matter to Christ but simply one’s fidelity to the character of ordination. Excessive activity and neurotic handwringing about whether “I am doing enough to help others” gives birth only to stress, not holiness. Most deacons of the Western world will go to purgatory because they were too busy exerting themselves, the deacon – the servant – of all. It brings not because their ministry was measured. with it a specific sacramental grace: a gift Jesus will meet them at Purgatory’s gate for living the new reality wrought by the with one question: “Why did you try to do sacrament. With regard to deacons, so much?” “strengthened by sacramental grace they are dedicated to the People of God, in conThe key to living the diaconate in a simple junction with the bishop and his body of yet effective way is found within one’s priests, in the service (diakonia) of the fidelity to the character received at ordinaliturgy, of the Gospel and of works of chartion. The reception of this character allows ity.” Just as in all sacraments which the deacon to minister in a profound way imprint character, grace has a permanent

F

... it is not the quantity of acts of service that matter to Christ but simply one’s fidelity to the character of ordination

4

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

of

Diaconal

Formation virtuality. It flowers again and again in the same measure in which it is received and accepted again and again in faith… . The Church further teaches that: By a special sacramental gift, Holy Order confers on the deacon a particular participation in the consecration and mission of Him who became servant of the Father for the redemption of mankind, and inserts him in a new and specific way in the mystery of Christ, of his Church and the salvation of all mankind.1 The character received at ordination has been likened to a brand or wound that signifies “ownership.” Then-Cardinal Ratzinger noted that this wound or brand “calls out to its owner.”2 In this way, the cleric stands in relationship to the one who has placed his mark upon him. “From now on, let no one make troubles for me; for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body” (Gal 6:17). A further scriptural understanding of character might be summed up in this Pauline teaching: “Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Here, Scripture underscores the interior self-surrender of the cleric. He is the one who eagerly hosts the mystery of Christ’s public service of charity as his own, as his new life. One man, called to be priest, makes himself permanently available to the sacrificial mystery of Christ; and another man, called to be deacon, makes himself permanently available to the servant mystery of Christ.

This servant mystery and this sacrificial

mystery coincide at the Eucharist, wherein Christ offers His body and blood in sacrifice and also “gives example” of what communion with this sacrifice can do to impel self-effacing service (John 13:12ff).

Guy Mansini OSB notes the following about this diaconal character of service: The deacon disappears into the action he undertakes at Mass. His service is more purely instrumental, more purely a serving, and if he is an icon of anything, he is an icon of precisely that, self-effacing service. The deacon’s function is to keep the circle of charitable receiving and giving turning, both sacramentally and within community.3 To become permanently available to Christ is an objective reality imparted upon ordi-

The deacon’s function is to keep the circle of charitable receiving and giving turning, both sacramentally and within community nation, but it needs to be ever-personally appropriated anew so its grace “flowers again and again in the same measure in which it is received … in faith.”4 A further

1 Congregation for Clergy, Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons (Vatican City: Libraria Editrice Vaticane, 1998), nos. 7 and 46.

2 See David Toups, Reclaiming our Priestly Character (Omaha: IPF Publications, 2008), 82.

3 Father Guy Mansini OSB, private correspondence with author, June 2010.

4 Ibid.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

5

Diaconal Spirituality

The

witness to this diaconal character in Scripture is the following: “Let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant… . I am among you as the one who serves” (Luke 22:26–27).

This service, however, does not simply originate in a man’s feelings of empathy toward those in need. Ordained “service” flows from communion with Christ, particularly as it relates to Christ’s capacity to listen to His Father. As Psalm 40 notes, “Sacrifice and offering you do not want; but ears open to obedience you gave me” (vs. 6).

Obedience is the virtue/gift that orders a man to raptly listen to God out of love. One way to better understand obedience would be to meditate upon the story of Mary’s attentiveness to Christ in Luke 10:38-42. It is an attentiveness that carries the desire to give the self. It is a listening unto surrender.

The Martha figure in the story is a kind and hospitable woman who is serving, but she, unlike Mary, has not chosen the better part.

“The better part” indicates a depth of communion with Christ that readies one to give and serve out of that precise communion.

The deacon’s subjective appropriation to live in communion with Christ is his full response to the objective action of Christ within him that happened at ordination. The deacon is called not to the priesthood, not to offer sacrifice, but to diakonia, service. To serve faithfully, the deacon needs to hear what God desires. This listening or obedience is, of course, one of the most powerful elements, if not the most powerful element, of Jesus’ own ministry. “I cannot do anything on my own; … I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (John 5:30).

When Christ inflicts the “wound” of diaconal ordination upon a man, it is to make him vulnerable to the mystery of this obedient service. The desire to serve the Father’s will defines the heart of Christ. Is the deacon aware that Christ is now speaking to him about this desire, about the love of the Father He wishes to dispense upon His Church?

6

Did the deacon allow the wound of ordination to open the ears of his heart so that he could hear the movement of Christ’s own Spirit? Does the deacon wish to obey the Spirit so that he does not work in vain (Ps 127:1)?

There are few virtues more necessary to a deacon than the capacity to listen to Christ in prayer, within the context of listening both to the bishop and to the needs of the diocese.

Listening for the needs of the people and then discerning with God what needs can be served by his ministry is a prayer emblematic of the deacon. He, with the bishop, is called to prayerfully imagine approaches to service that do not yet exist in the diocese or approaches that can be better equipped.

The diaconal sacramental character can be summarized in this way: It is a grace that permanently orders a man toward participation in Christ’s own simple self-giving, as one who came to serve and not be served. This is the crux of the character: the deacon has become permanently open, unceasingly available to the mystery of this charitable

... prayerfully imagine approaches to service that do not yet exist in the diocese or approaches that can be better equipped service as it flows from the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. This participation in the mystery of Christ’s own service establishes the deacon, by right, to facilitate the circulation of Christ’s own charity in the Church and beyond. The deacon is an envoy of the Paschal Mystery to the laity, in the hope of serving them in their mission to transform culture for Christ. In this way, the deacon takes what grace he receives when assisting at the altar and gives it to the laity, and then takes what he receives from the

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

The Character of Diaconal Formation – James Keating

laity (their love, suffering, and hardships) and gives it to the priest. The priest, in turn, then offers it to the Father, in and with the sacrifice of Christ. All of this service by the deacon is accomplished in obedience to the pastoral vision of the bishop.5 When ministering, the deacon embodies the spiritual discernment of the bishop, who has identified or confirmed the needs of the Church and the appropriate response his deacons should take to serve these needs.

Diaconal life that flows from this character Receiving the gift of Holy Orders, which is in communion with Christ’s own pastoral charity, establishes the deacon in freedom. It is not the deacon’s “job” to do a lot of “work.” It is the deacon’s call to stay in a posture of receptivity to the gift Christ gives, in this case, communion with His own servant-love.

Specifically, Christ is inviting the deacon to be available in Him to the needs of the diocese, to incarnate the eternal availability of Christ’s own heart to the poor (Luke 22:27). What the Lord asks of the deacon is clear: Will you say “yes” to My sharing My availability in you until you die? Will you let Me act in you, through you, so that I might call many to the “banquet” (Luke 14:15–24)?6 The deacon’s call is to be faithful to the character received at ordination so that the people he serves can recognize and come to know Christ. This fidelity is expressed through the unceasing prayer of the deacon within his heart, a con-

versation that continually places the deacon in a posture of surrender, since he knows that Christ can do more through grace than he, the deacon, can do through action. Christ is the love that bears all things – the deacon must let Him!7 The diaconal ministry involves activity, of course, but the key to living in Holy Orders is for the deacon to let the holy order him. In being so ordered, the deacon lets Christ use his natural and acquired gifts as doorways for grace to enter and increase the spiritual potency of his presence to those whom he serves. When he allows the holy to order him, the deacon allows for an effective ministry but not one that depends upon any “bag

When ministering, the deacon embodies the spiritual discernment of the bishop, who has identified or confirmed the needs of the Church of tricks” that might have been used in business or in a secular career. Here is where some deacons run afoul and become emotionally exhausted or suffer a form of insecurity or self-doubt. They may ask themselves: “Why aren’t people responding to me? I’m a successful businessman, a professional. I’m effective at my job; why not at my ministry?”

5 Richard Gaillardetz’s emphasis on the deacon’s relationship to the bishop is crucial here.

In practice, many have placed too much of an emphasis upon the parish work of the deacon and thus, his relationship to a pastor. Once ordained to the diaconate, a man is sent forth by Christ in a permanent relationship to the one who oversees the Church. This deacon is called to serve him, the bishop, in his ministry of oversight. Richard Gaillardetz, “On the Theological Integrity of the Diaconate,” in O. Cummings et al., ed., Theology of the Diaconate (New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2005), 87ff. I would add that at its spiritual core, ordination establishes a man in an unbreakable openness to the mysteries of Christ in a public way – i.e., as one sent from the bishop.

6 This Scripture story throws much light on the dynamism of the diaconal character, especially his moving freely in Christ from altar to evangelize the culture and back again to the altar.

See my A Deacon’s Retreat (New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2009).

7 See Hans Urs von Balthasar, Love Alone is Credible (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 116.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

7

Diaconal Spirituality

The Character of Diaconal Formation – James Keating

The transition that needs to be made is one that takes a man from relying on his pool of natural talents and years of professional experience to becoming a man who relies on the depth of his communion with Christ, one who relies on his permanent availability to the servant identity of Jesus. How does a man come to rely on this depth of communion?

How, in other words, does one live the character of his ordination?

Participation in the actions of Christ the servant First, this communion is secured by the very actions of the deacon in the course of his ministry of the Word. The deacon is given the privilege and right to proclaim the Gospel. By virtue of his ordination, only he and the priest can utter the very words of Christ in the midst of liturgy. Here, we have a wellspring of intimacy for the deacon and Christ. As the deacon meditates upon the Gospel, Christ draws him into His heart. There, in the heart, Christ speaks to the deacon about His own servant heart, sharing with the deacon Jesus’ own will for him regarding ministry and service. The Gospel becomes a point of securing communion with Christ so that ministry flows from an interior place for the good of the people served. Ministry begins and ends in communion with Christ.

Second, the simple service around the altar that assists the priest and keeps the movements of liturgical prayer flowing smoothly becomes a point of secured communion with Christ for the deacon. These movements are so modest that they become effortless over time, thus freeing the heart to be with Christ in the everydayness of Nazareth. Here in the “hidden” simplicity of what are common or ordinary duties – arranging vessels, placing books, pouring wine, reading petitions – the deacon intercedes for the people of the diocese, who may

find it hard to discover Christ in ordinary daily circumstances, where love may be void and only duty and suffering are present.

Third, communion with Christ is secured in and through the specific diocesan ministry of each deacon. Here, in the myriad ways deacons witness to the Paschal Mystery in the secular world, the altar is brought to the culture by the grace of Holy Orders. In a way, the deacon continues his ministry at the altar by “enthroning the Word of God” in the matrix of culture.8 Hopefully, through his diaconal formation, the deacon learned how not only to minister Christ to the people but also to carry Him in prayerful consciousness within the depths of his own heart right in the midst of ministering.

Through these three foundational realities in the deacon’s life, he remains available to the “owner” who branded him. Christ calls out to the deacon from within the brand mark, from within the wound that divine love imparted upon him on his ordination day.

There is no separation between the mysteries of the altar at which the deacon assists and

The transition ... takes a man from relying on his pool of natural talents ... to becoming a man who relies on the depth of his communion with Christ the effect these mysteries have upon his will and conscience as he embeds himself within culture to serve the laity. This service flows from the deacon’s intimacy with the servant love of Christ. This intimacy is the result of Christ’s actions upon the deacon and the deacon’s subjective openness to Christ at the point of the wound. Unlike a physical wound,

8 Pope Benedict XVI, Meeting with the Clergy of the Diocese of Rome, “The Importance of the Permanent Diaconate” (February 7, 2008), http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=26825.

8

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

The Character of Diaconal Formation – James Keating

this spiritual wound is to remain open so that the deacon can receive from there the love that Christ is pouring into his soul. By desiring for Christ to configure him to a life of selfemptying, the deacon supports and serves the laity in their call to transform culture along the lines of the Eucharistic Mystery – that is, to give witness to the love-infused Body of Christ in public.

If it is true that the deacon “presides at the Liturgy of Charity”9 and the priest at the Liturgy of the Eucharist, then it is also true that the deacon gives Christ the freedom to place oil and wine (i.e., divine charity, Luke 10:34) into the needs of the Church as She labours to give witness to the love of Christ in public. In his ministry to the laity, he empties himself of social standing so that Christ can act in him to encourage the Church to give witness. The deacon makes himself available to Christ so that He can configure himself to the suffering of those who feel the cost of standing up for the Gospel in public. The deacon remains empty with them, depending solely on the power of grace. This emptiness is full because it flows from the sacramental character that defines the deacon and from the mutual participation of deacon and the laity at the altar.

If the deacon is faithful to his call in all its

complexity, he will be able to encourage the laity to give rise to their greatest gift in this or any age: to become the Church in public.

This witness flows from the altar, from the sacrificial service of Christ, a reality the Church consumes in love at the Eucharist.

Fidelity to Holy Orders flows from a communion with Christ that is expressed in two different but complementary directions: priestly sacrifice (priesthood) and service to those who suffer (diaconate), so that in the end, Christ will be all in all (the mission of the laity). Christ brings us all to His Mystery so He can accomplish it in us.10 Having communion with the sacrifice will compel us to service, not by force but by the singular beauty of the One who has come and loved us to

By desiring for Christ to configure him to a life of selfemptying, the deacon supports and serves the laity ... to give witness to the love-infused Body of Christ in public the end. The deacon’s sacramental character, if he stays open to its transforming grace, communicates to him a reality that enlivens and purifies his own conscience and will redound to the benefit of the Church.

9 See Keating, A Deacon’s Retreat, 66–67: “We deacons do not preside at the Eucharistic liturgy; rather, we intone, in its dismissal rite, the initiation of the liturgy of charity, charging all to ‘go in the peace of Christ to love and serve the Lord.’ This presidency is not a juridical one, but rather one of moral and spiritual collaboration with the mission of the laity. Unlike the priest, our words do not bring about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In fact, the deacon utters no words in the ‘liturgy’ he presides over, except in the silence of his heart as it communes with the mystery that has claimed his life, ‘[I] came not to be served but to serve’ (Mt 20:28). At the dismissal rite, the Eucharist ‘processes’ out of the church in the hearts of parishioners not as an inert memory … but as a living call from Christ to go and transform culture. We preside by distributing the fruit of the Mass – the divine life within us.

This service is our form of being in persona Christi: Christ acting in us. We do not share in the priesthood. Since we share in Orders, however, we receive a portion of the mystery of Christ’s own actions. The priest shares in Christ’s sacrificial self-offering in priestly thanksgiving “as head” – whereas we who are deacons receive that portion of Christ’s own action which insures that the love of many will not grow cold (Mt 24:12).”

10 Jean Corbon, The Wellspring of Worship (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2005), 151.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

9

Diaconal Spirituality

The Character of Diaconal Formation – James Keating

Paul Watson

The Character of Diaconal Formation – James Keating

Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week:

May this divine self-giving, this wound upon the heart of the deacon, this brand mark of love always be the site of deepest intimacy between the deacon and the Lord the culture by way of the gift of a man who remains permanently open at the point of one of Christ’s greatest mysteries: the divine is ordered toward self-forgetfulness,

service, self-emptying, and self-effacing charity. It is the deacon who is charged to keep this facet of the mystery before the Church’s eyes and heart so that the laity may know by way of his ministry how close Christ is to them in their courageous witness to the Gospel, and so that priests may know that their sacrifices for the Gospel are not without fruit. It is a fruit so tangible that he can see it before his eyes every Sunday as the laity process forward to the altar with the gifts of bread and wine, symbols of the transformed culture for which they labor in Christ. And ready to receive these gifts from the laity in order to give them to the priest is the deacon, the one who facilitates charity, who, in the Spirit, circulates the divine self-giving by his ministry. May this divine self-giving, this wound upon the heart of the deacon, this brand mark of love always be the site of deepest intimacy between the deacon and the Lord.

■

‘... The Pastoral Review seeks to

help equip those who, like you, carry the Word in communities and cultures today, and to do so authentically and authoritatively’

R The

eview

PASTORAL

Rev Dr Michael A. Hayes, Editor A full colour 96 page journal every two months covering...

Catechesis and formation Contemporary theology Spiritual reflections for daily liturgy (and more!) from priests, leading theologians & academics

To see the full index of articles available in back issues (which can also be ordered) visit: www.thepastoralreview.org – click on ‘Past Contents Pages’ * OFFER FOR DIRECT DEBIT PAYMENTS & UK MAINLAND ONLY. (OVERSEAS: £43.75)

Subscribe today (Special Offer: £34.50 annual subscription*)... phone: 01858 438807 or go on-line: www.thepastoralreview.org

10

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

from the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection – Pope Benedict XVI

T

he reality has exceeded the anticipation. For those particularly engaged in engaging with and proclaiming the Word of God in the Liturgy and other contexts, Pope Benedict’s second volume is a rare feast. In the Introduction, which is shorter than the Foreword to the first volume, the Pope briefly expresses his hope that his book will be a significant step in the direction of re-mastering a methodology of interpreting Scripture, which is once again a theological discipline, yet not losing its historical character.

With regard to this methodology we can note principally: His emphasis is on the unity between the four Gospels, Less significance is given to the differences between them.

He typically arrives at a sense of the overwhelming unity and consistency of the presentation of the person of Jesus.

The most notable feature is the constant references throughout the book to the Old Testament. It is only in the light of the Old Testament revelation that the person of Jesus can be understood. It was Jesus who first understood Himself in relation to the revelation of His Father. He saw Himself as the fulfillment and centre of all that the Father had revealed in the Old Testament and in the history of Israel.

We should also note the way in which the Pope engages with exegetical views and opinions. While he comments favourably upon the views of a number of exegetes, there are also times when

Mgr Paul Watson, Director of Maryvale Institute and regular contributor to the New Diaconal Review, points up the highlights in the already widely acclaimed second volume of the Pope’s Jesus of Nazareth. he finds himself at odds with what they are saying. The criteria he uses are the principles of faith rather than presuppositions that can arise from ideological or philosophical positions that fail to fully appreciate the biblical worldview and Jesus’ self-understanding.

Using the methodology of identifying the Old Testament references within the New Testament verses, namely Zech. 9:9, 2 Kings 9:13 and Psalm 118:26, the Pope shows, in his first chapter, that the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is a conscious announcement by Jesus of his David Messianic role. As the Messiah, son of David, Jesus is proclaiming the definitive presence of the Kingdom of God, and at the same time excluding any notion of political zealotry. As we shall see in later chapters, what Jesus has come to bring and to reveal is something that goes beyond typical human categories. God’s kingdom is not founded on power, violence or might, but rather on poverty and smallness, humility and gentleness. The full meaning of this will become clearer and clearer through the following events of Holy Week. The acclamation given to Jesus in this role is itself an anticipation of the praise and worship given to Jesus in our liturgy today.

