Formation goal of the program
2007-09-30 10:44:00
Yesterday, in the first meeting of our Aspirancy year (more on the breakout of the years later), we received an overview of the formation goal for the entire four years. Our next meeting is October 13.Formation
goals are defined consistent with the US Conference of Bishops (USCCB) book "National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacons", which was inspired by the John Paul II Apostolic exhortation "I Will Give You Shepherds", or "Pastores Dabo Vobis". I have already ordered both of these publications to learn more!Our formation will focus on four areas:Intellectual - the academic side of the program. We are blessed to be having our meetings at a Seminary, so our classes will be condensed versions of the priestly seminarian courses, condensed of course, but taught by Seminarian professors! There are about 90 seminarians here from what I was told. Our formation in this area is the easiest to measure, although it promises to be pretty rigorous -- reading, d
What does a Deacon do?
2007-09-29 14:01:00
Knowing what a Deacon
does is a good thing when discerning whether God is calling you to be one! God calls you, you do not decide to be a Deacon; part of your discernment process will be figuring out, do you have the gifts to perform the vocation?Deacons do three major things - first, they proclaim the Word of God. They preach the Gospel at Mass if they are assisting - even if the Pope presides over the Mass! Preaching the Gospel is a very important role, but not the only one.Second, Deacons assist at the Liturgy of the Mass. and third, and in some ways the most time consuming from what I see, they perform acts of charity - they assist the poor and disadvantaged of the Church in their needs. Deacons have performed acts of charity on behalf of the Church since the days of the early Church Fathers. They were so visible, they were easy targets for persecution and martyrdom! Many of the early martyrs were Deacons, led of course by St. Stephen, whose story is told in the Book of Acts.We
I have entered the Aspirancy year of the Deacon program
2007-09-29 12:41:00
Peace of Christ with you!I go by the name of Stephen, after the patron saint of Deacon
s, St. Stephen the martyr. I am starting this blog site to share my steps on the journey to becoming a Deacon in the Catholic Church.Why am I doing this? I have found that one great way to help grow the number of new deacons and priests in the Church is to talk about the experience. I knew nothing about the Deacon program before I started, and I am so thrilled to be at this stage (whether I am eventually ordained or not), I would like to share.I have plenty to talk about - my preparation to enter the program, overview of the whole program (I will be ordained in 2011 if I make it that far), how the formation process is changing me and pushing me closer to God, how what I am experiencing matches up with the experiences I have had as Catholic in "normal day life", and more.This will not be the best site for learning Catholic theology, although I will discuss many topics about the four tenets of our f
The role of wives in the program
2007-10-04 06:35:00
Wives play a major role in the path to the ordination of a Deacon. It starts with the initial interview. In our archdiocese, the husband and wife are interviewed separately for 40 minutes, and then together for 20. The formation team is concerned with things like the impact to the family, is there time to do this, does the wife have any concerns. A particularly interesting question is “How will you feel having gone through the program together for four years, then one day you see your husband up on the altar and you are alone in the pew?” Wives are invited to just about every session in the four years. They encourage wives
to participate, even to be part of the academic sessions. If a wife is interested, she can fill out an application for catechist or advanced catechist at the end of the process, and based on her level of involvement, get full/partial credit toward these certification levels in the Archdiocese. At the end of year two and three there is a weekend ret
Getting noticed!
