This two-part series reflects on a visit by US Deacon Bill Ditewig to the Diocese of Parramatta in Blacktown on 15 March 2025. Read Part One here.
Topic 2: Deacons in the workplace – how it has played out in terms of the vision of Vatican II and what can be done now to foster this aim (given the current reality of an ageing diaconate here and in the US)
The vision of Vatican II was that the re-establishment of the diaconate would give the Church greater reach and a greater presence of the Church’s ministers in various spheres, including in families, workplaces, schools and other paces, in addition to existing pastoral structures.
Under Canon Law, deacons are excused from some obligations on clergy such as the need to wear clerical garb, and prohibitions on holding public office, working at a trade and being active in political parties.
Deacons in the US work in various professions but increasingly are in paid church roles at the diocesan and parish level. This can present issues when things don’t work out and a deacon needs to be ‘let go’ from such a role.
In America, some dioceses don’t trust younger men to enter into formation because they don’t want to risk upsetting the family balance when there are children in the household under 18. Bill said, instead, we should trust the discernment process. If there is a true vocation for the man, the process will work, he said.
In Europe, deacons are generally 20 years younger than those in America because the formators cater for families including the provision of childcare on formation days.
Topic 3: Deacons as Pastoral Directors (with responsibility for leading Parishes)
Under Canon Law (Canon 517 S2), it is allowed, in the case of a shortage of priests, that deacons can have a participation in the exercise of the pastoral care of a parish or to another person or a community of persons – but under a priest who is to direct the pastoral care.
In the US, this has been interpreted as a hierarchy – i.e. a deacon before other options. Canon lawyers argue about this interpretation.
In the US the term ‘Parish Life coordinator’ is the term used, whether it is a deacon or lay person administering a parish. (In Australia, the term Pastoral Director has been used in some cases where a deacon leads a parish).
Bill makes the point that this leadership role in a parish is not the norm for deacons. (However, in practice 9% of active deacons in the US have such a parish leadership role).
Topic 4: Servant Leadership in a Synodal Church.
Bill pointed on that the word synodal comes from Greek words “syn” and “hodos” which together mean “coming together” or “journeying together.”
He quoted the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium (18), which applies to all ministers of the Church: “For the nurturing and constant growth of the People of God, Christ the Lord instituted in His Church a variety of ministries, which work for the good of the whole body. For those ministers, who are endowed with sacred power, serve their brethren, so that all who are of the People of God, and therefore enjoy a true Christian dignity, working toward a common goal freely and in an orderly way, may arrive at salvation.”
In light of this, deacons should ask themselves, in terms of their ministry and other aspects of life, “What am I doing and how and I doing it? Are we building up or tearing down?”
A key attribute required for this is humility. Bill’s hero, Pope John XXIII said: “My guiding principles remain the same: humility in everything, especially in my speech, union with God and the will of God, and not my own, in all I do.”
He also quoted St Augustine of Hippo who, when asked what the greatest virtue was, replied, “I answer: first, humility; second, humility; third, humility. For if humility does not precede and accompany and follow every good work we do, and if it is not set before us to look upon, and beside us to lean on, and behind us to fence us in, pride will wrest from our hands any good deed we do while we are in the very act of taking pleasure in it.”
He also pointed out that, in the Rule of St Benedict, the only chapter devoted to a single virtue is humility.
Bill said a deacon should have no agenda other the needs of others they are helping to fulfil. They should start where the other person is at, like Jesus with the woman at the well.
They have a role to encounter others and listen to them.
To learn more about Diaconate Program, visit the Diocese of Parramatta website.