The Holy Father makes very interesting distinctions with regard to the various crowds who gather at various points in the whole passion narrative. Initially, the crowds who acclaim Jesus are those who have accompanied him from Galilee and the towns and villages on route to Jerusalem. The people of the city of

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

11

Diaconia of Word

This reality is clear: among the members of the Church is a rank of clergy living a lay life so as to give witness to the servant mystery of Christ. This mystery is united to and flows from the altar but also reaches into the very fabric of ordinary life. This reach, by virtue of Holy Orders, touches

Jerusalem, on the other hand, have barely registered Jesus and at this point do not know what to make of Him. A climax point in the narrative is the rejection of Jesus by the crowds before the judgment seat of Pilate. Here, the Pope argues, it is not Jerusalem or the Jews in general, but rather the Temple aristocracy and a mob, probably largely made up of Barabbas’ supporters, who have turned out to further their own political agendas. It is within such analyses that the Holy Father is emphasising that there is no justification in the texts for any accusations against the Jewish people for the crime of deicide.

Perhaps most consoling to us all is his interpretation of the text Matt 27:25 “his blood be on us and on our children”. In the context of the gospels, this text, which appears to be calling down a curse, is actually a prophetic word about the power of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross to bring healing and forgiveness, to those who shouted for His condemnation and ultimately, to the whole human race, because of whose sin the Father willed the reconciling sacrifice of His Son. In his discussion of the cleansing of the Temple, the key Old Testament texts this time are Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, revealing, in the first place, the universality of the future worship of God (of which the court of the Gentiles in the Temple was a shadowy anticipation), and secondly, that it is precisely the rejection and the suffering of Jeremiah and of Jesus – in their zeal for God’s house – that indicate the reason for the end of the Temple and its sacrifices, and at the same time show that the ultimate place of contact and of reconciliation with God will be in the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ.

In Chapter 2 – “Jesus’ Eschatological Discourse” – Pope Benedict describes these verses from the Gospels (i.e. Mark 13 and the corresponding verses in the other Gospels) as the most difficult verses of the 12

Gospels. He sets the interpretation of these verses both within the historical context and the theological. The physical destruction of the Temple came at the climax of the Jewish Wars in 70 A.D., which were as much a civil war among Jewish factions as a struggle with the Romans.

Notwithstanding these historical facts, the words of Jesus are not to be understood in terms of one seeing into the future. Rather they are rooted in the language of the prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel and the apocalyptic visions they contain. All of these show that there would come a time when the Temple and its liturgy would be over, when God would desert His house. This came to pass long before the physical destruction of the Temple.

Christians came more and more fully to understand that Jesus Himself was and is

Christians came more and more fully to understand that Jesus Himself was and is the Temple’s replacement the Temple’s replacement. Something radically new has taken place. In Jesus there is a new and universal accessibility to God. This chapter is the place that Benedict has chosen to introduce two key analyses, which are fundamental to the whole book.

One is the treatment of the understanding of St Paul of the real meaning of the Cross of Christ through a rereading of the Old Testament liturgy of the Day of Atonement.

A key text here is Romans 3:23-25 in which Jesus is described as “expiation” – which, in the OT liturgy, was the seat over the Ark of the Covenant in innermost sanctuary of the Temple, and which was the place over which God’s name was solemnly pronounced by the High Priest once a year, and was also the place where the blood of a bull was sprinkled before sprinkling the people – thus renewing the Covenant. It is

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: from the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection – Pope Benedict XVI – Paul Watson

hard to overestimate the significance of this Pauline insight. For him it was a completely new understanding of the Old Testament and its central realities. He now saw these realities as mere shadows compared with the true reality of the Cross of Jesus – where the Name (the mystery) of God is definitely revealed, and where the covenant between God and Man is definitively sealed. This new understanding by Paul is really the heart of his conversion and represents also the early Church’s realisation of the unity of the Old and New Testaments brought about in Jesus.

The second of Benedict’s analyses is to do with the place of the Church – under the heading of “The time of the Gentiles” and the need for the Gospel to be preached to

Jews clearly still have their part in God’s ultimate purpose, ... because God has an appointed time for them, for their restoration; a time for which the Church can confidently hope ... all nations. Countering the common view (among a number of exegetes) that Jesus only preached the Kingdom of God, while it was his disciples who preached “The Church”, the Pope shows that the time of the Gentiles and the mission of the Church was an essential element of Jesus’ message. In describing this as the time of the Gentiles, he also indicates that the Jews clearly still have their part in God’s ultimate purpose, not least of being, by their continued sufferings, a witness and a reminder to the Church of Lord’s sufferings, but also because God has an appointed time for them, for their restoration; a time for which the Church can confidently hope and in the meantime continue in the mission to the Gentiles.

The next three chapters are concerned with the narrative describing the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples. Chapter 3 and 4 deal with John’s account, which focus on the Washing of the Feet and Jesus’ High-Priestly Prayer, while Chapter 5 analyses the Synoptics’ account of the meal itself. A very interesting point is the Pope’s conclusion that it is more likely that the Last Supper took place on the evening before the Jewish Passover, even though Jesus saw the Supper as a new kind of Passover. This suggests that the crucifixion actually took place at the time that the sacrifices were being made in the Temple in preparation before the Passover meal.

Jesus’ death thus becomes strikingly presented as the new reality, and indeed the new liturgy, of reconciliation with God. Chapters 6, 7,and 8 treat, consecutively, Gethsemane, the Trial of Jesus, and the Death and Burial of Jesus. There is not space here even to summarise the wealth of riches to be found in these chapters.

Suffice it to say that they contain a deeper unfolding of the themes already suggested in the earlier chapters of the book, in which the face and the person of Jesus emerge with unfolding clarity and heart-piercing insight. Again it is the rereading of the Old Testament – from a variety of passages – that serve to enlighten the face of Christ and also enable us to engage personally with Him in the reality of our present moment. Principal among the Old Testament passages is the Suffering Servant Song of Isaiah 53 and the texts relating to the Day of Atonement and the sacrifice of the lamb during the passover in Egypt (Exodus 12). While being completely rooted in both history and tradition (that of the Old Testament and the tradition of the Church), Christ emerges from the Pope’s analyses, not merely as an historical figure of the past, but as the living person who engages us today, inviting us to be both moved and to respond to Him in faith and love as well as to His invitation to partici-

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

13

Diaconia of Word

Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: from the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection – Pope Benedict XVI – Paul Watson

pate with Him in His continuing mission.

We should not however, conclude without drawing particular attention to the amazing final chapter on Jesus’ Resurrection from the Dead.

The heart of the treatment of the Resurrection consists of two separate analyses of the Gospel texts divided into a) the Confessional Tradition – and b) the Narrative Tradition. There were no categories with which to fully grasp this new reality, other than the experience of the reality of the risen Christ Himself. It was, Pope Benedict tantalisingly suggests, an “evolutionary leap” or an “ontological leap”. Because the Resurrection has no precedents in the history of humanity, there is a sense in which it is almost outside human history. It is trans-historical also in its universal significance. The

R

whole of humanity has received a new potential. At the same time, Pope Benedict tries to resolve the debates about the historical, or otherwise, nature of the Resurrection by proposing that “Jesus’ Resurrection points beyond history but has left a footprint within history. Therefore it can be attested by witnesses as an event of an entirely new kind.” (p. 275).

Since there was no precedent for these new realities the Church had to go back to search the Scriptures (the Old Testament) to see how a rereading of them might throw light on these new events that they had encountered. The original encounter involved only a few, but the living stream of witness, not least through the Gospels themselves and the liturgy of the Church, and indeed the Pope’s book, is sufficient to put us in touch with this new reality – the living face of Christ!

■

The

eview

DIACONAL

Inviting Authors New Diaconal Review welcomes readers to submit articles with a view to publication ● They should be in keeping with the journal's aims, and mindful of pastoral implications. Ideas or topics for articles can be emailed to the editors...

Tony Schmitz tony.schmitz@gmail.com or Ashley Beck ashleybeck88@hotmail.com who are happy to comment on their suitability and advise about word length. ● Guidelines for house-style can be found at The Pastoral Review website, www.thepastoralreview.org under 'Contact us'.

Prosper Grech OSA

Diakonia in the New Testament I

n this introduction I want to present a brief philological study of the New Testament to help make your study of the diaconate in the Church Fathers deeper and more interesting.

The verb diakoneo and its derivatives diakonos and diakonia are part of a semantic group of synonyms, often interchangeable, with their own meanings.

These are the nouns doulos, therapon, oiketes, hyperetes and the verb latreuo.

Before we start our main subject we should be aware of the excellent explanation of these terms in the classic book by Richard Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, published in 1876. This book still has significant value, as the author was an important philologist.

Doulos has the opposite meaning to eleutheros, a free citizen, and to an owner, the despotes to whom he is linked for all

Luke calls ‘hyperetai tou logou’ witnesses of the works of Jesus and those who are commissioned to pass on his words his life; perhaps he is despised or he gives his services unwillingly. In the NT the relationship is personal (ad personam), but it can have a moral sense too: Paul glories himself as a doulos of Jesus Christ (Rm 1:1), but we can be douloi of sin. The doulos of God above all is Christ, an image of slave opposed to the words to Adam ‘you will be like God’ (Phil 2:7).

Pais, like the word ragazzo in Italian, can be a son, a servant or a slave. The word

14

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Two years ago in this journal we advertised the Thirty-Eighth Meeting of Scholars of Ancient Christianity at the Augustinianum in Rome: this Patristics conference was dedicated to the diaconate. To give a flavour of the conference we print here one of the introductory papers given at the conference on 7 May 2009. Fr Grech is Professor at the Augustinianum and the Biblicum in Rome. We hope to publish other papers from the Proceedings of this significant conference in future issues.

therapon is used only once in the NT, in Heb 3:5 (cf. Num 12:7): Moses was a therapon in God’s house, while Christ is son and heir. The servant can be slave or free and offer his services voluntarily, even with passion. His relationship with his master is more free than that of a slave.

The oiketes can be a slave who had been freed (cf. 1 Peter 2:18), a member of the oike of the paterfamilias. The hyperetes (cf. eresso, row) originally was someone, usually a war slave, forced to row in galleys, which was a very hard and tiring job.

At a later stage its meaning was an official whose intent was to follow his superior’s commands. Often and simply a guard, but in Acts 13:5 Mark became known as the hyperetes of Paul and Barnabas. In his gospel Luke calls hyperetai tou logou witnesses of the works of Jesus and those who are commissioned to pass on his words (Lk 1:2). A leitourgos is a member of the public services, profane and sacred, and in the NT in relation to Christ, to the community or missions.

Let us now examine the group of words diakoneo, diakonos and diakonia. The etymology is not certain: some suggest they are related to the Latin conari, to sweat.

Generally we can say that the diakonos, unlike the doulos, is related to a service or to a ministry, not to a person, even if such

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

15

Diaconia of Word

Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: from the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection – Pope Benedict XVI – Paul Watson

a meaning is not excluded. In the Old Testament we do not find the verb: the noun indicates service at court. Among the Essenes, according to Josephus, service was offered to one another, that is to the sick; in Qumran it includes service at table (1QSa 2.17ff.). While Josephus does not use diakonia, the verb diakoneo is often found.

In the New Testament, we will now look at how the verb and the noun are used in turn. First, diakoneo. More frequently it relates to service at table: Peter’s motherin- law, just cured, got up and served Jesus at table. Mary, the sister of Lazarus, did the same thing during the lunch to celebrate the resuscitation of her brother (Jn 12:2). The Apostles thought their service at the table in Jerusalem’s community was a waste of their time and chose to leave it to the deacons in order to have more time to preach the word. They passed, that is, from a service in relation to material things to that of proclamation (Acts 6:2).

The serving is not limited to the table. In Mt 25:44, the reprobate asks the Son of Man:‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or lacking clothes, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?’

In Mt 27:55 the women who served Jesus during his life remained to observe the precise place where his body lay.

If now we focus on the Christian significance of the verb in 1 Tim 3:10 we see that it refers to the specific service of deacons, while Paul is called to service because he wants a collection taken from the Gentiles for the community in Jerusalem (Rom 15:25: 2 Co 8:19); this aims to expand the koinonia of property, described in full in Acts 2 and 4. But in the vocabulary of the apostles ‘to serve’ also meant serving the community through the ministry of the word and sacrament. 2 Co 3:3 is a classic passage: ‘It is plain that you are a letter from Christ, entrusted to us (diakonethe16

sia), written not with ink but with the living Spirit of God; not on stone tablets, but on the tablets of human hearts’. The Apostle himself glories in the spirit of diakonia, not the letter. According to Peter, even the ancient prophets served the Church by feeding the mouths of the preachers of the Gospel with marvels which the angels would have wanted to contemplate. (1 Pt 1:12).

Serving Jesus means to follow him: ‘Whoever serves me, must follow me, and my servant will be with me wherever I am.

If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.’(Jn 12:25-26) We now go from the verb to the noun diakonia which is found 24 times in the NT. The immediate reference to it is at the service of the table, which is evident in the story of Mary and Martha in Lk 10:40.

Martha laments that Mary leaves her on her own during her diakonia. But also in the account of the choice of Greek-speaking deacons in Acts 6:1 – the original intention was to relieve the Apostles of the

‘Whoever serves me, must follow me, and my servant will be with me wherever I am. If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.’ ‘service of the table’, but as we shall see, the service of these deacons was not limited exclusively to this material function.

But the meaning of diakonia immediately takes on a wider meaning, that of carrying out a duty in general. In 1 Co 16:15, for example, Paul speaks of Stephen’s family, a paterfamilias who dedicated their services together with their household (oikia) and the faithful. Even the author of the Apocalypse refers to the angel of Thyateira

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Diakonia in the New Testament – Prosper Grech OSA

praising his duties and consistency; certainly, more than his material duties ‘at the table’.

The term is applied more precisely to the bringing of aid to the churches of Jerusalem in Rm 15:25 and 2 Co 8:4. The collection would have been the one which Paul had pledged to collect, to help the poor of the mother church. Thus, the koinonia of the property in that community will be extended to the communion of churches through the collection, to reveal the unity between pagan converts and the original church in Judaea.

The specific use of diakonia is in reference to the preaching of the Gospel, duties in the name of God and of kerygma. In the account of the choosing of the deacons described in Acts 6, the verb refers to the duties of table where the noun refers to the duties of the Word on the part of the Apostles (Acts 6:1-4), but then Stephen and Philip extend their work to the service of preaching. Even Judas himself, had he not betrayed Our Lord, was responsible for

... the verb refers to the duties of table where the noun refers to the duties of the Word on the part of the Apostles ... the same diakonia as the other Apostles.

On the other hand, the diakonia of Moses, even though he was surrounded by glory (2 Co 3:7), served the dead, because he proclaimed that the law cannot give life, whereas the glory of the ministry of the Spirit and of justice exercised by Paul infinitely surpasses that of Moses (2 Co 3: 7-8).

In the list of gifts in Rom 12 and 1 Co 12 diakonia is listed as one of the specific gifts for the service of the community.

Diakonia is not limited to human beings, according to Heb 1:14 – even the angels are spirits sent to carry out work for a ministry, invited to service.

From diakonia let us now go on to diakonos (29 times in the NT). Apart from the usual meaning which we found for diakoneo and diakonia, – table service (Mt 22:13), service in general (Mt 20:26) and simply helper (Col 4:7) – Paul qualifies as a servant of the new covenant (2 Co 3:6), of righteousness (2 Co 11:15), of Christ (2 Co 11:23), of God (2 Co 6:4), of the Gospel (Eph 3:7), and of the Church (Col 1:25).

Sometimes the term is replaced by hyperetes (Lk 1:2; 1 Co 4:1). Even Christ has become ‘diakonos of the circumcised in favour of the truthfulness of God’, (Rm 15:8). The emperor himself is the servant of God in the correct use of his power (Rm 13:4). Even the devil has his ministers dressed as diakonoi of justice (2 Co 11:15). Diakonoi are also men armed in the service of a powerful man (Jn 18:3; Mt 5:25).

The deacon in the technical sense of the word as part of the Church’s ministry, is attested to in the initial greeting to the church of Philippi by the bishop and deacon of the church (Phil 1:1), while in 1 Tim 3:8 – 13 the qualities are specified which those who aspire to the diaconate must have, although we are told very little of their specific ministry. The example of Phoebe, diakonos of the church of Cenchreae, one of the ports of Corinth, in Rm 16:1-2, will be examined later by Professor Penna1. As we have already mentioned, the beginning of Acts 6:1 describes the diaconate as having its own development in the course of Luke’s narrative

1 This is a reference to another paper given at the conference, ‘Phoebe, deacon of the church of Cenchreae’, given on 9 May. (Ed.).

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

17

Diaconia of Word

Diakonia in the New Testament – Prosper Grech OSA

Diakonia in the New Testament – Prosper Grech OSA

Paul Watson

A Pearl of Great Price –

Finally let us look at Lampe’s Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford 1961) to see where the patristic use is different from that of the NT. The list that follows will be helpful for your programme of papers at this conference.

First, the verb diakoneo. It is found in monastic usage – one who serves in the monastery and particularly one who attends to an elderly monk. The angels

... the Last Judgement of the Son of Man will have as its central theme works of charity which are nothing more than service of Jesus himself serve Christ, the Bishop serves the Church and the deaconesses serve the poor.

The deaconesses are called he diakonos, in female terms, or diakonikousa; it is used especially for those who assisted with the baptism of females. There is evidence that they were ordained by the imposition of the hands of the bishop, but also evidence to the contrary. They taught the women or evangelized them. Their age was sometimes at sixty, other times forty. A church could not have more than 60 deaconesses.

As far as male deacons are concerned (except that the noun is related to the Levites in the Old Testament), the Christian deacon was ordained only by the bishop; he was inferior to the priest, and was an icon of Christ himself and could serve both as prophet and as a teacher. He carried the bishop’s letters, attended councils with the bishop and sometimes represented him; he served the sick and took care of the sinners; he could also carry out exorcism. The deacon baptized, but sometimes was actually forbidden to administer baptism. He acted as a guard at the doors of the church and prepared the altar for the ceremonies. He read scripture, taught the catechism and distributed communion. The deacon accompanied those who were possessed for the prayers of exorcism in church. Aged between seventeen and twenty-five years old, the deacon was required to tell the bishop whether or not he intended to marry.

Normally he could be promoted to a higher order, but if he acted immorally he could be dismissed. In theological terms the term deacon can refer to Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Translated by Massimo Velaridi, Patrizia Velardi and Ashley Beck ■

Diakonia is the service of the Levites of the Old Testament and the priests; the service of angels, and the liturgical service of the bishops and the aid of the poor. The term also indicates the body of deacons collectively. Diakonikos is a vestry, a chapel or a sanctuary.

18

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

The Riches of Pope Benedict’s Post Synodal Exhortation – Verbum Domini

T

he Synod of Bishops in October 2008 was the first Synod over which Pope Benedict presided from beginning to end.

That he chose the theme of the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church is no surprise. The proper interpretation of Sacred Scripture has been a major interest and concern of Joseph Ratzinger for many years. As Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, he was also the Chair of the International Theology Commission and of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. He has been a significant architect of a number of key documents regarding the interpretation of Scripture, which bear the marks of his influence.

The Post-Synodal Exhortation – Verbum Domini – has taken two years to produce and is a substantial document, not only with regard to its length (124 sections), but also with regard to its content. This article is one brief attempt to highlight some of the key features of the document and perhaps to indicate some of the challenges it offers, especially to those involved in the ministry of preaching the Word as well as all responsible for catechesis and theological formation. One thing is certain, a single reading of the document will not be sufficient for appreciating its substance. It calls for significant pondering in the context of prayer, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring forth its fullest riches.

