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DIACONAL

May 2013

EDITORIAL 2

Deacons and Pope Francis Ashley Beck and Tony Schmitz

DIACONAL SPIRITUALITY 4

The spiritual poverty of the Diaconate James Keating

DIACONIA OF WORD 8

Called to sanctity – the ecclesiology of Lumen Gentum Paul Watson

The joys and pitfalls of being a blogging deacon Nick Donnelly

Homily for Palm Sunday Hugh Gilbert OSB

DIAKONIA OF ALTAR 20

The Deacon in the Orthodox Church John Robertson

Cardinal Deacons and the use of the Dalmatic The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Sovereign Pontiff

DIAKONIA OF CHARITY 28

Towards a vision for the Permanent Diaconate in the diocese of Portsmouth Philip Egan

Deacons and Dorothy Day

Contents

Issue 10

Ashley Beck 36

‘Through the eye of a needle’ by Peter Brown Reviewed by Ashley Beck

THEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF THE DIACONATE 37

Anglo-Saxon Deacons and the Continental Mission Harry Schnitker

Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future by Gary Macy Reviewed by Justin Green

NEW EVANGELISATION 46

The Foyers of Charity – Pioneers of the New Evangelisation Tony Schmitz

DOCUMENTATION 57

International Theological Commission: The sacramentality of the diaconate in post-conciliar developments Tony Schmitz

NEWS 59

Golden Jubilee Conference, IDZ/IDC (International Diaconate Centre, Rome and Assisi 1-25 October 2015

eview Deacons

DIACONAL

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, Göran Fäldt, Justin Harkin, Nelleke Wijngaards-Serrarens, Wim Tobé, John Traynor, Benas Ulevicius, Guy Vermaerke, Paul Wennekes, Leo McNicholas 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 Revd Prof Dr Michael Hayes Ireland Revd Prof Bart Koet Netherlands Rt Revd Vincent Logan Scotland Most Revd Sigitas Tamkevicius Lithuania Most Revd Peter Smith England & Wales 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 IDC-NEC, Barclays Bank, Account No. 33875717 Sort Code: 20-91-48 IBAN GB89 BARC 2091 4833 8757 17 SWIFTBIC BARCGB22 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 (main currencies)

Ashley Beck and Tony Schmitz

t is generally thought that St Francis of Assisi was in deacon’s orders, although for some reason this is not recognised in the Church’s liturgy. For this reason alone deacons and others who carry out a diaconal ministry will have been inspired by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s choice of the name Francis when he was elected pope on 13th March. The life and ministry of il poverello illuminate the deacon’s ministry in many ways: focus on the Lord Jesus, commitment to evangelical poverty, active work for peace and reconciliation and a deep love for Our Lady. The new Holy Father has reflected these themes in his early teaching as Bishop of Rome; indeed he has made it clear, in his address to journalists on the Saturday after his election, that they explain his choice of name. Therefore the new pontificate, only about ten days old at the time of writing this editorial, not only offers tremendous challenges and opportunities for all Catholics but is also a particular gift to deacons. Working out what this means will take some time, but the early signs Pope Francis has given us are clear and give us much food for thought. ‘Do not forget the poor’ were, we have been told, the words of the Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes (who wrote a beautiful letter to deacons a few years ago when Prefect of the Congregation of Clergy) to Cardinal Bergoglio as the votes ‘piled up’, so to speak, in the Sistine Chapel. Poverty and simplicity have therefore marked the first days of the pope’s ministry. All the Church’s teaching documents identify love for the poor as a hallmark of the deacon’s ministry – to be shown in commitment to the social teaching of the Church and in active chari-

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Pope Francis table work. Deacons are called to be specialists in social teaching and they should be in leadership roles in parishes with regard to charitable work. The deacon’s ministry of charity was indeed identified, for the first time in a papal document, in the first encyclical of Pope Emeritus Benedict, Deus Caritas Est. In earlier teaching for which the Holy Father has been partly responsible, such as the final document of the CELAM Assembly in Aparacida in 2007, this priority

Deacons committed to Catholic Social Teaching will need to be part of this and become more active in the peace movement and in denouncing the evil of war given to the poor was already clear. This focus guides a deacon’s ministry and spirituality as well. When talking about the name Francis the Holy Father went on to talk of St Francis as a ‘man of peace’. Efforts at reconciliation amidst the gang warfare between Italian city states, and his approach to the Saracens, were a hallmark of St Francis’ life. The Church’s growing commitment to the search for peace in the world, and her more forthright condemnation of war, are nourished by the witness of the saint from Assisi. Pope Francis’ association with this is important, and indicates that the anti-war teachings of Blessed John XXIII, Paul VI, Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI will be furthered in this pontificate. Deacons committed to Catholic Social Teaching will

need to be part of this and become more active in the peace movement and in denouncing the evil of war. Love for Our Lady has always been a mark of Franciscan spirituality, shown in the writings of St Francis and the great medieval Franciscan theologian, St Bonaventure, and for example, the teaching about the Immaculate Conception of Blessed Duns Scotus. Pope Francis’s first public act, early in the morning of the day after his election, was to make a visit to the most important sanctuary of Our Lady in Rome, the image of Our Lady salus populi Romani in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Deacons are expected by the Church to have a particular Marian spirituality, as a basis for their ministry, a Marian spirituality which is distinctive and rooted in a deacon’s identity. In this respect as well the new Holy Father’s focus will be an inspiration. Readers of the New Diaconal Review will want to hold Pope Francis in our prayers at this time, as we give thanks to God and seek to strengthen our own ministries by his example. We are hoping, Deo volente, to announce in our November issue news of a proposal to internationalise significantly further this journal. Also to be announced then will be details of a conference on Deacons and the New Evangelisation to be held in Rome in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation in autumn 2014. The following year there are plans to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the International Diaconate Centre with a conference in Rome and Assisi, birth-place of Deacon St Francis. ■

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Editorial

Ashley Beck and Tony Schmitz

New

James Keating

he primary and most fundamental relationship must be with Christ, who assumed the condition of a slave for love of the Father and mankind. In virtue of ordination the deacon is truly called to act in conformity with Christ the Servant. The eternal Son of the Father ‘emptied himself assuming the form of a slave’ (Phil 2:7) and lived this condition in obedience to the Father (John 4:34) and in humble service to the brethren (John 13:4-15). As servant of the Father in the work of salvation Christ constitutes the way, the truth and the life for every deacon in the Church.” Congregation for Clergy, Directory on the Life and Ministry of the Permanent Deacon, 47).

“T

There is a great mystery to the diaconate that is revealed in the diaconal ordination rite. On the day of ordination very little is said about what a deacon should do. Rather, the rite focuses upon who a deacon will become. This focus can cause some consternation in Western men who are trained to be active and to “get things done.” To become a virtuous man does not seem to be an inviting “work” because there is nothing to see upon its completion; no new ministry, programme, or work of charity. And yet, to become a virtuous man is seen to be a centre-piece of diaconal identity and a major plea to the Holy Spirit from the Bishop within the ordination prayers. The Prayer of Consecration makes it plain that the Church is not looking for another group of active men, men who do good works; the Church has those in many quarters. Instead, the Church is looking for a group of spiritual leaders, men who live from the inside out, regularly offering their hearts to Christ as places 4

for Him to come into and live His mysteries. The deacon must learn lovingly to endure this coming of Christ and, after doing so, witness to the effect that such an interior life has on the larger life of Church and society. Perhaps even more than in the Rite of Priestly Ordination, we see here the raising up of the principle of being over doing. Obviously, all in Holy Orders are ordained to be men who participate in the ministry of Christ, whether bishop, priest, or deacon. All these men are to receive a share in the mystery of Christ. However, from the perspective of believers, the priest is more “useful” than a deacon. The priest can celebrate Mass, hear confessions, and anoint the sick. Of course, a deacon can witness marriage vows, baptize, preach, celebrate funeral services, and preside at liturgical prayers and devotions like exposition of the Blessed Sacrament but these are not assessed by the baptized as

The Church is looking for a group of spiritual leaders, men who live from the inside out, regularly offering their hearts to Christ as places for Him to come into and live His mysteries urgently useful. When a priest arrives, Mass can be celebrated, sins absolved, and sickness consoled or healed sacramentally. The priesthood fills the Catholic imagination. What part of the Catholic imagination is

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spiritual poverty Diaconate filled by the diaconal mystery? To be honest, still in its infancy of re-establishment, the diaconate does not fill the imagination in any expansive way. When a deacon arrives to minister he does not bring anything so central with him as the capacity to forgive sins or celebrate the Eucharistic

I have to give myself in Christ’s own self-gift. The power is Christ’s; the co-operation with such power is my gift to Him liturgy. There is a poverty to being a deacon. We know that in emergencies even lay people can baptize and preside at funeral rites, etc. This comparison is voiced, by some, to put a deacon “in his place.” (Ironically, upon delegation, a priest can administer the sacrament of confirmation, does this put a Bishop in his place?!). Perhaps such negative observations aimed at deacons have their origin in some personal wound carried by those who wish to humiliate. Beyond these personal wounds, however, there is a truth to be received here: the deacon is a poor man, his ministry is not his own. When a deacon arrives to minister what then does he bring? The deacon brings the unique grace of his ordination, a permanent vulnerability to the servant mysteries of Christ. He carries this grace in his being. When a deacon arrives to perform a ministerial duty (baptize, counsel, pray with oth-

ers) he is present among the people as one who serves (Lk 22:27). How? He serves primarily by being vulnerable to receive grace himself, being open to the reception of divine intimacy in his heart so that such intimacy may define his presence. The deacon becomes eager to say, “I have to give myself in Christ’s own self-gift. The power is Christ’s; the co-operation with such power is my gift to Him.” In the deacon, the Lord desires to be with his people in their need, and the deacon co-operates with this dominical desire by bringing a word of hope to all in the midst of the secular culture of work, health care, law, education, labour, and more. As Christ descends upon the deacon at ordination, He is also descending upon the culture through the diaconal ministry. In this way, Christ continues to wait on the tables of human need through the deacon’s receptivity to Christ’s own life, death, and resurrection. In this cooperation with grace, the deacon extends the presence of Christ so that in and through the sacrament of Holy Orders Christ presides, in time, at the liturgy of charity.1 The deacon possesses no unique power by virtue of ordination but he does possess a share in the power of Holy Orders. He also possesses a mission; he is sent by the bishop at ordination as one open to being configured by the servant Christ. This servant chooses to love those in need and, in so doing, evokes from them the vocation that is theirs by baptism. Our Western sensibility which highly esteems achievement might say, “Well that is not much.” But one can say it gets even worse. What a deacon truly brings to any

1 See, James Keating, A Deacon’s Retreat (NJ: Paulist, 2010) 64-70. New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Diaconal Spirituality

Deacon James Keating Ph.D. is the Director of Theological Formation at the Institute for Priestly Formation, Creighton University, Omaha Nebraska, USA and also the Director of the Archdiocese of Omaha’s Diaconate Programme

The of the

occasion is his own poverty, his own dependency upon God to bear the fruit of his ministry. “I can do all things in Him who is my only strength and my only virtue” (Phil 4:13). A deacon sacramentally embodies the scriptural truth that “without Me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). To be a spiritually poor deacon is to be one who suffers a new desire and new habits. The new desire is one that longs for an interior vulnerability to Christ’s servant mysteries (Lk 22:27; Jn 13:14-15; Lk 14:15-23; Lk 10:29ff). The new habits are ones that invite a deacon to a life of continual receptivity to the grace of such mysteries. When a deacon arrives at a ministry what arrives in him is this new desire to be vulnerable and a new life of habitual receptivity. These two realities identify the man as poor. This poverty is his wealth, however, for without such poverty his ministry would rest upon his own natural wit, strength, or skills. These natural endowments can only minister to a person’s pain for so long and then these attributes become exhausted, revealing their inadequacy for the mission of serving the Church. Only the spiritually poor deacon will minister with effect until death. When a man first approaches the diaconal vocation, he normally considers it as a function, a work to be done, a contribution to the needs of the church. To consider and be attracted to function is not wholly wrong; there is service to be rendered. But, as we learn from the liturgy, the most important “active participation” in ecclesial realities is interior. Only when one truly is open to God acting in him can the activities of a man’s body be a source of healing. The deacon is called to let grace take him up into the action of Christ the servant. This “taking” is not a poetic description of a pious wish but the key to effective ministry. To be spiritually poor is the anthem of the deacon, a worship that flows from the liturgy of his ordination and is sustained by his

service at the daily Eucharistic liturgy. This disposition to poverty secures a deacon’s role in the liturgy of charity. We are to become united to the Lord and “provide a space for the action of God.”2

to pose questions to the Word. In this way, his presence among believers, and within society, disposes others to question themselves about the ultimate meaning of any secular value.

offered to him as a way of intimacy with the mystery of Christ’s own kenotic disposition.4 If accepted, this intimacy becomes a further conspiracy between the Spirit and the Church to save sinners.

Each deacon is invited to suffer the indwelling of God’s Word as his only word. This is experienced as a suffering because men favour their own opinions over the objective truth that is Christ

As the deacon becomes more adept at living a mature interior life, he relishes his time in prayer and comes to recognize the affective movements of his own heart as invitations from the Spirit to attend to the Mystery that now possesses him. It is his own participation in the servant mysteries that secures a potency to the diaconate that at first may seem absent. No, the deacon is not a priest. There is no urgency to call a deacon into a crisis as he carries with him no sacramental matter or power to forgive, confect, or heal. This is as it should be since the deacon is the servant and not the master; he is the emissary not the Lord, he acts in persona Christi servi, not capitis. And, yet, at the same time Holy Orders is one, Christ cannot be separated,3 and so, in a real way, this quizzical poverty of the diaconate is a power, a power of participation in the self-emptying of Christ. The deacon, moved in a Marian way, says “yes” to the poverty of his station. Such poverty is not imposed upon him; it is

Diaconal poverty, that gift of total dependence upon the grace of ordination, that is concretely a communion with the servant mysteries of Christ, constitutes the core of diaconal ministry.5 The core of such ministry is the relationship with the divine. The effects of this relationship constitute the gift a deacon brings to human need whether sacramentally, as in baptism, or simply in praying with others in need. To embrace this diaconal poverty is to embrace the freedom to receive the heart of the gift Christ is sharing with each deacon.

Further, the meaning of diaconal poverty can be understood within the context of his most singular liturgical role. It is the deacon who, even if in the presence of the Pope himself, is charged to proclaim the Gospel during the Eucharistic liturgy. This is his irreplaceable liturgical role and hence a key to his whole identity and mission: His voice must be one with the Gospel. What makes the deacon a spiritual leader in his diocese, and not simply a humanitarian, is his utter dependency upon his sharing in Christ’s own mission of being sent from the Father. This dependency is expressed by his fidelity to an ecclesially formed heart under the guidance of the Bishop. Each deacon is invited to suffer the indwelling of God’s Word as his only word. This is experienced as a suffering because men favour their own opinions over the objective truth that is Christ. It is the deacon’s privilege to embrace the poverty of being subsumed in the Word, a spiritual poverty that calls him to listen to the Word and welcome its forming power. Having the Word of God as his only word means that the deacon is more disposed to be questioned by the Word than

2 Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2000) 174

The spiritual poverty of the Diaconate – James Keating

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“The primary and most fundamental relationship must be with Christ, who assumed the condition of a slave for love of the Father and mankind. In virtue of ordination the deacon is truly called to act in conformity with Christ the Servant….” (Congregation for Clergy, Directory on the Life and Ministry of the Permanent Deacon 47). ■

3 Since priests are deacons too, all that is said of poverty here pertains to their ministerial presence as well, especially in those times of mortal silence. In such silence, a pastor is at the Cross with his people; no cure, no healing is theirs, only a participation in the self-donation to the Father that is the cross. The Cross is silent, not because it is impotent, but because it carries the awe of the One who has given all. In this awe-full silence, the cleric uses his authority to invite people into intimacy with Christ, the One who has gone before them into this place of silence. In this silence, hope prepares the one who is suffering for union with God. Where is God in failed efforts to revive a marriage, reconcile with a child, and overcome a resistant disease? He is there; he is to be received in the silence, in the crucified quiet of no answers, in the waiting for light, for new life, resurrection. He is coming; but first the divine hiddenness, the powerful silence. Clergy waiting in the silence with their people is one of the key ministries of Holy Orders. See, James Keating “Pastoral Authority and Spiritual Warfare” Homiletic and Pastoral Review (December, 2011). 4 See, William Ditewig, “The Kenotic Leadership of Deacons” in James Keating, ed. The Deacon Reader (NJ.: Paulist, 2006) 248-277. 5 Of course this “core” is expressed in the execution of the corporeal and spiritual works of mercy that make up a large part of the “actions” of a deacon. Furthermore the fruit of this “core” is outlined in the CCC 1596, and in The National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States nos. 31-38 New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Diaconal Spirituality