2007-10-03 07:24:00
We are now available on TopBlogArea.com! It's a small start, but I hope more follow us so we can help promote vocations in the Church. Many more are being called by God and just haven't heard the call.Please pass the word on us, thank you!Peace in Christ,Stephenin memory of St. Stephen the martyrPatron Saint of Deacons
Praying the Liturgy of the Hours
2007-10-03 06:30:00
The first formal activity we had on day 1 last Saturday was praying the Liturgy of the Hours
with the class of 2009. We all went to the chapel (our building was constructed in 1791!), and it was beautiful. The “upper classmen” (class of 2009) had two of their members pre-chosen to Preside/lead the prayer, and a second who offered a ten-minute homily/reflection of the next Sunday’s gospel as practice. We started with a beautiful hymn being sung, which I know happens but I have never personally experienced when I do morning prayer during the week at my church. The homily/reflection was excellent! Part of me was chomping at the bit for my turn (likely in two years), part of me was in awe wondering if I could ever do that as well. I have considerable industry speaking experience, but that’s a lot different than being the vehicle for the Holy Spirit to inspire the faith of people through the Word of God! The two upper classmen were dressed as Deacons but without the sash
We are evaluated at the end of Year 1
2007-10-02 09:56:00
At the end of the Aspirancy Year/Year 1, an unusual thing happens – unlike college, you must be invited back to Candidacy/Year 2! As I said before, Year 1 is a mutual discerning year – candidates are learning more about what it really means to be a Deacon in the Church, and the formation team is learning more about you. They decide whether you are invited back to year 2.Our Deacon formation team consists of four people, two Priests and two Deacons. One Deacon is on a leave of sorts in another important Archdiocese job, and they are going to give it some time to see if he can continue his duties on the formation team after awhile or not. This team is handling 35 men plus wives right now (21 in our class, 14 in the class of 2009), so they are busy and I pray that they can shoulder the load while one of their team members is busy elsewhere!Quite a few things go into the decision to invite you back or not. They are (and there may be more I am not aware of):Psychological testing –
Good book that helped me out
2007-10-01 18:07:00
101 Questions and Answers on Deacons, by William T. Ditewig. This was an excellent, quick read book that helped me understand some things about being/becoming a Deacon.Tomorrow - how we are evaluated in the program after Year 1, and what that evaluation meansWednesday - our first activity in our first class last Saturday - very spiritual!Peace in Christ,Stephenin memory of St. Stephen the martyrPatron Saint of Deacons
Timetable for becoming ordained
2007-10-01 05:49:00
The Deacon program in our archdiocese is four years, but there is more to the story than that. My understanding is other dioceses have the same or even longer periods of formation, one of the Deacon formation team members said four years was "the minimum" in the US - but not to be considered that we will receive a minimum job of formation! Our guide for formation is 1 Tim 5:22 - "Do not lay hands too readily on anyone....". Since this is formation and not just learning a skill, it takes time - especially considering the human formation that I discussed earlier.The process starts with prerequisites. We have a separate institute, the Church Leadership Institute, part of the Archdiocese Ministry Formation and Development group, whose mission is to give lay leaders a foundation in theology, spirituality, leadership and ministry specific skills. The Deacon formation team piggy-backs on the Institute and requires Deacon applicants to successfully complete three courses:Theology of Minist
Read more: Timetable
Formation goal of the program
2007-09-30 10:44:00
Yesterday, in the first meeting of our Aspirancy year (more on the breakout of the years later), we received an overview of the formation goal for the entire four years. Our next meeting is October 13.Formation
goals are defined consistent with the US Conference of Bishops (USCCB) book "National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacons", which was inspired by the John Paul II Apostolic exhortation "I Will Give You Shepherds", or "Pastores Dabo Vobis". I have already ordered both of these publications to learn more!Our formation will focus on four areas:Intellectual - the academic side of the program. We are blessed to be having our meetings at a Seminary, so our classes will be condensed versions of the priestly seminarian courses, condensed of course, but taught by Seminarian professors! There are about 90 seminarians here from what I was told. Our formation in this area is the easiest to measure, although it promises to be pretty rigorous -- reading, d
What does a Deacon do?