Initial observations As with all Magisterial documents, it is important to learn how to read this document. There are certain keys that enable the reader to unlock the content – flags that serve to highlight the main elements.

They provide a sense of the terrain, a

Verbum Domini has already been acclaimed as the most significant document on the word of God since the Second Vatican Council. Here Mgr Paul Watson flags up some major points of that significance method of mapping the whole forest in such a way that we can understand the significance of the individual trees. Like Scripture itself, there is a hermeneutic involved in reading such documents. First of all, we need to pay attention to the title, the overall structure of the document, the context and genre in which it is written and the Introductory section, which sets out the basic goal and objective.

The title The title, Verbum Domini, is a conscious linking back to the Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), one of the fundamental documents of the Second Vatican Council. Along with the former post-synodal exhortation on “The Eucharist: the Source and Summit of the Church’s Life and Mission”, this document is dealing with the very heart of the Christian life. At the same time, it proposes to be a very concrete document, making known to the Church at large the reflections, recommendations and proposals that emerged from the Synod.

There are two things in particular to notice about the title. In the first place, although it clearly recalls the Constitution on Divine Revelation, there has been an inversion of the two words in the title and also a shift in one of the words. Placing “Verbum” first rather than “Dei” indicates the more practical nature of the document, focussing not so much on the source of revelation (God) as the revelation itself (the Word) and its presence and transmission today in the life of the Church. Secondly, It is significant also to note that the expression “Verbum Domini” is taken from the Liturgy. It is the proclamation made at

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

19

Diaconia of Word

when the author presents Stephen and Philip preaching and in dispute with the Jews. The classic text is in Mk 10:43-45.

Because the Son of man came not to be served but to serve and give his life for many, the greatest among the disciples must be diakonos for all. The washing of the feet in Jn 13:10-15 is a good illustration of this service of Jesus. Indeed the Last Judgement of the Son of Man will have as its central theme works of charity which are nothing more than service of Jesus himself. Ultimately the service provided to Christ is to build his mystical body for glory, taking its origin from the same God.

every Mass after the reading of the Gospel.

This choice of a liturgical expression will be of major importance in the document itself, because the Liturgy is the place, par excellence, where the Word of the Lord is to be experienced as the life-giving Word addressing us today. Liturgy is the place where the Word is welcomed and received.

Ultimately, the Word can only be understood in the context of the Church and in prayer. The choice of the word “Domini” rather than “Dei” reveals also that the document is essentially Christological. The Word is first and foremost Christ Himself, the revelation of the Father. Sacred Scripture and the living Tradition of the Church, under the guidance of the Magisterium, are the “means” by which Christ is communicated and known.

Structure The document is divided, after the Introductory sections, into three parts: Part One: Verbum Dei – The God who Speaks; Part Two: Verbum in Ecclesia – The Word of God and the Church; Part Three: Verbum Mundo – The Church’s Mission: To Proclaim the Word of God to the World.

It is important to understand correctly the relationship between these three parts.

The division is primarily theological. We might recall the fact that a number of the encyclicals of Pope John Paul II, especially those devoted to the different states of life within the Church (Laity – Christifideles Laici; Priesthood – Pastores Dabo Vobis; and Consecrated Life – Vita Consecrata), were divided according to the theological structure of Mystery–Communion–Mission. These elements profoundly reflect the theology and ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. Mystery speaks of the fundamental participation of the whole Church in the life of the Trinity. Communion speaks of the consequent union among the members of the Church. Mission reflects the 20

Church’s participation in the saving mission of Christ. As Paul VI remarked in Evangelii Nuntiandi (Evangelisation in the Modern World, 1974), “the Church exists to evangelise”. This same structure can be seen in our present document. The Word is the communication of the Trinitarian Life (Part One). The Word is to be received in the Church in such a way as to be fruitful – bringing about real communion with God and one another (Part Two). When received, and only if received, the Word must be communicated to the world (Part Three).

Introduction In the introductory paragraphs, Pope Benedict explains the context and purpose of the exhortation and, significantly, declares himself to be a “witness” giving testimony to the profound experience, indeed, the immense beauty, of “encountering the Word of God in the communion of the Church” that occurred during the Synod itself. The exhortation has the purpose of making known the “rich fruits” of the Synod as well as the recommendations and specific proposals of the Bishops. Pope Benedict adds “I wish to point out certain fundamental approaches to a rediscovery of God’s word in the life of the Church as a wellspring of constant renewal. At the same time I express my hope that the word will be ever more fully at the heart of every ecclesial activity.”(§ 1). Here we touch one of those important flags for helping us to read the text. We need to be alert, in our reading of the document, to identifying those “fundamental approaches” and also to the challenge of “rediscovery”, which perhaps suggests a certain loss that has been occurring.

It is not without significance for our reading and our expectation that we note the occurrence of such words as “beauty”, “pleasure” and “joy” in these introductory paragraphs. These words, especially “beauty”, are a feature of Pope Benedict’s

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

A Pearl of Great Price – The Riches of Pope Benedict’s Post Synodal Exhortation – Verbum Domini – Paul Watson

writings and reveal something of his heart. They are a testimony to the fundamental belief that the living Word of God has the power to touch the heart. We are reminded of the disciples on the road to Emmaus who declared: “Did not our hearts burn within us as he explained the Scriptures to us on the road”.

Finally, we should note in § 5 the reference to the Prologue of John’s Gospel. This text will provide the key to understanding the whole document as well as the individual parts. The three parts lead with verses from the Prologue – Part One: John 1:1, 14); Part Two: John 1:12; Part Three: John 1:18. These texts provide the fundamental theological basis for all of the practical recommendations and proposals. Praying and meditating on this text should be an essential accompaniment to our study of this document.

It remains for us to take a brief look at the content of the three parts of the Exhortation.

Part One – Verbum Dei – The God who speaks (John 1:1, 14) As we indicated earlier, this first part involves an entering into the mystery of the Trinity. As verses 1 and 14 of John’s Gospel reveal, there is a dialogue of love, a communication between persons, within the Trinity itself. This dialogue has become available to us, and is an invitation to us, in the fact of the Incarnation. The Word of God, therefore, primarily refers to the eternal Word, the Son, through whom God is eternally expressing Himself, and through whom all of creation has its being and existence. The mystery of Trinitarian life is further explored by means of catechesis on the Word, through the concept of the analogous meanings of the Word of God, and

encompasses the theme of Creation and humanity as expressions of the Word of God; also salvation history and the paschal mystery of the Cross, all of which have their profound unity in the person of Christ – He in whom the Word became “abbreviated” as the Fathers were fond of saying. Christ is, as it were, the solo theme in the whole symphony of creation through which God expresses Himself. He it is who gives meaning to the entire work and its author.

There is such a richness in this teaching that it can only be assimilated in prayer and in the Holy Spirit, whose role it is to “take everything that is mine and make it known to you”. (John 16:14-15) It is in the Church that the mystery of the Word of God is both made present and is also received and understood. From the womb of the Church, where the Word has been received, there comes forth the Sacred Scriptures and the living Tradition of the Church so that the Word of God can continue to be made present and communicated to every age. § 18 highlights a very important flag within the document when it says: “We see clearly, then, how important it is for the People of God to be properly taught and trained to approach the Sacred Scriptures in relation to the Church’s living Tradition and to recognise in them the very word of God. Fostering such an approach in the faithful is very important from the standpoint of the spiritual life.” Only if Scripture and the living Tradition are combined can the Word be experienced as the living Word today; only then, can there be a genuine response and a true communion with the living God. §§ 29-49 provide a brilliant exposition of the Church’s way of interpreting Scripture. This section perhaps represents the Pope’s understanding of the funda-

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

21

Diaconia of Word

A Pearl of Great Price – The Riches of Pope Benedict’s Post Synodal Exhortation – Verbum Domini – Paul Watson

mental approach to rediscovering God’s word in the life of the Church and a wellspring for its constant renewal. He leads us into an appreciation of the relationship between the literal and spiritual and spiritual senses of Scripture and the need to “transcend the letter”. This is a key element of the “rediscovery” of God’s Word and is an essential element of the implementation of the Second Vatican Council’s Dei Verbum that still remains to be achieved.

Part Two Verbum in Ecclesia – The Word of God and the Church (John 1:12) This part of the document examines how the Word can be welcomed in a living fashion in the Church in such a way as to produce its fruit. As John 1:12 indicates, it is those who receive Him who are given power to become children of God. The Church is thereby defined by acceptance of the Word of God. This is not simply a reality of the past – describing the way that the Church came to exist – it is also a description of the life of the Church and its members today. Once again, a key flag is highlighted: “This is an approach that every Christian must understand and apply to himself or herself: only those who first place themselves in an attitude of listening to the word can go on to become its heralds.”(§ 51) §§ 52-89 contain a very practical section on welcoming the Word of God. The biggest part of this is devoted to the Liturgy as the privileged setting for the Word for here the Word of God “is always a living and effective word through the power of the Holy Spirit … in the liturgical action the word of God is accompanied by the interior working of the Holy Spirit who makes it effective in the hearts of the faithful” (§ 52). Deacons (and priests and bishops) will find much to reflect on in this whole section and especially § 59, which speaks of the importance of the homily. We 22

will also find powerful treatments of the biblical dimensions of pastoral activity, catechesis, vocations, training for the priesthood, the consecrated life, lay life and marriage and the family – § 81 has a special mention of the diaconate. In the final paragraphs, the Pope gives some practical advice on a method of lectio divina (§8687).

Part Three Verbum Mondo – The Church’s Mission: To Proclaim the Word of God to the World (John 1:18) John 1:18 declares that “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known”. God can only be made known by the Son, who knows His heart. For the Church to have a mission to proclaim the Word, it must itself be conformed and configured to Christ. Becoming conformed to Christ is the fruit, in the Spirit, of welcoming and receiving the Word. Thus conformed, it becomes the responsibility of us all that we share in Christ’s mission of making the Father known. We share in it by first of all making Christ known. It is of the essence of our Christian lives that we be committed to this mission – mention is made of a variety of areas in which this commitment needs to be implemented (§§ 99-108), leading into a consideration of culture and cultures today and their relationship with the word of God, and finally, of the word of God and inter-religious dialogue.

We should end with a reminder of the joy, beauty and hope that are enshrined in this great document. It has the potential to lead us all more deeply into a transforming encounter with Christ.

■

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Reviews

Words and the Word: The Use of Literature as a Practical Aid to Preaching Author: Bill Anderson ISBN 9780852447451 Date: 2010 Price: £12.99 Publisher: Gracewing, Leominster Pages: 240 Here we have a singular resource for deacons and all other preachers and homilists.

This book is every bit as exhilarating a read as I had expected it to be. I say expected, because I have to declare an interest instantly.

Bill Anderson has been a cherished friend, personal and family, for almost twentyfive years – ever since those halcyon days when he arrived at Elphinstone House to serve as the Catholic Chaplain to the University of Aberdeen in 1986 whereupon homilies at Mass became something one looked forward to and was nourished by, Sunday after Sunday. The risk of even the tiniest tad of tedium was utterly banished during his tenure: Mala si mandata loqueris, aut dormitabo aut ridebo, lines from Horace that could, very loosely, be rendered: It better be good – else I’ll snooze or I’ll snigger, which the author once mischievously jested might be placed as a notice at the foot of every pulpit. Especially with a congregation consisting predominantly of students and their teachers, one might add.

There is no danger of either sniggering or snoozing for the reader of this text.

Instead, even the most casual of readers – and few of us will be half as widely read as the author – will find here nothing but encouragement and enjoyment, rich nourishment and warm recognition, and not without many an ironic chuckle. At the outset it should be emphasised that although the principal aim of the writing of

this book is the hope “that there may be a sharpening of the homiletics appetite” amongst its readers, these should not be confined to homilists, be they deacons, priests or bishops. Rather, all will find in these pages a feast. It is a work of Christian humanism, in its traditional sense, at its finest. The glowing introduction by Abbot Hugh Gilbert OSB of Pluscarden Abbey, himself another fine preacher, is by no means overstated.

The book divides into two.

Part One has six chapters setting out from the idea that secular literature may serve as the prolegomena to Sacred Scriptures. “As a homilist,” Canon Bill avers of himself, “I have always felt with passion, and still do, that the appropriate accompaniment of secular literature (in particular, poetry)” can help to make the sacred text of Scripture accessible. A first chapter entitled Analogues of Revelation bristles with apt quotations from Professor Nicholas Boyle, Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge and author of Sacred and Secular Scriptures: A Catholic Approach to Literature, whose definition of literature is “language free from instrumental purpose ... [that] seeks to tell the truth” as well as citations from a small cloud of mainly Dominican witnesses, all of which shed light upon the author’s view not only of the legitimacy of literature as a handmaiden of Scripture but also upon the author’s claim that at its best it can be viewed as an analogue of revelation that “is seen to sustain the momentum of God’s word”. This claim is well and convincingly made: it is the glory of poetry and of secular literature generally, “that out of such slight material as the pleasure to be had from the weaving together of words, it can make analogues of revelation that can illumine and affect the whole of our life.” Snippets from Shakespeare to

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

23

Diaconia of Word

A Pearl of Great Price – The Riches of Pope Benedict’s Post Synodal Exhortation – Verbum Domini – Paul Watson

Reviews

Seamus Heaney are mustered in support.

Such as Hamlet’s advice to the players: “The purpose of playing, whose end both at the first and now, was and is to hold, as `twere, the mirror up to nature.” And these lines from Heaney are judiciously chosen: “We go to poetry, we go to literature in general, to be forwarded within ourselves. The best it can do is to give us an experience that is like foreknowledge of certain things which we seem to be remembering.” Other writers, not cited by our author, speak of a recovery of the real or of the re-enchantment of a disenchanted world.

The following chapters are both academic and autobiographical showing how literature may be used as a practical aid to preaching. The author does so with an easy humorous touch in the light of his personal experience as spiritual director of the Scots College in Rome when he had “the happy duty of preparing and training gifted students for the ministry of preaching”. I keep bumping into priests and bishops in Scotland who have happy memories of those times. I am also delighted to report that Canon Anderson still offers me his invaluable help at our annual homiletics weekend as part of our national programme of formation for the diaconal candidates for all eight Scottish dioceses. The author also recounts his earlier experience from 1969 to 1977 as a producer of religious programmes with the BBC. (I wonder if interviewing panels at the BBC still ask questions like: ‘How would you assess the difference between the television viewers of today and the experience of those viewing the images in the cave of Plato’s Republic?’) He also tells us: “The proportion of well-read clergy was high, so the use of ‘secular scripture’ was generally neither precious nor obtrusive.”

The fourth chapter is on the praxis of preaching and is the heart of the book.

Here we encounter not only the quid of what the Church expects of the preacher, leading us into the presence of the Lord 24

and the mystery being celebrated, but also essentially the qualis of the preacher, beyond the quomodo of his delivery.

The readers of this journal might have wished to have read a supporting citation or two from his Lectures on Literature and Letters and Christianity by the great Blessed John Henry Newman whose take on literature is not too far from that of Boyle. But this small omission is more than compensated for by the very fine and rich preachment on Newman’s hymn Lead, Kindly Light, “arguably the most poetical piece in the hymn book”, first delivered at a Sunday morning service at King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen, in 1990, and included as the first of the ‘occasional’ sermons and a ‘scattering of sermonettes’ that form Part Two of this small volume. Happily included is the notable sermon delivered in Southwark Anglican Cathedral at the Preacher of the Year final event in 1966, sponsored jointly by the College of Preachers and The Times, for which competition some of his chaplaincy congregation had entered and attended him, not fully anticipating the albatross round his neck his being the first Catholic cleric to win the award became. (Modesty prevents him from mentioning this accolade.) But then, I reflect, would this slim and delightful volume ever have seen the light of day without the spur of that out of the ordinary and probably out of character occasion?

Missing alas, by their very nature because not written out, are the Sunday or weekday homilies, delivered ex corde and note-less.

I cannot think of a better Pentecost gift to present, tactfully of course, to your fellow deacon or spouse, parish priest or bishop, or even to yourself. Aptly, the book cover has a stunning reproduction of Fra Angelico’s Sermon on the Mount from a wall in what must surely be the most beautifully decorated friary in the world, San Marco in Florence.

■ Tony Schmitz, Director of Studies, Diaconate Commission, Bishops’ Conference of Scotland

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

A Cross-Shattered Church: Reclaiming the Theological Heart of Preaching Author: Stanley Hauerwas ISBN: 978-0-232-52785-8 Date: 2010 Price: £12.95 Publisher: Darton, Longman & Todd, London Pages: 160 Cuttle Fish, Clones and Cluster Bombs Author: Michael S. Northcott ISBN: 978-0-232-52788-9 Date: 2010 Price: £14.99 Publisher: Darton, Longman & Todd, London Pages: 240 Not many preachers speak from a complete written text these days, so it is useful when those who do this well publish their sermons. Two excellent collections of sermons have been published on topics relating to Christianity and social justice, from Scotland and the United States, one by a priest of the Scottish Episcopal Church and the other by a Methodist layman.

Stanley Hauerwas is one of the towering figures of the tradition of ‘political theology,’ famous for many books such as Character and the Christian Life and The Peaceable Kingdom. He has been described as ‘a public provocateur, a ravenous reader, a restless wrestler with the truth’ (Charles F. Pinches, Unsettling Arguments, a recent Festschrift) and these qualities are very evident in this collection of sermons. Hauerwas is a prolific writer, and yet he claims that this collection, together with another collection of sermons (Cross-Shattered Christ, on Our Lord’s last words) and two other books, are his most important works: ‘..If you can only read a little Hauerwas, read one of these books. They are what I most care about.’ This reflects the need for preaching to come from the preacher’s heart, to go to the roots of his being. This collection

is of sermons preached at the local Episcopalian church and the School of Divinity at Duke University. Some are specific occasions in the Church’s year, some are for special college events and some were preached at sacramental celebrations such as baptisms. These words from the Introduction give a flavour of his attitude: ‘..When a sermon is thought to be no more than a speech by the minster to provide advice to help us negotiate life, the content of sermons usually are exemplifications of the superficial and sentimental pieties of a liberal culture. Then we wonder why the mainstream church is dying....God knows we all want to be liked.

We want to preach sermons that the congregation will “like”. Moreover it is hard to preach the truth to those one has come to love. But the truth of the gospel is a harsh and dreadful truth. It is a truth through which we come to recognise that when all is said and done we are sinners who would prefer to live as if God does not exist.’

Hauerwas’ work is important because he challenges us on every level, and defies neat categorisation, and what is valuable about his sermons is that his theology is so integrated into his easy preaching style.

For example, a sermon Hauerwas preaches for the dedication of a new processional cross in the college chapel turns what might seem to be a rather simple event for many of us (if we were ever to be asked to preach at such a ceremony) into a profound but accessible exposition of St Thomas Aquinas’ explanation of the symbolic meanings of the Cross – it was necessary that Christ should die on the Cross because of what that reveals about God’s love. Or again, the beautiful sermon, ‘The appeal of Judas’ builds on the words of the Lord to Judas ‘You will always have the poor with you’ to help us understand that ‘Christianity is determinatively the faith of the poor’, drawing on the deacon St Lawrence gathering the poor of Rome together as the ‘precious possessions of Christ.’ Hauerwas is a convinced pacifist, and among the closing essays in this book is

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

25

Diaconia of Word

Reviews

Reviews

a powerful call to America to repent in time of war, originally published in 2008.

