From Deacon Pat Guerrini
Deceased Deacon and Deacon Wives
It has been the time honored tradition of the church to remember each year during the month of November our departed loved ones, and to pray for our brothers and sisters who have preceeded us in death. Here is a listing of the deceased deacons and wives of the Boston Diaconate Community. Please remember them in prayer as we recall our places and their places in the communion of saints.
(Perhaps you could keep a copy of this list of names in your breviary as a reminder to pray for them regularly.)
We thank you, O God, for these men and women who have been so near and dear to us, and who are now parted from us in death. We thank you for the friendship that went out from them, and for the peace they brought. We thank you that, through their trials they learned obedience, and that they became people others could love while they were with us here on earth. We pray that nothing of their lives will be lost, but that all will be of benefit to the world; that all that they held sacred may be respected by us who follow them, and that everything in which they were great may continue to mean much to us, now that they are gone. We ask you that they may go on living in our diaconate community, in our hearts and minds, our courage and our conscience. Grant that we who were associated with them may now be even more closely associated with each other, and that we may, in this togetherness and peace and friendship here on earth, always be deeply conscious of your promise to be faithful to us, even in death. Amen.
Distance Learning Opportunity
We have received the following information from the Pontifical College Josephinum regarding certain courses available through their Distance Learning Program.
Many deacons across the country have benefited by taking these classes as part of their continuing education and ongoing formation. THE BOOK OF REVELATION Does it offer a cup of medicine or a cup of wrath? Our ailing modern world is fraught with:
- Major Crises
- Cultural Shifts
- Economic Volatility
- Terrorism
- Floods, Drought & Wildfires.
Help calm your flock while preparing yourself to answer their questions about the hazards of their present and threats to their future. Dispel misunderstandings: offer insight for reading the messages of the Book of Revelation. Through the new course, The Book of Revelation - Worship and Justice, learn how to read scripture; Promote Peace and inner Biblical Spirituality in your parishioners amid a constantly changing world; interpret The Book of Revelation to:
- inform and understand;
- speak to the reader today;
- resist the temptation of simplistic and literalist interpretation;
- better interpret the book's complex symbolism.
The Book of Revelation - Worship and Justice Class starts January 7th. Begin class following Christmas, study through Lent and be prepared to answer parishioners' questions by Easter: the perfect time to offer a cup of medicine to an ailing society. Understand the Catholic interpretation of the Book of Revelation
Register Today at: <http://dlreg.pcj.edu/newrege.php>
Visit our Web site: <http://www.pcj.edu/intro/intropage.html
Questions? Call Sandy George (614) 547-1643 sgeorge@pcj.edu
Update on the conditions for remarriage of a widowed deacon.
This "Circular Letter" and explanatory letter from Bishop Campbell, USCCB Secretariat for the Diaconate explain the new conditions for dispensation and permission to remarry after being widowed. As you will notice, there are now three factors and all are necessary to even be considered.
From Deacon Leo Donoghue
Please let me recommend a wonderful new book about the diaconate titled: The Deacon Reader, edited by Deacon James Keating, PhD. I have an advance copy and it looks quite good. Paulist Press. $22.95
The essays collected in this book, which is sure to be at the foundation of every deacon's library, aim to give the reader an overview of the theological and pastoral nature of the diaconate and thus to clarify the fundamental identity of the deacon, for those who are discerning such a call as aspirants and those who are already candidates for the office .
Editor and contributor James Keating divides the book into three sections: historical and theological foundations, pastoral foundations, and sociological foundations for the diaconate, i.e., the core elements of the diaconal identity. Some of the subjects covered are the history of the diaconate, the morality of the deacon, the deacon and work, and the deacon's wife. The most significant deacon theologians contribute to this text as well as priest experts on the diaconate.
It is a complete systematic academic text for the first years of formation of deacons. As such, it is indispensable. This is the first text ever that specifies the theological formation of the deacon student over a range of themes and specialties. There is nothing like it in print. http://www.paulistpress.com/4389-5.htm |
Course Opportunity
St. John's Seminary, Brighton, will be offering a 3-credit graduate course, MT 504, Pastoral Moral Issues, taught by ethicists from the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The course will offer an introduction to Catholic moral tradition and its teachings in the area of medicine and the life sciences, focusing on the major issues in healthcare and bioethics of today: health care ethics, justice issues in health care, ethical treatment of the human embryo and fetus, reproductive technologies, and issues at the end of life.
Established in 1972, the Center is engaged in education, research, consultation, and publishing to promote and safeguard the dignity of the human person in health care and the life sciences. The Center is unique among bioethics organizations in that its message derives from the official teaching of the Catholic Church: drawing on the unique Catholic moral tradition that acknowledges the unity of faith and reason and builds on the solid foundation of natural law.
