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

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CHAPTER TWO The Ministry and Life of Deacons

I. THE RELATIONSHIPS OF THE DEACON Relationship with the Diocesan Bishop

43 The deacon exercises his ministry within a specific pastoral context: the communion and mission of a diocesan Church. 1 He is in direct rela tionship with the diocesan bishop with whom he is in communion and under whose authority he is assigned to exercise his ministry. In making his promise of respect and obedience to his diocesan bishop, the deacon takes as his model Christ, who became the Servant of his Father. The diocesan bishop also enters into a relationship with the deacon because the deacon is his collaborator in the service of God’s People. It is, there fore, a particular responsibility of the diocesan bishop to provide for the pastoral care of the deacons of his diocese. The diocesan bishop dis charges this responsibility both personally and through the Director of the Permanent Diaconate. 2 44 The diocesan bishop appoints the deacon to a specific assignment by means of an official letter of appointment. 3 The principal criteria for the assignment are the pastoral needs of the diocesan Church and the per sonal qualifications of the deacon, as these have been discerned in his pre vious experience and the course of his initial formation. The assignment also acknowledges the deacon’s family and occupational responsibilities. 45 The diocesan bishop promotes “a suitable catechesis” throughout the diocesan Church to help the lay faithful, religious, and clergy to have a richer and firmer sense about the deacon’s identity, function, and role

1 2

DMLPD, nos. 1-2.

DMLPD, nos. 8, 78, 80. See no. 3.

3 See CIC, cc. 156, 157. DMLPD, no. 8, refers to this written conferral of office as a “decree of appointment.”

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