National Directory

13

PREFACE

5 CCC, no. 849. 6 AGD, nos. 15-16. 7 CCC, no. 776. See LG, nos. 9-17, 48; GS, nos. 1-3, 26-30, 32, 45.

8 LG, no. 24. See Acts 1:17, 25; Acts 21:19; Rom 11:13; 1 Tm 1:12; St. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation TheVocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in theWorld (Christifideles Laici) (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, December 30, 1988), no. 22. 9 LG, nos. 18, 20. 10 LG, nos. 20. See nos. 22-23. 11 CCC, no. 1534. 12 LG, no. 29. See AGD, nos. 15-16; OE, no. 17. 13 AP, citing Mt 20:28. 17 St. Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem (June 18, 1967), www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu proprio_19670618_sacrum-diaconatus.html. 18 St. Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution Pontificalis Romani Recognitio (June 18, 1968), www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/la/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-vi_apc_19680618_ pontificalis-romani.html (Latin only). 19 AP. 20 St. Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Ministeria Quaedam (August 15, 1972), www.vatican. va/content/paul-vi/la/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19720815_ministeria quaedam.html (Latin only). 21 Bishops’ Committee on the Permanent Diaconate, NCCB, Permanent Deacons in the United States: Guidelines on Their Formation and Ministry (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1971).The committee, under its first chairman, Most Rev. Ernest L. Unterkoefler, prepared the original 1971 edition of these guidelines . 22 The diaconate has grown remarkably in the United States. According to statistics of the USCCB Secretariat for the Diaconate, there were, in 1971, 58 deacons and 529 candidates and, in 1975, 1,074 deacons and 2,243 candidates. By 1980, the number of deacons had quadrupled to 4,656, with 2,514 candidates. By December 31, 2001, more than 14,000 deacons were serving in the dioceses of the United States and territorial sees. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), as of 2015 “it can be estimated that there are 18,558 permanent deacons in the United States today.” Of this number, “it can be estimated that there are 14,588 deacons active in ministry in the United States today, or about 79 percent of all permanent deacons.” Mary L. Gautier and Thomas P. Gaunt, A Portrait of the Permanent Diaconate: A Study for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2014-2015 (Washington, DC: CARA/Georgetown University, May 2015). 14 DMLPD, no. 27. 15 BNFPD, no. 88. 16 BNFPD, no. 11.