The spiritual poverty of the Diaconate – James Keating

Paul Watson

Mgsr Paul Watson recently retired from the post of Director of Maryvale Institute and is a regular contributor to the New Diaconal Review

n the week of February 18th, the Radio 4 “Today” programme broadcast its daily “Thought for the Day”. The speaker, introduced as a Catholic broadcaster, was Clifford Longley. His “thought for the day” was occasioned by the news – at that time, only a week old – of Pope Benedict’s announcement that he was stepping down from the papacy. Mr Longley discussed the decision facing the Cardinals in their conclave election of the new Holy Father. He chose to locate their decision within the framework of the now very familiar and rather passé options of a conservative or more liberal and forward-moving Pope. He also linked this distinction to an interpretation, also very passé, of the Second Vatican Council. It is not the first time that I have heard the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church described in terms of two models of the Church vying for ascendancy, in which the more traditionalist model of “the Body of Christ”, interpreted by Longley as hierarchical and authoritarian, an army marching into battle, was somewhat replaced by the model of the Church as “the People of God”, interpreted as a pilgrim family coming and going through open doors. In Longley’s view, the Church holds both models simultaneously even though, in practice, one model tends to prevail. In his judgement, under the last two papacies, the former model –“a hierarchical church controlled from the top”, “a Fortress Church”, “an authoritative model” has tended to prevail and has moved away from the “pilgrim model”, which, he considers, Vatican II preferred. There is much that is seriously questionable about Longley’s analysis, but it perhaps highlights the invitation, given to the 8

whole Church by the former Pope Benedict, to rediscover the teachings of Vatican II, not least by re-reading the documents of the Council. Without a more enlightened knowledge of the actual contents of the documents, and in particular, of the

The Church, in the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, is never described simply or solely in the terms of a human organisation and its power struggles Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), we shall continue to depend on interpretations, and indeed, on seriously flawed caricatures, of the rich teaching that Vatican II provided. This article will attempt to look again at Lumen Gentium and will hope to show that the notion of two contrasting and even conflicting models (Fortress Church v Pilgrim People) is not at all what Lumen Gentium was putting forward. Indeed, it is quite extraordinary to consider that “Fortress Church” and “army on the march” are in fact the same model or that either could be said to express the richness of the image of “the Body of Christ”. From the very opening paragraph of Lumen Gentium a very different understanding of the Church is provided, an understanding that embraces the strictly, but very profoundly, theological concepts of the Body and Christ and the People of God. It should be noted perhaps first of all, that these concepts are first and foremost “theological” rather than sociological or politi-

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Lumen Gentum cal concepts. In other words, they describe the Church in its relationship to God, and more specifically in relation to the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Church, in the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, is never described simply or solely in the terms of a human organisation and its power struggles. The first line of the document makes this clear from the beginning. “Christ is the Light of humanity; and it is, accordingly, the heart-felt desire of this Sacred Council, being gathered together in the Holy Spirit, that, by proclaiming his Gospel to every creature (cf. Mk 16:15), it may bring to all men that light of Christ which shines out visibly from the Church.” The Council is clearly concerned first of all with Jesus Christ; that his Gospel may be visible to humanity. That the Church is something more than a mere human organisation is hinted at in this opening by the suggestion that the Council is “gathered together in the Holy Spirit”. However, the second sentence of this opening paragraph sets out, with great clarity and theological depth the first definition of the nature of the Church. “Since the Church, in Christ, is in the nature of a sacrament – a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men – she here purposes, for the benefit of the faithful and of the whole world, to set forth, as clearly as possible, and in the tradition laid down by earlier Councils, her own nature and universal mission”. The Church recognises that while human beings in our age are being drawn ever more closely together “by social, technological and cultural bonds”, “it still remains for them to achieve full unity in Christ”.

The Church is, “in Christ, in the nature of a sacrament – a sign and instrument of communion with God and of unity among all men”. Immediately, we see two dimensions, we might say a vertical and a horizontal dimension, within the nature of the Church. At the crossing point of these two dimensions, relationship with God and relationship among all of humanity is the person of Christ, who by becoming man, while remaining at the same time – the second person of the Trinity, is established by God the Father as the place where the human race is forever united and reconciled with God and with one another. This profound reality of the salvific plan of God is the very reality of which the Church is called and formed by Christ to be a sacra-

The Church recognises that while human beings in our age are being drawn ever more closely together “by social, technological and cultural bonds”, “it still remains for them to achieve full unity in Christ” ment. Before anything else, the Church is a Sacrament. This, of course, is not the language of the world, of sociology or politics. Nevertheless, it is the language in which the Vatican Council wished to describe the Church and we do ourselves no service if we ignore this language or simply reduce it to more superficial terms. By describing the Church primarily as a sacrament, the fathers of the Second Vatican Council were describing the Church

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Diakonia of the Word

Called to sanctity – of

theologically. As mentioned above there is both a vertical and a horizontal dimention whereby each member of the Church, and through the Church, is united with God the Trinity and with other members of the Church. We should add that the concept of sacrament also has both an invisible and a visible dimension. These two groups of dimensions are captured in Lumen Gentium by the language of the Church as the “Body of Christ” and the Church as the “People of God”. These two phrases are intimately connected to one another and can be seen as the invisible and the visible aspects of the Church. It is certainly not the case that these two phrases represent two conflicting models of the Church somehow vying with each other. And there is no sense in which one or other phrase represents a preference of the Vatican Council fathers – for example, a preference for idea of the Church as “the People of God” interpreted as a more democratic, pilgrim, anti-authoritarian and open model! The essential nature of a sacrament requires, by definition, both vertical and horizontal dimensions, and the invisible and visible aspects. Without either pole of these two complements, the sacrament would no longer exist. We should see an analogous link with the person of Jesus Christ, whose human nature is the visible sign and the invisible reality of His divinity. In the Person of Christ also, we enter into union with God, and through Him with the other persons of the Trinity (vertical dimension), and at the same time become united through Christ with those who are incorporated into His Body (horizontal dimension) and are to be witness to the rest of humanity. At the same time, in order truly to be a sacrament, the Church must be a visible reality with its human persons, ordered structures, its sacraments and its mission in the world. But it is vitally important to remember that the visible reality is itself the sign (remember the old catechism definition of a sacrament as an outward 10

sign of inward grace) of an invisible reality. The invisible reality is the reality of the Person of Jesus Christ and his communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and his communion with His Body – which includes the body of the Church on earth, with those who have died and are in Purgatory, and with his body of the saints in heaven. This full reality of the Body of Christ has a dynamic thrust, in the sense that it is not yet complete in all sorts of ways. It is a dynamism which is directed towards the future, towards the end of time, when the whole Body of Christ will be complete and totally configured to his likeness and sharing in the life of heaven (Cf. Lumen Gentium, paragraph 8). From what has been said above, it is perhaps becoming obvious that in order to appreciate and understand the teaching on the mystery of the Church in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, espe-

... it is essential to hold together the concepts of the Body of Christ and of the People of God within the broader vision of the Church as a Sacrament cially in Lumen Gentium, it is essential to hold together the concepts of the Body of Christ and of the People of God within the broader vision of the Church as a Sacrament. When these concepts are pulled apart and even placed in opposition to each other, we run the risk of interpreting them according to more secular ideas – seeing them as sociological or political concepts, external and visible realities only, which have lost their invisible heart.

The structure of Lumen Gentium – chapter 1 It is particularly instructive to notice the titles of the eight chapters that make up the

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Called to sanctity – the ecclesiology of Lumen Gentum – Paul Watson

Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. The first chapter is entitled ‘The Mystery of the Church’. It is in this first chapter that the sacramental nature of the Church is established (paragraph 1). Immediately after this first paragraph three more paragraphs speak of the Church in relation to the three persons of the Trinity, climaxing with the concluding sentence: “Hence, the universal Church is seen to be “a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (quoting St Cyprian). At the heart of the sacramental nature of the Church is the fact that the unity of the Church is the sign in the world of the unity of the persons of the Trinity. In her unity, in her life and actions (especially the actions of the liturgy and sacraments), the Church makes present the very life and mystery of the Trinity. Paragraph 5 then touches on the historical nature of the Church, as it were the visible and horizontal aspects of the mystery. It speaks of Christ’s founding of the Church – through his preaching of the coming of the kingdom of God, through the imagery of his parables, through the miracles which demonstrate that the kingdom has already come on earth, and most of all through the paschal mystery of his death and resurrection, by which humanity is reconciled to the Father, and the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out upon his disciples, who are thereby empowered to continue the proclamation and establishment of the kingdom of Christ and of God. The Church is thus historically and visibly founded. But in order to understand the invisible reality, the Council document in the next paragraph (6) draws upon many images from the Old Testament, images that are picked up by Jesus himself and used to reveal the dimensions of the inner mystery of the Church. One implication of this is that the mystery of the true nature of the Church cannot be fully captured by a single image or concept. However, the

image of the Body of Christ has a certain priority. This Pauline image perhaps best leads us into the very heart of the Church. Through the Paschal mystery, Christ redeemed man and changed him into a new creation. The document goes on to say: “For by communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation” (paragraph 7). There is no ambiguity or conflicting ideas. For the fathers of Vatican II, the Church, historically and visibly founded by Christ is “mystically constituted as his body”. We can see in this document, not a battle between models of the Church fighting for ascendancy but a very dynamic movement back and forth between the visible and the invisible, between the vertical and horizontal, and in addition, the temporal dynamism of prefigurations in the past, foundation and

For the fathers of Vatican II, the Church, historically and visibly founded by Christ is “mystically constituted as his body” revelation in the present of Christ and his paschal mystery, and the thrust towards final completion in the future. The final paragraph of the first chapter of Lumen Gentium makes explicit what we have been saying throughout this article. “The society structured with hierarchical organs and the spiritual community, the earthly Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches, are not to be thought of as two realities. On the contrary, they form one complex reality with together from a human and a divine element. For this reason the Church is compared, not without significance, to the mystery of the incarnate Word.” (paragraph 8).

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Diakonia of the Word

Called to sanctity – the ecclesiology of Lumen Gentum – Paul Watson

The structure of Lumen Gentium – chapters 2-8 There is no time here to discuss in detail the subsequent chapters. It is sufficient for our present purpose to notice the significant structuring of the seven additional chapters of Lumen Gentium. I would like to suggest a sub-division among the chapters, namely, chapters 2-5 and chapters 6 -8. The first sub-division (chs.2-5) is constructed as follows – The People of God (ch.2); The Church is Hierarchical (ch.3); The Laity (ch.4); and The Call to Holiness (ch.5). It is not insignificant that the first and the fifth chapters of this sub-division are linked together. Although chapter 2 is entitled the People of God, the second sentence of the chapter states that God “… has, however, willed to make men holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge him and serve him in holiness”. The link with chapter 5 is established. The heart of God’s plan and purpose for the Church is expressed in the call to holiness. In these two chapters also it becomes clear that holiness is first and foremost described as union with Christ and growing conformity to his likeness. Union with Christ is expressed through sharing in Christ’s priestly, prophetic and kingly roles or ministries in the world (drawing all men into union with and worship of the Father, proclaiming the message of the Gospel, and transforming the world into the Kingdom of God). The next two chapters (chs.3 & 4) spell out the different ways in which those in the Church who are ordained (Bishops and Priests – the permanent diaconate had not yet been re-established), and those who are counted among the Laity, are called to live the mystery of the Church. Roles differ in various ways, but all share in Christ, serving each other and witnessing to the world. Hence, lay and ordained live the call to holiness, growing in the likeness of Christ, yet 12

always in need of repentance and renewal – a need as evident in the Church today as it has ever been. The next three chapters (6 -8) are concerned with Religious; the Pilgrim Church and Our Lady. All three chapters can be seen as descriptions of those who in various different ways are themselves signs and exemplars of the mystery of the Church and the essential call to holiness. Religious live according to the Counsels or Vows “for the progress in holiness of their own members (i.e. the different religious families) and for the good of the entire Body of Christ” (paragraph 43). Now progress has an ultimate goal, and that is the subject of chapter 7. This chapter is focussed both on the end of time and the saints who, now in heaven, have completed the journey of faith. The goal of the journey and those who have reached the goal serves the Church on earth by keeping us always conscious of what we are and the ultimate vision of holiness. If there is a single individual, who is both sign and exemplar, par excellence, it is our Blessed Lady. In the final chapter, Mary is seen as both Mother and Model of the Church. At Pentecost we celebrated once again the birthday of the Church. The Pentecost season, especially in this Year of Faith, is a great opportunity for us to rediscover the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on the mystery of the Church, and, as God gives us the opportunities, to explain it to others. We shall experience in ourselves no little sense of the need for repentance and continual conversion. But in the end, what the Council was doing, and indeed what we shall be doing, is really the continuation of Jesus’ work with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The mystery of the Church is ultimately revealed through the unveiling of the Scriptures. People’s hearts will burn within them as we ourselves experience and thereafter help with the unveiling of the Scriptures for others – “to bring to all men the light of Christ which shines out visible from the Church” (L.G. 1). ■

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Nick Donnelly

The joys and pitfalls of being a blogging deacon Heralding the Gospel in the World Wide Web One of the key moments in the ordination rite of a deacon is the presentation of the Book of the Gospels, when the bishop places the Gospels in the hands of the newly ordained deacon and says, ‘Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach’. Blogs are a newly emerging arena in which the deacon can fulfil his response to this inspiring command received at the sacramental origin and source of his ministry. Wikipedia defines a blog as a ‘discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web’1 consisting of posts, like diary entries, in reverse chronological order. Blogs are a combination of web publishing and social networking, with readers posting comments on the blog’s latest news and commentary. One of the pleasures of working on a blog is being part of an on-line community of articulate, informed people from all over the world.

Protect the Pope.com I launched Protect the Pope three months before Pope Benedict XVI’s state visit to the UK in 2010 as a direct response to the unprecedented level of hostility, ridicule and ill-will from certain public figures, sections of the press and blogs against the Holy Father and the Catholic Church. Simply put, Protect the Pope was set up to counter the lies and half-truths about Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Faith made by a coalition of aggressive secularists, atheists and homosexual activists going by the

Deacon Nick Donnelly is a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Lancaster, and an author for the Catholic Truth Society. He is also on the Editorial Team of The Catholic Voice of Lancaster, the newspaper of the Diocese of Lancaster. The author examines the challenges and opportunities of blogging for the deacon’s ministry of the Word.

name, Protest the Pope. Over the past two and half years I have published over 1,200 posts on breaking news, examples of anti-Catholicism, and personal reflections. Every month Protect the Pope receives on average 100,000 views from readers from China, the USA, the UK and many other countries. The response from users of the site has been amazing, with over 16,000 comments from Catholics and secularists engaged in robust, challenging debate on a whole range of moral and theological issues.

The joys of being a blogging deacon Running a successful and popular blog is like being single-handedly responsible for publishing a newspaper, which means that in a competitive media market you have to create a distinct identity and maintain a cutting edge delivery of breaking news and comment. This necessarily involves a daily commitment to researching and writing news stories, and responding to comments submitted by readers which can be timeconsuming and intense. However, in my experience this commitment to keeping up-to-date about developments in the Church, covering papal homilies and catechesis, and generally learning more about the Church and her teaching, has resulted in a deepening of my love for the Church, and a greater dedica-

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Diakonia of the Word

Called to sanctity – the ecclesiology of Lumen Gentum – Paul Watson

tion to serve the Church. The Church is so much greater than the parish and diocese, no matter how important these local ecclesial institutions are to the ministry of the deacon. Blogging can give a greater awareness of the rich Catholicity of the Church, and our duty of care for the wider Church as deacons ordained into the apostolic ministry (Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 1536). Through blogging and reading blogs by Catholics around the world I have come to a greater appreciation of the beauty of the Church and there is a real joy in this discovery. As Henri Cardinal de Lubac wrote, ‘Joy is over everything and the foundation of everything. So that the Church’s children can boldly borrow the words of the Bridegroom in the Canticle of Canticles…and say to their Mother, with a depth of feeling born of ever-increasing conviction: “Thy voice is sweet and thy face is beautiful”’.2

The sadness of being a blogging deacon

palities’, with the evil in men’s hearts, and with one’s own concupiscence. Simply put, blogging can be spiritually and morally toxic, putting one in proximate danger of deadly sins, such as wrath and pride. The evil in men’s hearts can take a specific form in blogging and social networking which is referred to in internet slang as people being ‘trolls’. Wikipedia defines a troll as someone who posts inflammatory and offensive comments with the purpose of provoking an emotional response from the victim. The UK Communications Act (2003) defines such posts as messages

‘How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the Priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him! How much pride, how much self-complacency!’. Cardinal Ratzinger in 2005

If blogging can give us a greater appreciation of the splendour of the Church that has its origin in the words and deeds of Our Lord Jesus Christ, made manifest through the actions of the Holy Spirit, it can also plunge us into the sins of mankind, and the inescapable reality of the ‘filth’ that we inflict on the Church. Blogging brings us face to face with the iniquitous reality so vividly described by Cardinal Ratzinger in 2005, ‘How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the Priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him! How much pride, how much self-complacency!’3

which are ‘grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character’.4 People in the UK have been imprisoned for trolling. One of the worst examples of trolling I have personally received came as a consequence of my defence of Pope Benedict XVI in the run up to his state visit to the UK, when a man sent the comment, ‘I hope a paedophile rapes your children’. When I politely and robustly challenged the person who sent this message he immediately and profusely apologised. Having said this, the temptation to wrath was very strong and I had to take time to re-gain my moral balance.

Blogging necessarily involves the deacon in spiritual combat with ‘powers and princi-

An absolute prerequisite to being a blogging deacon is to remember at all times when

The joys and pitfalls of being a blogging deacon – Nick Donnelly

working on your blog that you are an ordained minister of the Church, and as such your words and actions must be of a high standard because you represent the Church. Another prerequisite is the necessity of prayers of blessing and spiritual protection as preparation for spiritual combat,

... attacks on the Pope and the Church come not only from without, but the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church such as Pope Leo XIII’s Prayer to St. Michael and the traditional prayer to one’s Guardian Angel. I also recommend praying, ‘He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High’ (Psalm 90) and the Anima Christi.