2007-09-29 14:01:00
Knowing what a Deacon
does is a good thing when discerning whether God is calling you to be one! God calls you, you do not decide to be a Deacon; part of your discernment process will be figuring out, do you have the gifts to perform the vocation?Deacons do three major things - first, they proclaim the Word of God. They preach the Gospel at Mass if they are assisting - even if the Pope presides over the Mass! Preaching the Gospel is a very important role, but not the only one.Second, Deacons assist at the Liturgy of the Mass. and third, and in some ways the most time consuming from what I see, they perform acts of charity - they assist the poor and disadvantaged of the Church in their needs. Deacons have performed acts of charity on behalf of the Church since the days of the early Church Fathers. They were so visible, they were easy targets for persecution and martyrdom! Many of the early martyrs were Deacons, led of course by St. Stephen, whose story is told in the Book of Acts.We
I have entered the Aspirancy year of the Deacon program
2007-09-29 12:41:00
Peace of Christ with you!I go by the name of Stephen, after the patron saint of Deacon
s, St. Stephen the martyr. I am starting this blog site to share my steps on the journey to becoming a Deacon in the Catholic Church.Why am I doing this? I have found that one great way to help grow the number of new deacons and priests in the Church is to talk about the experience. I knew nothing about the Deacon program before I started, and I am so thrilled to be at this stage (whether I am eventually ordained or not), I would like to share.I have plenty to talk about - my preparation to enter the program, overview of the whole program (I will be ordained in 2011 if I make it that far), how the formation process is changing me and pushing me closer to God, how what I am experiencing matches up with the experiences I have had as Catholic in "normal day life", and more.This will not be the best site for learning Catholic theology, although I will discuss many topics about the four tenets of our f
Human formation and reflection
2007-10-16 05:47:00
The journey to becoming ordained as a Deacon is one of Human formation. This past Saturday, in our second class of Aspirancy (year 1), we were given an overview of the flavor of human formation we will go through throughout our four years.Human formation is the foundation of the other three formations we will experience, namely Spiritual, Intellectual, and Pastoral. I liked this analogy:Human formation is the "being"Spiritual formation is the "heart"Intellectual formation is the "mind"Pastoral formation is the "action"All four formations are integrated, simultaneous, and not sequential - in many ways like the hats we wear in life now (maybe husband, father, teacher, friend, etc.)Reflection questions were an interesting part of learning how we might grow - in other words, to experience that which we do not yet know about ourselves. Think about these questions:1- What would you do with more faith?2- What do you know about yourself that others don't know about you?3- What do you know
Read more: reflection
Ministry Requirements
2007-10-15 05:54:00
The last area of requirements to discuss is Ministry
Requirements
. As I mentioned earlier, we have three courses we must take and successfully complete in our local Church Leadership Institute – Theology for Ministry, Spirituality for Ministry, and Leadership for Ministry. Second, we must be willing to make a life-long commitment to serve the Church of our Archdiocese as determined by our Archbishop, and third we must be willing to promise obedience to the Archbishop and be willing to accept any pastoral assignment received from the Archbishop. These are key points that may be different from past years, and could be different from other dioceses. We don’t pay for any of our costs of the program except things like books; the cost is all borne by the archdiocese. As such, we are to serve the Archbishop (not a pastor for example), and even if we are assigned to a parish or institution, and have supervision from there, we still work for our archbishop. In reality, assignm
Admission Requirements - Family
2007-10-14 03:03:00
I wanted to finish up with the additional detail on Admission
Requirements
I started earlier. Today I'll focus on the four Family
-related requirements.The first requirement is that if you are married, you must be married for at least six years and live in a stable and valid marriage, enjoying the full support of your spouse, and become celibate if your wife precedes you in death.If single, enjoy a stable settled life with a history of healthy relationships, and understand the implications of the charism of celibacy.You must enjoy with your family a good reputation within the community, andBe able to give the time required for study and service without detriment to your family.The reason for requiring 6 years of marriage is for stability. Anyone who has gotten married knows that commitment to the sacrament of marriage is a big task to do right. Anyone trying to both start a marriage/family and become a Deacon is probably going to see their commitment suffer somewhere. I always remem
Second class: Human Formation
2007-10-13 13:19:00
Today was our second class