Hauerwas is actually quoted in one of the sermons by Michael Northcott, who teaches Ethics at the University of Edinburgh and also ministers at St James’ Episcopal Church in the city. The collection is grouped thematically around the seasons of the liturgical year, covering a number of years in the opening decade of this century. There is a powerful definition of the preacher’s role in the introduction: ‘The preacher in the modern world, in the world after Christendom, stands in the place of the exilic prophet, seeking the welfare of the city in which people find themselves resident but alien.’

This is the core of Northcott’s approach: preaching must never be comfortable or at ease with the world. What is so impressive about these sermons is the way in which well-informed knowledge about both contemporary problems and cultural life is shown in such depth and springs so naturally from the preacher’s deep engagement with the scriptural text. There is also a boldness which one seldom hear from the pulpit: in one sermon, ‘Poverty, Empire and History’, President George Bush’s visit to Scotland for the Gleneagles summit in 2005 is likened to the arrival of the Queen of Sheba. Bush’s and Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq is a major target for Northcott, who dissects the lies and chicanery of that escapade: in the Easter sermon ‘Crosses, Crusaders and Peacemakers’, preached just after the invasion started, he draws skilfully on the shameful history of the crusades to expose the folly of what had happened, using also the widespread dominance of St Anselm’s satisfaction theory of the Atonement. In an earlier Epiphany sermon, ‘The Return of the King’ (which draws on the flim of the Tolkien book, on Bruno Bettleheim and on the song ‘It’s a Mad World’) Northcott mocks Bush’s ludicrous objective to ‘rid the world of evil.’ We did not hear enough preaching like this during the Gulf War. Elsewhere (‘Pentecostal Politics’) 26

he uses Tony Blair’s great mentor John MacMurray to indict the former Prime Minister’s leadership cult ‘and the continuing centrist and anti-democratic drift of political culture in Britain which this cult has sponsored.’ The preacher’s wide range of topics also includes Foot and Mouth disease, the farming of salmon, hydro projects in China, cloning, St Francis, cars with only one passenger and the Lord’s Day. These are both outstanding collections and would be a good resource for all preachers. One criticism: although Hauerwas’ has notes, it is a pity that DLT could not organise an index for either book.

■ Ashley Beck

earlier and well-received The Gospel of Mark by Mary Healy in the same new series, the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture that aims to serve the ministry of the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church, precisely by applying well the aforementioned principles. It comes highly commended by Albert Cardinal Vanhoye SJ, erstwhile Secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Donald Senior, the president of the Catholic Theological Union, Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, and Professor Louis Wilken of the University of Virginia.

This is a commentary that is up-to-date, historically informed without taking up a

Reviews

Reviews

The Gospel of Matthew: Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Authors: Curtis Mitch & Edward Sri ISBN: 978-0-8010-3602-6 Date: 2010 Baker Academic, Grand Rapids £10.99 Pages: 383 Are we, in this second decade of the third millennium, witnessing a Second Spring in hermeneutics? If so, the two volumes of Pope Benedict’s crystalline Jesus of Nazareth as well as Verbum Domini will come to be seen to have played a key role, with their properly developed faithhermeneutic “appropriate to the text” that can be combined with a historical hermeneutic aware of its limits. Those in formation and all preachers still need to develop finely tuned critical faculties in their use of resources. Fundamentally it is a matter of finally putting into practice the methodological principles formulated for exegesis by the Second Vatican Council (Dei Verbum 12), “a task that has unfortunately scarcely been attempted thus far”.

Published just in time for the Year of Matthew (Year A) this outstanding resource from Baker Academic joins the

Deacons: Ministers of Christ and of God’s Mysteries Editor: Gearoid Dullea Contributors: + Donal McKeown, Diane Corkery, Gearoid Dullea, Thomas J. Norris, Brendan McConvery CSsR, Padraig J. Corkery, Patrick Jones, William T. Ditewig & Tony Schmitz ISBN: 978 1 84730217 5 Price: = C10.00 Publisher: Dublin, Veritas.

Year: 2010 Pages: 101 Since the Holy See approved the Irish Episcopal Conference’s (IEC herein) The Permanent Diaconate: National Directory and Norms for Ireland in July 2005, an excellent introductory catechesis on the permanent diaconate has been advancing in Ireland. This book, which contains nine insightful, well-crafted, short and easily-read essays, extends this catechesis. It offers concise, scholarly and helpful answers to many of the questions that have arisen in Ireland (and elsewhere) and shares much of the vision, scholarship and theology underpinning the current restoration.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

sceptical stance vis-à-vis the claims made in Matthews’ narrative, uniting history and theology, Scripture and Tradition, the Jewish roots of the Old Testament with the newness of the Christian faith in the New. The Jesus who is present and whom we encounter at work as Risen Lord in the Liturgy is the same living, breathing first century rabbi depicted by Matthew, Emmanuel, God with us. It needs to be on the shelf of every preacher, or minster of God’s word, be he or she bishop, priest, deacon, catechist or lay believer.

■ Deacon Tony Schmitz, Director of Studies, Bishops’ Conference of Scotland’s Diaconate Commission

A short foreword from Ireland’s National Director of the Permanent Diaconate, Msgr. Dermot Farrell, sets the scene. He begins by noting that one of the key fruits of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) was the recovery of the role of all the baptised within the Church. The restoration, he suggests, will support this recovery as it furthers a radical re-evaluation of how ministry is talked about and approached. With good reason he welcomes the fact that this book “gives an introductory appraisal of much that will be useful to comprehend the diaconate and its implications”.

Bishop Donal McKeown (Down & Connor), a member of the IEC’s Commission for Clergy, Seminaries and Permanent Diaconate takes the reader forward by outlining the work of the IEC in relation to the restoration since 1996. The essay illustrates the integrity with which the Irish Episcopal Conference have researched, discussed, debated and gone about restoring the diaconate as a permanent and stable grade of Holy Orders.

Diane Corkery, Head of the Religious Studies Department in St. Patrick’s College, Thurles, follows with an essay entitled The Scriptural roots of the Diaconate.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

27

Diaconia of Altar

Reviews

Reviews

One of the valuable hallmarks of Diane’s contribution is her contextualisation of the diaconate vis-à-vis the needs of early Christian communities. Another is her emphasis on the reliance of the restoration upon a successful understanding of the New Testament’s vision of service. Thirdly, she draws attention to the close links between diakonos and episkopos, a matter returned to in subsequent essays.

Fr. Gearoid Dullea, Co-ordinator for the Formation Programme for the Permanent Diaconate in Ireland and editor of this fine collection follows with The Development of the Diaconate. This essay sketches the development of the diaconate from the sub-apostolic and patristic eras through to the requests placed before the Council Fathers at Vatican II that the diaconate be restored in its own right as a permanent ministry in the Church. In conclusion he suggests we are not about to witness a restoration of the ancient diaconate but that nevertheless the shape of the contemporary diaconate will not be outside the ministerial tradition of the faith. This is taken up in the remaining essays.

International Theological Commission member and recently retired Associate Professor of Systematic Theology in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Fr. Tom Norris, follows by offering splendid theological insight into Vatican II’s teaching on the diaconate and the ITC’s From the Diakonia of Christ to the Diakonia of the Apostles (2002). Here the Christological heart and thrust of diaconal ministry is brought to the fore, alongside the importance of all sacred ministers working together to nourish the people of God and lead them toward salvation. Through this essay this book moves beyond understanding and appreciating where the restoration is coming from to how it must be lived in order to be true to Christ.

The next three essays elaborate on the threefold munera of word, charity and worship that are so central to diaconal ministry.

In relation to the deacon and the ministry of the Word Fr. Brendan McConvery CSsR, 28

editor of Scripture in Church and lecturer in Sacred Scripture in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, highlights the responsibilities of every deacon in relation to the proclamation, preaching, teaching and hearing of the Word. Concise, focussed and carrying the weight of Fr. Brendan’s years of supporting people pray with Scripture, it offers the diaconal student a solid understanding of what fulfilment of the ministry of the Word entails. Other clergy and laity who serve as Ministers of the Word are also likely to appreciate Fr. Brendan’s solid teaching.

Fr. Padraig J. Corkery, Head of Moral Theology in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth follows with an essay entitled Christian Discipleship and Catholic Social Doctrine.

This is another gem, presenting all who wish to revisit the fundamentals of Catholic Social Doctrine with a very accessible text This is another gem, presenting all who wish to revisit the fundamentals of Catholic Social Doctrine with a very accessible text.

In concluding Fr. Padraig urges deacons to play their part in making this body of teaching known, noting its capacity to motivate action for the evangelisation and humanisation of temporal realities. The many deacons who are already engaged will also welcome the affirmation, encouragement and motivational boost that Fr. Padraig’s approach encapsulates.

Fr. Patrick Jones, Director of Ireland’s National Centre for Liturgy, takes up the role of the deacon as a Minister of the Altar.

This pragmatic and refined essay situates the deacon’s ministry against the backdrop of the right and duty of all baptised Catholics to assemble around the altar to worship God. The deacon, he emphasises, participates as a servant of the Church’s liturgy and as a minister of each worship-

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

ping assembly. He proceeds by sharing the teaching of various liturgical books, e.g. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, vis-à-vis the deacon’s liturgical role, not only during Mass but on other occasions, e.g.

Baptism, Marriages and Funerals. The structure of the essay is also such that one can easily find an answer to basis questions concerning the deacon’s role during liturgical rites.

The final chapters come from two deacons of international repute. Deacon William T. Ditewig, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Leo University, Tampa, Florida and former Executive Director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for the Diaconate presents an essay entitled Seeing the Diaconate with New Eyes. This essay encourages readers to see the renewal of the permanent diaconate as part of the overall programme of reform and renewal proposed by Vatican II. More specifically it offers theological and pastoral points as background for ongoing discussion on the renewed diaconate. Ditewig also comments on the importance of deacons retaining a balance between the three munera of word, worship and service and on the importance of bishops, parish priests and lay folk with parish involvement reflecting more critically on the selection, appointment and on-going formation of deacons.

The ninth and final chapter, entitled Deacons in the Diocese and in the Parish, comes from the pen of Deacon Tony Schmitz, Director of Studies of the Scottish Diaconal Formation programme and Co-editor of The New Diaconal Review. Again there is much here that will resonate with deacons and aspirant deacons, particularly in the manner in which Deacon Tony captures something of the

consuming love that shapes the thrust of this vocation. Valuable insight is also offered into the demands of the Scottish formation programme, bishops’ matching of needs with deacons’ particular skills and abilities when appointing them, parish and diocesan assignments held by deacons and deacons experiences in secular employment etc.. He concludes on a salutary and liberating note that cannot be over-emphasised, i.e. that every deacon is ordained into an ecclesial ministry that necessitates obedience to bishops and pastors.

Rich in scriptural, historical, liturgical and theological insight this fine collection of essays is an excellent resource for diaconal aspirants. It also offers deacons a very accessible means of revisiting their threefold ministry and is likely to be hugely beneficial to all who grapple to comprehend and communicate the gift that is the permanent diaconate today – for Ireland and elsewhere.

Furthermore, I earnestly hope that we will see a second edition of this book. No chapter requires rewriting. Rather its comprehensiveness could benefit through the inclusion on an additional essay on the permanent diaconate and marriage / family life. As the age profile of men presenting and being accepted into formation programmes continues to fall, the relationship between both sacraments requires honest and candid attention, not just by married deacons, diaconal aspirants, their wives and formators but also by the Church at large.

This too is part of the maturation that Vatican II calls for and would bring a further richness to this already excellent, thought provoking, inspiring and highly commendable book.

■ Justin Harkin, Director of Pastoral Development (Diocese of Elphin)

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

29

Diaconia of Altar

Reviews

Here Hub Crijns & Paul Wennekes

Alphons Ariëns,

A

fter the Reformation, Catholics became second class citizens in the Netherlands. It was not until the nineteenth century that Catholics recovered their full rights as citizens and only in 1853 did the Dutch State again allow the appointment of Catholic bishops. This was the beginning of an immense process of social and political emancipation of Dutch Catholics which continued until roughly the Second World War. The nineteenth century saw drastic social changes. Like the rest of Europe, though somewhat later, the Netherlands developed from an agricultural nation into an industrial society, with all the social problems that entailed. It was just at that time that Alfons Ariëns, the first and greatest social pioneer of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, developed his astonishing spectrum of activities.

Alphonse Marie Auguste Joseph Ariëns was born in 1860 in Utrecht. His father was a lawyer; his mother came from an Amsterdam mercantile family; in short, they belonged to the small Catholic elite of that era. The Arïens family had ten children and Alphons was number five. His parents were socially active. His father was one of the founding members of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Utrecht and his mother gave practical help to poor families in Utrecht. At the early age of ten, Ariëns was sent to boarding 30

social pioneer The world of labour

school. Afterwards he entered the archdiocesan seminary, was ordained deacon and then priest in 1882 before continuing his studies in Rome where he gained a doctorate in theology in 1885. His four years in Rome shaped his personality, both as a scholar and in his sense of society. He preferred to explore the poorer quarters of Rome and stayed in Sicily where he studied the life of workers in the sulphur mines. In Turin he visited Don Bosco who inspired him to develop similar initiatives in his later life. During his stay in Italy he became a member of the Franciscan Third Order. After returning from his studies in Italy, Ariëns was in 1886 appointed a parish curate in the city of Enschede in the east of the country.

Factories life was miserable: working days lasted up to twelve hours, for almost no pay.

Women and child labour was common.

During the significant 1890 strike Ariëns came to realize that self-organisation was the best answer – firstly for men, later for youth, and finally also for women. In 1889 he founded in Enschede a regional Catholic Labour Union named after Saint Joseph.

This Labour Union would grow into the Katholieke Arbeidersbeweging (the National Catholic Labour Union of the Netherlands).

In 1893 Ariëns launched the first magazine for Catholic workers, De Katholieke Werkman (The Catholic Worker). Later, he integrated this union into an ecumenical union because he noticed that employers tried to foment division between Catholic and Protestant workers. In the end, however, this experiment was prohibited by the archbishop of Utrecht. At the same time Ariëns initiated the first co-operative textile factory called De Eendracht (Concord or Union), but this first attempt at self-determination by workers ended in failure which brought Ariëns very close to bankruptcy.

Enschede in 1886 In 1886 the city of Enschede was booming.

It was one of the very first cities of the Netherlands to undergo the industrial revolution. Many textile mass production factories were established in Enschede and the once quiet provincial town doubled in population in only a few years. Ariëns was the first priest to realise that the traditional pastoral methods were no longer effective in the changed social situation. He made a systematic study of the living and employment conditions of the workers and, fifty years before Father Jozef Cardijn, he was already implementing the famous See, Judge, Act methodology. Ariëns worked day and night.

His work as a priest was exceptional in those days when the encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891) had yet to be written and he was criticised for his work and methods by some of his colleagues. He visited as many families as possible, in their homes. He talked to people on the street. He was to be found on the

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

The world of the family many building sites of the city, in the factories, in the parish church and (rarely) in the presbytery. And in the evenings there were the many, many meetings. After returning home he read a great number of newspapers, magazines and brochures. He also wrote a lot, always under the pressure of time because, as he states, he was at his most creative under pressure. Whilst writing he found the mental space to leaf through study books on many and varied subjects. In this very busy pastoral and social work Ariëns was active principally on three fronts.

Living conditions were atrocious. Most workers lived in one-room ‘houses’ with hardly any furniture. Workers had only one extra set of clothes and the washing and drying took three days in the cramped conditions. Stoves were heated with peat or wood which was gathered by the children who were too young to work in the factory. There was no water, no sewage, no toilet. Dirt and stench permeated everywhere, and vermin and disease spread likewise. Alcoholism and violence were common in families. Ariëns became especially active in the battle against alcoholism. He

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

31

Diaconia of Caritas

In 1958 Cardinal Bernard Alfrink, then archbishop of Utrecht commenced the process of beatification for Alphons Ariëns, a Catholic social pioneer, little known outside his native Netherlands.

Here Hub Crijns, a Catholic theologian and director of the Churches’ national office for Service in Industry Society, an ecumenical pastoral work centre in the Netherlands, together with Paul Wennekes, a deacon of the diocese of `s-Hertogenbosch and diocesan staff member responsible for Church and Society work, introduce this far-sighted social pioneer.

priest and

Alphons Ariëns, priest and social pioneer – Hub Crijns

Alphons Ariëns, priest and social pioneer – Hub Crijns

Drawing of Ariëns by the Catholic artist Jan Toorop in his years in Enschede.

The Associations In Turin Ariëns had observed the work of Don Bosco and in Germany he came to know Adolph Kolping. Ariëns has learnt that if there could be no common life at home because of the vicious circle of unemployment, alcoholism, hunger and disease, the establishment of community houses created other possibilities. These became place to get warm, to meet others to eat together, to learn to read and write, to follow courses.

Ariëns promoted the cultural development of workers, introduced music and literature into their lives. Very soon such a community house was opened in Enschede and later on in many other Dutch cities. In 1894 he started the Royal Leo Brass Band in honour of Pope Leo XIII who had published the revolutionary encyclical Rerum Novarum only three years before.

In politics Alphons Ariëns was ill at ease.

Actually he was too honest, too much a pastor, not enough of a strategist to be at home in politics. Sometimes he was almost naive, having too much faith in others. He left politics to his collaborators, his dean, or his model and mentor, the great Catholic politician of the day, Dr. Schaepman. His life through he would regularly find himself the victim of his good faith in others, be it in his 32

union work, or in church life, or in politics.

Besides that he was sometimes impatient, initiating yet another project before the previous one had had a chance to bed down.

Ariëns remained a curate in Enschede for fifteen years. In 1901 he was appointed parish priest in the agricultural village of Steenderen. Some say he was rusticated in order to be rid of him, but Ariëns himself was happy with this appointment because he could leave behind an extremely hectic time and devote much more of his energy to the spiritual guidance of the many for whom he managed to find the time. In Steenderen he got a chance to learn about the situation of the agricultural workers, who found themselves in a very weak social position in relation to the farmers. He also managed to considerably improve the working conditions of municipality labourers. In Steenderen Ariëns founded another Union of Mary which promoted the active involvement of women in concrete social work. In his opinion this work was not a task exclusive to consecrated religious but was a responsibility for all, including lay women, a view which was not left undisputed.

As a token of recognition Ariëns was in 1903 appointed to be a member of a government commission which, after several ferocious strikes, was charged with investigating the situation of railway workers. In 1908 Ariëns was transferred to a parish in Maarssen, a village close to the central city of Utrecht. In Maarssen Ariëns founded the first Caritas organisation in the Netherlands. In view of his profound concern with the position of women, Ariëns was asked to assist in the establishment of a National Catholic Women’s Union which was eventually established in 1912.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

In 1919 Ariëns, in further recognition of all his work, was named privy chamberlain to the papal household. Two years later Ariëns became one of the co-founders of the Geert Grote Association, named after the famous medieval Dutch deacon and theologian who founded the Devotio Moderna of the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life.