The Theology of Blogging As blogging is a very new medium of communication, and the ministry of the Word using blogging even newer, the theology of blogging is only beginning to emerge through the reflection of its practitioners. One of the theological principles that guides my work is taken from the opening paragraph of Blessed John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution, Fidei Depositum (1992) which states, ‘To my Venerable Brothers the Cardinals, Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and to all the People of God. Guarding the Deposit of Faith is the Mission which the Lord entrusted to His Church and which she fulfils in every age.’5 Pope John Paul II makes two things clear

2 De Lubac, Henri, The Splendour of the Church, (London: Sheed & Ward, 1956)p.xii 3 http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/2005/via_crucis/en/station_09.html 4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)

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here, that deacons, as members of the hierarchy, have responsibility for guarding the Deposit of Faith, and that the Church fulfils this trust in every age, which suggests that each age presents new challenges and opportunities for guarding the Deposit of Faith. The internet, blogging and social networking are the new medium of the age in which we live, and should be used to guard this precious trust from Our Lord. This duty of guarding the Deposit of Faith has also brought me to consider the sources of threat to the faith that need to be defended against, crystallised by the New Testament concept of ‘enemies’. Our Lord Jesus Christ is realistic about the reality of enemies to the Christian faith, saying, ‘ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-inlaw; and a man's foes will be those of his own household’ (Mt 10.35-36). Before the Second Vatican Council the Church spoke openly of the fact that she had enemies, but in the post-conciliar period many in the Church have spoken and behaved as if these enemies no longer existed. The word ‘enemy’ was dropped from the lexicon of Catholics. This went hand in hand with a reticence about mentioning the Enemy, the Devil. Not only was the Prayer to St. Michael dropped at the end of Mass, but we pretended we didn’t have enemies. However, Pope Benedict XVI has re-introduced the word ‘enemies of the Church’ to the lexicon of the Magisterium saying in May 2010: ‘There is also the fact that attacks on the Pope and the Church come not only from without, but the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church, from the sin existing within the Church. This too is something that we have

5 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/ hf_jp-ii_apc_19921011_fidei-depositum_en.html New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Diakonia of the Word

The joys and pitfalls of being a blogging deacon – Nick Donnelly

always known, but today we are seeing it in a really terrifying way: that the greatest persecution of the Church comes not from her enemies without, but arises from sin within the Church, and that the Church thus has a deep need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn forgiveness on the one hand, but also the need for justice.’6 Another area of theology that comes to the forefront in the work of a blogging deacon is that of the study of heresy, another word abandoned by many in the post-conciliar Church. The World Wide Web is a vast library of articles, lectures, e-versions of books and newspaper interviews that

... today we are seeing it in a really terrifying way: that the greatest persecution of the Church comes not from her enemies without, but arises from sin within the Church enable easy access to the work of Catholic theologians who express dissent from the Magisterium of the Church. Though long out of favour in theological circles the word ‘heresy’ is also making a comeback with the new Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Müller, criticising both traditionalists and progressives for promoting ‘heretical interpretations’ of Vatican II7. The Catechism defines ‘heresy’ as ‘the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be

believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same’ (CCC 2089). Granted that deacons have a responsibility, shared by all the people of God, to safeguard the Deposit of Faith, blogs provide a forum to identify, challenge and discuss the work of Catholic theologians, writers and public figures who dissent from truths that must be believed with divine and catholic faith. Karl Rahner SJ argued that ‘it is only by hearing contradiction and rejecting it as repugnant to her truth and her (still evolving) understanding of herself that the Church acquires a clearer grasp of her own truth’8. Blogs have an invaluable role in informing and empowering the faithful to clearly see how the views expressed by dissenting Catholic theologians in the media contradict the truths of the Faith, helping them to reject such dissent as repugnant. Instruction and advice are spiritual works of mercy that aim to bring aid to fellow Catholics by giving them the information to defend themselves and their families from those who disseminate obstinate denial of the truth.

The Ethics of Blogging The challenge for the blogging deacon is to find ways of criticising and refuting the lies and misrepresentations from outside the Church, and the dissent and disobedience within the Church, without anger and rancour. Pope Benedict XVI exhorts us to see the defence of the truths of faith as a basic act of Christian love, which he calls ‘charity in truth’, ‘Intelligence and love are not in separate compartments: love is rich in

6 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2010/may/documents/hf_ ben-xvi_spe_20100511_portogallo-interview_en.html 7 http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2012/11/30/prefect-of-the-cdfsays-seeing-vatican-ii-as-a-rupture-is-heresy/ 8 Rahner, K & Vorgrimler, H, Concise Theological Dictionary, (London, Burns & Oates, 1983)p.207

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The joys and pitfalls of being a blogging deacon – Nick Donnelly

intelligence and intelligence is full of love’ (Caritas in Veritate, 30). The cut and thrust of debate on blogs raises many ethical concerns about which the blogging deacon must be sensitive. The instantaneous nature of communication, coupled with the impersonal anonymity of the exchange encourages in some bloggers a freedom of expression that can easily degenerate into abusive and bullying messages. The internet slang for this is ‘flaming’, which Wikipedia defines as ‘hostile and insulting interaction between internet users, often involving the use of profanity’9. In his 2013 message for World Communication Day Pope Benedict begins setting out

The Holy Father goes on to outline that the requirements for authenticity in social networking, such as respect, concern for privacy, responsibility and truthfulness the ethical norms of social networking which come from a recognition that these new spaces for inter-personal exchange are not only used for sharing ideas and information, but ultimately for the sharing of ‘our very selves’. The Holy Father goes on to outline that the requirements for authenticity in social networking, such as respect, concern for privacy, responsibility and truthfulness.10

Conclusion It is common for those outside the world of blogging and social networks to dismiss it as a trivial medium that encourages superficial and banal engagements. There are many examples that prove this point, but this ignores the serious, life changing encounters that do take place through blogs. One of

the things blogging has shown me is its power to communicate the truth about the Catholic Church and to proclaim the gospel. Stuart James’ account of his conversion to the Catholic faith during the Holy Father’s visit shows its evangelical power. Stuart runs the popular blog, Echurch Blog. “Shortly before the Pope arrived for his UK visit, I became aware of Nick Donnelly’s blog which was originally set up to combat the negative press surrounding the Pope’s visit. At this time I was not Catholic and had no intention of becoming one. In fact, I held many of the prejudices that the media pumped out. “As I watched the Protect the Pope blog develop, I became progressively disturbed at the negative press surrounding not only the Pope, but Catholicism itself. As Nick so adeptly highlighted, the true nature of the negative press promoted fallacies and spurious wilful misunderstandings and misrepresentations of Catholicism. Nick’s blog – among a few other factors – sparked my interest in Catholicism and the Pope. “At the time of the Pope’s visit, I was in hospital and quite poorly and as a result of my new interest I decided to watch the Edinburgh Mass. It was during this broadcast that I became overwhelmed with a sense of extraordinary peace and I was filled to bursting in admiration for the Pope and Catholicism. My path changed from that moment, as I fully realised that this man was indeed the Vicar of Christ on earth, and head of the one true Church. “If it were not for Nick’s blog, I would never have developed the interest that led to me to watch that broadcast that changed my life forever.” ■

9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming 10 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ ben-xvi_mes_20130124_47th-world-communications-day_en.html New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Diakonia of the Word

The joys and pitfalls of being a blogging deacon – Nick Donnelly

Hugh Gilbert OSB

The Church in Scotland has been feeling a lot of distress. “At the heart of it is a sense of things being broken: things like personal integrity, trust in our bishops and priests, the credibility of our faith and teaching. All of these things have seemed to collapse, and behind our sadness or anger there is a cry inside us for them to be given back to us. A cry for a new purity and honesty, for the Gospel, for Christ.”. Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB is the Bishop of Aberdeen in Scotland

ere we are beginning Holy Week. Here we are going up to Jerusalem, with the Church throughout the world, with our new Pope, with those preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation. And the Liturgy opens up pathway after pathway for us: the prayers, the readings, the ceremonies... . Each of them is like a link on a computer: with the ‘click’ of faith, we can access Easter with them. And Easter opens up to us. This is what we want. We want to meet Christ this week, Christ crucified and risen. We want to open ourselves to the power of his Cross and Resurrection. We want to let these in – into our own lives, into the world. We want Christ to become more real for us. And he will. The Liturgy works. And Jesus’ Holy Week began on the back of a donkey. It was a young donkey, a colt, and its mother would have trotted alongside. Christ enters Jerusalem on a donkey. Why should that be? It was a message. It was a fulfilment of an old Jewish prophecy, found in ch.9 of Zechariah: ‘Rejoice, heart and soul, daughter of Zion! Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem! See now, your king comes to you; he is victorious, he is triumphant, humble and riding 18

for Palm

Sunday donkey is the kind of disciple he wants. The donkey is a notoriously stubborn animal, liable to a lot of stick, not very beautiful, easy to ridicule. G. K. Chesterton wrote a famous poem on behalf of the donkey:

on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey’ (Zech 9:9). Yes, here he comes the true king, the Messiah. But why, why a donkey? If Jesus had ridden a horse, it would have been a sign of war and pride. But donkeys were for work, not war, and Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and humble, not proud.

‘With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, I keep my secret still.’

I think we can put this another way. Here is Jesus about to let his enemies get the better of him, and finally have him crucified. Here is Jesus, from every human point of view, about to make an ass of himself. That’s what the disciples thought. It’s what we would have thought, and said: ‘Jesus, you’re making an ass

If Jesus had ridden a horse, it would have been a sign of war and pride. But donkeys were for work, not war, and Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and humble, not proud of yourself.’ And, actually, there is an ancient anti-Christian graffiti from the Roman world showing Jesus on the cross – with the head of a donkey. Yes, the donkey is Jesus himself. And the

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The donkey’s ‘secret’ is that one day God incarnate rode him into Jerusalem.

Well, the Church has ‘made an ass’ of herself of late. But Christ still rides her. And we are donkeys too, and he rides us. So let’s be donkeys. Let’s be ready to be stubborn for him, laughed at for him. He’s always entering Jerusalem, always coming to die and to rise. And each of us can be his donkey. Each of us, from all eternity, has been made, funny as we are, to be ridden by him. The Greek word for ‘donkey’ comes from the word ‘to be useful’. And what donkeys have done superbly, time out of mind, is carry things, heavy things, burdens – uphill, downhill, over smooth ground, rough ground, mile after mile. Let’s be donkeys then. Let’s go on, head down, stubbornly, day after day, carrying on our backs the blessed weight of Christ, of faith, of Catholic loyalty. Because the one we’re carrying is the One who wins, the One who brings victory, the One who will ride us through the gates of death into the heavenly Jerusalem. ■

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Diakonia of the Word

Homily

John Robertson

The Deacon

Orthodox Church

John Robinson is an archdeacon in the service of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy in Scotland.

t is widely known that the diaconate has survived since Apostolic times in our Orthodox sister Churches.1 In all the Orthodox Churches the Deacon plays a significant role, and the respect for the office is founded on historical precedent. Many Orthodox sources referring to the diaconate relate the account of the martyrdom of SS Perpetua and Felicity, commemorated in the Latin Church in the second part of the first Eucharistic Prayer. The account relates of the marvellous example of service, the core element of the diaconate in the Orthodox Churches, which the Diocletian persecution of A.D. 203 produced. The saints were imprisoned in Carthage, in what is now Tunisia, and St Perpetua, who wrote the account of martyrdom, gave birth to a baby whilst awaiting execution. She gratefully recalled the bravery and sacrifice of the Deacons: “Tertius and Pomponius, those blessed deacons who were ministering to us, paid for us to be removed for a few hours to a better part of the prison and refresh ourselves. My baby was brought to me, and I suckled him”.2 Two Deacons, who would otherwise probably have remained anonymous, braved the prisons of Carthage, bringing comfort to

those refusing to sacrifice to Rome’s false gods: it is a touching picture of service that remains, to this day, a key element in the self-perception of Orthodox Deacons. In the Orthodox tradition, the memory of the Deacons of Antiquity has remained alive. These were the main clerical victims of the Roman persecutions, because these were the men that were the most visible expression of the Church. For the Russian Orthodox Church the historical importance of the Deacons in the conversion of Russia to the Faith is also particularly poignant. The Russian Primary Chronicle relates what happened when the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople received the emissaries of the Russian ruler who was seeking a religion which he could follow: “The Patriarch ordered that the clergy be assembled; and according to custom they held a festival service, and they lit the censers and appointed the choirs to sing hymns. And the Emperor went with them into the church … and he showed them the beauty of the church, and the singing, and the serving of the arch-priest, and the serving of the deacons … and they were in amazement and wondered greatly and praised the service”.3

1 I am using this term without prejudice to the unity of one Catholic Church, but in recognition of the fact that the Orthodox Churches have maintained a valid episcopate and Eucharist, and are closer to the Catholic Church in all respects than any other Christian group. C.f. Paul VI, Anno ineunte; Bl John Paul II, Slavorum Apostoli, Ut Unum Sint; Joseph Ratzinger, L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 1 November 2000, p. 9. 2 Passio Sanctarum Martyrum Perpetuae Et Felicitatis. Acta SS. Boll. Mart. III, 633, 1.2. 3 The Russian Primary Chronicle, Laurentian Text. Translated and edited by Samuel Hazzard Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor. Cambridge, MA: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1953, p. 10.

Diakonia of the Altar

in the

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It was the “praise of the service” that so impressed the emissaries that they converted on the spot – the rest of the Russians followed soon after. Now the singing procession with the offerings was what most impressed. Little wonder: there were some 120 Deacons attached to the Hagia Sophia Cathedral at this point, and their singing was famous. And so Russia converted

because of the Deacons of the Hagia Sophia – it is, therefore, hardly surprising that the ministry is held in such high regard in Orthodoxy! Since time immemorial, the Deacon played a major part in the structure of the Orthodox Church. We are told in The Life of Saint Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza (written

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around 410 A.D.), that his Deacon, Mark, was the Bishop’s official envoy, both for financial transactions and for more political concerns.4 Deacon Mark sold many of the Gazan Church’s possessions in Thessalonica to raise money for the poor, and twice travelled to Constantinople to enlist the support of the formidable Patriarch, St John Chrysostom, against the pagans who were harassing the Church in Gaza. Incidentally, Deacon Mark also wrote the Life of Saint Porphyry, in which he plays such a prominent role … The important role played by Deacons was not confined to the Church alone. There are few Deacons more famous, or influential, than St Cyril, who, with his brother, St Methodius, is known as the Apostle of the Slavs.5 Before St Cyril set out on his missionary journeys to the Balkans, he had already travelled widely. On behalf of the Patriarch of Constantinople, he had journeyed to the Jewish Khazars on the Caspian Sea, and had led an official delegation to the ruler of the Islamic world, the Caliph, in Baghdad in 851 A.D. St Cyril’s life turns our perception of the diaconate on its head, showing that there are no limits to the traditional function of the Deacon in the Orthodox Church, which is to serve. This hugely gifted linguist, who was fluent in Slavonic, Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew, created the basis from which the Cyrillic alphabet was formed. He was also the first to provide a literary vehicle for the Slavic peoples, Old Church Slavonic, which is still the liturgical language for the majority of Orthodox believers. By the time the ruler of Great Moravia (modern day Slovakia and Moravia in the

Czech Republic) asked the Byzantine Emperor to send him some missionaries in A.D. 862, St Cyril had become a monk, but not a priest. Their success in Central Europe was limited by German Latin opposition, notwithstanding the fact that the mission had Papal blessing. Bl John Paul II

St Cyril’s life turns our perception of the diaconate on its head, showing that there are no limits to the traditional function of the Deacon in the Orthodox Church, which is to serve did much to restore the reputation of the brothers when he elevated them to coPatrons of Europe together with St Benedict of Nursia in 1980. Few realise that a Deacon is one of the three male Patron Saints of our continent. Rather a significant number of Orthodox Deacons have been martyred over the ages, shedding their blood as witnesses for Christ. Unfortunately, their martyrdom has sometimes been caused by Catholics, particularly in the frequently bitter contest in the Ukraine. Thus, Archdeacon Nicephoros, Patriarchal Exarch from Constantinople, was executed in Poland in 1595. He had gone to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to protect the Orthodox community in the wake of the foundation of the Greek-Catholic Church at the Union of Brest, but his intervention was far from welcome. The Orthodox Church considers him to be a martyr and saint.

4 Mark the Deacon, Life of Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza, translated and edited by G.F. Hill, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913, pp. 6, 26-7. 5 See A.-E. N. Tachiaos, Cyril and Methodius: The Acculturation of the Slavs, New York, St Vladimir Seminary Press, 2001.

