Homily - Deacon Vocations

Homily on Deacon Vocations, 5th Sunday of Easter, Acts 6:1-7, John 14:1-12

The community chose seven men who stood before the apostles. They prayed over them and they laid their hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit. This story in the “Acts of the Apostles” is the ordination of the first deacons.

I was quite excited to hear the story from Acts today, especially since my own name is Stephen. Although Stephen was one of the first deacons of the church, he was also the first martyr. Those of you remember the story know he was martyred for preaching about Jesus and was stoned to death. So when I read the second reading with all those stones in it, I got a little nervous and I wanted to ask the altar servers to go outside to make sure they got rid of any stones that might be available to the congregation before I started preaching in case they got any ideas.

When I came to St. Mary's Parish last September, Father Keith suggested that I take the opportunity in one homily to tell you all just what a deacon is, and what we are all about. I know from the many questions that I receive that being a deacon is not something that is well understood through the whole community. So I will take some time today to talk about my calling as a deacon. And for those of you already know all about I apologize for boring you.

The record of Deacon has had an up and down history in the church and for most of us over 30 years old, you will not remember seeing deacons in churches at all when you were young.

The word Deacon comes from a Greek word, diaconia, which means service. And so the Deacon belongs to the diaconate, just as a priest belongs to the priesthood.

To be a deacon means that I have received the sacrament of Holy Orders. In fact I was ordained in June 1994. There are three levels to the sacrament of Holy orders, the first level is the diaconate, the second level is the priesthood or Presbyterate, and the third level is to be ordained bishop or the Episcopal level. Just as the word deacon comes on the Greek word for service, the Greek word for priest is "presbyter" which means "elder". The Greek word Episcopal means "overseer." The apostles were the original overseers of the church and they are the original bishops. The word overseer may sound a little unpleasant because of our associations of overseers running slave camps, but of course we all know the bishops are never like that

The focus of being a deacon is the service that you provide. There is the video which was made in Toronto last year which described exactly what a deacon is and what we do. If you are interested, you can borrow it from Father Keith or myself – just ask. One image in that video that I like comes from the cardinal who said the priests are like the vertical bar in the cross pointing to heaven, and the deacons are like the arms of the cross serving here on earth.

From the beginning, the deacons served the bishops directly, it was actually many years later before the priesthood was begun. As the reading tells us today many priests from the Jewish faith had joined the Christians, but did not have a formal role in the new church. Because the church grew rapidly, the bishops knew they needed help in more areas other than serving tables and taking care of the poor and so they laid hands on the elders and priests so they could assist them with the liturgy and prayers and rites of the church.

The role of deacon went into decline between the fifth and 10th centuries and virtually disappeared except as a transition area for a man before he was ordained a priest. This happened for many reasons, but one of the reasons was that the diaconate was becoming something to hand out to rich and powerful men to keep their favor, and this resulted in these rich and powerful men who were not spiritual having a large influence on the activity of the church. The original purpose of Deacon had been lost. And so a man about to be ordained a priest would serve as a deacon for short time only to understand the importance of service before they were ordained.

The reinstitution of the role of the deacon, that is the permanent Deacon, happened after that second Vatican Council and had its roots in the prison camps in Germany. Many of the most terrible stories of the prison camps during the war were centered around the Jews, but we know that many devout Catholics were also imprisoned by the Nazis. We have the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe who gave his life to save the Jewish man who was sentenced to die. But in the camps many men stepped forward to help each other and after the war they continued in this mode of service to other Christians. They noted the similarity between the role of deacons in the reading we heard today and what they were doing and asked the question, "Why are there no deacons in our church?” The German bishops brought the question to the Vatican Council and the council agreed that we, as a church, were ready to re-begin the diaconate without the fear of it becoming corrupted as had happened before.

So what does a deacon do? My role is defined in the three principal areas. The first and most important is the area of ministry. In the archdiocese and of Toronto the Ministry of Deacon is centered in the three principal areas, prisons, hospitals, and homes for the aged. My ministry is at Sheridan Villa Home for the Aged. I visit there, run several services for the residents, and participate in other pastoral activities.

In his ministry, the role of the deacons is principally "to be", not "to do", we are there with people representing the presence of the church and the presence of Christ in their troubles. We can't help a prisoner get out of jail, we can't make the cancer go away, and we can't make a 95 year-old younger. But by being with them and showing them that someone cares, that the church cares, we can help lessen the burden that each person bears. It doesn't take a lot of sophisticated psychology. It just takes the ability to care.

The second area that a deacon covers is the liturgy. The deacon assists at Holy mass. A deacon cannot say Mass by himself because we are not empowered to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. But you'll notice that all the things that I say to you are primarily the instructions to the people, in other words, "Offer each other a sign of peace, go in peace, and so forth."

The other types of liturgy the deacons participate in are baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Or as they might be called, hatches, matches and dispatches. The deacon is privileged to be able to baptize, I have a license to marry people, and I can conduct a funeral where there is no mass. A deacon does not hear confessions, although I can hear your confession but I can't forgive your sins and I don't have to keep it a secret, so as you can imagine that cuts down on the requests that I get quite a bit.

The third area of service is the Word. The deacon has the privilege to read the gospel and is allowed to preach.

The stole the deacon wears is worn across the left shoulder rather than over the neck like a priest. The stole is worn this way as a sign of service and is meant to represent the towel Jesus wore around himself when he washed the feet of the disciples at the last supper. In fact one theologian once suggested that if Christ came back to earth today he would come as a deacon, not as a priest, and he is much wiser than me so I won't argue with him. Several popes and doctors of the church like St. Lawrence have been deacons.

