Pope Francis Christmas Greeting to Roman Curia Full Text
The annual Christmas "greeting" of Pope Francis has always been one of criticism. The subject is always church reform, specifically the reform of the Roman Curia. While people delight in seeing the Curia being humbled if not humiliated, we should keep in mind that Francis sees the diseases of the Curia and its cures as applying to the whole Church. The Curia are part of a bigger problem of clericalism in the Church..
This years greeting focuses upon "diaconal primacy." Now anything the Pope says about the deaconate needs to be taken very seriously as applying to the whole Church.
It has been obvious to me from early on that he intends to restore women deacons to the Church. His emphasis upon giving greater dignity to women, coupled with saying no again to the priesthood, and the absence of anything about women deacons was the first clue. So I was not surprised that he granted the request of women religious superiors to investigate the role of women deacons in the early church. I am sure that he regards that as a request from a synod, since Abbots were part of early church councils in many cases. He is not going to go against the clear request of a synod.
The big problem for Francis is not WOMEN deacons, but DEACONS. He has clearly expressed his concerns about turning lay leaders into deacons, and regarding the deaconate as a merit badge for outstanding lay leaders. I see him as in the process of rethinking the deaconate. This "greeting" gives us important clues to his initial rethinking.
Key Points about Diaconal Ministry
1. Diaconal Primacy: Francis grounds diaconal ministry in the humility of God. A God who not only became human flesh but also became a servant washing the feet of mankind. That means diaconal ministry applies to the whole Church most especially to the Petrine ministry as servant of the servants of God. In the ancient phrase quoted by Francis. The deacon is guardian of service in the Church.
This opens up the theological possibility of regarding the order of deacons as being a sign that all ministry in the church, from lay ministry to the Petrine is one of service. In the current deaconate there is nothing that deacons do that lay people could not be authorized to do without being ordained a deacon. Why then ordain a person (man or woman) to the deaconate? Answer, in order to be a greater sign of the Humility of God. Ordination to the deaconate (and priesthood, and episcopacy) does not set one above but rather places one at greater service to everyone!
2. Diaconal Primacy and ministry is both ad intra and ad extra. The deacon is both the ear and the mouth of the bishop. The ear is both the organ of hearing and balance. The mouth is the organ of both taste and speech.
This opens the possibility of grounding all ministry (lay and ordained) upon a diaconal primacy vision that is both ad intra and ad extra. Indeed the Apostolate of the Laity of Vatican II says that the lay apostolate is both ad intra and ad extra. The main peculiarly of lay ministry is that the world is preeminently the domain of the apostolate of the laity.
3. Diaconal Primacy as being at one with the heart and soul of the bishop. Francis then proceeds to use this idea to criticize in depth the curia and the people in it for being out of tune with his reform.
This opens up the possibility of a leveling of the hierarchy in the church. Francis has emphasized again and again the importance of the bishop being with the people, sometimes in front of them, sometimes beside them, sometimes following them. That is, the unity that exists within the church much proceed from the efforts of everyone to be of one heart and soul.
4. Diaconal Primacy as grounding us in the world in the outside situation. The importance of a sense of extraversion, attention to the outside, the senses as a bridge to the world, that grasp reality and situate us in reality.
This opens up the possibility of regarding laity as exercising particular leadership in bringing attention to the outside, to being a bridge to the world, and grasping the reality of the situation.
Ordination to the deaconate (and priesthood and episcopacy) should mainly be of people who have demonstrated this lay charism of being in touch with the world. This would be a great change from the past which often ordained people who had distanced themselves from the world especially with monastic vows.
Jack - the diaconate isn't, or shouldn't be, a merit badge for lay leaders. Certainly, some people have this misconception, including some people who put themselves forth as candidates for the diaconate. I can't speak for all deacon formation programs around the world, but in Chicago, if a candidate sees the diaconate as a sort of lifetime service award rather than as a way of life, he is politely asked to step out of the formation program. (If what is needed is a lifetime service award, our archdiocese has those, too.)
ReplyDeleteAs you note, and as I think Francis notes pretty clearly in his Christmas greeting, the diaconate is, fundamentally, a ministry of service.
I think you're very insightful in noting that this approach can be extended to the entire church. Diakonia, service, especially to the poor and those in need, should be one of the defining characteristics of Christian discipleship.
The pope's greeting was to the Curia, and I see this speech as calling the curia to orient themselves to a diaconal spirit. It's significant that he sees his own ministry as "servant of the servants of God". FWIW, I have thought, ever since Francis stepped out onto the balcony, that he has the heart of a deacon.