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The Deacon in the Orthodox Church – John Robertson

Then there are the countless Deacons who were martyred in the terrible suffering caused by the Communists in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe. It has been estimated that there were no Deacons left in the Russian Orthodox Church by 1939; indeed, only some 300 priests remained and no monks or nuns.6 There had been over 50,000 clergy in 1914, of whom around 8,000 were Deacons. Most were martyred. This gruesome fact is yet another element that has ensured the continued veneration of the office of the Deacon in the Orthodox world. Their martyrdom stretches in a tradition that reached back to the very first Christian martyr. St Stephen the Archdeacon, to give him his Orthodox name, who was killed shortly after the Crucifixion, was, of course, a Deacon, one of the seven appointed by the Apostles (Acts 6:8-11). Not all saintly Deacons in the Orthodox Church have been martyrs, however. One of the greatest of the modern Deacon Saints, Makarios the Kalogeras of Patmos (1688-1737), had different claims to sanctity. He is known as ‘The Teacher of the Nations’, and, remarkably, Makarios refused to be ordained into the priesthood, even though his local Bishop wished him as his successor. Instead, he founded the Theological School of Patmos. The island occupies a very special place in the Orthodox family of Churches, and is a Patriarchal Exarchy of Constantinople. It has always been revered as the place where St John the Evangelist had his vision that caused him to write the Book of the Apocalypse. It was here that Makarios, who had experienced the lack of knowledge amongst the Orthodox living under Turkish rule, found-

ed a school that was to become the epicentre of the Church’s catechetical efforts for centuries. It opened its doors in 1713 and was free to all, regardless of income or status. Vitally, it taught many lay people. The school’s first location was in the Cave of the Apocalypse. Such was its reputation, that students flocked there from all over the Ottoman Empire, but also from Russia. It is still functioning today. St Makarios saw the school as his chance to serve. Again we meet that essential element in the Orthodox concept of the diaconate. His main motivation for refusing the tonsure was that he would rather serve than be served. Interestingly, in the light of

Makarios, who had experienced the lack of knowledge amongst the Orthodox living under Turkish rule, founded a school that was to become the epicentre of the Church’s catechetical efforts for centuries the fact that one of the liturgical roles envisaged for the restored Latin diaconate is that of preaching, St Makarios was frequently asked to write the homilies for his Bishop. Some of these have since been published. The revival of Greek and, indeed, Bulgarian national sentiment have been ascribed to the influence of St Makarios’s school, which ultimately led to the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the liberation of many millions of Orthodox Christians – no mean achievement for the humble Deacon from Patmos.7 The achievements of St Makarios echoed

6 N. Davis, A Long Walk to Church. A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy, Boulder, Westview Press, 2003, chapter 9. 7 J.A. Sampimon, Becoming Bulgarian. The Articulation of Bulgarian Identity in the Nineteenth Century in Its International Context, unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Amsterdam, 2006, p. 42. New Diaconal Review Issue 10

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The Deacon in the Orthodox Church – John Robertson

Cardinal Deacons and the use of the Dalmatic

those of a much earlier Deacon Saint, Romanos the Melodist of Constantinople (d. 556). His life shows the centrality of singing in the spiritual life of the Orthodox Deacon, and the importance of this particular form of service to the wider Christian community. Romanos was born in Homs,

s at Jerusalem, so also in the primitive Roman Church we find immediately that when Christians became more numerous, seven deacons assisted the Pope in assemblies of the faithful and in the administration and exercise of charity. The Liber Pontificalis (Pontifical Book) attributes to Clement I (A.D. 92-99) the division of Rome into seven regions for the care of the poor of the City, and thus for this service do we find the deacons set apart. As a matter of fact, Clement's successor, Pope Evaristus (A.D.

This ‘sermon in verse’ is the oldest Kontakion in the Orthodox Church and is still chanted in all Orthodox churches at Christmas, although the original musical accompaniment has been lost. Some 85 Kontakia have been attributed to St Romanos, whom many see as the originator of the Orthodox liturgical musical tradition. As with St Makarios before him, St Romanos refused the tonsure: he, too, wished to remain a servant, who served through his music.

In this briefest of surveys of the contributions made by Deacons to the life of the Orthodox Churches over the past two millennia, I hope to have shown something of the rich variety in which they interpreted their key role: service. As in the restored Latin diaconate, there are many rules that state what an Orthodox Deacon cannot do. These are perfectly valid circumscriptions which are in place to protect the special sacramental role of the ordained priest. They are also intended to ensure that the Deacon has a proper role to play in the celebration of the liturgy, and defines the correct vestments that distinguish a Deacon from a priest. However, these rules leave open a very wide field of service, many of a type unsuited to the priesthood, but of vital importance to the life of the Church and to the People of God. As the examples above show, there are plenty of role models to be found here for the modern, Latin Rite Deacon. ■

8 St. Romanos the Melodist, On the Life of Christ: Kontakia, translated by Archimandrite Ephrem Lash, San Francisco, Harper, 1995.

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... principal priests and deacons had to help the Pope in the Roman basilicas where they were incardinated and thus they began to be known as “cardinals” 99-108), clarified the functions of deacons in the Church and ordained seven deacons to assist the Bishop of Rome in the distribution of alms. In the third century, Pope Fabian (A.D. 236-250) better organized the work of the seven deacons, creating fourteen regions in Rome and entrusting two regions to each deacon. With the growing number of Christians, other priests and deacons were assigned as auxiliaries to the principal titulars of the churches and diaconates (deaneries). In

reality, for the service of the Church of Rome, the deacons were not sufficient and thus Pope Cletus (A.D. 80-92) also established twenty-five as the fixed number of priests, for the service of the City, with a territory entrusted to each. Thus, parishes began to develop. During the pontificate of Gregory I (A.D. 590-604), the number of regions in Rome doubled and so the number of deacons in Rome became fourteen. During the pontificate of Gregory II (A.D. 715-731), four new deacons were added. These new deacons were called "palatine" deacons1 because they were chosen to serve at the Lateran Basilica. Thus, the number of deacons grew to eighteen. The role of these deacons consisted in helping the Pope during the weekday Masses to which they were assigned according to their turn. In the second half of the eleventh century, with the re-organization of the College of Cardinals, the churches of the diaconates began to be assigned by title to eighteen cardinals. Therefore, these cardinals became known as “cardinal deacons,” remaining as such in conjunction with the titles of their respective churches. One can say that these principal priests and deacons had to help the Pope in the Roman basilicas where they were incardinated and thus they began to be known as “cardinals.” From this moment forward, they came to be called “cardinal priests and deacons,” this is to say, “incardinated.” At this point, we discover that the Roman presbyterate – counselors and co-operators of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome – from

1 Palatini since they served the papal palatium (palace). New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Diakonia of the Altar

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/ liturgy/details/ns_lit_doc_20091125_ cardinali-diaconi_en.html

St Romanos, whom many see as the originator of the Orthodox liturgical musical tradition. As with St Makarios before him, St Romanos refused the tonsure: he, too, wished to remain a servant, who served through his music now in Syria, which had been one of the earliest strongholds of the Faith. Tradition relates that he could not sing to save his life, which was a very serious handicap for a Deacon. He was rescued from his embarrassment by a vision of the Theotokos, the Mother of God. He was told to eat the scroll with the music which he had failed to sing at the Church of the Panagia in Constantinople. Acceding to Our Lady’s wish, Romanos then proceeded to sing one of the most complex pieces of music, which was subsequently written down as the Kontakion of the Nativity.8

The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Sovereign Pontiff

1150 began to constitute the College of Cardinals together with their dean (who was the Bishop of Ostia), as well as the camerlengo who acted as the administrator of papal goods. Thus we see that from the earliest times cardinal deacons were employed for the administration of the Church of Rome and for the liturgical service of the Pope. And thus it would remain for centuries to come.

...the dalmatic was for the cardinal deacons, that is, for the seven regional deacons of the Diocese of Rome, who received the dalmatic upon ordination, while the deacons outside the Diocese of Rome were not permitted to use it Only in the eleventh century, with the ecclesiastical reform of Pope Leo X, did the cardinals become less tied to the liturgical and pastoral service of the Diocese of Rome, so that they became the direct helpers of the Pope in service to the universal Church. On the other hand, and in direct relationship to the cardinal deacons, we find the dalmatic. From the beginning of the third century, this vestment had become the outerwear of the most distinguished people of Rome. We find mention of the dalmatic in the Liber Pontificalis as a distinctive, honorary garment granted to the Roman deacons by Pope Sylvester (A.D. 314-335), “so that deacons would use dalmatics in

church” (Liber Pontificalis, Ed. Mommsen 1,1, p. 50) to distinguish them among the clergy due to the fact that they had a special relationship with the Pope. Before that, the dalmatic was part of the papal wardrobe and the proper and distinctive garb of the bishop. Outside Rome, deacons wore a simple white tunic for liturgical services, over which was soon added the orarium or stole. The news of the concession of the dalmatic to the deacons by Pope Sylvester is confirmed by the Roman author of the Quaestionum Veteris et Novi Testamenti (circa A.D. 370), who, not without a touch of irony, writes: “Today the deacons vest like bishops” (n. 46). This goes to prove that the Roman Church retained the use of the dalmatic as its own privilege, and that only the Pope was able to confer it. The fact that this Roman custom was still in place in the tenth century is affirmed in the Ordines Romani (Roman Ordinals) XXXV (n. 26), which rubric maintains that the prerogative of the dalmatic was for the cardinal deacons, that is, for the seven regional deacons of the Diocese of Rome, who received the dalmatic upon ordination, while the deacons outside the Diocese of Rome were not permitted to use it. With the establishment of the Roman Liturgy in Gaul (now France) during the Carolingian period, the dalmatic became rather common, although Rome always opposed its use outside the Diocese of Rome. Probably from the eleventh century forward, the dalmatic became the true and proper outer liturgical vestment of deacons, while bishops and priests wore it underneath the chasuble.2 From what we have briefly outlined, one

2 Italian uses two different words for the outer garment of priests and bishops at Mass: pianeta and casula. English has only “chasuble,” which is then distinguished by adjectives like “Roman” or “fiddle-back” (in colloquial use) for the pianeta and “Gothic” for the casula.

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Cardinal Deacons and the use of the Dalmatic – The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Sovereign Pontiff

can surmise that when cardinal deacons wore the dalmatic to serve the Supreme Pontiff in liturgical celebrations, we are dealing with a typically Roman liturgical usage in strict relation to the history of the Popes and the papal liturgy. The cardinal deacons use the dalmatic when they serve the Pope, whether at Mass or in other liturgical celebrations, but not when they concelebrate with him. In this second instance, they wear the vestment proper to each priest who functions as the principal celebrant, which is the Gothic or Roman chasuble. Wearing the dalmatic when serving the Pope serves in reality to manifest externally their function as “ministers” of the Pope. One should not forget that, as history has shown us, the true significance of the dalmatic does not necessarily suppose that only deacons can use it.

It is not the search for power and success but humble self-giving for the good of the Church that must mark our every action and our every word. True Christian greatness, in fact, does not consist in dominating but in serving On the other hand, bishops wear the dalmatic on the most solemn occasions, underneath the chasuble, and also as the outer vestment when anointing the altar or during the washing of the feet. In this latter instance, as the Caeremoniale Episcoporum (Ceremonial of Bishops), n. 301,

relates, the bishop takes off the mitre and chasuble but not the dalmatic. The dalmatic underscores not so much the fullness of the priesthood but service as a characteristic of episcopal ministry. In the case of cardinal deacons wearing the dalmatic, this goes to underscore their role as servants and also as close collaborators of the Roman Pontiff in the liturgy. The dalmatic is a sign of service, dedication to the Gospel and to others. But also when the bishop uses the dalmatic, he uses it to serve: whether during the washing of the feet, or in the special liturgical service that bishops, who are cardinal deacons, carry out near to the Roman Pontiff. We can say that the dalmatic used for liturgical service on the part of cardinal deacons has to do with the dynamic of service that made Pope Benedict XVI say: Christians are called to assume the condition of a “servant,” following in Jesus’ footsteps, that is, spending their lives for others in a free and disinterested way. It is not the search for power and success but humble self-giving for the good of the Church that must mark our every action and our every word. True Christian greatness, in fact, does not consist in dominating but in serving. Today, Jesus repeats to every one of us that he “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10: 45). This is the ideal that must direct your service. Dear Brothers, on entering the College of Cardinals, the Lord asks of you and entrusts to you the service of love: love for God, love for His Church, love for the brethren with maximum, unconditional dedication, usque ad sanguinis effusionem, as is shown by the formula for the conferral of the hat and the red color of the clothes you are wearing. (Homily for the Public and Ordinary Consistory for the Creation of New Cardinals, 24 November 2007). ■

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Diakonia of the Altar

Cardinal Deacons and the use of the Dalmatic – The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Sovereign Pontiff

Philip Egan

Bishop Philip Egan is the Bishop of Portsmouth Diocese

’m very happy to be here for this address! It was good to meet many of you last month at the Vatican II Conference and I have also been meeting some of you with the priests in the Pastoral Area groups. I would like to say a brief word about the identity and role of the deacon in our Diocese of Portsmouth. I would want to say immediately that any vision for our diocese must be absolutely faithful to the 1998 Vatican Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons, and the 2010 CBCEW Directory for the Formation of Permanent Deacons in England and Wales. Let me also add that any vision must honour, support and value the crucial role played by deacons’ wives and by the families of deacons, although I will have to leave speaking about that to another occasion. Let me preface these remarks by making two differentiations. First, to differentiate ‘what a deacon is’ from ‘what a deacon does’, i.e. the sacramental, spiritual and theological nature and identity of the deacon - the ontology if you like - from the deacon’s day to day functions and his actual ministry. Being comes before doing. The diaconate is the first grade of Holy Orders, the Church’s three-fold ministry of bishop, priest and deacon. As an ordained minister, the deacon is configured to Christ the Head of the Church and so he shares in Christ’s triple munera as priest, prophet and shepherd. He is thus a Minister of the Altar, a Minister of the Word, and a Minister of Charity. Of course, the diaconate is not a Bene Merenti or long-service reward given to leading laymen, nor is a deacon a substitute priest. The deacon is configured to Christ the Servant. He is a living icon of 28

Christ the Servant. To become a deacon involves a vocation from Christ and his Church to be a minister, a servant, a man directly under the bishop, ready to go wherever the bishop needs him. Usually, though not necessarily in every case, this also means serving under a priest who shares in the authority of the Bishop and who acts in his name. We must also make a second helpful differentiation. We need to differentiate the three moments within the process of diaconal formation: ●

vocations promotion and vocations discernment;

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the primary formation of deacons with its four pillars: intellectual, spiritual, pastoral and human; and then

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the ongoing in-service formation and the pastoral care of deacons and their wives.

Fr. Peter and I have been discussing how we might in time develop appropriate pastoral support for these three moments, perhaps with sub-groups responsible for each: vocations, formation and ongoing formation/pastoral care. What is of primary importance for our Portsmouth vision is how to help deacons foster and develop a truly diaconal heart, to be men configured to Christ the Servant, men who love and serve the people with Christ’s love, because they have a strong sense of their vocation and sacramental identity. This means developing a spirituality of service, becoming a ‘living icon of

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Permanent Diaconate diocese of Portsmouth Christ the Servant.’ This is why daily prayer is absolutely essential: the Divine Office, daily Mass if possible, the Rosary, the study of the Gospels, lectio divina, and the study of the teachings of the Church, especially the Catechism. In a busy ‘out-there’ culture, we need to focus on developing the ‘in-here’ and an evangelical ‘interiority’. The vocation of the deacon is to configure himself and his life to Christ the Servant, and in so doing to give his life in service of the Church, under the direction of the Bishop. Christ must increase; I must decrease. I must live for Him not for me. I must be a man for others, not a man who makes the whole world revolve around himself. I have to ‘let go and let God!’ Speaking as your Bishop, I absolutely insist and I challenge you: I cannot think of any better way to acquire and develop such a spirituality than by spending, regularly, indeed every day if you can, at least 30 minutes in silent prayer and adoration of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. In other words, I would wish our Portsmouth deacons to be known for their holiness of life, their humility, their Christ-like spirituality, their personal-passionate love for Jesus above all in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. From being to activity. What deacons do is very varied. In most cases in the Diocese of Portsmouth, deacons are appointed by the bishop to assist priests with the pastoral care of their parishes within the various pastoral areas. Yet deacons need not necessarily be appointed to parishes. As I go round the diocese, I find myself asking: What other needs do we have? Which existing ministries could be given to deacons: chaplaincies in schools, hospitals, New Diaconal Review Issue 10

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Towards a vision for the in the

prisons, parish administration, spiritual direction, interreligious dialogue, ecumenism, marriage preparation and support, counselling and human development? Could deacons serve or lead some of our diocesan commissions? For the Church in our Western secular culture, new evangelisation is now a central task and deacons are important agents of this, communicating the Catholic faith within contemporary culture. What new fields of ministry need to be opened up? Depending on their gifts and skills, could deacons, for instance, be used to evangelise, to enter into critical conversation with, the cultural sectors: finance, the arts, management, psychology and counselling, medicine, shopping centres, local government, travel nodes, and so on? Indeed, what about those deacons who work and are present as sacred ministers in secular domains and professions? What about the role of the deacon within his family? More, should we be encouraging younger candidates to come forward? Or identifying possible candidates with the skills the diocese needs? Now to the qualities of a deacon: What would be some of the qualities hoped for in our Portsmouth deacons and in the candidates for the diaconate? The deacon should fundamentally be a man whose life is modelled on Christ the Servant, a man of the Beatitudes, a man for others, a man practised in Christian virtue and purity, a man free from anger and self-centeredness with his passions controlled. He should also be a man totally available for whatever the Bishop needs, who lives his life each day as an oblation of service to Christ. I would hope for men willing and able to be collaborative ministers, devout and thoroughly faithful to the Church’s Magisterium, yet able to explain sympathetically and attractively the Church’s teaching, whilst being open to new ideas, methods and approaches. I would hope for men who avoid clericalism in its various forms, yet when on duty, would wear ‘clericals’, thus proudly 30

identifying themselves as men of the Church. I would hope for men happy to work ecumenically, to be people of justice and social responsibility, inspiring evangelists, able to engage confidently in conversation with all people of good will, and yet also be men of critical reflection on matters to do with contemporary culture. To do this, we have to keep ourselves up to date in both theological AND secular knowledge, a man of imagination and zeal, anxious to devise new ways of evangelisation that capture peoples’ imaginations. St. Stephen and St. Lawrence are the models. Let me sum this up. A Portsmouth deacon should be a man... ●

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configured to Christ the Servant, a man of prayer with a personalpassionate love for Christ a man who, if he is married, loves and supports his wife and family, who strives to coordinate and balance family, work and ministerial commitments

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someone who loves people and is able to relate well, a listener as well as a talker

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a man able to live out his vocation in a work context

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Towards a vision for the Permanent Diaconate in the diocese of Portsmouth – Philip Egan

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a collaborative, ecumenical and sincerely ‘dialogical’ minister, devout, flexible, zealous and imaginative

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a man committed to ongoing spiritual and professional development

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a man of prayer who strives to say the whole Divine Office each day, or at least those parts of it mandated by Canon Law.

