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

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National Directory for Permanent Deacons

salvation,’ by which Christ is ‘at once manifesting and actualizing the mys tery of God’s love for men.’” 7

2 Central to the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the Church is the service or ministry bestowed by Christ upon the Apostles and their suc cessors. The office of bishop “is a true service, which in sacred literature is significantly called ‘ diakonia ’ or ministry.” 8 The Council Fathers teach that the bishops, with priests and deacons as helpers, have by divine insti tution taken the place of the Apostles as pastors of the Church. 9 Priests and deacons are seen as complementary but subordinate participants in the one apostolic ministry bestowed by Christ upon the Apostles, with Peter as their head, and continued through their successors, the bishops, in union with the Roman Pontiff. 10 When discussing Holy Orders as one of the sacraments “at the service of communion” (along with Matri mony), the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that these two sac raments “are directed towards the salvation of others; if they contribute as well to personal salvation, it is through service to others that they do so. They confer a particular mission in the Church and serve to build up the People of God.” 11 3 In the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church , the Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church , and the Decree on the Catholic Eastern Churches , the Second Vatican Council reestablished the diaconate “as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy.” 12 The Sacred Order of Deacons is to be “a driving force for the Church’s service or diakonia toward the local Christian communities, and as a sign or sacrament of the Lord Christ himself, who ‘came not to be served but to serve.’” 13 “The deacon’s min 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 The Vocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World ( 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. 7 CCC, no. 776. See LG, nos. 9-17, 48; GS, nos. 1-3, 26-30, 32, 45. 8

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