in our first year, the Aspirancy Year, of the Deacon program. I am in the class of 2011.After morning prayer with the class of 2009, we spent the rest of the time discussing the context of human formation. This is one of four major areas that our program is based around, and that will be the crux of our formation over the next four areas. The other three areas are Spiritual, Intellectual, and Pastoral. All four must be integrated for Deacons to properly perform their duties of charity, liturgy, and the Word.The session today was mostly lecture, but interspersed with some very good reflection questions that we went off to think about. We did not discuss our thoughts, I think because this is a very first tiny step to get us thinking about the right things. I walked away feeling that instead of the formation team member telling us how our "being", or human formation, will occur over the next four years, through reflection we got a taste of "feeling" the cha
Read more: Second
, Formation
More on requirements to enter the program
2007-10-12 05:39:00
One day until my second class! I can’t wait – I hope I keep this enthusiasm through my whole journey. Tomorrow I will post a new blog later in the day, so it can be related to my second day at class. I know one item on our list is to sign up for the time and date or our psychological testing. The men will be there all day (about 8 hours), the wives about 2 hours. Today I will discuss the requirements of enter
ing the Deacon program. There are three major categories of requirements – Personal, Family, and Ministry. I’ll review Personal requirements today. You must (my comments in parentheses) Be a Baptized, Confirmed male;Be a Roman Catholic for at least 6 years;Be a US citizen or a legal, permanent resident at the time of admission;Have a working knowledge of English (interesting, as our archdiocese is really looking hard for candidates who are fluent in Spanish; I wonder if they waive the English requirement in some cases?);Be at least 31 years old at the time
Writing reflection papers
2007-10-11 06:10:00
The evaluation of our ongoing aspiration and formation takes many forms over the four years that leads to Ordination. One way is by making an assessment of how much of the academic material we understand and can apply.The academic courses start in year two. In our case, these will be taught (mostly? all?) by seminary professors since we are taking our classes at an archdiocese seminary. They will be condensed courses, but will not be graded. Our evaluation will be based on class participation and reflection
papers
.Class participation is an interesting topic. It's of course an excellent way to determine if someone is engaged in the topic, understands the issues being discussed, and "gets along well with his school mates". Some of these topics can get contentious, as there are people who are on all sides of an issue especially if it's a controversial one. There are certainly people who can read the same Church teaching and interpret it in a widely different manner.I believe part
More on the application process
2007-10-10 04:46:00
As I have mentioned previously, there are three major steps to finding yourself in an Aspirancy class. First, there as an Information Session, second you go through the Application process, and third you have an interview.In our archdiocese, we were told that 95 men attended various information sessions across our territory, over probably about a 4-6 month period. At these information sessions, the program is reviewed, expectations are set on what it means to become ordained as a Deacon, and the formation team discusses some of the things to consider in determining whether you have a calling to this vocation.Of the 95 men who attended Information Sessions, between 35-40 men were invited to interviews based on a review of their applications, and 21 are currently in the class of 2011.My Information Session was November 28, 2006; I submitted my application around January 10, 2007, ,and my interview was April 25, 2007. I received my letter of invitation to the first class on June 28 of th
Spiritual Direction
2007-10-09 05:29:00
We are supposed to pick a Spiritual Director soon. The formation team will offer a list of clergy in the local area that we can use. We have been told our Spiritual Director must be a priest, which to me has the advantage they can also be one’s confessor. I knew about this requirement, so this past spring I started working with a former priest of my parish (since transferred to another parish) as my Spiritual Director and confessor. It’s been a pleasant experience, we talk for about an hour. I try to bring an “agenda” of sorts of things I would like to talk about. I suspect we are still in the “getting to know each other” phase, since in this case that means getting to know me spiritually which is a lot harder than finding out what someone’s hobbies are! In our first Deacon session, I told the formation leader that I already had a Spiritual Director, who was a priest in the archdiocese, and was that ok? I sent him the priest’s name by email, and I assume he
Read more: Direction
Calendar for our formation
2007-10-08 05:43:00
You can see how the work ramps up each academic year!Year 1 September - Begin Aspirancy October – class 2 November – class 3 December – class 4 January ’08 – class 5, psychological assessment February – class 6 March – class 7, psychological feedback April – class 8, psychological feedback May – class 9 June – Invitation to Candidacy, Day of Recollection Year 2 September - Orientation to Academics, class 1, Petition for Candidacy October – 2 classes, retreat November – 2 classes, receive Candidacy December – 2 classes January ’09 – 2 classes, begin Institutional Assignment February – 2 classes March – 2 classes, Practicuum for Reader April – 2 classes, Family Day, Installed as Reader May – 2 classes, Annual Evaluation June – Annual Evaluation Summer – continue Institutional Assignment Year 3 September – 2 classes, Funeral Practicuum, Petition for Acolyte October – 2 classes, retreat, Acolyte Practicuum
Read more: Calendar
What happens after Ordination?