What skills are needed? If we take the triple munera, then, first, as a Minister of the Word, a Portsmouth deacon will be able: ●

to proclaim the Gospel and preach effectively at Mass and in the Liturgy

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to read the signs of the times in the light of Christ and to critique structures

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to catechise and instruct others, with all the pastoral care involved

As a Minister of the Altar, he will be: ●

liturgically proficient and effective, a man imbued with the ars celebrandi, who follows exactly the liturgical norms of the Church as laid down in the General instruction of the Roman Missal and other documents

a man who is able to collaborate effectively with the Bishop, local clergy and other ministers

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a man able to celebrate baptisms and funerals with all the pastoral care involved

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a man of mission and evangelisation, striving for the Kingdom

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a man of the Church with a broad vision, but not clerical

a minister able to celebrate marriages, prepare couples for marriage, care for and support married couples, and counsel those in difficulty

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someone who knows his faith, who knows contemporary culture and who tries to keep up to date

a minister able to care for the sick, visit hospitals and offer the necessary pastoral care

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As a Minister of Charity, he will be a man:

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of justice and social concern, truly a ‘bridge’

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someone able to liase with social agencies, take local initiatives, become involved with local structures and charities, the local school, etc

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keen on acquiring a knowledge of how to assist the needy

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able to help with parish administration

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with a sincere knowledge and love of the people and contexts to whom he is sent

I realise that all of this is a tall order! I know it is a long list and an immense challenge, one we can only dare to begin by the grace of God, assisted by the intercession of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence. But let me end here by thanking you profoundly, on behalf of Our Lord and His Church, for all that you do as deacons and for all that you deaconstudents aspire to be: for your witness, your example, your fidelity, your loyalty, your hard work and your love. As I said before, it’s not easy being a disciple today. It’s not easy to be a Catholic today. It’s not easy at all to be a deacon or a priest today, and next summer I want to invite all the clergy to a special Day of Reflection on being a Priest in a Secular Culture. The world offers many tempting options. Many things vie for our attention and to remain faithful to the Lord requires energy. Yet we know that Christ is the Way. We know from the spiritual homing-device in our hearts that Christ is the Truth. We know that Christ is our Life and that we must do everything we can in order to find him, to sit at his feet, to imbibe his Word, and to draw Love from his Sacred Heart. For it is in Him alone that we can find the true, genuine, lasting human happiness and fulfilment for which we long. Thank you for listening. Please pray for me – as I will be doing each morning in Bishops House for you. ■

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Diakonia of Charity

Towards a vision for the Permanent Diaconate in the diocese of Portsmouth – Philip Egan

Ashley Beck

At the end of 2012 the United States Conference of Bishops voted to support the cause for the canonisation of Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker newspaper and communities. Her heroic life was characterised by love for the poor and commitment to Catholic Social teaching, which are also marks of the deacon’s ministry. Fr Ashley Beck is co-editor of the New Diaconal Review.

Introduction Eighty years ago this summer, in the middle of the Great Depression, an extraordinary thing happened in the United States. Two lay Catholics, whom most of their coreligionists would have regarded as eccentric, if not mad and dangerous, started off a weekly newspaper – with no money, no staff, no premises and a determination to avoid advertising and charging more than a nominal sum per copy – one cent. This was the Catholic Worker. The paper and the communities linked to it became a major strand in American Catholicism, with offshoots all over the world. The two were the Servant of God Dorothy Day, a left-wing journalist and lone parent who had converted to Catholicism just six years before, and Peter Maurin, a wandering French peasant, noted for talking to people in the street about Catholic Social teaching and often begging for money and clothes from rich people to give to those who had nothing.

The paper, the houses of hospitality and the farms By means of a great deal of hard voluntary work, and begging money to cover the basic costs the paper, the paper was launched on May Day 1933, being given out at a big Labour Day rally in Union Square in New York. The first print run was 2,500 (rather larger than this journal) but by the end of the paper’s first year this had mushroomed to 100,000 and by 1936 it was 150,000. Originally it was simply printed off in kitchens of wherever writers were living. 32

and Dorothy

rin taught that giving to the poor is the responsibility of Christians themselves: it was not the responsibility of the over-weening State. Every parish should have a ‘house of hospitality’. Giving to the poor should be personal and it should be sacrificial – it should really cost us something.

Part of the vision of the paper was to urge Catholics to provide unconditional love and support for the poor; so Day and Maurin acquired houses (usually run-down and in a terrible state) to provide shelter and food for the poor, and the paper was produced from these centres. These communities were termed ‘houses of hospitality’ – they also housed those who produced the paper, since Day and Maurin didn’t believe in working for wages (and there was no money anyway). Poverty was widespread in 1930s America, so the houses grew rapidly and by 1939 were to be found in virtually every city in the country. The ‘bread lines’, feeding hundreds with bread and soup each day in places such as Lower East Side in New York, became a big feature of urban life, giving people basic services and hope in their lives. Day and Maurin also founded a number of farming communities, pioneering ecological farming techniques, and growing some food which could be used for the poor.

Theological marks of the Catholic Worker The paper and the houses were clearly Catholic. The articles in the paper were a mix of comment about social and industrial issues and explanations of Catholic teaching and devotional life. Day, Maurin and most other leading members of the communities were very devout Catholics, going to Mass every day (one would not have had to go very far to find a church in New York in those days), praying the Office, saying the Rosary and going on regular retreats. These were the years following Pope Pius XI’s 1931 encyclical on social teaching, Quadragesimo Anno, and the paper did a great deal to make these teach-

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Day

ings known. Within clear and mainstream Catholic teaching, Day was indebted to two important strands which helped to shape the paper and its communities. The first was Christian Anarchism, associated with Russian writers like Leo Tolstoy and Nicholas Berdayev. This really did question the role of the State and viewed with suspicion its growing power (as did Pius XI). The second, and in some ways linked to it, was the philosophical outlook known as Personalism, associated with French thinkers such as Emmanuel Mounier and Jacques Maritain. Influenced by this Day and Mau-

This unconditional love for the poor is one of the first theological marks of the paper and the communities.1 This reflects the teachings of so many saints in the history of the Church – we see it also in the teachings of Pope Francis. The outlook of the Catholic Worker is a precursor of the notion of the ‘preferential option for the poor’ characteristic of Liberation Theology in the 1960s and the teachings of Blessed John Paul II – it has to be central to what we do as the Church. This led Day and others to reject the greed at the heart of the western capitalist system – the damaging effects of which were even more evident in 1930s America than they are now. The way we run society should make it easier for men and women to lead good and virtuous lives: we are not doomed to be selfish. A result of this rejection was a strong condemnation of usury, of lending and borrowing money at interest, opposed officially by the Church for so many centuries. A second mark of the paper and the communities in absolute pacifism. ‘Catholic Workers’ have always been engaged in peaceful demonstration against war – outside military bases, arms manufacturers, recruiting offices, and Ministry of Defence

1 For a fuller description of the theology of the Catholic Worker, see A. Beck, ‘Making the Encyclicals Click: Catholic Social Teaching and Radical Traditions’, New Blackfriars volume 93, issue 1044 (March 2012) New Diaconal Review Issue 10

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Deacons

Deacons and Dorothy Day – Ashley Beck

Image: Milwaukee Journal photo, courtesy of the Marquette University Archives

Catholic Worker houses and farms all over the world, and papers under its name in several American cities. In England there are two communities in London, one in Oxford and a farm in Hertfordshire, publishing a regular Catholic Worker paper. Its members are regularly arrested for demonstrations at military facilities and are very active in the care of asylum seekers who have no other means of support. Outside the USA there are also communities in Canada, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand and Belgium

buildings. This has been costly – Day lost support from American Catholics first when she refused to take sides in the Spanish Civil War from 1936, and even more when America entered the Second World War in 194: arguably it has never recovered the levels of support and influence it had before this. Day herself was often arrested, particularly for refusing to take part in ‘civil defence exercises’ in the 1950s. Both these theological ‘marks’ led to a relationship which was at times strained with the authorities in the Church, particularly the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Francis Spellman (who was also the Bishop responsible for the US Armed Forces). But Day’s loyalty to the Church was deep and committed, rooted in her life of prayer and her relationship with Jesus Christ. The theological outlook of the Catholic Worker was 34

in part vindicated by the Second Vatican Council (at one point during the Council Day led a fast and vigil for peace in Rome). She was honoured by Pope Paul VI and became a good friend of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. After she died on 29 November 1980 (a week or so before John Lennon was shot, also in New York) Cardinal Cooke presided at her funeral.

What’s this to do with deacons? In 2000 the Holy See recognised the canonisation cause of Dorothy Day, launched previously by the Archdiocese of New York, giving her the title ‘Servant of God.’ At the end of 2012 this was backed unanimously by the whole United States Conference of Bishops – the present archbishop, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, is an enthusiastic devotee of Day. There are still

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Deacons are called to have a special knowledge of social teaching and a particular love for the poor, so it is obvious that they should be particularly attentive to the Catholic Worker tradition as it has developed – by learning about Day and her life, and by trying to put some of her teachings into practice. This is a challenge: in Europe and North America deacons are usually drawn from suburban and rural parishes rather than those in the ‘inner city’, areas where political attitudes, even within the Church, are often right-wing and deeply at odds with what the Catholic Worker paper and communities represent. I am not aware of deacons who are involved in the life of Catholic Worker houses, and much about this lifestyle would not be easy for married men with families; but there are lots of ways in which we can all show support and solidarity. The most obvious way is through voluntary giving and asking parishioners to give practical help in other ways. Houses of hospitality always need food, blankets, clothes, toiletries, office equipment to help produce the paper, and so on. Another way could be through joining in demonstrations for peace, alongside Catholic Worker supporters and other Catholic peace groups. In our

parishes all of us can do a great deal simply to help people learn about what the Catholic Worker paper and communities represent; we can also raise the fundamental theological attitudes with people. In his last encyclical Caritas in Veritate Pope Emeritus Benedict addressed the issue of usury and the need to help people avoid paying exorbitant rates of interest2: in our parishes many people work in banking or ‘financial services’ and could usefully have their assumptions challenged at a time when more and more people are suffering as a result of the banking crisis, and are still paying heavy rates of interest. Day and Maurin repeatedly called for the Church to recover its traditional condemnation of usury. So often people find Catholic Social Teaching rather dull and technical. There is also a danger that it can become anodyne and respectable. Deacons have a particular responsibility to stop this happening. The inspiration offered by Dorothy Day and the paper and communities which she founded eighty years ago, as we pray for her canonisation, can help us all do this. ■

Further reading ●

●

www.londoncatholicworker.org – the paper can be downloaded http://www.catholic worker.org/dorothyday/index.cfm is an online database of Day’s writings Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness New York: Harper and Rowe 1997 (originally published in 1952) Selected Writings ed. R. Ellsberg London: DLT 2005 William Miller Dorothy Day: A Biography San Francisco: Harper and Row 1982 Ashley Beck Dorothy Day London: CTS 2008 Film: Entertaining Angels (1996) starring Moira Kelly and Martin Sheen

2 See on this A. Beck, ‘More Souped-up Marxism? A Summary and Initial Assessment of Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical Caritas in Veritate’ The Pastoral Review Vol. 5, issue 5 (Sept/Oct 2009). It is unfortunate that the words Pope Benedict uses to refer to pious medieval credit unions are translated in the official English version as ‘pawnbrokers’. New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Through the Eye of a Needle Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD Author: Peter Brown ISBN: 978-0-691-15290-5 Year: 2012 Publisher: Princeton University Press Price: £27.95 When I studied St Augustine as a student about thirty years ago the standard book about him was by Peter Brown. This biography has remained an indispensable guide to Augustine. Peter Brown has now written a tremendous book about wealth and poverty in the late Roman Empire which not only draws on his unrivalled knowledge of Augustine but on an astounding selection of other authors from the same period. As it is the mind of the Church that deacons should have a special knowledge of the Catholic Social teaching, and of the scriptural and traditional sources for this, Brown’s new examination of how the Church managed this is particularly welcome, and overdue. Indeed, the early teaching and messages of Pope Francis reflect a concern that our liturgical and spiritual formation as priests and deacons may not engage with this properly. Part of the context of Brown’s dauntingly comprehensive survey is the recent outburst of new study and research on the late Roman Empire, particularly sources about families and prominent people in cities in the Empire outside Rome itself, from inscriptions, wills and material of that kind. People are certainly unfamiliar with this period, few being conversant with Gibbon. Covering the relatively short and concentrated period of two hundred years, Brown examines through the prism of wealth and poverty the transition Christianity underwent from being a privileged but impoverished minority after the Emperor Constantine ended persecution to 36

being a dominant force in most of western Europe. In the life of the Church a big feature of these years is the preaching we know about from key figures – particularly Ambrose, Jerome, Paulinus of Nola and Augustine – directed at urging rich people who had become Christians to change their habits of giving: to abandon the promotion of games and traditional acts of civic virtue and transfer their giving to the poor and to the Church. Brown’s thesis is that while this is important the overall picture was complex, in which the growing number of Christian converts included people from varying backgrounds who had some money – and that they continued to have money after conversion. Their changed pattern of giving gradually changed the nature of the Church and contributed to its growing power and influence, particular in the tumult following the sack of Rome in AD410. For deacons the most interesting parts of the book will be the sections which detail the preaching of men like Ambrose and Jerome. Their forceful and vivid condemnation of the rich and what the rich did with their money will always be a useful mine for quotations. Incidentally, much of what was condemned by these great Church leaders was the spending of vast amounts of money on games: it is difficult to imagine Jerome being enthusiastic about last year’s London Olympics. This book will be for a long time an invaluable guide to our knowledge of how the early Church handled the problems of wealth and poverty in the first centuries after it emerged from persecution. As the Church in our own day faces both the same problems of wealth and poverty and a rapidly changing position within society, deacons in particular, because of their calling to serve the poor, will gain much from what Peter Brown has done. Fr Ashley Beck, St Mary’s University College, Twickenham

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Anglo-Saxon Deacons and the

Continental Mission R

ichard Fletcher, in his penetrating study on the Christianisation process in Europe, The Conversion of Europe, from Paganism to Christianity, noted that the Frankish Empire was not so much an institutional framework, as a small group assembled around the Emperor Charlemagne. This group provided a focal point for the Empire, directed its ad hoc administration, and gave unity to what was a “ramshackle structure”.1 At the very core of this group were several Deacons. Most

Now it is upon you alone that the Churches of Christ rely, to you alone that they look for salvation, you who are the avenger of crimes, the guide of the erring, the consoler of the afflicted and the support of the godly famously, there was Alcuin, the man from Yorkshire who was to shape so much of the so-called Carolingian Renaissance.2 However, many other Anglo-Saxons played a significant role. We may give as an example Archbishop Beornrad of Sens, kinsman of St Willibrord, and a key councillor of Charlemagne. Amongst the important Deacons at the

Dr Harry Schnitker is Senior Research Fellow in Ecclesiastical History at the Maryvale Institute

court, a mention should be made of Paul the Deacon. Paul was a Lombard from Italy, and a monk at Monte Casino. Like Bl Alcuin, he was a man of outstanding learning. He was, in some respects, the counterpart of the Venerable Bede, for his histories of the Lombards and the Carolingian family gave the past an indelibly Christian outlook. Paul and Alcuin, Deacons both, were largely responsible for shaping Charlemagne’s desire to create an imperium christianum. Charlemagne was cast in the role of Constantine the Great, the Imperial protector of Holy Mother Church. Alcuin left little room for subtleties in one of his letters to Charlemagne in 799: “there is the royal dignity which Our Saviour Jesus Christ has reserved for you, so that you may govern the Christian nation ... Now it is upon you alone that the Churches of Christ rely, to you alone that they look for salvation, you who are the avenger of crimes, the guide of the erring, the consoler of the afflicted and the support of the godly”.3 There were two specific elements to the Carolingian Christianisation drive. One was an internal one, based on increased learning, an improved clergy, and an expansion of the Benedictine influence. Indeed, this was the period when the Holy Rule of St Benedict became the standard code of monasticism in the West. This was

1 R. Fletcher, The Conversion of Europe, from Paganism to Christianity, 371-1386 A.D., HarperCollins, London, 1997, p. 194. 2 For a recent evaluation of Alcuin from a Diaconal viewpoint, see P. Willey, “Blessed Alcuin, Deacon”, in New Diaconal Review, 8, May 2012, pp. 8-11. C.f. D.A. Bullough, Alcuin: Achievement and Reputation, Brill, Leiden, 2004. 3 Quoted in R. Folz, The Coronation of Charlemagne, Trans. J.E. Anderson, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1974, p. 125. New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Theology and History of the Diaconate

Book reviews

only a part of a vast programme of reform, which was summed up in the Admonitio generalis of 789, described by Rosamond McKitterick as “a determined programme of ecclesiastical and intellectual reform. It can be recognized as a concentrated and conscious effort to build an unequivocally Christian realm”.4 Even for those of us familiar with the history of the reform movement in Charlemagne’s empire, it still comes as something of a startling surprise to recall how vital a role was played in this process by Deacons. So far, we have focused on the internal element of the Christianisation process in the Carolingian realm. Yet externally, Deacons, and more specifically Anglo-Saxon Deacons, were to play a major role, too. The external element coincided with the aggressive expansionism of the Frankish monarchy under Charlemagne. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that the two were intrinsically intertwined. Ever since the conversion of the Frankish kings, the Church’s leadership had urged them to use their military might to enforce Christianity. In his Epistula 46, Bishop St Avitus of Vienne had told Clovis that it was his duty to use force to uphold the true Faith.5 However, such was the military might at Charlemagne’s disposal, such his total dominance of the European Continent, that the implications of this union between Church and state went deeper than ever before. The brutal conquest of the Saxons saw many a massacre in the name of Jesus, confusing the overtly worldly impulses of the Franks with religious motivation.