The object of this association was the publication of books and brochures for wider circles in society. Ariëns was also involved in the attempt to establish the first Catholic University in the Netherlands since mediaeval times. These efforts bore fruit in 1923 with the foundation of the University in the city of Nijmegen. Ariëns retired in 1926 and only two years later, on August 7th 1928, he died at the age of 68. He has been a priest for 46 years. On his gravestone we read just

the two words: Ariëns, priester In 1958 the then archbishop of Utrecht, Bernard Cardinal Alfrink initiated the process of beatification. Because of a change in procedure in respect of beatifications, the preliminary investigation had to be repeated from 2005 to 2008. The process is underway and we await the recognition of a miracle.

But whether beatified or not, Ariëns will be always remembered as the towering personality he was, despite his shortcomings and the failures he had to endure. He was a pioneer, a sharp analyst of the social situation of his days, a visionary. For many who are active in diaconal work and social engagement he remains an inspiring example.

■ Translated by Paul Wennekes and Gail Schmitz

Reviews

Christian Perspectives on the Financial Crash Editor: Philip Booth ISBN 978-0-85439-767-9 Date: 2010 St Pauls Publishing, London £69.99 We are all living with the consequences of the financial crash of 2008. Professor Philip Booth, of the Cass Business School and the Institute of Economic Affairs, has edited a collection of essays reflecting on this from a Christian perspective. The initial piece is an edited version of a homily preached by Archbishop Vincent Nichols in Birmingham in November 2008 which stresses the importance of the traditional virtues in our response to the crisis. This has been reflected since then in the recent pre-election statement from the Bishops’ Conference, Choose the Common Good. Without ethical foundations things go badly wrong: ‘a market controlled only by regulation, sooner or later, will succumb to its inherent drive for profit at all costs.’(p.7) Later in the book Abbot Christopher Jamieson expands the

theme of virtue, and looks at it not only in relation to the world of finance but also the issue of climate change.

There are some very helpful essays in this volume. Sr Catherine Cowley, who worked in finance before becoming a nun, bravely tries to explain to the financial layperson the complexities behind the crisis and shows how greed and a wish for domination did so much damage in a ‘results-based culture.’

Andrew Lilico from the Policy Exchange gives a good overview of the changes in Christian teaching about usury and how that relates to the crisis and the bailout of the banks; he calls for traditional concerns to be ‘given more prominence’ but it is a pity that he does not mention the witness in the last century against usury of Peter Maurin, Dorothy Day, and the present-day Catholic Worker movement. Pope Benedict XVI in Caritas in Veritate (65) commends the work of credit unions, and Mick McAteer, Director of the Financial Inclusion Centre, gives a clear and detailed picture of their work and the ways in which they can be developed – there is a sensitivity and understanding of

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

33

Diaconia of Caritas

founded the Union of the Holy Cross for Men, the Union of Mary for women and the Union of Anna for parents. The members of the Union of Mary were sent out two by two to family homes of families and traced out a deal of social misery. To help the women of Enschede a catering school and needlework training was introduced. Later on, in 1899, these three unions would be integrated into the one Sobriëtas (Temperance) Union for everybody. Next, he tried to improve living conditions. He supported the construction of better houses and started a housing association for his people. During his years in Enschede he witnessed the construction of the first series of houses for ‘his’ workers.

Reviews

the problems faced by poor people which is not found in some of the essays in this book.

There is a good presentation of the problems now facing Catholic charities by Philppa Gitlin and David Redfern. Francis Davis, in ‘Social Innovation and Habits of the Heart: Re-inventing Christian Mission in the Face of Recession’ restates the case he has made before for ‘social silicon valleys’ – Christian centres, or ‘hubs’ around which ‘the renewal of spiritual zeal and social and civic renewal can be grounded in the tough times ahead.’ (p. 144). Davis also draws on good models from elsewhere in Europe such as Die Zweite Spakese, an Austrian form of credit union and the American Cristo Rey ‘Studio schools’ which root vocational education in religious faith – the Austrian example is the only time anything from the rest of Europe is mentioned positively in this book.

This is because the overall slant of this collection is determined by the free-market, anti-EU ideology of the editor himself in the opening and concluding essays and those writers who share his approach (Samuel Gregg, Ian Allan, and Brian Griffiths). This devalues the other contributions and in some

ways leads to their approaches being manipulated. This is most evident in the treatment of what Archbishop Nichols writes in the passage quoted above about virtues: Booth and the others use this point to argue against more financial regulation. This is sleight of hand: to say that regulation is not enough, or that it will not work if people’s behaviour is not more virtuous, is not the same as saying that there is too much regulation and that there should be less, not more, in the future1.

Gregg (‘Credit, Sin and the 2008 Financial Crisis’) claims that ‘Archbishop Vincent Nichols...was one of the few Christian leaders who unlined this point about the virtues instead of following the uninformed herd and arguing for more extensive regulation of the financial industry.’ (p. 48). Gregg must count Pope Benedict XVI in the herd, since Caritas in Veritate makes it clear that the need for proper regulation must go hand in hand with an ethical imperative: it is a question of ‘bothand’, not ‘either-or’2 Booth repeatedly criticises the Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York for their criticisms of the financial sector and calls for more regulation. The authors’ resistance to regulation is incoher-

1 The archbishop actually writes after the sentence quoted at the beginning of this review: ‘But what we have seen is that, left to itself, the financial market has no robust external frame of reference, not even a wider economic framework. It has behaved as if it exists for itself and within itself and to the benefit of those who are part of it.’ The natural interpretation of these words is surely that both proper external regulation and the cultivation of virtues are needed.

2 ‘Finance, therefore – through the renewed structures and operating methods that have to be designed after its misuse, which wreaked such havoc on the real economy – now needs to go back to being an instrument directed towards improved wealth creation and development.

Insofar as they are instruments, the entire economy and finance, not just certain sectors, must be used in an ethical way so as to create suitable conditions for human development and for the development of peoples....Both the regulation of the financial sector, so as to safeguard weaker parties and discourage scandalous speculation, and experimentation with new forms of finance, designed to support development projects, are positive experiences that should be further explored and encouraged, highlighting the responsibility of the investor.’

(65) If we look at merely two other areas of human activity where regulation has been important – food standards and the protection of children – we see how incoherent it is to argue that the financial system should be less regulated rather than more so. The Holy Father’s argument raises another issue not addressed in Booth’s collection – the failure for many years of City institutions, long before the Crash, to invest responsibly in manufacturing and real productive enterprises, catalogued, for example, in the writings of the economist and journalist Will Hutton.

34

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

ent if we are being told that we need to work with ‘the grain of human nature’ (Booth’s concluding article, ‘Christian Social Teaching – How should we respond to the Crash?’ p.

190) – that is precisely why effective rules are needed, alongside the promotion of virtue3.

The problem is that many characteristics of financial life which we cannot see as virtuous are seen by Booth and his friends as not really a problem (Booth actually refers to ‘the beneficial effects of self-interest’, p. 29).

Indeed, the engagement with the social teaching of the Catholic Church is selective and superficial in Booth’s final piece – two quotations from the present pope and John Paul II which simply disavow technical solutions and models. He overlooks that Benedict is following a long tradition of popes who have denounced greed in the financial system and called for better regulation, not a lighter touch.4 Good, effective regulation is about democratic accountability; as Neibuhr once wrote: ‘Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; man’s capacity for injustice makes democracy necessary.’5 Booth’s interpretation of the concept of the ‘common good’ is remarkably narrow, and of other social teaching concepts such as solidarity or subsidiarity we read nothing, let alone the preferential option for the poor. Have these

authors never heard of what John Paul II called structures of sin?6 What really gives the game away is this sentence: ‘...Perhaps theologians and Christian ministers should take a less prominent role in making judgements about the political economy responses to the crash.’ (p. 189). That is music to the ears in many a City boardroom: ‘Keep theologians in their box – leave the running of the economy to us’. It is no surprise to learn that some of the material here has appeared elsewhere, in a collection Booth edited for the IEA7: what we have here is a volume with the same purpose, with some very good other material added as windowdressing. It seems designed to salve the consciences of Christians in the financial sector who have done very well out of what Dorothy Day called ‘this rotten, decadent, putrid, industrial capitalist system’8 and to avoid any serious challenge to that system or evaluating it properly in the light of Christian teaching.

■ Ashley Beck is Assistant Priest of Beckenham and teaches Catholic Social Teaching in the Permanent Diaconate Formation programme for most of the dioceses of southern England and Wales.

He is the author of Dorothy Day (CTS 2008) and Christians and the Euro (Faith in Europe 2009).

3 One reason why the world financial crisis has had less serious effects in Australia has been because the banks there have been more effectively regulated.

4 Beginning with Pius XI during the Depression, in Quadragesimo Anno 105, also (for example) Blessed John XXIII, Mater et Magistra (1961) and John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987) 43.

See also the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (London: Continuum 2004) 368ff.

5 The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, London: Nisbet, 1945, p. vi. For the relationship between neoliberal economic policies, including minimal regulation of financial institutions, see the new book by Noam Chomsky, Hopes and Prospects (London: Hamish Hamilton 2010) summarised in ‘Another World is Possible’, New Statesman 28 June 2010.

6 ‘Solidarity must be seen above all in its value as a moral virtue that determines the order of institutions. On the basis of this principle the “structures of sin” that dominate relationships between individuals and peoples must be overcome. They must be purified and transformed into structures of solidarity through the creation or appropriate modification of laws, market regulations, and juridical systems.’ Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 193, referring to John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 36, 37 and Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (1985) 16.

7 Verdict on the Crash Hobart Paperback 37, London: IEA 2009.

8 The Catholic Worker September 1956.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

35

Diaconia of Caritas

Reviews

Reviews

Work, for God’s Sake Author: Esther D. Reed ISBN: 978-0-232-52761-2 Price: £12.95 Year: 2010 Publisher: Darton, Longman & Todd, London Pages: 144 It may seem odd to be reviewing a book about the theological importance of work at a time when in the British Isles a very large number of people are going to lose their jobs in the near future; indeed, one of the few themes not thoroughly dealt with in Work, for God’s Sake is the phenomenon of unemployment, but these are the Sarum lectures from 2007, when the financial crisis which has caused it was only just beginning. Dr Reed is Associate Professor of Theological Ethics at Exeter, and these lectures build on her slightly earlier work The Ethics of Human Rights (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2007).

At one point she pays tribute to Pope John Paul II’s great encyclical on human work from 1981, Laborem Exercens, but it is interesting that comparatively little has been written on the theme since then by theologians. What is so impressive about Reed’s approach is that she integrates her deep theological awareness with a serious engagement with secular studies of work, such as the important study of overwork by the journalist Madeleine Bunting and important material produced by the Trade Union movement, the Work Foundation and the Equal Opportunities Commission; her text is also full of wide-ranging literary references.

In her first chapter Reed looks at basic definitions of work, and at the relationship between work and traditional concepts of vocation and the notion of work as worship. She goes on, in ‘Holy Saturday and the Curse of Work Today’, to look more closely at the damage being done to individuals and families because of the everworsening pressures employers are putting on their workers. The third chap36

ter is in many ways the most important: Reed draws on the tradition of liturgy and worship to elucidate the Christian ethic of work. ‘Liturgical reasoning’, drawing on Jewish and Eastern Orthodox sources, helps us root our everyday work in our need for God. ‘Here [the Church’s practice of worship] we learn best to interpret Holy Scripture and, arguably, perceived most clearly the logic or reasoning that is to determine our thinking about work. Here we grasp that all our work...finds its proper destiny in God’s dramas of redemption. The work of the worshipping people of God is one of the best available vehicles for thinking through questions of social ethics.’ (p. 35) Liturgical reasoning enables us to make connections between what we do when we are engaged in worship and problems and issues we face: so Reed looks as the gathering of the people, our sense of ‘interconnection’ through common worship, the anaphora of the bread and wine, the anamnesis of Christ’s Passion, the invocation of the Holy Spirit and the Dismissal as ways of understanding what work is about.

As a general method this is very valuable and could usefully be applied to other social questions: so often there seems to be a gulf between worship on the one hand and social/moral teaching on the other.

The next two chapters look first at work in the context of human rights theory, and secondly in more depth at the idea of vocation. The final chapter, ‘Will there be work in heaven?’ addresses the fact that preachers these days seldom preach about heaven or address our understanding of what it might be like. She draws on the Eastern iconographic tradition to show that the work we do on earth has real significance for our future with God, and also makes use of the work of Darrell Cosden in his book The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2006). This is how she expresses this truth: ‘Giving a cup of water to the thirsty person is somehow incorporated into the

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

kingdom of God; no act is futile because Christ has risen. If true, the implication is that everything that we do in the workplace matters because it has eternal significance. It matters unto eternity whether, for example, we teach our classes to the best of our ability, respect our clients, offer employees living wages, maintain a safe working environment, or do the accounts

honestly.’ (pp. 100-101) This is an outstanding and stimulating book. The only problem, as I indicated earlier, is that the gap needs urgently to be filled to apply this reasoning to the sufferings of those of all ages who are losing their jobs or who face little prospect of getting a job.

■ Ashley Beck

Advertisement

Little Way HEALING Ministries www.littlewayhealingministries.com

TRAINING COURSES WITH

FR LAURENCE BRASSILL O.S.A., MRS PAULINE EDWARDS

AND HELPERS.

Course for Engaged and Married Couples 4 – 10 April 2011 Carmelite Priory, Boars Hill, Oxford 23 – 29 May 3 – 11 September Clare Priory, Clare, Suffolk, 25 September – 1 October Craig Lodge, Dalmally, Argyll.

November Czech Republic For information/booking form, contact: P.O. Box 499 Fleet GU5 19FY www.littlewayhealingministries.com New Diaconal Review Issue 6

37

Diaconia of Caritas

Reviews

Women Deacons and Sister Sara Butler, M.S.B.T., is the Chester and Margaret Paluch Professor of Theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, the major seminary of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

She recently published the widely acclaimed The Catholic Priesthood and Women: A Guide to the Teaching of the Church (Hillenbrand Books). She has been a member of the International Theological Commission since 2004, and she is currently a consultant to the United States Bishops’ Doctrine Committee.

Sister Sara has been active in ecumenical dialogue for over 30 years.

She belongs to the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity.

“W

ell, what about the diaconate?”

My lectures on why the Catholic Church reserves priestly ordination to men invariably provoke this follow-up question. The questioner usually wants to know if there is any reason why women cannot be ordained permanent deacons. The question surprises no one, because it is well-known that bishops in the Eastern Church once did incorporate women into a diaconal office, a public ecclesial ministry for the service of women, and that this tradition continued for several centuries after it had “dis-

appeared” into women’s monastic life.1 From the time that women’s access to the priesthood began to be seriously proposed, moreover, the Holy See has made it clear that their possible access to the diaconate was a separate case, one which “must be taken up fully by direct study of the texts, without preconceived ideas.”2 Many Catholics see ordination to the diaconate as the means by which women could gain entry to the clerical state and so be able to take on greater responsibility for the

... the Holy See has made it clear that their possible access to the diaconate “must be taken up fully by direct study of the texts, without preconceived ideas.”

Church’s life.3 But can women be ordained to the diaconate? After many years of study, the International Theological Commission4 issued a historical-theologi-

1 Women deacons were enlisted to assist with the baptism of women catechumens at a time when the liturgy called for their full-body anointing before immersion; they also had other responsibilities related to the pastoral care of women and children. Depending on how one evaluates the evidence, they may have existed from apostolic times through the 11th century.

In some places the superiors or abbesses of women’s monastic communities continued to receive diaconal ordination or consecration long after women deacons were no longer active in the service of the local church. See Aimé Georges Martimort, Deaconesses: An Historical Study, trans. K.D. Whitehead (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 205-240.

2 See the Official Commentary on the Declaration Inter insigniores (On the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood), Origins 6:33 (February 3, 1977), 526.

3 See Phyllis Zagano, “The Question of Governance for Women,” Theological Studies 68 (2007): 348-67. Admission to the clerical state would allow women, like male deacons, to preach at the Eucharist and to exercise jurisdiction in various ecclesiastical offices.

4 Hereafter, ITC. This Commission is advisory to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; it has no authority to determine doctrine.

38

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Sacramental Symbolism cal research document in 2003.5 The document provides a thorough review and analysis of the diaconate itself as a grade of the sacrament of Holy Orders and as a “proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy.”6 Within this context, it weighs the evidence for and against the possibility of ordaining women to the diaconate.

According to the Secretary, two “important indications” that emerged from its research tend to exclude this possibility, namely, (1) the fact that “deaconesses”7 in the early Church “were not purely and simply equivalent to the deacons,” and (2) the unity of the sacrament of Orders.8 The present essay will explore these two obstacles from the perspective of sacramental symbolism. First, however, the main elements of the debate need to be recalled.

Women Deacons: Yes or No? Those who maintain that the Church can and should admit women to the diaconate advance many arguments for their case.

There is historical evidence that women as well as men served the Church as deacons during the first millennium and beyond, and this, not just in the East but also in the West.9 The evidence shows that women were admitted to this office by the bishop in rites analogous, if not identical, to those for male deacons (e.g., rites that include the invocation of the Holy Spirit, and the laying-on of hands, the bestowal of a stole, and so on), rites identified in several sources as “ordination.”10 Ancient Church orders and canonical collections include theological and juridical statutes that spelled out the ministerial responsibilities

5 The report, first published in French, is available in an unofficial English translation as From the Diakonia of Christ to the Diakonia of the Apostles (Chicago/Mundelein: Hillenbrand Books, 2004). It offers a valuable analysis of the issues that remain to be resolved as a result of the Council’s decision, ch. 7, 91-110.[Cf. also the fresh and more complete translation of this research document by Tony Schmitz in this and the previous five issues of The New Diaconal Review.]

6 The Second Vatican Council provided for the restoration this office for both the Latin (Lumen gentium, §29a) and the Eastern Catholic Churches (Orientalium ecclesiarum, §17).

7 The ancient sources refer both to “women deacons” and to “deaconesses” (reserving “deacon” to men). Parties to the contemporary debate use the designation that favors their position.

I use “women deacons” only for the sake of clarity in my argument.

8 George Cottier, “Clarification on ITC Study on the Diaconate,” L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly English Edition (30 October 2002), 12, with reference to From the Diakonia, 109.

9 The tradition in the West developed differently and is linked to the institution of female monasticism, but a prayer for “making [female] deacons” is found in pontificals up through the 12th century. See Gary Macy, The Hidden History of Women’s Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 40f.

10 For years, scholars measured the validity of these “ordinations” by appeal to categories and criteria that were developed only in the Middle Ages. Gary Macy (following Yves Congar) maintains that this is the wrong way to assess the evidence. For a summary of the state of the question, see Macy’s Hidden History, 4-22.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

39

Theology & History of Diaconate

Sara Butler

of female deacons, the requirements for admission to the order (age, celibate status, moral character), and their various relationships: to the bishop, male deacons, widows, virgins, sub-deacons, and the other ministries, and so on. In some places, they are explicitly included among the clergy. The existence of women deacons is acknowledged without objection by many Fathers of the Church, even as they reject the possibility of ordaining women priests out of hand as something characteristic of pagans and heretics.11 It should be noted that some advocates for the ordination of women to the diaconate assume that while such women would truly receive the sacrament of Holy Orders, they would be ordained only to the permanent diaconate, without the possibility of proceeding to the priesthood. They recall that deacons “receive the imposition of hands “not unto the priesthood [sacerdotium] but unto the ministry [ministerium].”12 Still, they would be ordained to the same diaconate as men, not to a “fourth order.”13 Other advocates, however, maintain that women can be

ordained deacons without qualification.