What does it take to become a deacon and what does it mean to you once you are ordained. The training program for the diaconate is about 5 years, 1 year of praying and testing, then 4 years of training that takes about 40 hours a month. After you are ordained, you sign a contract with the bishop for 40 hours a month of service. Before you think that that may sound like a lot, it's not any more than the average Little League or Hockey coach puts into his team. And when you compare it with the fact that statistics tell us that the average North American man watches 24 hours of television every week, it's not that much of a sacrifice, certainly not in comparison to the rewards.

Because the great majority of deacons are married men, their wives participate in the training program and take part in the formation process throughout the four years. At any time during the training process right up to the day of ordination the deacon’s wife has the right to say, “No.” The church does not want to ordain a man and ruin his family. In virtually every case that I know, going through the diaconate program has strengthened the marriage of the deacon and his wife because their awareness of their own spirituality grows together and the sacrifice that they make together is appreciated by both. The wife has a very special ministry to the deacon himself to provide support. In the almost eight years that I have been ordained, my wife Barbara has been my rock and my support through it all.

The deacon’s family is also important. Most deacons begin their training once their children are older and more independent. It's very hard to make the commitment to the community when you still have young children who need your attention. I began my training when I was 41 and my children had begun University.

The rule of the diaconate is very simple, Family and home come first, your job comes second, and being a deacon comes third. Sometimes it doesn't feel like that but they also teach you in the training how to say "No." The other person who signs a contract with the bishop is your wife and so she also has control of the hours you work because if you spend more than 40 hours she can refuse to sign your contract anymore and then you don't work, all. So the checks and balances are in place, it is a very well organized state of being.

It's an interesting experience to be an ordained clergyman in the Catholic Church with a wife and children. It gives you perhaps a slightly different insight. It's important to listen to your family as well as your wife. My son remarked to my wife when he heard I was applying to be a deacon, "Dad preaches enough already without getting a license to do it!" But thankfully, after a couple of years of training, he remarked that instead of talking more, I was much better at listening.

There is the story of three young boys who were talking together and bragging about their fathers. The first young boy said, "My father is a famous research scientist, when he gets up to speak, only 10 people in the world can understand him."

The second little boy said, "My father is a famous brain doctor, he is so smart that when he gets up to speak, only five people in the world can understand him."

The third little boy said, "That's nothing! My father is a deacon, when he gets up to preach nobody can understand him!"

There are currently 100 deacons in the Archdiocese of Toronto in 300 parishes. When I was at St. Christopher's there were two deacons there, and so the bishop asked me to please come and help at St. Mary's. Just as in the early days of the church a deacon works today for the bishop, not for the parish priest, except when the Bishop assigns into a parish and asks them to follow the pastor.

There should be 3000 deacons in the archdiocese. We could have 10 deacons in every parish. There are 1500 families in St. Mary's, surely there are 10 men who feel called to serve and could spare 40 hours a month.

How do you know if you are called to be a deacon? We are called in two ways. We are called internally, when the spirit moves us to reach out and help in the community. And just like in the early church, we are called externally through the community itself, when others recognize that we are the people who serve.

Many of the deacons that I know had given no thought whatsoever to being a deacon, until a friend or relative or perhaps their parish priest said to them, "You could be a deacon." And when they prayed about this call, the spirit moved them to apply. Today I would like to challenge the men of St. Mary's to begin to think about his role and to pray and ask the Lord to help you see if perhaps you are called or perhaps you should be tapping someone on the shoulder and telling them. The next class of deacons will begin in September 2004. There is time to pray and time to be ready. If you began your training in September 2004 you would be ordained in June 2008.

Someone once said to me who was considering becoming a deacon, "If I start the training now, I'll be 62 years old by the time I'm ordained!"

So I asked him, "How old will you be in five years if you don't take the training?"

Being a deacon is an unpaid job. You don't make any money, but the benefits are fantastic. It is a transforming experience that changes your life and though others may see you as contributing to the world around you there is not a single day that I do not feel I have gotten all lot more than I gave.

One wonderful story that I like to tell is the story of Mary, an 85 year-old resident of Sheridan Villa. One night at the beginning of my ministry I assisted the chaplain at the Villa, a very nice man named Noel, with a memorial service to remember all the residents who had passed away recently. Mary attended and as she left the service she was weeping and saying to herself, "I never should have, I never should have come, it's just too upsetting."

So I walked with her, and we talked together, and we cried together. We went back to her room where she showed me pictures of her family. In a quiet quavery voice she sang hymns that she used to sing as a child in the Choir. We prayed together and she thanked me at the end for being so kind. I felt I had really done a good deed and I had made a friend. The very next Sunday, the chaplain was ill and he asked if I could do this Sunday morning service. As I stood at the door welcoming the residents into the chapel, along came Mary. I said good morning to her and she looked around and asked me "Where is Noel?"

I told her that Noel was sick and that I would be doing the service today. She looked at me doubt fully for a moment and then said, "To heck with that, I'm going back to my room!" So there are some humbling moments in this business as well.

I could say so much more about so many things, about the support of the deacon community for each other, and the wonderful fellowship and so much, but there isn't time today

Jesus says to his disciples today in the gospel that if you believe and if you follow him then you will do even greater things than he did. I ask you to pray in your community him that the 10 good men, full of the Holy Spirit, will be recognized and brought forward to serve him in role of the modern permanent deacon.

Deacon Steve