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

John Pistone, then Executive Director of the Secretariat for the Diaconate, NCCB. In November 1998, Most Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas, STL, PhD, was elected by the conference as chairman of the committee. He invited Cardinal Adam Maida, JCL, JD, STL, and Most Rev. Donald W. Wuerl, STD, to assist the committee as episcopal consultants in furthering the development of the document. Extensive consultation with the bishops and the major superiors of men religious, as well as diocesan directors of the diaconate and the executives of national diaconate organizations, pre ceded the approval of the document by the NCCB at its general meet ing in June 2000. In November 2001, Most Rev. Robert C. Morlino, STD, was elected by the conference as chairman of the committee. Under his chairmanship, the committee revised the document in response to the observations received in March 2002 from the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Congregation for the Clergy. The document was then approved by the USCCB at its general meeting in June 2003. 14 In January 2013, the USCCB’s Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations (CCLV), under the chairmanship of the Most Rev. Robert Carlson, asked the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Gov ernance and the National Association of Diaconate Directors to review the first edition of the National Directory and give recommendations for changes to the text. Following its review of these recommendations, CCLV consulted with the body of bishops, who discussed the National Directory at their November 2013 regional meetings. Following this con sultation, CCLV recommended that the USCCB seek a simple recogn itio from the Congregation for Clergy to renew the first edition of the National Directory for another five years. At the June 2014 plenary assem bly, the body of bishops voted unanimously to accept CCLV’s recom mendation and sought a simple renewal of the recognitio . The recognitio was received from the Congregation for Clergy in December 2014, with the understanding that the USCCB would update the National Direc tory within five years. In March 2015, Most Rev. Michael F. Burbidge, CCLV Chairman, convened a working group to oversee the revision of

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