Given the unity of the sacrament of Holy Orders, these scholars assume that admission to the diaconate does imply the possibility of proceeding to the priesthood.14 Since this second position is contrary to the teaching that must be “definitively held by all the Church’s faithful,”15 it is important to distinguish it from the first claim, one for which historical evidence and theological arguments continue to be forthcoming.

Those who maintain that women cannot be ordained to the diaconate, either in its permanent or transitional form, have weighty arguments in their favor. The first relates to the principle of the unity of Holy Orders, mentioned above.16 Given that Holy Orders is one sacrament with three degrees or grades, and given that the Church has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women, these scholars claim that it is impossible to admit women to the diaconate. In other words, they believe that the reservation of priestly ordination to men has immediate implications for the diaconate.17 Second, they point out that

11 St. Epiphanius, the foremost patristic exponent of the reservation of priestly ordination to men, acknowledges the institution of women deacons (Panarion, 79, §4).

12 See LG 29, n. 74; the Council adopted this formulation from documents of the early Church, the Constitutions of the Egyptian Church, the Didascalia, and the Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua.

13 I.e., they do not want to restore the ancient order of “deaconesses,” but to admit women to the restored permanent diaconate. See Phyllis Zagano, Holy Saturday: An Argument for the Restoration of the Female Diaconate in the Catholic Church (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2000), 64-68, 75, 77; the Report of an Ad Hoc Committee of the Canon Law Society of America, The Canonical Implications of Ordaining Women to the Permanent Diaconate (Washington, D.C.: CLSA, 1995).

14 E.g., John Wijngaards, Women Deacons in the Early Church: Historical Texts and Contemporary Debates (New York: Crossroads, 2002), 134-37. Wijngaards maintains that women are eligible for priestly ordination. His full argumentation, along with documentation, is found on www.womenpriests.org.

15 Namely, that the Church has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women. See Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Ordinatio sacerdotalis (1994), §4.

16 See ITC, From the Diakonia, pp. 97-99, for a discussion of this.

17 Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Priesthood and Diaconate: The Recipient of the Sacrament of Holy Orders from the Perspective of Creation Theology and Christology, trans. Michael J. Miller (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2002), pp. 44-50. Müller finds it theologically indefensible to split the sacrament of Holy Orders into “three more or less free-standing sacraments” (50).

40

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

the ecclesiastical office held by women deacons in the past was not, in fact, the equivalent of the male diaconate; it appears to have been comparable to one of the minor orders. They acknowledge most of the same historical evidence as advocates for women deacons, but evaluate it differently. For example, scholars realize that some church orders refer to the consecration of such women by the bishop as an “ordination,” not only an appointment or installation, but, they note, “ordination” did not yet have the technical meaning it acquired in the Middle Ages.18 They maintain that because women deacons were never called to service at the altar and were not encouraged to proceed to the priesthood,19 and because their ministry was limited to women and children, it really was not a full and equal counterpart to the male diaconate. They recognize that women deacons served in many parts of the Eastern Church during the first millennium, but observe that most of the evidence from the Church in the West is directed to its limitation or suppression, perhaps because of the aberrations related to women’s ministry found in heretical sects, such as Montanism or Priscillianism.

According to scholars who adopt this position, women are capable of assuming ecclesiastical offices, but they are not candidates for the sacrament of Holy Orders as permanent deacons. These scholars leave open to women only the possibility of a “fourth order,” a diaconate for women which is not the equivalent of that exercised by men.

The International Theological Commission reports that these two “indications” – the

unity of the sacrament of Orders and the fact that the office once held by women deacons was not exactly the equivalent of that held by male deacons – favour the view that the diaconate, like the priesthood, is reserved to men. The specific contribution its research makes to the inquiry is its serious study of the theology of the diaconate and its identification of the questions that still need to be “harmonized” by theologians.20 Although the ITC research document investigates the tradition of women’s diaconal ministry, it is does not formally explore how the sex of the candidate affects the possibility of receiving the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Since the sacrament is not only an authorization and empowerment to carry out certain functions, but also a sacramental sign, it is useful to consider how gender symbolism enters into the question of women’s capacity to be ordained as permanent deacons. The sacramental symbolism of gender is an issue of some importance in the reservation of priestly ordination to men. What force does it have in the case of ordination to the diaconate?

Sacramental Symbolism and the Subject of Holy Orders It is necessary to insist that the Church does not rely on a theological argument from fittingness to determine whether priestly ordination is reserved to men. The fundamental reason for this dispensation, according to the magisterium, is fidelity to the will of Christ, known by way of his choice of men only to belong to the Twelve, by the practice of the Apostles in conformity with his example, and by the constant tradition of the Church in both East and

18 See Müller, 206-210.

19 Martimort, 244-45.

20 The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council were concerned to restore the diaconate “as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy” (LG 29). This did not change the nature of the diaconate, but it did require that it be newly integrated with the doctrinal decisions related to the episcopacy.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

41

Theology & History of Diaconate

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

West.21 It is on this basis that the Church is said to have “no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women.”22 The theological argument advanced to show why the Lord’s choice of men alone is “fitting” is not the decisive factor; it is an effort to display by theological reasoning from the analogy of faith why it is sacramentally meaningful for Christ, who was and remains a man, to be represented by a man in his capacity as Head and Shepherd of the Church.23 Appeal is made to gender correspondence because the priest acts in persona Christi Capitis Ecclesiae, in the person of Christ the Head of the Church.

The argument from gender is reinforced by adding the unmistakably masculine reference to Christ as Bridegroom, drawing on nuptial imagery from both Testaments.

Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church, his Bride, and since the priest is understood to be an “icon” of Christ in his relation to the Church, his maleness is disclosed as sacramentally significant.24 Appeal to the analogy of the BridegroomBride relationship, then, underscores the fittingness of gender correspondence between the priest and Christ.25 Pope John Paul II did not reproduce this “iconic” argument in his apostolic letter Ordinatio

sacerdotalis (1994), but he does propose it elsewhere, especially in the apostolic exhortations On the Vocation and Dignity of Women (Mulieris dignitatem, 1988) and I Will Give You Shepherds (Pastores dabo vobis, 1992).26 Does this have any consequences for the diaconate?

This question remains in play, partly as the result of a change made to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (second edition) and subsequently inserted into the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The change reveals the still unsettled character of the theology of the diaconate itself. In this case, the assertion that all those who receive Holy Orders – bishop, priest, and deacon – act in persona Christi Capitis has been modified.

According to the revised text, acting in persona Christi Capitis is reserved to the “ministerial priesthood,” i.e., to the bishop and priest.27 This may be seen to follow from the fact that, according to ancient tradition, the deacon is ordained “not to the priesthood but to the ministry.”28 Now if the gender symbolism of the Head includes that of the Bridegroom, and if these are directly relevant only to the two higher grades of Orders, has an obstacle to women’s ordination to the permanent diaconate, been

21 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Inter insigniores (1976), §§1-4.

22 Ordinatio sacerdotalis, §4. I have underlined the distinction between the “fundamental reasons” for reserving priestly ordination to men and the “theological arguments” advanced to explain its meaningfulness in The Catholic Priesthood and Women: A Guide to the Teaching of the Church (Chicago/Mundelein: Hillenbrand Books, 2007).

23 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Inter insigniores (1976), §5.

24 Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1142. The identification of the priest as an “icon” of Christ is found in St. Theodore the Studite’s Seven Chapters against the Iconoclasts 4..

25 See my essay “The Priest as Sacrament of Christ the Bridegroom,” Worship 66 (November 1992): 498-517.

26 See Mulieris dignitatem, §§23-27, and Pastores dabo vobis, §§16, 22-25, 29, 50.

27 See Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997) §875, but notice that this was not changed in §1581 and §1548; Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio, Omnium in mentem (October 26, 2009), brought the canons into conformity with the Catechism.

28 In more recent documents , the deacon is said to be an icon of Christ the Servant, but since this designation is also given to the priest in conjunction with his role as Head (Pastores dabo vobis §§21-23), it is not clear that it specifies the diaconal ministry. See ITC, From the Diakonia, 95-96..

42

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

removed?29 Is the permanent diaconate, then, gender-neutral? Is it open to women as well as men? This question remains to be more thoroughly considered.

Why Two Rites?

Those who advocate opening the diaconate to women tend to direct attention to the fact that, historically, women deacons were ordained by the bishop in a rite that paralleled the rite for men; from this they conclude that they were admitted to the same office by the same sacramental ordination. On these grounds, it is often said that if the women were not sacramentally ordained to the diaconate, nei-

One question that comes to mind is: Why were male and female deacons ordained separately and not together? ther were the men.30 On the other hand, those who think the evidence does not support women deacons point out that the rite was not identical in every respect; moreover, the functions entrusted to women were not the same as those entrusted to men and, in fact, were quite limited in scope. From this they conclude that the female diaconate was not the equivalent of the male diaconate, but rather a separate order, comparable to the minor orders.

One question that comes to mind is: Why were male and female deacons ordained separately and not together?31 Infants of both sexes are baptized with the same rite, and young girls and boys are confirmed with the same rite; women and men worship together at the Eucharist and receive Holy Communion at the same time and in the same way. What accounts for the fact that there are two distinct rites of diaconal ordination? This question is not put to those who think women were consecrated or installed as deaconesses, for they assume that the women belonged to a separate feminine order, not an all-male diaconate. This question does have to be confronted, however, by those who maintain that women were ordained to the identical order as men and that their ordinations were equally sacramental.

John Wijngaards, for example, repeatedly claims that “the ordination of the woman deacon is the same as that for the male deacon, and undoubtedly sacramental.”32 To explain what he means by “the same,” he uses the categories “matter” and “form” from sacramental theology. If the matter (imposition of the bishop’s hands) and the form (prayer invoking the Holy Spirit) are the same, he argues, men and women deacons received the same sacrament. “But if the Church ordained women deacons and male deacons with exactly the same sacramental signs,” he asks, “how could anyone say that one, the diaconate of men, is sacramental, and the other, that of women, is not?”33 What Wijngaards fails to mention is that the

29 Phyllis Zagano, “Inching towards a yes?” The Tablet (9 January, 2010), 10-11. The ITC research document (94-95) assumes that the unity of Holy Orders implies the capacity to act in persona Christi capitis. Does this change affect its argument?

30 See Charles R. Meyer, “Ordained Women in the Early Church,” Chicago Studies 4:1 (Spring, 1965), 285-308, at 300f., 31 See Joseph E. Franco, “Women in the Diaconate: The State of the Question,” The Dunwoodie Review 29 (2006).

32 See his analysis of the ordination rites of women deacons on www.womenpriests.org.

33 See “When Women Were Deacons,” The Tablet (May 8, 1999): 623-24.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

43

Theology & History of Diaconate

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

analysis of the sacramental sign includes not only its matter and form but also its subject, the person who receives it. So, for example, the subject of Confirmation must be baptized; the subject of the Anointing of the Sick must be sick; the subjects of Marriage are a man and a woman; the subject of priestly ordination is a man, and so on. The ordination rites for men and women deacons differ because their subjects differ by sex.

In fact, from the available evidence, it seems clear that the admission of women to diaconal ministry required some explicit justification, perhaps because of aberrations among heretical sects. What is striking is that the justification offered uses the same line of reasoning to account for the exclusion of women from the ministerial priesthood as it employs to account for their inclusion in the diaconal ministry.34 The fundamental point of reference is the will of God as known from biblical revelation and from Lord’s own example as reported in the Gospels. So, to explain that women were not eligible for priestly ordination, St. Epiphanius appeals to the Lord’s example.

If God had wanted women to offer sacrifice or perform some ecclesiastical office, he would have chosen Mary over anyone else in the New Covenant, given her great dignity, to exercise a priestly role. Despite the fact that she bore the Son of God in her womb, however, God did not choose the priesthood for Mary.35 God’s will for the priesthood is seen in the fact that Jesus called no woman

The ordination rites for men and women deacons differ because their subjects differ by sex to belong to the Twelve – not Mary his Mother, nor any of his women disciples.36 These arguments are not original with Epiphanius, who was collecting the traditional arguments against heresies; he is simply repeating the sort of reasoning that is already found in the Church Orders.

According to the Didascalia Apostolorum (ca. 240), the Lord Jesus sent only the Twelve to teach the people, even though he had women disciples (it names Mary Magdalene and Mary the daughter of James and the other Mary) in his company. These he did not send out, “for if it were required that women should teach, our Master Himself would have commanded these to give instruction with us.”37 It is a transgression against the Lord’s commandment for a woman to baptize, “for if it were lawful to be baptized by a woman, our Lord and Teacher Himself would have been baptized by Mary, his Mother.”38 The same explanations, slightly modified, appear in the Constitutiones Apostolorum (ca. 380). The Lord sent the Twelve to teach in the Church, even though he did not lack worthy women in his company, i.e., his Mother and his sisters, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Martha and Mary, and Salome.39 Again, the Lord did not send women along with the Twelve to baptize; he would have been baptized by Mary if he had intended to assign this function to women.40 The line of argu-

34 This indirectly confirms that the patristic argument for reserving the priesthood to men appealed to the Lord’s own choice of men to belong to the Twelve, and not just to the “Pauline ban” (1 Cor 14:34-35, 1 Tim 2:12, 14).

35 Panarion, 79, 3.

36 Panarion 79, 3-4, 7. Epiphanius names Salome, Martha and Mary, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, the Canaanite woman, and the woman with the hemorrhage. If Christ did not entrust the office of priesthood to these women, neither did he intend it for any woman.

37 Didasc. 3, 6, 1-2.

38 Didasc. 3, 9, 1-3.

39 Apost. Const. 3, 6, 1-2.

40 Apost. Const. 3, 9, 2.

44

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

ment is clear: the Lord’s example sets the boundaries for the ministries of women.

Whatever priestly functions he did not commit to his Mother or to his women disciples, he did not commit to women.

These same arguments are reversed, as it were, in the Church Orders that describe the ordination of women deacons.41 Here, it was necessary to justify their inclusion in ecclesiastical ministry. If God, who created both man and woman, invited a woman to give birth to his Son, he can be asked to grant his Spirit to his handmaid.

In one text the woman deacon is even likened to the Holy Spirit. Now, the Lord’s Mother and his women disciples, and other women from Old and New Testaments (including Phoebe) are brought forward to defend and explain how women, who cannot be priests and bishops, can nevertheless be deacons42 in the Church. The Didascalia Apostolorum and the Constitutiones Apostolorum (which takes up and reworks several chapters of the Didascalia) incorporate these in their instructions, and the ordination rite (found in the latter), and they are echoed in the 8th century Byzantine rite for the ordination of women deacons (Codex Barberini 336).43 Because God has inspired and accepted the service of women in the past, women can be formally included in the diaconal ministry of the Church.

Feminine Typology for the Ministry of Women The first “type” for the ministry of women is the Holy Spirit. The Didascalia instructs the faithful to honor the deaconess “in the place of the Holy Spirit.”44 The author of this work adds the woman deacon to the typological scheme found in St. Ignatius of Antioch’s Letter to the Trallians,45 in which the bishop is a type of God the Father, the deacon of Jesus Christ, and the presbyters of the college of the Apostles. According to the Didascalia, the bishop is to be regarded as “father in God,” and to be honoured by you as is God himself, because, for you, the bishop stands in the place of [in typum] the All-Powerful God. The deacon stands in the place of [in typum] Christ and you should love him. The deaconess should be honored by you as [in typum] the Holy Spirit is honored. Priests ought to be considered by you as [in typum] the apostles would be considered and widows and orphans should be esteemed by you as [in typum] you would esteem the altar of God.46 Why are the deaconesses compared to the Holy Spirit? Two explanations are given.

First, since the Father and Son have just been named, the third divine Person, the Holy Spirit, follows in logical progression.

Second, since “spirit” is a feminine noun in the Semitic languages, a certain correspondence with the women ministers suggests itself.47 This scheme corresponds to

41 St. Epiphanius states (Panarion, 79, 3) that the order of deaconesses was instituted to serve women, especially when their nakedness was uncovered at their baptism and in sickness.

42 Because of a certain overlap in functions, some of these admonitions are addressed to widows or virgins as well as to women deacons.

43 These three documents are by no means the only sources for this material, but they serve to make the point.

44 Didasc. IX, 2-3. Ignatius was martyred ca. 110.

45 Trall. 3,1: “Let everyone revere the deacon 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.” See also Ignatius To the Magnesians, 6.

46 The Syriac and Latin versions of the text are set out side by side in Martimort, pp. 36f.

47 See also Yves M.J. Congar, “The Motherhood in God and the Femininity of the Holy Spirit,” in I Believe in the Holy Spirit 3 (New York: Seabury, 1983): 155-63.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

45

Theology & History of Diaconate

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

the Didascalia’s admonition to the bishop to choose deacons of both sexes, a man for most tasks and a woman “for the ministry of women.”48 According to this Trinitarian typology, there is a certain correspondence between the male (the type of Christ) and female (the type of the Holy Spirit) deacons.49 Deacons of both sexes depend directly on the bishop,50 and they extend his ministry. The women deacons are responsible for his ministry to women: they anoint the bodies of the female catechumens, instruct them in the life of holiness after Baptism, visit them in their homes and care for the sick, bathing them when they begin to recover.51 The male deacon, although appointed “to the ministry of men,”52 has many other responsibilities. In particular, he assists the bishop at the Divine Liturgy, mediating between the bishop and the congregation and binding the concelebrating community into one. At one time he represents the celebrating hierarchy, at another the congregation, inviting each to participate according to its proper role.53 The deacon and the bishop are to have but “one aim, one thought, one soul, even though they exist in two bodies.”54 There is no comparable development of the woman deacon’s relationship with the bishop.

The author of the Apostolic Constitutions offers some amendments to the Didascalia

when he incorporates it into his collection.

He reasserts the typology that likens the woman deacon to the Holy Spirit, but adds to it: Let also the woman deacon be honored by you in the place of the Holy Spirit. Let her not do or say anything without the male deacon; as neither does the Comforter say or do anything of himself, but gives glory to Christ by waiting for his pleasure. And as we cannot believe in Christ without the teaching of the Spirit, so let not any woman address herself to the male deacon or bishop without the woman deacon.55 In his mediating role, the male deacon serves the bishop as Christ serves God the Father, and the woman deacon depends upon the male deacon as the Holy Spirit depends upon Christ. Still, like the Holy

... the woman deacon depends upon the male deacon as the Holy Spirit depends upon Christ Spirit, the woman deacon has a teaching role for lay women, and mediates between them and the bishop or the male deacon.

The woman deacon is called to imitate the Holy Spirit. This Trinitarian typology is

48 Didasc. 9, 2, 26.

49 See Jean Colson, “Diakon und Bischof in de Ersten Drei Jahrhunderten der Kirche,” in Diaconia in Christo, “Quaestiones Disputatae” 15/16, ed. Karl Rahner and Herbert Vorgrimler (Freiburg: Herder, 1962): 23-30, with charts on 28-30.