The Center's staff consults regularly on life science issues and medical issues with the Vatican, the U.S. bishops and public policy-makers, hospitals and international organizations of all faiths. The course, which is also open to auditors, will be offered at the Seminary, 127 Lake St., Brighton, MA on Thursdays 1:15 - 3:15 pm from January 17 to May 8 (no classes March 6, 20, or 27, or May 1).
For more information or to register, please contact the Office of Admissions and Records, by phone 617-779-4369, fax 617-787-2336, or email srmpierrejean@sjs.edu.
Deacon Pat Guerrini
Asst. Director Clergy Personnel
Asst. Director Office for Clergy Support and Continuing Formation
Tel.: (617) 746-5658
Annual Diaconate Community Convocation
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Saint Patrick Parish
71 Central Street Stoneham, MA
8:30 A.M. - 2:45 PM
The celebrant and homilist for the 11:00 AM Liturgy will be His Eminence Cardinal Sean. The guest speaker for the day will be Deacon Keith A. Fournier of the Diocese of Richmond, VA.
Deacon Fournier is the founder of the Common Good movement and co-chair of the National Clergy Council's Board of Scholars. He serves as deacon at Saint Benedict Roman Catholic Church in Richmond, VA, and also serves with approbation in the Melkite Greek (Byzantine) Catholic Church. He has spent most of his adult life serving efforts encouraging Christian cooperation and authentic ecumenism.
Attorney Fournier is a constitutional lawyer and policy activist/consultant, with extensive experience in the practice of law, association leadership and policy work spanning a twenty-four year professional carreer. He is a founder and builder of several policy efforts dedicated to life, family, and authentic economic, religious ands human freedom. He is the author of several books
More information and Registration forms will be forthcoming.
Deacon Pat Guerrini
Asst. Director
Clergy Personnel
Asst. Director Office for Clergy Support and Continuing Formation
Tel.: (617) 746-5658
Bill Dietwig to Resign from USCCB; Committees Restructured
Dear Colleagues in the Diaconate,
As you know, the USCCB is undergoing a massive restructuring, following a plan approved by the full body of bishops at the November 2006 assembly in Baltimore. Under this restructuring, 58 committees of bishops are being reduced to 17, and the office staffs are being realigned accordingly. Within the area of official ministry, as just one example, the current six committees of priestly life and ministry, vocations, consecrated life, seminaries, bishops, and diaconate are all going out of existence. In their place will be a single Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, effective on 1 January 2008. At the November 2007 meeting in Baltimore, a bishop-chairman will be elected and he will then select the bishop-members of the new committee. Bishop Campbell, the current Chair of the Bishops' Committee on the Diaconate, will leave office in November, and Bishop Kane, our current chair-elect, will take over. However, his tenure will last only until 1 January; in other words, less than two months.
Serving the goals of this new Committee will be a staff of four persons. The Executive Director of the Office for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations will be a priest appointed by the General Secretary of the USCCB. I am pleased to announce that Msgr. Ed Burns has been appointed to that position. There will also be an Associate Director for the Office, and these two persons will be assisted by two administrative assistants. Notice that none of these positions will focus on a particular part of the ministry; for example, neither the Executive Director or the Associate will be the "priestly life" person or the "deacon" person or the "consecrated life" person; they will both be responsible for all of these areas.
Before going any further, I want everyone to understand the significance of this change: there will no longer be, on the USCCB staff, an office specifically and solely focused on the ministry of priests or on the ministry of deacons; rather, this is a time of integration and collaboration. I applaud this move, personally, because I believe that the diaconate in the United States has matured significantly over the past forty years, and that the Order of Deacons will benefit even further by its integration into a consolidated committee and office.
As part of the restructuring process, I was asked to consider what I would like to do here at the Conference. One option, of course, was to move into the Associate Director position as I've described it above. There were also a couple of other positions which I was also asked to consider. All of these positions were very attractive and offered real possibilities for continued service. During this time of discernment, I also considered what other options might exist outside of the USCCB itself. It has been my distinct privilege to serve as the Executive Director of the Secretariat for the Diaconate at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for nearly five years. The Conference is a wonderful place in which to minister, and in addition to my responsibilities for the diaconate, I have been able to assist in evangelization, scripture translation and in the Conference's hurricane recovery efforts.
After long and prayerful consideration, however, I have decided to leave the Conference and to accept an appointment as Associate Professor of Theology at St. Leo University near Tampa, Florida, effective in the Fall Semester 2007. In addition to teaching and designing graduate and undergraduate courses, I will also serve in other administrative roles. St. Leo University is a leader in providing high quality Catholic education on its University Campus as well as through 16 regional centers and online. While there are some 1500 students on the main campus, the University serves over 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students through its diverse learning environments.
Two particular features of the University's graduate programs in pastoral studies were of special interest in making my decision. First, the University is committed to serving the intellectual formation needs of deacon candidates in a growing number of dioceses; for obvious reasons, this is of particular interest! Second, the University has a long history in helping members of the US military pursue their academic goals while still serving on active duty. Given my own background as retired Navy commander, this is a dimension of the mission of the University which I also wish to serve.