For the Frankish Adelskirche this was no problem. From the moment that the Franks were converted, the aristocracy occupied the higher ecclesial offices. Thus, the leadership of the Church identified closely with the ambitions of the worldly elite, who were their fathers, uncles, nephews and cousins. Yet the Deacons were less impressed. Bl Alcuin, to his eternal credit, wrote a raft of letters during the 790s expressing his disapproval of the ‘missionary strategy’; conversion was effective only through persuasion, not through coercion.6 Yet for all the violence involved in the eastward march of the Church, there was also a great emphasis on catechesis and gentle

James the Deacon of York played a most important role. Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History, recounts that he was the main evangelist of the Lindsay region, as well as of the Vale of Richmond in Yorkshire persuasion, and often the missionaries were living embodiments of the Gospel values. The role played in this process by Anglo-Saxons is very well-known. Ss Willibrord and Boniface were pivotal in the conversion of Frisians and Saxons, their impact possibly greater because they were

4 R. McKitterick, The Frankish Church and the Carolingian Reforms, 789-895, Royal Historical Society, London, 1977, pp. 1-19. C.f. Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel, “Commentary on the Rule of St Benedict, Trans. D. Barry OSB, with introductory essays by T. Kardong OSB, J. Lecrerq OSB and D.M. LaCorte”, in Cistercian Studies Series, vol. 212, Kalamazoo, 2007. 5 Avitus of Vienne, Letters and Selected Prose, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, 2002, pp. 362-374. 6 R. Fletcher, op cit, 195.

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Anglo-Saxon Deacons and the Continental Mission – Harry Schnitker

not Franks.7 Their achievements are wellknown, and time precludes an analysis. What is less well-known is that in all the missionary activities of the great AngloSaxon saints, Deacons played a significant role. This should not come as a great sur-

Whilst a Deacon, St Liudger singlehandedly restored the Church in what is now the eastern Netherlands. He would later become a priest and bishop, and achieved fame as Apostle of the Saxons, but his first fruits were gained as a Deacon prise. After all, amongst the first missionaries to the Anglo-Saxons, James the Deacon of York played a most important role. Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History, recounts that he was the main evangelist of the Lindsay region, as well as of the Vale of Richmond in Yorkshire.8 There was precedent for AngloSaxon Deacons working on the Continent. Not only did the Anglo-Saxon missionaries convert, they also made a great impression on the local Christians, which, in turn, attracted men to the Diaconate. An example of this process may be found in the case of St

Liudger (c. 742 – 26 March 809). Liudger was the scion of a noble Frisian family, already converted to the Faith.9 However, his own commitment was lacklustre, until, that is, he met with St Boniface. The great AngloSaxon missionary Bishop quickly convinced Liudger to change his ways. He moved to Northumbria, where he was ordained a Deacon in 767 by Bishop Ethelbert. Significantly, he showed no interest in the priesthood. He studied under Bl Alcuin, and the two men remained firm friends. He returned to the Low Countries in 775, where he worked in the region around Deventer. There, a pagan backlash had destroyed all the work by St Lebuinus, an Anglo-Saxon monk from Ripon. Whilst a Deacon, St Liudger singlehandedly restored the Church in what is now the eastern Netherlands. He would later become a priest and bishop, and achieved fame as Apostle of the Saxons, but his first fruits were gained as a Deacon. The exchange between Anglo-Saxon England and Charlemagne’s Empire was not just a one-way street: many Anglo-Saxon clergy studied in the Empire and returned home. Of course, theirs was a different type of mission. We see one of these men in the pages of an Illuminated Gospel Book, originally from Ireland but with tenth-century Anglo-Saxon additions. His name was Edward, and he copied part of the Gospel according to John.10 Interestingly, he did not write in an Insular

7 Bl Alcuin’s Life of Willibrord is in T.F.X. Noble and Th. Head (eds), Soldiers of Christ. Saints and Saints’ Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Sheed and Ward, London, 1995, pp. 189-212. For the best modern review of St Boniface’s role in the Low Countries, see C.J.C. Broer and M.W.J. de Bruijn, “Bonifatius en de Utrechtse Kerk, in C. Dekker and E.S.C. Erkelens-Buttinger, De kerk en de Nederlanden, Uitegeverij Verloren, Hilversum, 1997, pp. 23-70. 8 Bede, A History of the English Church and People, Penguin, London, 1988, p. 139. 9 For St Liudger, see M. Buhlmann, “Liudger und Karl der Große”, in Ich verkünde euch Christus. St. Liudger, Zeuge des Glaubens 742-809, Verlag und Druckkontor Kamp, Bochum, 1992, pp. 5-48. 10 R. Gameson, The Cambridge History of the Book in England. Volume 1, c.400-1400, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012, pp. 96, 342. New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Theology and History of the Diaconate

Anglo-Saxon Deacons and the Continental Mission – Harry Schnitker

hand, but in Carolingian miniscule.11 Who was Edward the Deacon? We do not know, but it is clear that it was far from unusual for Anglo-Saxon Deacons to be trained on the Continent, for his presence in the Ms never attracted any commentary. Anglo-Saxon scholars may have been a common sight on the Continent, but it was their contribution to the Carolingian mission that was truly outstanding. One of the most noticeable was that of an early follower of St Willibrord, St Adalbert of Egmond. He was a member of the Northumbrian royal family who became a monk. This may have happened in Ireland, where he studied at what is now Mellifont under Egbert of Rathmelsigi, who ordained him to the Diaconate. Around 690, he joined St Willibrord for the Continental mission, and was appointed to one of the most challenging regions of Frisia, the modern Dutch province of North Holland. In those days this was a thinly-populated region of marshes and dunes, regularly inundated by the sea. Here he ‘preached the word’ for almost five decades, and when he died Christianity was firmly established.12 There are some issues around the figure of St Adalbert, amongst others, whether his mission took him further south, and whether or not he was abbot of Echternach at one point. These are partly the result of the relatively late vitae, which date to the tenth century, but are based on older sources, and are not truly relevant to the vital point, anyhow. Nobody disputes that St Adalbert remained a Deacon, or that he made a very important contribution to the

Anglo-Saxon mission on the Continent. Other Deacons were less conspicuous, but still noteworthy. When St Liudger returned to Frisia from York, he was accompanied by a Deacon from York called Pyttel. He was an emissary from Bl Alcuin, instructed to deliv-

“Should I discover among these men certain deacons, as they are called, who have spent their lives since childhood in debauchery, adultery and every kind of uncleanness, ... who even now, when they have four or five or even more concubines in their beds at night, are brazen enough to call themselves deacons and read out the Gospel … I will remove them from office” er St Liudger to the diocesan see of Utrecht, and then to continue to Rome.13 He would later join Bl Alcuin at the palace of Charlemagne, but was by that time ordained to the priesthood. Unfortunately, we know nothing of his career as a Deacon, except that he must have been rather learned, for he taught with Bl Alcuin in York. A lack of detailed information is a genuine problem when one attempts to assess the importance of Deacons in the Anglo-Saxon mission. Let us take the example of the companions of St Boniface, who were martyred with him on 5 June 754. There were

11 British Library, Add.40618fo. 51. He signed with QUI LEGAT ORAT PRO SCRIPTORE EADVVARDO DIACONE. 12 G. Henschen, “De S. Adalberto Diacono”, in Acta Sanctorum Iunii VII, V. Palmé, Parijs, 1867, p. 83 ff; N.M. Vis, “De Vita Sancti Adalberti Confessoris”, in Egmond en Berne. Twee verhalende historische bronnen uit de middeleeuwen, Nederlands Historisch Genootschap, ’sGravenhage, 1987. 13 Altfrid, Vita Liudgeri, Trans. and ed. G.H. Pertz, MGH, Berlin, 1829, vol. 12.

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Anglo-Saxon Deacons and the Continental Mission – Harry Schnitker

four monks, several priests, and three Deacons. Their names are given as Hamrid, Scirbald and Bosa.14 It is clear that they played an important role in the mission, and on this particular journey they were deeply involved in preaching. However, we know nothing about them except for their names. This is not a great surprise: in a letter to Pope Zacharias in 742 St Boniface comments on the morality of many of the Deacons. He promises to root out any evil doing: “Should I discover among these men certain deacons, as they are called, who have spent their lives since childhood in debauchery, adultery and every kind of uncleanness, who have received the dia-

conate with this reputation, and who even now, when they have four or five or even more concubines in their beds at night, are brazen enough to call themselves deacons and read out the Gospel … I will remove them from office”.15 Clearly, many Deacons were rather less than respectable, and a good many others were what we would now call transitional Deacons, and became priests. However, as the few examples from above show, there were others who never moved on from their Diaconal ordination, and who dedicated their lives to the Carolingian missions, both external and internal. Their story, and their substantive contribution to the AngloSaxon Church, deserves to be told. ■

14 W. Levison (ed), Vitae Sancti Bonifati Archiepiscopi Maguntini, Hahn, 1905, pp. 47-8; a full, more modern translation of St Willibald’s text may be found in T.F.X. Noble and Th. Head (eds), op cit, pp. 107-140. 15 http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/boniface-letters.asp

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Theology and History of the Diaconate

Anglo-Saxon Deacons and the Continental Mission – Harry Schnitker

Book review: Justin Green is Director of Program Development, Institute for the Formation and Ministry of Deacons at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future Authors: Gary Macy; William T. Ditewig; Phyllis Zagano ISBN: 9780809147434 Publisher: Paulist Press, New York Date: 2011

erhaps the place to start is with what this book is Not It is not an argument for the ordination of women to the diaconate though readers may well reach that conclusion. More accurately, the book is a treasure of resources, including both information, propositions and challenges to be considered. Read carefully and prayerfully, the book will provide the material for each reader to frame a reasonable response to the proposition: should the Church ordain women for permanent ministry as a deacon. The book must be read in the context of the Church’s position on the issue. Unlike the question of ordaining women to the presbyterate, the discussion of ordaining women for permanent ministry as deacons violates no instruction from any Church authority. Discussion of the transitional diaconate, of course, is out of the question given the law that men discerning priesthood should be ordained to the diaconate only after the bishop is satisfied that the candidate is likely to be ordained to the presbyterate. Several of the proposals introduced at Vatican II that called for the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent ministry would have opened the Order to women. There was discussion of this and other questions related to the diaconate in midOctober of 1963. The conversation has 42

Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future

continued. Scholars, of course have perpetuated the dialogue, and the book includes excellent endnotes that would lead the reader deeper into the debate.

is nothing new here. Given the research and teaching records of the authors, they likely have said or written all that is in the book on other occasions; the book is valuable because it is comprehensive and brings to the reader a detailed exposition of history, sacramental theology and ecclesiology as they pertain to the question of whether the Church should ordain women for permanent diaconal ministry.

For at least the greatest part of a decade, the International Theological Commission has struggled with that question, instructed to do so by both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The Commission concluded, in 2002, that the Church should consider to “discern” whether women should be ordained to the diaconate. This book is part of the discernment. While relatively short, it is intended for the serious reader. Pejoratives and the usual unreasonable political discourse are thankfully absent. Note taking is essential, virtually every page continues information that is relevant to the discernment. By way of a summary, the

Several of the proposals introduced at Vatican II that called for the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent ministry would have opened the Order to women book contains, in one place, a thorough history of women and the diaconate, a discussion of the issues to be resolved, and an excellent examination of some of the practical questions that would arise should the Church decide to ordain women to permanent ministry as a deacon. Each of the authors is responsible for a chapter though the Foreword indicates

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

that they reviewed each other’s work. All three have written and spoken extensively on the subject. They are extraordinarily qualified. Dr. Gary Macy is the John Nobili S.J. Professor and Chair of the Theology Department at Santa Clara University. Deacon William Ditewig, Ph.D. served as staff to the Bishops Committee on the Diaconate at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He now is Dean’s Executive Professor of Theology at Santa Clara University and serves the Dioceses of Monterey, CA as Director of Faith Formation, Diaconate and Planning. Dr. Phyllis Zagano is Adjunct Professor of Religion at Hofstra University. Likely, there

Dr. Macy is a specialist in medieval theology, and his chapter does him credit. He begins with Scripture, then traces the ordination of women through the Patristic Age to the demise of the permanent diaconate in the twelfth century. Of particular note is his careful examination of ordination rituals. There is great confusion as to whether a women ordained to the diaconate is a woman deacon or a deaconess. Over the centuries, these words have meant different things. The question is whether bishops intended to ordain a woman to the diaconate, similar to the ordination of a man to the diaconate. By examining the rites, Dr. Macy demonstrates that with the exception of pronouns and other words that describe the candidate, the language is the same. The situation appears to be similar to today’s ritual in which men may be and often are ordained for temporary diaconal ministry and for permanent diaconal ministry at the same Mass and always with the same rite. Dr. Macy draws comparisons between the Eastern and the Western Churches, and brings in material from denominations not in union with Rome but in which Orders are recognized. It is a thorough work. It reads like a history and is very well written.

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Theology and History of the Diaconate

Justin Green

Deacon Ditewig has been in the middle of many conversations about the diaconate at the U.S.C.C.B., in Rome at the various Congregations, with scholars and with deacons. He wrote the chapter entitled, Women Deacons: Present Possibilities. He opens the chapter by observing that, as persuasive as history might be, it is not dispositive of the question. He adds to Macy’s history, especially surrounding Vatican II. Deacon Ditewig is an avid student of the events and movements in the 19th and 20th centuries that led to the Council’s consideration of the diaconate. He has conducted extensive studies of the Council’s deliberations on the diaconate, and brings his expertise to bear by showing

Even if it were abundantly clear that women had served as deacons in the first millennium of the Church, their ordination must also fit the current sacramental theology embraced by the Church what the bishops intended when they voted overwhelmingly to allow national conferences to petition for permission to ordain men for permanent diaconal ministry. Even if it were abundantly clear that women had served as deacons in the first millennium of the Church, their ordination must also fit the current sacramental theology embraced by the Church. As Ditewig points out, the 12th century saw not only the demise of women deacons but the virtual end to the permanent diaconate and a revision of the theology of Holy Orders. The decisions by the Council Fathers at Vatican II certainly required another revision. He describes and discusses both sets of changes and speculates 44

on how they might affect the continuing discernment of whether to ordain women to the diaconate. His chapter is a brief but extraordinarily well written exposition of sacramental theology as it affects the diaconate, including the motu proprio making clear that only men ordained to the presbyterate serve the people of God in personam Christi capitis, in the person of Christ, the head of the church. Dr. Zagano takes up the question of functionality. She speaks to the question of what a deacon is, then more than her colleagues addresses the subject of what deacons do now and what they might do if the Order included women. She concludes that women deacons likely would do very much what deacons now do. They serve in parishes and bring the presence of the Church into the community. She is particularly persuasive when she addresses Cardinal Walter Kaspar’s statement that women can do everything that deacons do, without ordination. Clearly, this is incorrect, and suggests that this famous statement by His Eminence might have been taken out of context. She resolves the issue by pointing out that only clerics can preach at Mass, and not even a bishop is empowered to create exceptions. It is clear, Dr. Zagano maintains, that even though 85% or more of lay ecclesial ministers in the U.S. church are female, there are substantial limitations on their ability to minister because they cannot be ordained.