2007-10-07 05:47:00
There are a few key things we have been told about, that happen after ordination. At this point, Ordination is a long way off; May 2011. In January of 2011, we will start Ordination Planning. I can’t really say much more about it at this point, other than the fact that they recently changed the two 12-month Internships (an institution and a Parish internship) to run on a calendar basis, not an academic year basis, so the last 6 months of our program we are not in an Internship program. They said we will be very busy getting ready for ordination! This change causes us to start our internships in January of Year 2 now, instead of the start of year 3. February and March are heavy with Liturgical Practicuums. These are where we learn and practice the liturgy. I wonder if there will be any impact of the Extraordinary Form of the Liturgy in our program by then? In march of 2011, we also meet with the Placement Committee, I assume to ultimately make recommendations to the Bisho
We will be ontologically different
2007-10-06 04:08:00
Ordination as a Deacon is the lowest form of Holy Orders, followed by Priest and then Bishop, the highest order. But they are all Holy Orders, one of the Sacraments of Holy mother Church. This really stuck with me – ordination, like baptism, places an indelible, ETERNAL mark on your soul. “You are ontologically different
” from that point on. So I looked up “ontology” - the branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature and essence of things or of existence. Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy that investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. I found this explanation of the ontological change in Priests, which gave me a hint of the change in Deacons: "By virtue of sacramental consecration, the ordained priest does not simply become a functionary (one of our formation team members said that the program is about "being" not "doing"). This consecration does not set him apart to simply perform certain tasks in the Church.
Bishop will confer other offices/institutions on us
2007-10-05 06:39:00
On November 10 we will have a longer session, as we will participate in the class of 2009 being installed as Acolytes by the auxiliary bishop of our Archdiocese. Acolyte is one of four steps we will take to becoming a deacon: Candidacy: I believe this will be first for us. In year 2 God willing we are still in the program, the Bishop
will admit us to candidacy as a Deacon. The aspirant writes out in one's own hand a free petition. The Bishop, in turn, writes a written acceptance of the aspirant to candidacy. The aspirant, now candidate for the Sacrament of Holy Orders, now cares for one's vocation in a special way and fosters it. Reader: The Bishop will confer the office of Reader. This conferment is not an ordination, but an institution. The Reader receives an appointment to read the word of God, except the Gospel, in liturgical assemblies. The Reader presents the intentions for the General Intercessions, directs the singing and the participation of the People of God
Prayer for Discernment
2007-10-20 02:21:00
Starting tomorrow I intend to post the story of my work in a soup kitchen. Acts of charity are an important part of the ministry of Deacons, and in fact it is an important part of the ministry of all Christians! Serving Jesus Christ by ministering to the disadvantaged is clearly scriptural (Matt 25) and taught by the Church (#953).But today, as a nice was to start the weekend, I want to share the most beautiful prayer. I was reading about Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and spiritual writer (his book The Seven Storey Mountain is a classic), and I found a prayer that is perfect for the person discerning their vocation!Discerning your vocation is following God's will. This is especially true for calls to become a priest or Deacon; Christ said "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16):My Lord God,I have no idea where I am going.I do not see the road ahead of me.I cannot know for certain where it will end.Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following
Read more: Prayer
Reflection on Human formation
2007-10-19 06:33:00
Last Saturday's class was on Human formation, and one of the key points we heard was that formation is not about what we DO, it is about who we ARE. We are being formed. So as I reflected on this, I think it has helped me with one discernment question that you may have as well.What is the real difference between a lay minister that is active in works of charity, and a Deacon? There are some obvious things, like assisting at Mass (different than an altar server or Acolyte), preaching the Gospel, and homilies. So there is a liturgical difference. But somehow I didn't think that was the right answer, because if it was, discernment would be pretty simple -- you want to enter in a ministry where you can assist priests with the liturgy, or you don't. That's not the impression I Have received so far about discernment!If you think about it, just about everything else a Deacon DOES you can do in lay ministry. You can certainly evangelize. You can certainly minister at hospitals, priso
