National Directory

61

THE MINISTRY AND LIFE OF DEACONS

Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest (August 15, 1997), art. 4 §1a, www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/laity/documents/ rc_con_interdic_doc_15081997_en.html ; and Congregation for the Clergy, Instruction The Priest, Pastor and Leader of the Parish Community (August 4, 2002), art. 25, www.vatican.va/roman_ curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_cclergy_doc_20020804_istruzione-presbitero_en.html . 25 DMLPD, no. 41; CIC, c. 536. 26 DMLPD, nos. 1, 41. 27 CIC, c. 1009 §3. 28 “We, ordained ministers, have received from the Lord, through the mediation of the Church, the task of preaching the Word of God to the ends of the earth. . . .To know Revelation, to adhere unconditionally to Jesus Christ as a fascinated and enamored disciple . . . this is . . . what awaits a permanent deacon, decisively and without any reservation. From a good disciple a good missionary is born. The ministry of the Word . . . requires of ordained ministers a constant struggle to study it and carry it out, at the same time as one proclaims it to others. . . . Lectio divina, that is, prayerful reading, is one much counseled way to understand and live the Word of God, and make it one’s own.” Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, August 10, 2009. 29 DMLPD, especially no. 37. 30 St. John Paul II, On theVocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in theWorld ( Christifideles Laici ) (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1988), no. 23. 31 St. John Paul II, Christifideles Laici , no. 23. 32 “Ordinaries . . . to whom the present document is given, [should] ensure that it becomes an object of attentive reflection in communion with their priests and communities.” BNFPD, no. 90.

33 BNFPD, no. 16. 34 DMLPD, no. 6. 35 DMLPD, no. 6. 36 DMLPD, no. 11; see CIC, c. 278.

37 DMLPD, no. 11. 38 DMLPD, no. 80. 39 DMLPD, no. 80. 40 BNFPD, no. 26. 41 DMLPD, nos. 1, 7. 42 DMLPD, no. 73. 43 See St. John Paul II, General Audience “Deacons Have Many Pastoral Functions” (October 13, 1993), no. 5. 44 DMLPD, no. 55.