National Directory

164

ORGANIZATION, STRUCTURE, AND PERSONNEL FOR DIACONAL FORMATION

VIII. Post-Ordination Advisory Structures

Deacon Community Board

303. The diocesan bishop may constitute a deacon community board to represent the deacons and their spouses. Members of such a board would include a suitable number of deacons and wives elected by the diaconal community and others appointed by the diocesan bishop, in accordance with the board’s statutes, as approved by the diocesan bishop. The statutes should govern everything that relates to the pur poses and operation of the board. A responsibility of the community board could be the preparation of a deacon personnel handbook, specifying appropriate norms or policies—rights, obligations, and responsibilities—for deacons serving the diocesan Church. The dioc esan bishop must approve this text and promulgate any appropriate norms or policies. This board also could assist the diocesan bishop and Director of the Permanent Diaconate in planning, coordinating, and evaluating the post-ordination educational and spiritual formation program. The diocesan bishop or a cleric designated as the diocesan bishop’s delegate in his absence serves as the board’s president. 24 304. It may be desirable for the diocesan bishop to establish a deacon assignment board to assist him in assigning and evaluating deacons. Its role would be analogous to that of the priests’ personnel board, which assists the diocesan bishop in ascertaining appropriate and suit able assignments based on the needs of the particular Church and the capabilities of the individual. The establishment of the deacon assign ment board could offer a valuable resource to the diocesan bishop and Director of the Permanent Diaconate. If constituted, the diocesan bishop or, in his absence, a cleric designated by the diocesan bishop (e.g., his vicar general, vicar for the clergy) chairs this board. This Deacon Assignment Board