50 See Petro B.T. Bilaniuk, The Eastern Diaconate in the Sub-Apostolic and Pre-Conciliar Period, Studies in Eastern Christianity, vol. 2, ed. Isabel A. Massey (Munich-Toronto: Our Canada Publications, 1982). The deacon has no direct relationship to the priest. Bilaniuk observes that this scheme recalls the tradition that allowed a deacon to be elected bishop without being ordained to the presbyterate; ordination to the bishop’s priesthood was regarded as distinct from ordination to his ministry (87).

51 Didasc. 9, 2, 6.

52 Ibid., 16, 3, 13.

53 Bilaniuk, 88-91.

54 Didasc. 16, 3, 13.

55 Apost. Const. II, 26, 5-7. (Translation from Wijngaards, Women Deacons, 158.)

46

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

consistent with the Eastern attention to the way the human community, in the complementarity of male and female, is “the created epiphany of the uncreated Trinity.”56 This underlines the value of the distinction between the male and female deacons and their complementary roles.

The second feminine type of the woman deacon is the Blessed Virgin Mary. She serves in two ways, first, as the woman who gave birth to God’s only Son, and second, as the Mother of the Lord whose dignity causes Christians to notice how remarkable it is that he did not confer the priestly office upon her. Mary appears without name or title in the prayer over the woman deacon at her ordination: “Eternal God, Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of both man and woman,…you who did not judge it unworthy for your only Son to be born of a woman, …do now also look down upon this your handmaid who is to be ordained to the diaconate… .”57 A similar prayer, in which the bishop reminds God of his willingness to enlist a woman in the service of his plan, is found in the Byzantine rite for the ordination of a deaconess. The bishop prays: “Holy and Omnipotent Lord, through the birth of your Only Son our God from a Virgin according to the flesh, you have sanctified the female sex. You grant not only to men, but also to women the grace and coming of your Holy Spirit….” In each case, God’s choice of a woman to be the mother of his Son serves to emphasize the creation of humankind in two sexes,

the unique dignity of Mary as the Mother of God’s Son, and women’s capacity for the grace of the Holy Spirit that will sustain her ministry. It is remarkable that the Virgin Mary is not actually named with all her titles; nevertheless, the prayer clearly implies that she is the one whose co-operation with God’s plan leads to the expectation that the woman deacon will follow suit and have a fruitful ministry.

Mary figures as a type for women deacons in another way. Here, she is the Mary of the Gospels who accompanies her Son during his public life. She is surrounded by his other women disciples, but exceeds all of them in dignity. Given her dignity, it might have been expected that the Lord would have called his Mother to belong to the Twelve, to offer sacrifice, to teach, and to baptize, even to baptize himself!58 These are all priestly functions, and the Lord called her to none of them. At times the compiler of the Apostolic Constitutions appeals to the Pauline teaching on male headship (1 Cor 11:3) as an explanation; he also maintains that the Lord, being the Creator of nature and the divine Lawgiver, knows what is best for his people.59 If women, after the example of the Lord’s Mother, are not called to belong to the Twelve, that is, called to the priestly ministry, they nevertheless have a diaconal service to perform in the Church, a ministry to women. They are able to welcome the gift of the Holy Spirit and serve in God’s Holy House.

56 See Thomas Hopko, “On the Male Character of Christian Priesthood,” in St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly 19:3 (1975): 147-73, at 149.

57 Apost. Const. 8, 20. The later ordination rites collected by John Wijngaards in Women Deaconesses, 176-188, also contain this prayer, which is cited here in his translation.

58 See above, p.10, for the passages in the Didascalia and the Apostolic Constitutions that make this case. This argument also has a place in the extra-canonical Gospels and other less reliable early Christian sources. See Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, “Word, Spirit, and Power: Woman in Early Christian Communities,” in Women of Spirit: Female Leadership in the Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. Rosemary Reuther and Eleanor McLaughlin (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979): 30-70.

59 Apost. Const. 3, 9.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

47

Theology & History of Diaconate

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

The third feminine type of the woman deacon is not a single person, but a class – the women of biblical revelation in both Testaments. Some have already been mentioned: Jesus’ women disciples, worthy collaborators of the Twelve who might well (one would think) have been enlisted in the priestly ministry of offering sacrifice, teaching, and baptizing.60 The availability and holiness of Jesus’ women disciples demonstrates that his failure to choose them for this ministry is not based in some deficiency on their part as women.

Precisely the opposite is the case: what is remarkable is that he did not call them.

Still, they are positive types for women’s diaconal ministry precisely because they “ministered” to the Lord himself.61 This theme is found in the Didascalia, in the context of instructions addressed to the bishop concerning the ministerial duties of women deacons. They are to anoint the bodies of women catechumens, receive them when they emerge from the font, and instruct and educate them in the ways of holiness. “For these reasons, we assert that the ministry of a female deacon is especially required and urgent. For our Lord and Savior was himself served by deaconesses, such as Mary Magdalene, Mary, daughter of James and mother of Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee, along with still other women.”62 In this instance, the existence of Jesus’ women disciples is the court of appeal for the inclusion of women in ministry. The fact that Jesus accepted their ministry reveals the possibility and, given the situation (anointing of women’s bodies), even

the necessity of ordaining women deacons.

The women of the Gospel are not the only models. In fact, they do not appear in the ordination prayers. Instead, the Old Testament prophets Miriam (sister of Moses) and Huldah, and the judge, Deborah are named, along with Anna the daughter of Phanuel, who welcomed the infant Savior in the Temple. The ordination prayer reads: O Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of man and woman, you filled Miriam, Deborah, Anna, and Huldah with the Spirit. You did not object to your only-begotten Son to be born of a woman. You ordained women to be keepers of your holy gates in the tabernacle of the testimony and in the Temple. Do now look upon this your handmaid who is to be ordained to the diaconate, and grant her your Holy Spirit .…63 If these women rather than the Gospel disciples are found in this prayer, it is likely due to their association with prophecy, the gift of the Holy Spirit. (The four daughters of Philip [Acts 21:9] are often included in the list of women prophets.) If in the history of salvation, women filled with the Holy Spirit have served in the Lord’s house, these women deacons will carry forward that same service. The women who kept the “holy gates” in the Tent of Meeting (Ex 38:8 and 1 Sam 2:22) and in the Temple (Anna, Lk 2:36-38) are also models, for the women deacons had responsibility for the conduct of women and children in the liturgical assembly.

60 See above, pp. 10-11.

61 Luke 8:2-3; Mk 15:40.

62 Didasc. 9, 2, 26 (my emphasis).

63 Apost. Const. 8, 20. Translation by Wijngaards, 161. Kyriaki Karidoyanes Fitzgerald, Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church: Called to Holiness and Ministry (Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1999), provides an extended commentary on the two ordination rites mentioned here (59-110); in addition, she supplies information (28-58) on the women deacons who are revered as saints in the Orthodox Church.

48

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

The final feminine type, and the one whose name remained in later rites for the ordination of women deacons, is Phoebe, the deacon of the Church of Cenchreae, whom Paul greets in the Letter to the Romans 16:1. Phoebe is named in the second ordination prayer found in the 8th century Byzantine rite (Codex Barberini) and in the texts patterned on it: Lord, Master, you do not reject women who dedicate themselves to you and who are willing, in a becoming way, to serve your Holy House, but admit them to the order of your ministers. Grant the gift of your Holy Spirit also to this your maidservant who wants to dedicate herself to you, and fulfil in her the grace of the diaconate, as you have granted to Phoebe the grace of your diaconate, whom you called to the work of the ministry. …64 It is surprising that St. Phoebe does not appear in the earlier texts that provide feminine types for women deacons, but there is no doubt that her witness and the nature of her office were closely examined in patristic biblical commentaries. She maintains her prominence in the later rites for the ordination of women deacons as the counterpart to St. Stephen in the rites for the ordination of male deacons.

Conclusion Given the current debate regarding the relevance of the iconic argument, it is striking that the models for women’s ministry are, with the exception of the Holy Spirit (who may be viewed as “complementary” to Christ), all female. The candidates are women, and they are clearly being chosen for a “women’s” ministry.

And in this respect, despite their many similarities, the rites themselves differ sig-

nificantly. This appears to be compelling evidence that women were admitted not to a gender-neutral diaconate, but to a women’s order in the Church with its own gestalt. Once infant baptism became the norm and their service was not so urgently needed, the order of women deacons “disappeared,” or rather moved into the monastic communities of women, where the superiors and abbesses continued to be ordained as deacons.

The deliberate emphasis on female “icons” of ministry seems to tell in favor of an ecclesiastical order of women, established by the Church to meet a pastoral need, an order which differed from, and was complementary to, the order of male deacons. The women deacons were understood to represent not Christ but the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus’ women disciples, Phoebe, or the biblical women noted for their prophetic gifts or service in the Temple.

Women in the service of the Church today undoubtedly exercise many of the roles entrusted to permanent deacons by ordination. Their service is not restricted to other women and children. There seems to be no obstacle, in principle, to the creation of a female diaconate, distinct from the sacrament of Holy Orders. The pastoral service of women might well be incorporated into the structure of the Church as a “fourth order” through formal installation by the bishop. In the meantime, the legacy of the female diaconate continues to be carried forward by apostolic women religious65 and consecrated women in the new ecclesial movements, and women in “lay ecclesial ministry.” These may, in fact, be the “natural” heirs to the women deacons of the early Church.

■

64 Codex Barberini gr. 336, in the translation from Wijngaards, Women Deacons, 176.

65 Phyllis Zagano continues to suggest a connection of this sort. See her Holy Saturday, 119130, and, more recently, “Looking for Nuns, Finding Women Deacons,” Review for Religious 70 (January, 2011): 73-83.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

49

Theology & History of Diaconate

Women Deacons and Sacramental Symbolism – Sara Butler

Review

Diaconia, Diaconiae, Diaconato: Semantica E Storia Nei Padri Della Chiesa, XXXVIII Incontro di studiosi dell’ antichità cristiana Rome, 7 – 9 May, 2009 Series: Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 117 Publisher: Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum Rome Date: 2010 No price given Pages: 708 These Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Conference of Scholars of Early Christianity held at the Augustianum Patristic Institute in Rome during three warm but also wet days in May 2009 were published in time for the 2010 Conference but have reached me only just in time for this brief notice before we go to press with our May 2011 issue of the New Diaconal Review.

When in 2003 the International Theological Commission published its research document, Le Diaconat – Évolution et Perspectives (Editions du Cerf, Paris, 2003, and being freshly englished in stages by this journal), there was an acknowledgment of the need for further research to gain a clearer picture of the early history of this order in the diverse settings of the local Churches in both East and West. These Proceedings are the most significant contribution towards that end published since 2003. It is our hope to translate and present in future issues of New Diaconal Review some of the more outstanding papers read at that noteworthy conference which was organized jointly by the Augustinianum and the Faculty of Catholic Theology of the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, represented principally by its dean and Professor Bart Koet, deacon and one of our editorial consultants (cf. NDR 3, November 2009, pp. 29-32).

The forty-six papers were presented, and are here published, principally in three languages: Italian, German and English. After introductions and prefaces, we have a Part 50

One on Biblical and Classical Sources with nine articles. The first of these by the Augustinian Professor Prosper Grech we have had translated and publish in this issue of New Diaconal Review. German New Testament scholar Anni Hentschel, whose massive semantic study Diakonia im neuen Testament: Studien zur Semantik unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Rolle von Frauen. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament for the most part corroborates the conclusions of John N Collins, contributes a paper entitled Paul’s Apostleship and the Concept of Diakonia in 2 Corinthians which concludes, in concurrence with Collins, that it was “much more important for Paul to be known as a diakonos of God than an apostle”. Other notable papers in this section are Bart Koet’s Like a Royal Wedding – On the Significance of diakonos in John 2, 1-11 and the investigation by Mario Cimosa and Gillian Bonney from the Pontifical Salesian University on Job as the Servant of the Lord and of his Friends – The Development of the Meaning in the Language referring to “servants” and “service” from the eastern Greek and Hellenistic World to the early Christian Church.

Part Two is devoted to Evidence from the Syro-Armenian Fathers and includes an authoritative and fine paper by Alistair Stewart-Sykes on Deacons in the Syrian Church Order Tradition: a Search for Origins.

Part Three is subdivided into four sections with twelve papers: Evidence from the Greek Fathers, and then successively, Deacons and Diakonia in the Area of Alexandria, Deacons and Diakonia in Cappadocia and Deacons and Diakonia in the Area of Antioch.

Certainly original is Judith Gentle’s The Blessed Virgin Mary as the Model of Diakonia according to the Christological Writings of St Cyril of Alexandria and also of interest is Ysabel de Andia’s Liturgie, diaconie des pauvres et theologie du corps du Christ chez saint Jean Chrysostome. One would have liked to have seen more from the other Cappadocian fathers just as in Part Two there is a huge gap with nothing on the great St Ephraim.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

The Latin Fathers are covered by eleven papers in Part Four, divided into just three: Evidence from the Latin Fathers, then Jerome, and Augustine of Hippo. Here the biggest gap is treatment of Gregory the Great, especially his Registrum epistularum. One day a doctoral student could do a useful bit of research into the writings and especially the letters of Gregory. She or he would scarcely need to have Latin after the publication of John Martyn’s fine translation, with Introduction and Notes, of The Letters of Gregory the Great in three volumes, the first complete translation into English and only the second into any modern language, published by the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto. If ever a bishop or pope knew how to deploy his

deacons it was Gregory.

The volume concludes with Part Five devoted to Archaeological and Institutional Aspects and Part Six on the Female Diaconate which includes a paper in Spanish

by Juana Maria Torres Prieto. I very much hope that this journal will enable some of the papers presented at this singular event to reach a wider readership. Many deserve to do so. Patent gaps such as treatment of the earliest evidence of the diaconate in the Didache and Second Clement also need to be filled and we promise to do so in due course in the New Diaconate Review. This after all could only serve as the first dossier, but it is a most worthy one.

■ Tony Schmitz

Graduation

This photograph shows the first diaconate students to graduate in the new Foundation Degree in Pastoral Ministry at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham. This degree was established partly to cater for those in formation in the diaconate. In their third year of formation students can convert this into a full theology honours degree. The graduation ceremony took place in the college chapel, where six months before Pope Benedict XVI met representatives of religious orders involved in education.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

51

Theology & History of Diaconate

Review

Review

Servants of All: A History of the Permanent Diaconate in the Archdiocese of Toronto 1972 – 2007 Author: Michael Power ISBN: 978-2-89646-218-6 Price: $24.95 Publisher: Toronto/Novalis Publishing Inc. Year: 2010 Pages: 256 Retirement, especially from positions of grave responsibility, can frequently be accompanied by moments of graceful lucidity. Such was the case for Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic when he stepped down as Archbishop of Toronto in December 2006. In addition to thanking the Catholic Community for their generous support he made specific mention of the ministry of permanent deacons, saying that the Archdiocese could not have provided the same broad level of ministerial service to the community without their competent support. He further recommended that a history of Toronto’s permanent diaconate programme be written to document the origins and ministerial service of the archdiocese’s 253 deacons during the period 1974 – 2007.

Fortunately this moment of graceful lucidity was acted upon and I concur with John O’Mara, Bishop Emeritus of St. Catherine’s diocese in Ontario Canada, who, in the preface, states that Canadian Church Historian Michael Power “has given us a timely and inspiring illustration of how grace became a reality through the collaborative efforts of the priests and candidates who launched the permanent diaconate program and who continue to develop and support it as an important ministry in the Church.”

Power begins by offering a fine scholarly introduction to some of the twentieth century personalities, thinking and developments that contributed to Vatican II’s recommendation that the restoration be localised in the competence of local 52

Episcopal conferences, i.e. with the approval of the Supreme Pontiff (Lumen Gentium #29). His aptitude for storytelling is particularly strong here, grounded in a prudent and judicious selection of historical sources. Newcomers to the story of the twentieth century restoration are well-served as are those involved in the provision of catechesis on the permanent diaconate.

Having provided a fulsome backdrop Power proceeds to sketch how the restoration was advanced in Canada and more specifically in Toronto (1966 – 1979).

Valuable insight is offered into the mindset, weighty personal commitment and diligence of supportive bishops, clergy, diaconal candidates and laity. More specifically attention is drawn to the sterling pragmatic efforts of the Canadian Hierarchy and of instrumental personnel of the archdiocese, as the diocese set about a catechesis and consultation of key Church personnel. More specifically Power elaborates on the emergent vision of the desirable characteristics and focus of the diaconate in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century Toronto.

Power’s treatment of this period and of the subsequent introductory phase is commendable. By marshalling analysis of available written data with the reminiscences of key players he succeeds in illuminating the workings of the Holy Spirit as Toronto earnestly prepared for the permanent diaconate as another energetic and positive force in the renewal of the Church’s mission to sanctify the world in the name of Christ. Moreover this is graciously contextualised through references to Archbishop Philip Pocock’s (1971 – 1978) simultaneous efforts to support a renewal of the clergy and to promote greater involvement of laity in the life and ministry of the local Church.

Insight is also offered into the initial training received by Toronto’s first permanent deacons (twenty-six were ordained in 1974) and of the gradual evolution of more

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

thorough selection and formation programmes. Readers are also introduced to this diocese’s fruitful utilisation of reviews, harnessing of developments (local, national and international) and pursuit of relevant expertise. Power writes candidly yet sensitively too of difficulties in relation to the integration of the permanent diaconate and of diocesan efforts to name and address emergent issues. Readers will easily appreciate how the Archdiocese of Toronto became well placed to be a valuable contributor to the consultation processes that subsequently found expression in the publication of Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons by the Congregation for the Clergy in 1998. It is clear too that a culture of ongoing review, evaluation and analysis continues to com-

plement Toronto’s diocesan programme.

All that said, there is for me, one obscurity in Power’s impressive accomplishment.

In his treatment he has tended to present things more from a diocesan managerial perspective, albeit caring, rather than from the contemporary lived experiences of permanent deacons in ministry. In time this may well prove a valued strength of this book but contemporary readers may the find the absence surprising. There is still a dearth of literature concerning the blessings and challenges of varied diaconal ministries (which are listed).

Nevertheless this is a fine and valuable book that demonstrates how the permanent diaconate has become established in Toronto and how it is supporting the Church extend her reach further and further.

Justin Harkin, Director of Pastoral Development (Diocese of Elphin)

Joint National Assembly of Deacons in England and Wales &

International Conference, International Diaconate Study Centre North European Circle Friday 24th June – Sunday 26th June 2011

St Mary’s University College, Twickenham Confirmed visitors and speakers so far include ...

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop Vincent Nichols Professor William Cavanaugh, Professor Michael Hayes and Professor Joseph Wissink Workshop leaders include Anthony Towey, Duncan Macpherson, Louisa Warren, Nelleke Wijngaards-Serrarens, and Benas Ulevicius

More details at ... www.diaconate.org.uk New Diaconal Review Issue 6

53

Diaconal Formation

Review

The Disappearance of the Deacon to Deacon ... Appeal ‘Please subscribe and renew – this is our own journal ..’ ‘help in meeting the cost of production and distributing each valuable issue ... contributing simply by subscribing ...’