I see this particular talk as urging the members of his curia to have that same heart of service. It's worth considering that any priest or bishop (including those in the curia) has been ordained as a deacon as well. That is often referred to, quite erroneously, as the "transitional diaconate". That term "transitional" is meant to signify that the diaconate is not the final holy order to be conferred on them. But even though they receive ordination as priests and/or as bishops, they never stop being deacons as well. The key word in the term "transitional deacon" is not "transitional" but rather "deacon". There is one diaconate; so-called "permanent deacons" are ordained to the same holy order as so-called "transitional deacons"
So I see Francis calling the curia to live out their diaconal ordination by adopting the heart of a deacon - a heart of service to those outside the Holy See and those outside the church.
You're certainly right that one needn't be ordained at all in order to live this life of service. I think we can see examples of that in the posts and comments of folks here at NewGathering. And I agree strongly with your view of why some men (and, perhaps some day, some women) are ordained: to be a sign of service, and to make this sign real through an actual life of service, to Eucharist, Word and Charity.
Question for Jim P and Katherine - do the diocanate formation programs require the full and equal participation of the wives as is the case in Los Angeles? A married couple goes through the program together.
ReplyDeleteMy husband entered formation in 1997 and was ordained in 2000. Since then the formation program in the Omaha Archdiocese has changed radically. Some of the changes have been good, and others (in my opinion) not so good. At the time we were in formation the wives were required to attend all the classes and the other activities. Required, as in, one's husband could be asked to step out of the program if his wife didn't show up on a regular basis. I think you were allowed a certain number of skips. Now, the wives are invited, but not mandated, to attend and participate. And that's a good change. I will admit that the "required" bit caused me some problems at times. That was during the time that my mother was terminally ill, and I was working full time, as I still am. We would get home from class at, maybe 11:00 pm since the class site was 50 miles away, and I would have to get up at 5:00 am to get ready for work. The other wives seemed to have a better attitude about it than I did, and some of them had worse inconveniences. But all water under the bridge. The wives didn't, and still don't, preach. Which is fine with me, I never was any good at public speaking. We were given the opportunity to be mandated as lectors and/or EMHCs. I was mandated as an EMHC, which I enjoy. Other than that, I am involved in music ministry, which is more down my alley than speaking or teaching.
DeleteAnne - I love that question. Our program in Chicago doesn't absolutely require the wife's participation, but strongly encourages her to participate if she can. My wife took every class I took, and attended the same small-faith-sharing groups, retreats and other activities. It was actually great for our marriage, and also was good for both of us as individuals to get this formation. It's also worked out that we do some ministry together now in the parish, although I also do a couple of things without her, and she does one or two things without me.
ReplyDeleteShe also has one or two opportunities to preach each year at the parish's Sunday mass. It costs her something to do this because she's pretty introverted. But she has great spiritual insight, and her reflections are very well received by the parishioners, especially other women. The wives went through the same homiletics formation that the husbands did (in part because I spoke up about it), and I can tell you that some of the strongest preachers in our class are some of the wives.
Your wife preaches? I assume they get around the rulea by calling it something other than a homily.
DeleteJim I have responded to your last comment on the Cdl Law thread.
"Your wife preaches? I assume they get around the rulea by calling it something other than a homily."
DeleteYeah, we don't call it anything - she just comes up and preaches :-)
Nothing to do with the diaconate, but: My favorite parish in the SF East Bay (St. Columba .... https://stcolumba-oak.com/) is a largely African American parish with an FBI for pastor. He regularly has women preaching (none of this wishy-washy "homily" stuff: they PREACH there!) from the alter. The local bishop, far from a screaming bishop he, is smart enough to let a good thing alone. IF I feel like going to mass (a very infrequent occasion) I go to St. C and enjoy an experience that happy in the joy of the Lord. Can I get an Amen on that?
ReplyDeleteAmen on that.
DeleteJim, sounds like a great parish.
DeleteThis is a more interesting conversation than I thought it would be. In the Episcopal Church, all the deacons were rich and prominent members of the community, sometimes to the priest's dismay. Priests might come and go, but the deacons were there for life, and there were tensions over who was going to run things. There were some nice ones, too, of course. One of them was my confirmation sponsor (for my Episcopal confirmation).
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic deacons in the local parish have been a mixed bag, mostly nice guys, but pretty awful homilists. Mostly all about going to Mass with their 24 brothers and sisters, acting up, and getting the crap beaten out of them and feeling lucky if they got a pair of pajamas for Christmas. (My dad used to do a satirical hard-luck sermon about how he had to walk five miles to and from school, through snow drifts, uphill both ways. Things were so bad that his mother knitted him pancake sweaters, but they were so poor he had to eat them at lunchtime, and then walk home in his shirtsleeves. And people thought he didn't pay attention in church!)
Raber looked at pursuing the diaconate, but the parish was very discouraging. They told him it was a lot of money (i.e., they weren't going to pay for it) and that I would probably be a "problem" because I wasn't a practicing Catholic.