It has been a distinct honor to serve the US bishops on their staff for the last five years, and to serve the ongoing development of the diaconate in the United States. While I will no longer be on the full-time staff of the USCCB, I fully intend to continue to offer support to bishops and their dioceses as necessary and desired, and I remain available as a resource person for study days, convocations and consultation. So please don't hesitate to contact me! I will remain here on the job through July of this year, so please don't hesitate to be in touch!
It has been such a blessing to serve with you.
God bless you and the people you serve,
Deacon William T. Ditewig, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Secretariat for the Diaconate
Executive Director, Secretariat for Evangelization
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 3211 Fourth Street NE Washington, DC 20017 202-541-3038
USCCB - Committee on the Diaconate Reorganized.
On Tuesday, 14 November 2006, the bishops of the United States authorized the most substantive and sweeping changes to the Conference in its existence. This vote followed more than two years of intense consultation and collaboration as the bishops wrestled with the very idea of an episcopal conference and how the bishops and the bishops' staff can operate more effectively and efficiently.
The changes, which will take effect in 2008, will affect the structure and operation of the "Ministries Group" which I wrote about in the last issue of Deacon Digest. As I mentioned then, our staff consists of two executive level directors, Msgr. Ed Burns of Pittsburgh and myself. We have two administrative assistants. We currently staff four Committees: the Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry, the Committee on Vocations, the Committee on Seminaries, and the Committee on the Diaconate. Effective in 2008, these committees, along with the Committee on Consecrated Life and the Committee on the Ministry and Life of Bishops (six Committees in all) will be combined into one: the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. The size of our staff will remain the same.
There are many ways to look at this set of changes. On the one hand, this will mark the first time in 40 years that there will not be a permanent committee of bishops whose sole responsibility is the renewal of the permanent diaconate in the United States. I have always felt that one of the reasons the renewal of the diaconate has been so successful in the United States was because of the consistent oversight and concern with the diaconate such a committee has provided. So, in this sense, it is a sad development. However, on the other hand, by becoming part of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, the diaconate will become much more integrated and integral in the vision of official ministry at the Conference. After all, there will no longer be separate committees for the priesthood or the episcopate, either! Rather, the focus is on greater collaboration and focus. So, while some may feel that this is a dangerous step, I believe that the positive potential of this development far outweighs the negative, and I would hope that we can all see it this way.
This is good news for a diaconate that has matured greatly over the past four decades, and the bishops who will serve on this new Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations have a solid appreciation of the sacramental identity and the mission of the renewed diaconate in the life of the Church in the United States. Over the next year, Msgr. Burns and I will be working to establish the new structures necessary to support the new Committee and its work. Overall, the tasks we will perform will not change substantively from what I outlined in my last column, although I will be charged with responsibilities in addition to the diaconate itself. However, that's nothing new here at the Conference or for any of us involved in ministry today: we all have multiple tasks and responsibilities!
Two other brief announcements. First, I am pleased to announce that during the recent meeting, Bishop Francis J. Kane, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, was elected as Chair-Elect of the Committee on the Diaconate. He immediately joins the Committee as a member, and will assume the Chair at the end of Bishop Campbell's term of office in November 2007. Bishop Campbell, Bishop Kane and I will be working on the transition details in the establishment of the new Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Our phone number is 202-541-3038, or you can always reach me at wditewig@usccb.org Deacon Bill Ditewig
NDICE Conference Podcasts Available
You might be wondering, What the heck is a podcast anyway? The easiest way to find out about podcasts is to ask your kids or someone in the youth group in your church, however, I'll try to give you a few of the basics here.
Most commonly, a podcast is an audio or audio/video presentation of some (live) event. Producers put these files on a web site for download to an Apple iPod using a program called iTunes. When this is done, you can play these files anywhere you desire from your portable iPod. Don't have an iPod? Don't worry. If you have a computer (either desktop or laptop) and have a program called iTunes installed, you can use that system instead of an iPod. As a matter of fact, you really don't need iTunes installed on your system to view the files at all, it just makes the whole process a bit easier. You will need the QuickTime media player installed in your web browser, however. QuickTime is installed automatically with iTunes or it can be installed separately and both are available for free download from the Apple Computer web site (look at the tabs on the top of their home page).
That said, the National Diaconate Institute for Continuing Education or NDICE, at their recent conference held at Xavier University in Cincinnati in July, had the university staff record all the presentations in this state-of-the-art audio and video format and are making them available (at no charge!) to the entire diaconate community from the world wide web.
You can find these podcasts on the Xavier University web site. MS Word documents of the presentations can also be downloaded. They are available as links from the NDICE web site. We would like to thank the officers of NDICE for taking this bold technological move for the betterment of the entire diaconate community in the United States. I encourage our members to take a look at these presentations, and if you feel it appropriate, share these instructions with your diaconal communities. |