Upcoming agenda for both Deacon classes
2007-10-18 06:41:00
I received a copy of the academic agenda
for the upper class of Deacon
candidates, class of 2009. Our schedule and theirs for the fall were on the same sheet.As for our class, this fall we (class of 2011) meet just four times (we meet five times in the spring, plus our psychological testing, possibly with an additional meeting for year-end evaluation). As I noted earlier, last Saturday we heard an overview of Human formation, along with some reflections. In November we will discuss Spiritual Formation, and in December we will discuss Pastoral Formation. Intellectual Formation, the fourth key area, will be discussed in January.As a point of interest to see what they cover, the class of 2009 is in academic formation right now, along with completing their Institutional internship, and starting their Parish Internship in January. Their study of a particular topic goes for two sessions, and they meet from 9-3 with breaks. It appears that most of their instructors are Sulpician professo
Read more: Upcoming
Discerning your vocation by what you read
2007-10-17 05:58:00
You may be wondering, how do I know if this vocation (or any) is one I should move toward?Well, you can just try it out - as I have said before, performing acts of charity is always a great way to discern a vocation. It gives you something to pray about too.But one other technique that has served me very well is spiritual reading. To me it almost feels like I am receiving the grace of God to follow his will more strongly, when I am engrossed in a particularly good spiritual/theological book.One reason spiritual reading is helpful in your discernment, besides the value you receive from what you read, is that it influences how you spend the time in your day. A relationship with God is like a relationship with a spouse/loved one, in that you don't grow in your love with someone if you don't spend time with them. You can't grow closer to God by spending every night in a bar with the guys watching sports on the TV!!I have also learned a lot about my faith by reading. There are severa
Sacraments and their role in discernment
2007-10-24 06:08:00
How did I get to this point, a first year candidate in the Deacon program?At one point, I was probably a "typical" Catholic. Not a bad guy, but focused on work, family, and other activities in my life. At some point, I started to realize I wanted God and Church more in my life. You hear this happening all the time, but I think it was in part due to the passing away of three friends within a year. When I was in that situation, I think I realized there is more to life than the things many people focus on throughout their day. It's a shame it takes something like that to wake people up. Once you start thinking about the important things, you start thinking about family, love, life, and then your perspective changes - hopefully forever.It also is a lot harder for God to reach you when you are not totally focused on listening to him. He'll keep asking, as he never goes away. But without a strong faith, we don't listen as well as we should.I just wanted to have a good relationship w
Practicums
2007-10-23 06:03:00
Deacon candidates will receive mentoring and practice in various activities that they will be asked to perform as Deacons. These are called practicums.The first practicum on our schedule is March of year 3, Practicum as Reader. I expect this will be similar to the training people receive as lay people when they become readers of the First/Second Readings at Mass, but with the twist that Deacons proclaim the Gospel.In September of Year 3 we experience our Funeral Practicum. I don't see a Matrimony Practicum on our calendar, but I am pretty sure we have that one too. These two would be very important to Deacon candidates, because in my experience Deacons assigned to parishes perform a lot of funerals and marriages as a way to lighten the workload of the parish priests. For the Funeral practicum, we go to a funeral home for at least part of our training.Liturgical Practicums take up the most time at least calendar-wise, and we cover them in March and April of our 4th and last year. T
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