The National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and the Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States (Ascension)

NDPD

Aspirant Stage of Diaconal Formation

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to support and challenge the aspirant’s discernment of his readiness to move into candidate formation.

Intellectual Dimension 204 The objectives and content for intellectual formation at the aspirant level should communicate a deeper knowledge of the faith and the Word of God. During aspirancy a man should come to know Scripture as the liv ing Word of God, learn to read it as prayer, listen to the movements of the Spirit within its content, and embrace it as the heart of a deacon’s intellectual interest. Saturating aspirants in the living Word of God helps prepare them for the following years of more intensive study of its con tent as the source of doctrine and Catholic living. It would be appro priate to promote an in-depth and systematic study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and to introduce the aspirant to the traditions of Catholic philosophy, spirituality, doctrine, and canon law, especially the doctrinal and canonical understanding of the diaconate and the three fold ministry of the deacon. The aspirant also should be taught how to participate in a theological reflection group and how to develop his abil ity to apply the Church’s teaching on moral matters, including social teaching, to the pressing moral questions that emerge in pastoral min istry. Such intellectual pursuits assist those responsible for formation in assessing the aspirant’s readiness for the academic rigors of candidate for mation. Further, he should be made aware of the needs of the people of the diocesan Church, as well as of his own parish, and be made to under stand diakonia as a descriptive word for the mission of the Church in the world. Workshops on family issues, personal health, time management, caregiving skills, and married and celibate spirituality all contribute to an aspirant’s human, spiritual, and intellectual formation. Pastoral Dimension 205 The focus of the pastoral dimension in the aspirant stage of formation is ultimately the discernment of the aspirant’s gifts for the threefold min istry of word, liturgy, and charity and of his capacity to make a lifelong

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