New Diaconal Review – which includes membership of ‘International Diaconate Centre – North European Circle’ 1 year - £15 / 20 euros (or equivalent in other currencies)

Preferably by Paypal or otherwise credit card – online: www.idc-nec.org (Standing Order & Paypal & Credit/Debit Cards – all main currencies – accepted) or by post (UK cheque only): New Diaconal Review Subscription, 77 University Road, Aberdeen AB24 3DR, UK telephone : 01224 481810 (from outside UK: +44 1224 481810) “Therefore brethren pick out from among you seven men of good repute full of the Spirit and of Wisdom”

News

Summer Institute of Advanced Studies in Rome

A

summer institute of advanced study on all aspects of the diaconate is being established in Rome. With the approval of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, an international faculty of scholars will offer one-week intensive courses for advanced (graduate) academic credit over a three-week period at the various pontifical universities in

54

Rome. Students may register for any number of courses during that three-week period. As of this writing, the faculty are preparing specific course descriptions and it is anticipated that the first courses will be offered during the summer of 2012.

Questions concerning the institute may be referred to Deacon Dr William T. Ditewig at billditewig@msn.com

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

Permanent Diaconate I. Changes in diaconal ministry From the third century on, each of the seven deacons in Rome headed one of the seven pastoral regions, whilst the presbyters held smaller tituli (future parishes).

These deacons were responsible for administering the funds and directing the charitable support services. At the beginning of the fourth century the Council of Neocaesarea asked that each Church, regardless of its size, should have no more than seven deacons, in memory of Acts 6.1-6.1 This provision, still recalled by Isidore of Seville,2 but rarely observed, especially in the East,3 enhanced the prestige of the diaconal order, and encouraged deacons to abandon even more of their original functions to other clerics. This led to their being defined more and more explicitly solely by reference to their liturgical functions and this also led to conflict with presbyters.

Increasingly deacons’ functions came to be exercised by other ministers. Already in the Traditio Apostolica (13), “sub-deacons” were appointed “for them to follow the deacon.” Those who “follow the deacon” quickly became his “acolytes”.4 These acolytes were responsible for carrying the

The NDR presents the next installment of a fresh and complete translation of the International Theological Commission’s important research document Le Diaconat: Évolution et Perspectives, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2003. The German, Greek and Latin footnotes are translated for the first time. Deacon Tony Schmitz is Director of Studies of the national diaconate formation programme for the Diaconate Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland and co-editor of the New Diaconal Review.

What follows is Chapter Three of the research document. fermentum, a particle of the bishop’s Eucharist to the presbyters of the tituli in the city. It is also they who took the Eucharist to the absent. The “door-keepers” also performed a function formerly entrusted to deacons. It could be argued that the minor ministries stemmed from a parceling out of diaconal functions.

The status of the sub-deacon came to approximate more closely that of the deacon. In the East, towards 400, the Council of Laodicea attempted to prevent the subdeacon from encroaching on the liturgical functions of deacons. They should have been content with guarding the doors.5 We see sub-deacons adopting the rule of life of deacons. At the end of the fourth century African councils required continence of all clerics “who serve at the altar.”6 The Canones in causa Apiarii (419-425)

1 Council of Neocaesarea (314 or 319), can.15, in: Mansi Sacrorum Conciliorum amplissima, nova collectio, Paris-Leipzig, 1901 (rev. ed.), vol. 2, 539.

2 Isidore of Seville, De officiis ecclesiastici 2, 8.

3 There were a hundred deacons in Constantinople at the time of Justinian. See Justinian, Novellae III, 1 (Corpus Juris Civilis, ed. Kriegel, vol. III, Leipzig 1887, 20).

4 See Constitutiones Apostolorum, II, 28.6.

5 Cf. Can. 21.22.43, in: P.-P. Joannou, Discipline génerale antique IIe–IXe siècle, I-2, Rome 1962, 139-148.

6 Council of Carthage sub Genethlio (390), can. 2, in: Ch Munier, Concilia Africae , CCSL 259, Turnhout 1974, 13.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

55

Documentation / Retrieving the Tradition

Tony Schmitz

Deacon to Deacon

extended this requirement to sub-deacons “who touch the sacred mysteries.”7 Leo I (440-461) went on to confirm this discipline for sub-deacons.8 Leo readily distinguishes between sacerdotes (the bishop and presbyters) levitae (deacons and subdeacons) and clerici (other ministers).9 Cyprian had already deemed it necessary to recall that deacons had been instituted by the Apostles, and not by the Lord himself.10 It seems that in some places deacons must have been tempted to take the place of presbyters. The Council of Arles (314) reminded them that they could not offer the Eucharist (Can.15) and that they owed presbyters their due honour (Can. 18). Nicaea prohibited deacons from giving communion to presbyters, or from receiving it before bishops. They ought to receive communion from bishop or presbyter, and after them. They ought not to be seated amongst the priests. “Let the deacons remain within the limits of their competence, knowing that they are servants of the bishop and rank lower than presbyters” (Can. 19).11 The anonymous Ambrosiaster, composed in Rome towards 378, testifies to the persistent tension between the diaconate and the presbyterate.12 Jerome goes further in adding: Deacons are not superior to priests!13 Increasingly presbyters begin to exercise functions once reserved to deacons, even as the former received progressively greater autonomy in their responsibilities for the tituli in the city and for parishes in the country. Deacons, who had

wanted to exercise liturgical and teaching functions reserved to presbyters, now suffered a backlash: they became subordinate to presbyters, their direct link with the bishop faded, and they ended up by no longer having any specific function. The clergy of the Church in the Empire increasingly forgot their function of service, and maintained a conception of sacerdotal sacrality, towards which all the steps of the cursus honorum led. Deacons were the first to suffer the consequences of this.

Towards the end of the fifth century the thought of the Pseudo-Dionysius began to exert a lasting influence in both East and West. In Dionysius’s hierarchical concep-

Let the deacons remain within the limits of their competence, knowing that they are servants of the bishop and rank lower than presbyters tion of both heaven and the Church beings receive their specific determination and their function based on the order in which they are inserted. The ecclesiastical hierarchy was composed of two triads. The first of these distinguishes the order of hierarchs or bishops, then the order of priests and lastly the order of liturges or ministers. This last order embraces the ecclesiastical orders ranging from deacon to porter or door-keeper. The diaconate no longer has any further specification to dis-

7 Cf Can. 25, ibid.108-109.

8 Leo the Great, Ep 14, 4 to Anastasius of Thessalonica, PL 54, 672-673.

9 Leo the Great, Ep 14, 4 to Anastasius of Thessalonica, PL 54, 672-673.

10 See supra chap. II, note 40.

11 Cf G. Alberigo, Les Conciles Oecuméniques, Les Décrets, Vol. II, 1, Paris 1994, 54.

12 The little treatise De Romanorum jactantia diaconum (CSEL 50, 193-198) reproves deacons who would want to climb up the rank of presbyters, or who refuse the tasks of service and whose sole concern is with liturgical chant.

13 Jerome, Letter 146 to Evangelus ; PL 22, 1192-1195.

56

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

The Disappearance of the Permanent Diaconate – Tony Schmitz

tinguish it from all the others orders beneath the priestly order.14 Also towards the end of the fifth century, the clerical career-path is defined in terms of liturgical competences as well as of the requirement of continence for those serving in the sanctuary or on their way there.

For Leo I the ideal was to pass through all the stages of the cursus, observing suitable intervals between each stage, before entering the priesthood and the episcopate.15 The number and names of the several degrees (gradus) of the cursus fluctuate. At Rome there were eight in the time of Pope Cornelius.16 In the fifth century, porters and exorcists are no longer spoken of.17 The author of De septem ordinibus at the beginning of the fifth century speaks of gravediggers, door-keepers, lectors, sub-deacons, deacons, priests and bishops.18 The Statuta Ecclesiae antiqua, also composed in southern Gaul circa 480, revived a list of eight officiales ecclesiae who received an ordinatio: bishop, presbyter and deacon receive a laying on of hands, whilst candidates for lower orders (sub-deacon, acolyte, exorcist, lector, door-keeper) are installed by a rite of porrection (handing over of instruments of office).19 Thus the functions that had hitherto been autonomous and effective became mere steps on a course toward the priesthood. The Sacramentary of Verona (c. 560-580) contains a prayer of consecration for the bishop and the presbyter, and a prayer for “blessing” for the deacon. The

latter was essentially ordained with a view to liturgical service; and he should be an example of chastity.20 Progression along the clerical career-path was still often accomplished per saltum. In the ninth century at Rome the sub-diaconate became the only mandatory staging post of the course on the way to reaching major orders. Every pope between 687 and 891 had been a sub-deacon. Five had become deacons before being elevated to the episcopate, whilst nine passed directly from sub-diaconate to priesthood and then to episcopate.

One of the traditional competences of deacons, the management of the goods of the

In the ninth century at Rome the sub-diaconate became the only mandatory staging post of the course on the way to reaching major orders community, was also lost to them. The Council of Chalcedon (451) sanctioned this development. Every bishop was to entrust this charge to a bursar chosen from “among his own clergy” (Can. 26), not necessarily from among the deacons.

Aid to the poor was often taken care of by monasteries. Under Gregory the Great,

14 Pseudo-Dionysius, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, V, 7, V, 6; PG 3, 506-508.

15 Leo I, Ep 6, 6 to Anastasius of Thessalonica, PL 54, 620. Leo himself was a deacon when he was elected to the episcopate. See also L. Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis I, de Boccard, Paris 1981, 238-239.

16 Cf Eusebius of Caesarea, Hist. eccl . VI 43.

17 See The Decretals of Siricius; PL 13, 1142-1143; The Decretals of Innocent I, PL 20, 604-605.

18 Ps-Jerome, Ep XII de Septem ordinibus ecclesiae; PL 30, 150-162.

19 Cf Ch Munier, Les Statuta Ecclesiae antiqua, Edition-Études critiques, Paris 1960, 95-99.

The author adds the psalmist to this list. Isidore of Seville, Etymologies VII, 12, PL 82, 290 spoke of are nine degrees, including the psalmist. For him, all nine ordines are also called sacramenta, cf. De Ecclesiasticis Officiis 2.21.

20 Cf LC Mohlberg, Sacramentarium Veronensis (RED.FI), Rome 1956, 120-121.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

57

Documentation / Retrieving the Tradition

The Disappearance of the Permanent Diaconate – Tony Schmitz

the vast Patrimony of St. Peter is managed by defensores or notarii, who were made clergy or at least tonsured.

As to the East, when the Byzantine Council In Trullo in 692 came to review the model found in Acts 6:1-6 it observed that The Seven were neither deacons nor presbyters nor bishops. These were persons “charged with attending to the common needs of the congregation of the time ... They are an example of charity “ (Can. 7).21 By the end of the ninth century in the East, deacons still formed a permanent order of clerics, but solely for meeting liturgical needs. The Byzantine rite had two stages preparatory to the sacred ministries: the lectorate (or cantors) and the sub-diaconate, conferred by chirothesia, mandatory before the diaconate.22 But the sub-diaconate was often conferred at the same time as the lectorate or else just prior to the diaconate.

According to the ritual of the Constitutiones Apostolorum which still remained in force in the East, admission to the lower orders of subdiaconate and lectorate was gained through the laying on of hands and the handing over of instruments of office. In the West also, the activity of the deacons was practically reduced

to their liturgical functions.23 When rural parishes were established, the Councils insisted they be provided with a priest.

It never occurred to them to call for deacons.24 From the tenth century onwards, at least in the Holy Roman Empire, ordination per gradum became the rule. The reference book was the Roman-Germanic Pontifical,25 composed at Mainz around 950. There was no break in the tradition of Ordines Romani of the preceding centuries,26 although numerous elements of the Germanic ritual were aggregated to these. The ordination of deacons involved the handing over of the Book of the Gospel, a sign of his mission to proclaim

The ordination of deacons involved the handing over of the Book of the Gospel, a sign of his mission to proclaim the Gospel in the liturgy the Gospel in the liturgy. Here the deacon appears closer to the sub-deacon than to the priest. This latter was the man of the Eucharist; the deacon attended him at the

21 P.-P. Joannou, Discipline générale antique IIe – IXe siècles. Les canons des conciles oecuméniques, I, 1, 132-134.

22 Cf F. Mercenier & F. Paris, La Prière des Églises de rite byzantine, 2 vols., Prieurié d’ Ainay sur Meuse 1937. From the eighth century, the vocabulary became fixed: the term cheirotonia was now reserved to the ordination of bishop, priest and deacon, whilst cheirothesia was the term used for the orders below those.Thus Canon 15 of the Council of Nicaea II (ed. G. Alberigo, vol II/I, p. 149). See C. Vogel, Chirotonie et chirothésie in: Irénikon (1972) 7-21, 207-238.

23 Ps-Jerome, De septem ordinibus, asserts that deacons do not stray from the temple of the Lord ... They are the altar of Christ ... Without the deacon the priest has no name or origin or function “(PL 30, 153).

24 Cf Council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 817, can. 11 (C J Hefele – H. Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles, vol. IV, Paris 1910, 27).

25 C. Vogel, Le Pontifical romano-germanique du dixième siècle, 3 vols. (Studi e testi 226-227269), Vatican 1963-1972.

26 See M. Andrieu, Les ordines Romani du haut moyen age, (SSL 24), Louvain 1951.

58

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

The Disappearance of the Permanent Diaconate – Tony Schmitz

altar. This ritual was brought to Rome through the reforming zeal of the Germanic emperors at the end of the tenth century. Rome fell into line on the clerical cursus per gradum which was the practice in the Empire. From that moment on, the history of ordination rites attests a

What a deacon does, a presbyter can also do. At the summit of the hierarchy, the bishop can exercise all ecclesiastical functions perfect continuity.27 The First Lateran Council (1123) canon 7, and the Second Lateran Council (1139), canon 6, deprived of office clerics who, from the sub-diaconate inclusively upwards, contracted marriage. Canon 7 of the Second Lateran Council declared that such a marriage would be null and void.28 From then on the Latin Church generally ordained only celibate men.

The patristic and liturgical texts of the first millennium all mention the ordination of bishops, of presbyters and of deacons, but they do not yet raise explicitly the question of the sacramentality of each of these ordinations.

The history of ministries shows that priestly functions have tended to absorb the

functions of the lower orders. When the clerical cursus honorum became stabilized, each grade retained the competences that belonged to the lower grade as well as acquiring supplementary ones.

What a deacon does, a presbyter can also do. At the summit of the hierarchy, the bishop can exercise all ecclesiastical functions. This following suit of competences and this taking over of lower functions by higher ones, this fragmentation of the competences that originally belonged to deacons into multiple functions exercised by subordinate clergy, as well as the progression to higher functions per gradum, together all go to explain how the diaconate, as a permanent ministry, came to lose its raison d’etre. All that remained were the liturgical tasks performed for a given period by candidates for the priesthood.

II.Towards the disappearance of deaconesses After the tenth century, deaconesses are named only in connection with charitable institutions. A Jacobite author of this period observes: “In ancient times deaconesses were ordained. Their function was to take care of adult women, so they would not be uncovered in front of the bishop. But when religion spread more widely it was decided to administer baptism to children, and thus this function was abolished.”29 The same observation can be found in the Pontifical

27 The various Roman Pontificals of the twelfth century came from the common stock of the tenth-century Romano-Germanic pontifical. See M. Andrieu, Le Pontifical romain au moyen age, vol. I, Le Pontifical du XIIe siècle (Studi e testi 86), Vatican 1938. This was widely distributed in the Latin Church and was developed by Innocent III. See M. Andrieu, Ibid., vol. II, Le Pontifical de la Curie romaine du XIIIe siècle (Studi e testi 87), Vatican 1940. In its turn, this was to be included in the Pontifical composed by Guillaume Durand, Bishop of Mende at the end of the thirteenth century. See M. Andrieu, Ibid., vol. III, Le Pontifical de Guillaume Durand (Studi e testi 88), Vatican 1940. This was to serve as a model for the edition printed through the efforts of Burchard of Strasbourg in 1485.

28 Cf G. Alberigo, op. cit., t. II/1, 419 and 435.

29 Cf G. Sarkis-Khouri, Le Livre du guide de Yahya ibn Jarir in: Orient Syrien 12 (1967) 303318.

New Diaconal Review Issue 6

59

Documentation / Retrieving the Tradition

The Disappearance of the Permanent Diaconate – Tony Schmitz

The Disappearance of the Permanent Diaconate – Tony Schmitz

of Patriarch Michel of Antioch (11661199).30 Commenting on the Canon15 of the Council of Chalcedon, Theodore Balsamon at the end of the twelfth century observes that “the matter this canon was dealing with has fallen into disuse entirely.

For today deaconesses are no longer ordained, although the name of deaconesses is improperly applied to those who belong to communities of ascetics ... .”31 Deaconesses had become nuns. They lived in monasteries that did little by way of diakonia whether in the field of education, hospital care, or parish service.

There is still evidence of the presence of deaconesses in Rome at the end of the

The Carolingian texts often amalgamated deaconesses and abbesses. The Council of Paris of 829 issued a general prohibition on women performing any liturgical function eighth century. Whilst the old Roman rituals were silent on the subject of deaconesses, the Hadrianum Sacramentary, sent by the pope to Charlemagne and disseminated by him throughout the Frankish world, has a Oratio ad diaconam faciendam. This was actually a blessing, placed

as an appendix amongst other rites of first institution. The Carolingian texts often amalgamated deaconesses and abbesses.

The Council of Paris of 829 issued a general prohibition on women performing any liturgical function.32 The Decretals of Pseudo-Isidore carry no reference to deaconesses. A Bavarian Pontifical of the first half of the ninth century is also silent on them.33 A century later, in the RomanoGermanic Pontifical of Mainz, we find the prayer Ad diaconam faciendam, placed after the ordinatio abbatissae and between the consecratio virginum and the consecratio viduarum. Once more, this was only a blessing that accompanied the handingover of the stole and veil by the bishop, alongside the nuptial ring and crown. As in the case of widows, deaconesses promised continence. This is the last mention of “deaconess” in the Latin rituals. Indeed the Pontifical of Guillaume Durand at the end of the thirteenth century speaks only of deaconesses as belonging to the past.34 In the Middle Ages, the nursing and teaching religious in fact carried out many of the functions of diaconia without for all that being ordained to that ministry. The title, without a corresponding ministry, was given to women instituted as widows or abbesses. Right up until the thirteenth century, Abbesses were sometimes called deaconesses.

■

30 “The chirotonia or ordination was once also done for deaconesses: and for that reason the rite concerning them was transcribed into ancient manuscripts. In those times deaconesses were required principally for the baptism of women ... .” (cited by AG Martimort, Les diaconesses, 167).

31 Scholia in Concilium Chalcedonense; PG 137, 441 (cited by AG Martimort in Les diaconesses, 171).

32 Chapter 45 (ed. A. Werminghoff, Concilia aevi Karolina, vol. I, 639).

33 Cf F. Unterkircher, Das Kollektar-Pontifikale des Bischofs Baturich von Regensburg (817-848), Spicilegium Friburgensis 8, Friburg 1962.

34 Between De ordinationes abbatissae and De benedictione et consecratione virginum the passage De ordinationes diaconissae is reduced to a few lines phrased as follows: “Diaconissa olim, non tamen ante annum quadragesimum, ordinabatur hoc modo ...” See M . Andrieu, op. cit. , vol. III (Book. I, XXI-XXIII) 411. [At one time a deaconess would have been ordained in this way, but not before her fortieth year.]

60

New Diaconal Review Issue 6