Book review: Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future – Justin Green

women in monasteries and religious women in the community. She then turns to questions that might arise if secular women sought ordination. Given that the Church generally treats the husband as head of the household, is the woman’s promise of respect and obedience to her

“... women can do everything that deacons do, without ordination” bishop undermining of her marital vows? Deacons often struggle with the challenge of ministry and maintaining a strong marriage, would the hierarchy of Church tradition inside of a family present an even greater challenge. No doubt the questions that Dr. Zagano are important. However, for the most part, they are likely to be raised at the second

stage. They do not so much as address the question of whether women should be ordained to the diaconate but of how ordained women would find a place in the Church, in the community and in the family. It would seem, however, that if the Church discerned that it should ordain women as deacons, then it would find a way to address these questions. Dr. Zagano’s chapter is interesting and raises good questions. The “what if” topic in and of itself simply is not as riveting as the material in the first two chapters. The Church will solve these problems, if it decides that women have a place in the diaconate. In sum, this is an excellent book for reading and an even better resource for detailed study. It is well worth the purchase price and should be on the shelf of bishops, priests, deacons, theologians and laity who are concerned about the discernment now underway in the Church.■

Much of Dr. Zagano’s chapter is devoted to practical issues – the “what ifs.” What if a nun sought ordination? Could she remain a nun? Canon law does not permit a layperson to have authority over a cleric; if the nun’s superior is not a cleric then she may be forced to choose between the diaconate and her religious community. Dr. Zagano spends significant time in her chapter explicating the challenges that would confront nuns and sisters – religious

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Theology and History of the Diaconate

Book review: Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future – Justin Green

Tony Schmitz

Deacon Tony Schmitz is Director of Studies of the national diaconate formation programme for the Diaconate Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of Bishops and co-editor of The New Diaconal Review. Ahead of an international Conference in Rome on Deacons and New Evangelisation, being planned in conjunction with the Council for New Evangelisation for autumn 2014, he writes on some of the pioneers of this re-evangelisation of Europe and the First World.

hen he emerged onto the balcony high above the doors of St Peter’s as the newly elected successor to St Peter, last time round, Pope Emeritus Benedict described himself as a “simple humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord”. He then chose for himself the name of Benedict. Why Benedict? “When it comes to the main priorities of the Pope,” said one who know him well, the theme of new evangelisation, especially for Europe, "is a key motive of his papacy and that's why he took the name Benedict." He did not cease to demonstrate his affection for the new communities and movements that are the signs of the new outpourings of the Spirit, the authentic fruit of the Second Vatican Council, a new Pentecost, to counter the ‘apostasy of the gentiles’ especially in Europe and the First World. “In recent decades, movements and communities have come to birth in which the power of the Gospel is keenly felt.”1 During the dry post-conciliar years, difficult years for the Church, these new entities unexpectedly appeared as a providential gift: “Suddenly here was something nobody had planned on. The Holy Spirit had, so to say, spoken up for himself again. In young people especially, the faith was surging up in its

entirety, with no ifs and buts, with no excuses or way out, experienced as a favour and as a precious life-giving gift”.2 We can expect the same dispositions from Pope Francis and deacons will continue to be urged to play their key role in the new evangelisation.

New Evangelisation ago on Wednesday September 7th 1921 and today established on all continents in over 170 countries, with four million active members and five million auxiliaries.4 Frank Duff, as a disciple of both Blessed John Henry Newman and St Louis-Marie de Montfort was a man who anticipated so many of the insights of the Second Vatican Council concerning the role of the laity, the need for their solid formation in the faith and their key role in evangelization.

We can be tempted to imagine that the need for re-evangelisation and groups that are explicitly consecrated to this are new features of the Church de nos jours. But in the early part of the twentieth century, alongside the liturgical, biblical, catechetical, ecumenical and diaconal movements, new

Another who realised this and even foresaw the days of a New Pentecost in the Church was a French lay woman, Marthe Robin (1902–1981)5, who together with her spiritual director (and also a devotee of St Louis-Marie), a diocesan priest from

“Suddenly here was something nobody had planned on. The Holy Spirit had, so to say, spoken up for himself again. In young people especially, the faith was surging up in its entirety, with no ifs and buts, with no excuses or way out, experienced as a favour and as a precious life-giving gift”

Lyons, Père Georges Finet, founded the first Foyer de Charité at Chateauneuf de Galaure some sixty miles south of that earliest of dioceses, Lyons, founded by St Pothinus and his successor St Irenaeus, in 1936. Châteauneuf, in eastern central France, the former province of Dauphiné, in the department of Drôme and the Diocese of Valence was as de-Christianised as anywhere in France at the time Marthe was growing up. After the Third Republic drove out all the religious who had till then taught in many schools, these were replaced by teachers from training colleges that were, according to the novelist Marcel Pagnol, ‘anti-clerical seminaries’. The lay school at Châteauneuf, after the Brothers and Sisters had been expelled, became a centre for

4 Cf. Legion of Mary, Celebrating 90 Golden Years 1921–2011, Myra House, Dublin 2012, p. 57. A significant further link between the Foyers of Charity and the Legion was the remarkable figure of Veronica O’Brien, who introduced the Legion of Mary not only to France, but also to Belgium, Greece, Turkey and erstwhile Yugoslavia. Her contribution to the Church both before and after the Council was of the first order. She played a key part in winning the acceptance of the Roman authorities for the Charismatic Renewal in 1975. See Cardinal Suenens, Les Imprévus de Dieu, Paris, Fayard, 1993. Following her meeting with King Baudouin of Belgium Veronica gave up her external work in the apostolate in order to play a providential role in his life as revealed by Suenens in Baudouin, King of the Belgians: The Hidden Life, Fiat Publications, Ertvelde, 1996. 5 Bernard Peyrous, Marthe Robin: A Prophetic Vision of the Gospel Message, Veritas, Dublin 2010. Her life is one of such extraordinary charisms and gifts that over thirty books and over a thousand articles have been written about her, mainly in French. It is not surprising that this is so. Even when she was alive, people tried to discover things about her that she did not want to be made public. Marthe herself was discretion personified. The work she founded, the Foyers of Charity, reflected this same reserve. Retreatants are guided to focus on the Gospel and not on Marthe. This has not always been the case with some of her Anglophone devotees. Like St Francis of Assisi she carried the marks of the wounds of Jesus in her body, “Her identification with Jesus brought her to suffer him even to suffer his suffering” said Jean Vanier. She lived the Passion every Friday after she received Holy Communion, brought her till the end of her life by Père Finet. How could a person living as she did, “lost in the Drôme countryside, confined to bed and without education, engage the interest of great intellectuals and ordinary people alike, and make herself understood and appreciated by all?” Ibid. p. 12.

communities and even the work of ‘new evangelisation’ avant le mot, were phenomena that arose in the Church in different countries of Europe. Perhaps the oldest and most spectacular in term of expansion across the globe was the LEGION OF MARY founded in Dublin by Frank Duff 3, Mary and Elizabeth Dooley and others, ninety years

1 Benedict XVI, “Homily, Holy Mass: Marienfeld Esplanade, 21 August 2005”, L’Osservatore Romano, English ed., no. 34, 2005), pp. 11–12, citation at 12. Cf. Joseph Ratzinger, New Outpourings of the Spirit, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2007, p.13. 2 Ibid, p. 8. 3 For a good account, see the new biography by Finola Kennedy, Frank Duff: a Life Story, Burns & Oates, London, 2011

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subjecting children to anti-religious propaganda. An anti-Christian group was formed in the village and brought pressure to bear on the local population. “A Masonic lodge even set itself up in Châteauneuf and more or less controlled the elections.”6 In 1961, Marthe recalled an incident from childhood: “One day I was on my way to Catechism class. I had a copy under my arm in a brown cover; a gentleman from Châteauneuf asked me: ‘Where are you going?’ I answered him proudly: ‘To Catechism.’ ‘And what is that?’ He pointed to my Catechism book. ‘Show it to me.’ I handed it over to him. He took it and tore it in two … But I was so attached to that book that I kept it after that, torn as it was, as a relic … I must have been seven or eight years old.” The founding of the Foyers of Charity was, under the One she called le bon Dieu and the Blessed Mother, the work of both Marthe Robin and Abbé Finet. Although everything happened at Marthe’s initiative, it could not have done so without Georges Finet’s unfailing commitment. The providentially arranged encounter between these two personalities in 1936 was therefore decisive. Regrettably there is not the space here to describe the riveting way it came about.7 From the first, the Foyers were called Foyers de Lumière, Charité, et Amour. The Foyers exist for the fundamental retreat, and the fundamental retreat has been – from September 1936 – an instrument for the re-evangelization of the

faithful and for evangelization tout court. The goal has always been to help lay people realize their full vocation as baptized. The Light in the Foyer de Lumière is the light of the Gospel preached in the Church. The Foyer has always been a place of teaching. Key to the Foyer’s mission and effectiveness has been teaching in a climate of silence. The silence allows for a completely different “hearing” than the “hearing” of

Key to the Foyer’s mission and effectiveness has been teaching in a climate of silence. The silence allows for a completely different “hearing” than the “hearing” of the classroom the classroom. The Gospel is heard in a silence that transforms the heart and not simply the mind. It is a contemporary version of the Dominican aliis tradere contemplata. The silence in which the Gospel is heard can hardly be underestimated and corresponds to many affirmations of Benedict XVI.8 Also key to the Foyer’s effectiveness is the witness of a priest and a community of laypersons working in harmony. The collabo-

6 Ibid. p. 19. 7 The circumstances of this meeting, as described often by Père Finet, as well as the immediate fruit of it are given by Peyrous, Ibid. pp 100–123. Peyrous does justice to Père Finet’s role as co-founder. 8 Cf. also: “There is a simple truth at stake. There can be no real relationship with God, there can be no real meeting with God, without silence. Silence prepares for that meeting and silence follows it. An early Christian wrote, 'To someone who has experienced Christ himself, silence is more precious than anything else.' For us God has the first word, and our silence opens our hearts to hear him. Only then will our own words really be words, echoes of God's, and not just more litter on the rubbish dump of noise.” Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB of Aberdeen in his Advent Letter in 2011.

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ration seen in the Foyers should also be seen in parishes and in other communities of Christians. If I may be allowed a personal observation, two of the many things that most struck me upon making my first Foyer retreat at Châteauneuf, given in English by Father Matt Bradley of the Foyer of Charity in North Scituate (near Boston), Massachusetts, USA, was the quality of welcome encountered in the Foyers and the spiritual depth of the retreat conferences, based as these were on the Gospel of St John. Those with a mission in and from the Church to catechize are especially in need of receiving the Word in silence. Fr. Bradley writes: “When I preached the Foyer retreat in Bangui, Central Africa in 1991, there were a hundred and twenty-three retreatants ranging from university students to a federal judge. About thirty of these were full-time catechists preparing themselves for another year of service.” When he was approaching the age of ninety, Father Georges Finet would often follow the preaching of others and said that he was still in need of “re-evangelization”. Participation in a fundamental retreat – in which the participants may range from seekers, to catechumens, to deacons and priests, to a bishop – helps Church “personnel” to see grace at work in ordinary folk, and that is a source of humility and an antidote to unhealthy professionalism. At the concluding meal of the retreat, participants are invited to give a testimony about themselves, a conversion story, or what they have experienced during the retreat. The world has a great need of witnesses. To witness to our faith is not just an option. The Church exists to evangelize. In

his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope Pope John Paul II spoke of the struggle involved in witnessing to Christ in the world: Against the spirit of the world, the Church takes up anew each day a struggle that is none other than the struggle for the world’s soul. If in fact, on the one hand, the Gospel and evangelization are present in the world, on the other hand, there is also present a powerful anti-evangelization which is well organized and has the means to oppose vigorously the Gospel and evangelization. The struggle for the soul of the contemporary world is at its height where the spirit of this world seems strongest. Each Foyer de Charité is a retreat centre, run and animated by a community of lay people consecrated to God, at the head of which is a priest-father of the community. Mary is regarded as the Mother of each Foyer. These members, men and women, are called to live according to the spirit of the Beatitudes at the service of evangelisation, and work with the whole of the Church to reveal Christ, the light of the world, and his message of salvation. In the spirit of the Beatitudes they also place their material, intellectual and spiritual goods in common. Among the formation activities, spiritual retreats open to all play an important part, as a synthesis of Christian life and faith9 in fidelity to the Word of God and the Magisterium of the Church. Retreats, animated by the laity, are led by the priest responsible for the Foyer. There are today over 75 Foyers in 41 countries throughout the world. In 1940 this form of community was totally new in the Catholic Church. Marthe’s support and encouragement for a host of new communities is well known and well documented.10

9 Cf. William Harmless SJ, Augustine and the Catechumenate, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 1995, passim. 10 Peyrous, pp, 306 ff. See also: Frédéric Lenoir, Les Communautées Nouvelles : Interviews des fondateurs, Fayard, Paris, 1988. New Diaconal Review Issue 10

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The arrival of the Charismatic Renewal11 in France combined with the establishment of new communities12, some of which (nearly forty or so) were within its fold but others (about eighty or so) belonged to other spiritual traditions. A look at the history of the new communities will show that Marthe and the Foyers’ contribution to this renewal was considerable, not least through personal contact with the founders of these communities who came on retreat to Châteauneuf or to seek Marthe’s counsel and intercession. The Foyers showed that it was possible to have priests, deacons, religious and diocesan, living and working together with consecrated men and women, an intuition which was taken up by some of the new communities. The extent of her influence varied, but among those she met and kept in contact were the Emmanuel Community – the most important charismatic community in the world based in seventy countries – the Community of the Beatitudes, the Saint-Jean Community and Jean Vanier’s l’Arche.13 We know of over sixty Cardinals, bishops, philosophers and theolo-

gians who consulted her.14 Marthe not only helped the new communities’ movement, but remains a protectress for the evangelization of the world. Those who pray to her feel they are dealing with a living friend.15 “Beyond the barrier of death she is very close to the hearts of those who love her and call upon her, and is more active than ever. Her beatification is sought and expected everywhere.”16 What the Marthe and Foyers teach and exemplify, contrary to the thinking in the Church at the time she was born, is that to be a Christian is to be somebody who has been called to be holy. Sanctity is not something reserved for the few. Unless we wish to damn ourselves, we are all called to see the Blessed Trinity. And in order to see God we must be absolutely pure, that is to say holy. If then this is our destiny, why not start now, at once? Why miss out on life by leading a mediocre existence down here? Contrary to those who held that a life of contemplation of God was only for some, Marthe

11 The French Dominican, Albert de Monléon, who was the first to write about it in France, sought out Marthe Robin and she gave him a positive welcome and encouraged him: “The future of the Church lies in prayer groups.” Cf also Fire and Hope: Pierre Goursat: Founder of the Emmanuel Community by Bernard Peyrous and Hervé-Marie Catta, Emmanuel Publications, 2005. p.61 ff. 12 For a listing of those recognized by the Holy See, refer to: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/laity/documents/rc_pc_laity_doc_20051 114_associazioni_en.html 13 Others with which she was associated include: Equipes de Notre Dame (or Teams of Our Lady) founded by Fr Caffarel, Notre Dame de la Sagesse, the Monastic Fraternity of Jerusalem, the Little Brothers of Marie Mère du Rédempteur, the Little Sisters of Nazareth, the Missionaires de Notre Dame, l’Office culturel de Cluny, the Canons Regular of Champagne-sur-Rhône, the Fraternité Bethléhem-Saint-Benoît, the Foyer Marie-Jean, the Nouvelle Alliance community, the Petites Soeurs Mariales d’Israel et de Saint-Jean, and the educational work of Eau Vive. 14 Amongst them: Jean Danièlou, Réginald Garrigou Lagrange, Gabriel Marcel, Jean Guitton, Cardinal L J Suenens, Cardinal Villot, Secretary of State to Paul VI, then John Paul I and John Paul II. 15 One day I shall be at liberty to testify to the great encouragement and help she has given to the new British movement, the Little Way of Healing Ministries and the New Spring community founded by Mrs Pauline Edwards and the Augustian friar, Fr Laurence Brassill. 16 Peyrous, p. 363.

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thought and Fr Finet taught the opposite. In line with Francis de Sales, the spirituality of the Sacred Heart and especially with Doctor

... in order to see God we must be absolutely pure, that is to say holy. If then this is our destiny, why not start now, at once? Why miss out on life by leading a mediocre existence down here? of the Church Thérèse of Lisieux, she wanted to make holiness accessible to all. Here her thinking was in consonance with Père Garrigou Lagrange, his doctoral student

Karol Wojtyla, Père Finet, the Second Vatican Council, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI. Marthe and Père Finet and the Foyers state loudly and clearly that Baptism is a sacrament the aim of which is nothing less than holiness. The implications of this stance were, at that time, considerable and remain so for us in 2013. And as all the baptized are called to holiness so are they called to evangelise. Marthe’s position was at the time seen as a shocking doctrinal deviation. The challenge was and remains enormous: the Church must be transformed. But not transformed from the outside, though there will be ever increasing persecution from without. It must be conquered gently, from within. By love. Then people allow it to happen. It is a transformation by divine light and divine charity that Marthe Robin and Père Finet and the Foyers of Charity have always advocated and continue to advocate. ■

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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'.

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Tony Schmitz

Tony Schmitz continues his fresh and more complete translation of the International Theological Commission’s key research document Le Diaconat: Évolution et Perspectives, Editions du Cerf, Paris, 2003. 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 the continuation and completion of Sections IV and V of Chapter Four on the Sacramentality of the Diaconate. To be continued.