I always felt kind of guilty about being a "problem wife." But if Raber harbors any resentments, he's keeping it quiet.
Jean,
DeleteI suspect you would be even a greater problem if you were a practicing Catholic, especially if you got to give a couple of homilies a year.
Jean, they charged for it? Here the cost is all covered. About the only thing we had to pay for was some books.
DeleteLOL, "problem wife", I've been one of those for a long time. Not really to my husband, I don't think. But I don't fit what some people think a deacons wife should be. I'm pretty much an introvert. And we only have 2 children. I rarely go to any meetings. But I'm good for a casserole or a dessert if there's a funeral.
Don't feel guilty. They told us that if both spouses weren't on board, that it was a sign that you weren't being called to that ministry.
About being a practicing Catholic, there are several deacon wives in our diaconate community who are Protestant.
DeleteKatherine, I think a good upstanding Protestant wife is OK, but a fallen-away Catholic wife looks bad.
DeleteAs a deacon's wife can you remarry if you are widowed? I know the deacons can't if their wives die first.
Yes, Raber was told the $$ was considerable and he would need to take a lot of time off for the training.
Jack, I have never had a yen to preach. Odd for someone who like to run her mouth.
DeleteJean, I too have never had any desire to preach. And that is odd for me, because I do like to teach.
DeleteWhen I was a member of a voluntary pastoral staff, the other members wanted me to be a deacon so I could preach. I responded with: "I like to teach. I am able to spend exactly 50 minutes on a subject no matter how sublime or trivial. I don't think you want me to preach."
Jack, I am a problem not matter what denomination I am in. :-)
Delete"About being a practicing Catholic, there are several deacon wives in our diaconate community who are Protestant."
ReplyDeleteSame in ours, including at least one classmate's wife. That excuse does surface sometimes though. Shouldn't be a showstopper, in my opinion, if the wife is supportive.
Jean - yep, a deacon's wife makes no promises regarding remarriage, she's free to remarry.
And as for the deacons themselves, there are exceptional circumstances in church law, which have varied somewhat over the years, that do allow them to remarry. If I'm not mistaken, we're still under a pretty restrictive regime at the moment; the way the stars align now, a deacon can remarry with the appropriate permissions if (a) he has young children; and (b) he is caring for one or more elderly parents; and (c) he is considered indispensable to the community (or some such). For a while, the rule was that (a) OR (b) OR (c) was enough, but now I believe the ORs have been replaced by ANDs again.
At any rate, the existence of these legal exceptions proves that this business of clergy not being able to marry after taking holy orders is not doctrinal; or if there is some doctrinal rule buried in that discipline, it's not as straightforward as a can't-get-married-ever formula.
I hope the disciplinal matter of widowed deacons not being able to remarry gets revisited at some point. I have known of at least one sad instance of a widower in formation rushing into a second marriage to get in under the wire before ordination. Unfortunately the marriage ran into problems and he left formation. There was another instance of a single man leaving formation literally the week before ordination. He married a year or so later. He would have made a good deacon. I think it is particularly sad if someone tries to rush a decision like marriage because of the rule. Of course maybe that is a sign they should reconsider whether they are called.
DeleteKatherine - those are sad anecdotes. FWIW, in our archdiocese's program, a candidate can step out for a while, and then step back in. We had a guy who went through the aspirancy (discernment) year with us, and then stepped out. He stepped back in a year later with the class behind ours and was ordained with them. And there was a guy who stepped into our class in our last year of formation and was ordained with our year, although most of his formation had been done with a previous class.
DeleteOn the other hand, we had a classmate who stepped out, the reason for which I never heard explained, and he never came back in.
Katherine - you state that you are introverted. So is my wife. I wouldn't worry if you don't conform to someone else's preconception about what a deacon's wife should be. Deacons come in all different flavors, and so do their wives. Part of that difference should be that a deacon's wife can be as involved, or not, in parish ministry as she wishes to be and/or has time to be. Certainly we shouldn't expect deacon's wives to be like the stereotypical minister's wife who runs the parish women's guild (although there is nothing wrong with that if that's the wife's vocation, or so it seems to me).
ReplyDeleteBased on what you write here, I am sure you are a wonderful wife for your husband. I don't know how any deacon could wish for anything more.
Thanks for the kind words, Jim. I don't worry about it too much. I figure that even though I'm not an accomplished speaker, I can be a listener. If someone wants to talk about a problem or sorrow, I can sit beside them and listen.
DeleteI'm arriving late for this conversation, but I do want to stick in that, contrary to Jean's experience, we have deacons who know how to preach. And we've had a lot of experience with deacons.
ReplyDeleteOne, whose wife died, is now a priest. That's not supposed to happen, but the bishop got him a waiver, and good waiver it is because he is now an ornament to a neighboring church where he is not beyond hearing range. He began life as a Baptist so he can bring a message.
Another who was ordained for us is now at a neighboring parish where he was sorely needed. He remains part of our Wednesday morning men's group here. He is a contractor. But he doesn't preach like one.
Our more active deacon, who used to be an environmental compliance officer but is now retired, is also part of that Wednesday group. His wife makes sure everything required for anything is at hand, and she did that before he even thought of being a deacon. And our other deacon, who is as old as I am -- he was ordained for Washington, D.C. by Cardinal (later Vatican muckeymuck but I knew him when he was just Msgr.) William Baum -- was with the IRS. He once padlocked a Mafia warehouse, which is good background for the diaconate, since it involves holding one's ground while dealing with Very Important Catholics.
The two who are still with us each preach at one weekday Mass every week and in some sort of inscrutable rotation on Sundays. Both are good guys to have around. I think Francis would approve of all five of those guys.
Tom, I think if you live in an urban area, you will get better deacons and better preaching. I'm not knocking deacons. Just wince every time I hear one of these guys say, "we seen."
DeleteOur old deacon got some kind of dispensation to leave the diaconate after he had a stroke. He would get angry or cry really easily, and gave a sermon about how people weren't raising their kids right. He was really not fit for active duty. He never seemed right in the head even before the stroke. Drove the priest nuts with his ad libs, "The Mass has ended for now, go in peace to love and serve the Lord, and please pray for my wife Judy's cancer." It was really sad but annoying at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThe guy we have now is really nice. He always greets me by name, asks me a question, and mentions something nice about Raber. I told Raber to try to get him for the rosary and burial service when the need arises. At least he knows me.
One of our deacons is 89. Has survived cancer, open heart surgery, and Korea. But keeps on truckin'. He preaches a decent homily. Actually here they are supposed to hand in their notice of retirement at 75. But they can keep on doing whatever ministry they want, and whatever the pastor wants. Even after they retire or resign due to ill health they are still in the deaconate because they are in holy orders.
DeleteOur old deacon wanted to remarry and they let him go. He seemed quite miserable as a deacon, especially after his wife died. No one seemed to know whether he had someone waiting in the wings or what. It was a strange episode in our parish life.
DeleteThe fact that the current deaconate is largely part time and largely unpaid provides a large opportunity for much personal ministry, as in the following example.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago a couple who had been married by a deacon had their baby baptized by the deacon during Mass. The deacon did the usual pre-baptism rites with the parents and godparents at the beginning of Mass, preached the homily, then baptized the baby. At the end of the Mass he gave the final post baptismal rites before the dismissal.
It was a wonderful liturgy of the interrelationship of Baptism and Eucharist. The prominence of the deacon and his relationship to the baptism rites made him seem like an almost a co-equal minister with the priest who mainly sang the Eucharist Prayer. Baptism appeared more integrated with the Eucharist rather than being a subordinate ritual that interrupted the Mass.
The baptism was also very personal with the minister of baptism having an established relationship to the family. It was not the distant one time relationship that we often see in baptisms, marriages, and funerals where the family has little or no relationship to the clergy.
A most voluntary deaconate offers the opportunity for many deacons, especially if we also admit women to the deaconate. This could transform large parishes without breaking them up into small parishes. Wouldn’t it be great if every baptism, marriage and funeral had a deacon who had an established relationship with the primary participants.
There are economies of scale to larger parishes and congregations. The trend across denominations is to take advantages of those economies to give people the advantage of many diverse programs and experiences.
Maybe the deaconate with an emphasis on many deacons close to the people could be a great counterbalance to the over-professionalization that occurs in large organizations. I have been impressed that this discussion brought out the humanity of deacons, both their virtues and limitations. It made them seem close rather than distant from the people. I think Francis would be very pleased.
I don't really understand the function of a Catholic deacon except to help the priest carry the load when he gets old.
ReplyDeleteThey are also supposed to do marriage counseling and marriage prep instead of the priest.
The problem with living in a rural area is that all the priests and deacons are on their last legs, and I wouldn't presume to call on them for help.
If you're in the hospital, the nurses have a number they can call if you need the Last Rites. Can a deacon do that?
A deacon can bring Holy Communion, but can't do sacramental anointing of the sick. The reason given for that is that it is associated with the sacrament of Penance. And a deacon doesn't have faculties for that. Though it would be nice if they did. Recently a family member was going to undergo a stem cell transplant. He wanted Anointing of the Sick, but belonged to a little mission parish, and was having a hard time making connections with the priest. He was good friends with the deacon, "Ron" who had been very supportive during his illness. He wondered why Ron couldn't take care of it. Eventually he did connect with the priest. But it shouldn't be that hard to get basic ministry.
DeleteIn our parish the deacons do nearly all the wake services and occasionally the graveside rites, so that ministry is one where they are of quite a bit of help to the priest.
Delete