IV 3. The sacramentality of the diaconate in postconciliar developments 1.Firstly, let us note what is said in the document that implements the Conciliar decisions, i.e., the Motu proprio of Paul VI, Sacrum diaconatus ordinem (1967). In respect of the theological nature of the diaconate, it extends what Vatican II said on the gratia of the diaconate, whilst adding a reference to indelible “character” (absent in the texts of the Council) and also that the diaconate is understood as a “stable” service.1 As a grade of the sacrament of Orders, it confers the capacity to perform tasks that belong for the most part to the liturgical domain (eight out of the eleven cited). In some expressions, they appear as deputised or delegated tasks.2 Thus, it is not very clear at what point the diaconal 'character' bestows the capacity for certain competences or powers which could only be exercised by reason of a prior sacramental ordination since there would be 1 2 3 4

another way (by delegation or by deputising) of accessing them, rather than by reason of the sacrament of Holy Orders. 2. The most recent step taken in the Motu proprio of Paul VI, Ad pascendum (1972) refers to the establishment of the permanent diaconate (without excluding it as a transitional stage) as a 'middle order' between the higher hierarchy and the rest of the People of God. In respect of sacramentality, as well as considering this medius ordo as “signum vel sacramentum ipsius Christi Domini, qui non venit ministrari sed ministrare” [“a sign or sacrament of the Lord Christ himself, who ‘came not to be served but to serve.’”], the document presupposes its sacramentality and limits itself simply to repeating the already known expressions, such as sacra ordinatio or sacrum ordinem.3 3. Following positions already adopted before Vatican II, certain authors yet again after the Council expressed their doubts concerning the sacramentality of the diaconate more explicitly and with further argument. Their motives varied. J. Beyer (1980) presented primarily his analysis of the conciliar texts whose silence on the distinction between the powers of “Orders” and of “jurisdiction” seemed to him to avoid rather than to provide a solution to unresolved questions.4 Something similar would obtain in the fluctuation in meaning accorded to the

Cf. AAS 59 (1967) 698. See ibid. 702. Cf. AAS 64 (1972) 536. 534. 537. Cf. J. Beyer, Nature et position du sacerdoce, in: NRTh 76 (1954) 356-373, 469-480. Idem: De diaconatu animadversiones, in: Periodica 69 (1980) 441-460. New Diaconal Review Issue 10

The sacramentality of the diaconate in post-conciliar developments term ministerium and the contrast between it and sacerdotium. And further, Beyer evaluated the caution exhibited in the conciliar texts not only as arising out of a concern to avoid condemning opinions but also as arising out of doctrinal vacillations.5 This was why it was later necessary to clarify this question: “estne diaconatus pars sacerdotii sicut et episcopatus atque presbyteratus unum sacerdotium efficiunt?” [Is the diaconate part of the sacer-

... it would be difficult to call the diaconate a “sacrament” because it was not instituted to accomplish any act whatsoever in persona Christi dotium just as the episcopate and the presbyterate effect one sacerdotium?] The question cannot be resolved by recourse to “the common priesthood” of the faithful whilst excluding deacons from the “sacrificing” priesthood (cf. Philips). According to Tradition the ministerial priesthood was “unum” and “unum sacramentum”. If it was only this sacramental priesthood that rendered one capable of acting in persona

Christi, with an ex opere operato efficacy, then it would be difficult to call the diaconate a “sacrament” because it was not instituted to accomplish any act whatsoever in persona Christi and with an ex opere operato efficacy. Further, we need to look more carefully at what Trent said and investigate the normative value of its references to the diaconate.6 We still need to re-read carefully the Acts of Vatican II, the development of its schemas, the various interventions, the relatio of the respective Commission. It could be concluded from this relatio that difficulties in respect of the following points had not yet been altogether resolved: a) the exegetical foundation of the institution of deacons (it waives consideration of Acts 6: 1-6 – because that remains open to debate – and restricts its consideration to the simple mention of deacons in Phil: 1.1 and I Tim 3: 8-12); (b) the theological justification of the sacramental nature of the diaconate, whilst intending to re-establish it in its modality of permanence. By way of conclusion: If Vatican II spoke with caution and ex obliquo of the sacramental nature of the diaconate, this arose not just out of a concern not to condemn

5 Beyer especially disagreed with G. Philips on the matter of this caution. Given that the Council wanted to act non dogmatice, sed pastorale, even a much more explicit statement would not ipso facto imply condemnation of the contrary view. Hence in Beyer’s opinion, the reason for the caution was due to the fact that in respect of the sacramentality of the diaconate, the haesitatio was "manifesta et doctrinalis quidem." 6 According to Beyer, the term ministri has a generic meaning. There had been no intention to assert dogmatically what the Protestant Reform was denying. The way Trent was invoked often went "ultra eius in Concilio Tridentino pondus et sensum." [beyond the weight and meaning words carried in the Council of Trent]. New Diaconal Review Issue 10

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anyone, but rather on account of the “incertitudo doctrinae”.7 Therefore, to confirm its sacramental nature, neither the majority opinion of theologians (which had also in fact existed in respect of the sub-diaconate), nor the mere description of the rite of ordination (which needed to be clarified in the light of other sources), nor the mere imposition of hands (which can be non-sacramental in nature) would suffice. 4. In the new Codex Iuris Canonici of 1983, the diaconate is spoken of from the perspective of its sacramentality, which introduces developments that deserve comment. Accordingly, in canons 1008 to 1009 the diaconate is one of the three orders and the Code seems to apply to it the general theology of the sacrament of Holy Orders in its integrity.8 If this application is valid, then it follows that the diaconate is a sacramental reality, of divine institution, that makes deacons sacri ministri (in the Code those baptized who are ordained), which prints on them an 'indelible character' (taking for granted what had been said by Paul VI) and which by virtue of their consecration and deputation (“consecrantur et deputantur”), renders them capable of exercising in persona Christi Capitis and in the grade which corresponds to

them (“pro suo quisque gradu”[each in accord with his own grade]) the tasks of teaching, of sanctifying, and of ruling – in other words the functions proper to those called to guide the People of God. Such an integration of the diaconate into the general theology of the sacrament of Holy Orders raises some questions: Can it be argued theologically that the deacon, albeit pro suo gradu [according to his degree], exercises the “munera docendi, sanctificandi et regendi” in persona

Should we understand the Code’s expression in persona Christi Capitis in a more comprehensive sense, so it can also be applied to diaconal functions? Christi Capitis as does the bishop and the priest? Is that not something particular and exclusive to one who has received sacramental ordination and the consequent power “conficere corpus and sanguinem Christi”, that is, to consecrate the Eucharist, which does not in any way belong to the deacon? Should we understand the Code’s expression in persona

7 The biggest reason for this uncertainty lay in the assertion that "diaconum non ad sacerdotium sed ad ministerium ordinari, atque nihil in hoc ministerio agere diaconum quin et laicus idem facere non possit." [The deacon is ordained not to the sacerdotium but to the service of the bishop, and there is nothing the deacon does in this ministry that cannot be done by a lay person.] 8 "Sacramento ordinis ex divina institutione inter christifideles quidam, charactere indelebili suo signantur, constituuntur sacri ministri, qui nempe consecrantur et deputantur ut, pro suo quisque gradu, in persona Christi Capitis munera docendi, sanctificandi et regendi adimplentes, Dei populum pascant" [By divine institution some among the Christian faithful are constituted sacred ministers through the sacrament of Orders by means of the indelible character with which they are marked; accordingly they are consecrated and deputed to shepherd the people of God, each in accord with his own grade of Orders, by fulfilling in the Person of Christ the Head the functions of teaching, sanctifying and governing.] CIC can. 1008.

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Christi Capitis in a more comprehensive sense, so it can also be applied to diaconal functions? But then how are we to interpret the Council’s affirmation that the deacon is ordained “non ad sacerdotium, sed ad ministerium”? Can the task of “pascere populum Dei” be considered an

the potestas sacra to act in persona Christi pertains only to the bishops and presbyters, whilst deacons hold “vim populo Dei serviendi” effect of the sacramentality of the diaconate? Would not discussion of its powers lead to an impasse? It is quite natural that the Code [CIC] should deal specifically and fully with the faculties pertaining to deacons. And it does do in several canons.9 Canons 517,2 and 519 refer to deacons in regard to co-operation with the parish priest as “pastor proprius” and to the possibility of granting deacons a participation in the exercise of the cura pastoralis (can. 517,2). This possibility of sharing in the exercise of the cura pastoralis paroeciae (which may be granted in the first place to the deacon,

although it can also be granted to lay persons) raises the question of the capacity of the deacon to assume the pastoral leadership of the community and picks up again, with different nuances, what has already been settled in AG 16 and Sacrum diaconatus V/22: If here we are referring in a direct manner to regere, canon 517,2 speaks in a more nuanced way of “participatio in exercitio pastoralis curae”. In any case, in regard to the possibility opened up by canon 517, presented as a final solution, more precise thought needs to be given to the real participation of deacons, in virtue of their diaconal ordination, in the “cura animarum” and the task of “pascere populum Dei”.10 5. The recent Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), in its defintive 1997 edition, would appear to speak more decisively in favour of the sacramentality of the diaconate. It affirms that the potestas sacra to act in persona Christi pertains only to the bishops and presbyters, whilst deacons hold “vim populo Dei serviendi” in their different diaconal functions (#875). It also refers to deacons when, in regard to the sacrament of Holy Orders, it considers “ordination” as a “sacramental act” that allows the recipient to exercise a “sacred power” which proceeds, ultimately, from

9 In the canons 757; 764; 766; 767 (the homily is reserved "aut sacerdoti aut diacano," whilst lay folk may also be admitted "ad praedicandum"); 835; 861; 910; 911; 1003 (deacons are not ministers of the Anointing of the Sick, because "unctionem infirmorum valide administrat omnis et solus sacerdos"[every priest and only a priest, validly administers the anointing of the sick]: an application of the principle that speaks of the deacon as "non ad sacerdotium sed ad ministerium"?) 1079; 1081; 1108; 1168; 1421; 1425; 1428; 1435 (they can be "judges", something that forms part of the power of governance or jurisdiction). 10 Such reflection is needed, on account of maintaining the principle that the pastor proprius and the ultimate moderator of the plena cura animarum can only be one who has received priestly ordination (the sacerdos). We could thus be faced, at the extreme, with the figure of a sacerdos (who is not in fact a parochus , although he has all the attributes of one) and the figure of a diaconus (who is a quasi-parochus since he has, in fact, the responsibility of the cura pastoralis, though not in its totality because he lacks the sacramental powers relating to the Eucharist and Penance). New Diaconal Review Issue 10

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Jesus Christ alone (#1538). On the one hand it would seem that according to the CCC deacons could also in a certain manner be included under certain sacerdotal categories in a general understanding of the sacrament of Orders, since it mentions these categories from this point of view at the same time as bishops and presbyters in #1539–1543. On the other hand in the definitive edition #1554 justifies the restriction of the term sacerdos to bishops and priests, thereby excluding deacons, whilst at the same time maintaining the affirmation that deacons also belong to the sacrament of Orders (#1554). Finally, the idea of the sacramentality is reinforced by the explicit attribution of the doctrine of 'character' to deacons as a particular configuration to Christ, Deacon and Servant of all (#1570). 6. The recent Ratio fundamentalis (1998), which recognises the difficulties in coming to understand the “germana natura” of the diaconate, nevertheless decisively upholds the clarity of the doctrinal elements (“clarissime definita”, #3 and #10), in virtue both of ancient diaconal practice and of what had been established by the Council. There is no doubt that we have here a way of speaking of the specific identity of the

deacon which offers some new features in comparison to what had obtained until the present. The deacon has a specific configuration to Christ, Lord and Servant,11 to which corresponds a spirituality marked by “serviceability” as a distinctive sign that, through ordination, renders the deacon a

sacramentality of the diaconate as well as its sacramental character, within the perspective of a common theology of the sacrament of Orders and the respective character it imprints.12 We have here language that is decisive and explicit although it is not yet clear quite how that might be

The deacon has a specific configuration to Christ, Lord and Servant, to which corresponds a spirituality marked by “serviceability” as a distinctive sign that, through ordination, renders the deacon a living 'icon' of Christ the Servant in the Church

If in fact these functions can be performed by a layman, what can justify the fact that they have their source in a new and distinct sacramental ordination?

living 'icon' of Christ the Servant in the Church (#11). In this way we can justify the restriction of the configuration with Christ, Head and Shepherd to priests. But the configuration with Christ the 'Servant' and the 'service' as a characteristic of ordained ministry are also valid for priests. So it is not very clear what is “specifically diaconal” in this service, or what it is that finds expression in functions or “munera” (cf. #9) that are exclusively the competence of deacons by virtue of their sacramental capacity. All in all, the Ratio clearly affirms the

11 "Specificam configurationem cum Christo, Domino and Servo omnium ... specificam diaconi identitatem ... is enim, prout unici ministerii ecclesiastici particeps, est in Ecclesia specificum signum sacramentale Christi Servi" [a specific conformation to Christ, Lord and Servant of all … specific theological identity of the deacon … as a participation in the one ecclesiastical ministry, he is a specific sacramental sign, in the Church, of Christ the servant]. Ratio # 5. 12 "Prout gradus ordinis sacri, diaconatus characterem imprimit et specificam gratiam sacramentalem communicat ... signum configurativum-distinctivum animae modo indelebili impressum, quod ... configurat Christo, qui diaconus, ideoque servus omnium factus est" [Insofar as it is a grade of holy orders, the diaconate imprints a character and communicates a specific grace. The diaconal character is the configurative and distinguishing sign indelibly impressed in the soul, which configures the one ordained to Christ, who made himself the deacon or servant of all]. Ratio # 7.

International Theological Commission: The sacramentality of the diaconate in post-conciliar developments – Tony Schmitz

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

the expression of more consistent theological developments or new and better justified foundations.

V. Conclusion The doctrinal position in favour of the sacramentality of the diaconate is, broadly, the majority opinion of theologians from the twelfth century to the present day and it is presupposed in the practice of the Church and in most of the documents of the Magisterium; it is supported by those who defend the permanent diaconate (for celibate or married person) and constitutes an element included in a large part of the propositions in favour of the diaconate for women. Yet, despite everything, this doctrinal position faces questions that need further clarification, either through the development of a more convincing theology of the sacramentality of the diaconate, or through a more direct and explicit intervention of the Magisterium, or through a more successful ecclesiological articulation of the various elements. The path that was traced in regard to the sacramentality of the episcopate could be taken as a decisive

and instructive reference-point. Amongst the questions demanding a deeper and more fully developed theological elaboration are the following: a) the normative status of the sacramentality of the diaconate as it was fixed through the doctrinal interventions of the Magisterium, especially at Trent and at Vatican II; b) “unity” and the “unicity” of the sacrament of Holy Orders in the diversity of its grades; (c) the bearing of the distinction “non ad sacerdotium, sed ad ministerium (episcopi)”; d) the doctrine of the character of the diaconate and its specificity as a configuration to Christ; e) the “powers” conferred by the diaconate as sacrament. To reduce sacramentality to the question of the potestates would undoubtedly be to take too narrow an approach; the perspectives proffered by ecclesiology are wider and richer. But in the case of the sacrament of Holy Orders, we cannot pass over this question on grounds of this alleged narrowness. The other two grades of Orders, the episcopate and the priesthood, give a capacity, by virtue of sacramental ordination, for tasks that a nonordained person cannot (validly) perform. Why then should it be otherwise with the diaconate? Does the difference lie in way the munera are exercised or in the personal quality of the person that executes them? But how could this be rendered theologically credible? If in fact these functions can be performed by a layman, what can justify the fact that they have their source in a new and distinct sacramental ordination? Such discussion about diaconal powers raises once again issues of a general nature: the nature or condition of the potestas sacra in the Church, the linking of the sacrament of Orders with the “potestas conficiendi eucharistiam”, the need to expand the perspectives of ecclesiology beyond a narrow view of this connection. ■

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

Documentation

International Theological Commission: The sacramentality of the diaconate in post-conciliar developments – Tony Schmitz

News

“This is a deeply inspiring book and in it the reader is led gently to personal healing, to prayer and to the service of others.” ‘Tony Schmitz, New Diaconal Review

Announcement by the Board of the International Diaconate Centre Golden Jubilee Conference IDZ/IDC (International Diaconate Centre) Rome and Assisi, 21-25 October 2015 he IDZ/IDC was founded in Rome in October 1965 and thus in two years' time the IDZ/IDC will celebrate its Golden Jubilee. Ever sine the re-establishment of the permanent diaconate by the Second Vatican Council the IDZ/IDC has supported the study, and promotion, of the diaconate ministry. An important goal has always been to create a worldwide network of deacons and their wives and to strengthen the solidarity with people in need. To celebrate the golden jubilee of the IDC there will be a special conference, centring on the spirituality of the diaconate.

This conference will take place in Rome and Assisi, both being places of especial inspiration for diaconal spirituality. There will be visits to places of interest to deacons and opportunities to exchange experiences with deacons and spouses from all over the world. We hope to welcome many deacons and wives, and of course other people interested in diaconal spirituality. Our very best wishes to you all, The Board of the IDC Klaus Kiessling, Pepe Espinos, Nelleke Wijngaards Serrarens and Stefan Sander

The first formation weekend of the first diaconate candidates in the Archdiocese of Kaunas, Lithuania

“... impressive are page after page of compelling testimonies of the power of the Lord alive and active in our world today. A good number of new testimonies arising from this ministry in England, Scotland and the Czech Republic have been added to this second edition.” 58

Little Way of Healing: Second Revised Edition Author: T Pauline Edwards Price: £12.58

Available from Ogilvie Press, 77 University Road, Aberdeen AB24 3DR Tel: +44 (0)1224 481810

New Diaconal Review Issue 10

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New Diaconal Review Issue 10