Bishop Michael R. Cote installed five candidates for the Order of the Permanent Diaconate into the Ministry of Lector on May 27: Joseph Delaney, Mark Desrosiers, Christopher Hammond, David Imhof and Ronald Krystofik.
The installation into the Ministry of Lector was one of the required steps in the process of their diaconate formation.
Pope Paul VI re-established the Permanent Diaconate during the Second Vatican Council in 1967. Its mission is to assist bishops and priests to carry out their duties in continuing the work entrusted by Christ to the Apostles to “preach to all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The Diaconate is an ordained, clerical state within the Catholic Church. Deacons assist at Mass, and they have the faculties of baptizing, marrying couples and conducting funeral services. Deacons are preachers and teachers. Once ordained, the Bishop typically assigns them to a parish, and they are also given a specific ministry within the Diocese. Permanent deacons are enabled to preach homilies at the request of the pastor, and they are also expected to be actively involved in animating the laity by spreading and enhancing the faith through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA), Children’s Religious Education (CRE) and related programs.
Our candidates are in the fourth year of the five-year Diocese of Norwich diaconate formation program. Formation consists of four dimensions: spiritual, intellectual, pastoral and human. Thus far the candidates have participated in a 32-week Ignatian Spiritual Exercise Retreat ; they have completed 26 of the 34 required college credits; they have participated in two of the three required summer ministry programs; and they have undergone a one-day psychological evaluation, as well as continual Diaconate Review Board evaluations for their ability to collaborate with others, aptitude with regard to issues of social justice, and understanding the role of the deacon in Church and in society.
The next 14 months will indeed be busy for our candidates. In addition to continuing monthly meetings with me and their spiritual directors, they have several more steps to complete before being considered for ordination:
- Completing four more courses
- Completing one more summer ministry assignment
- Installation into the Ministry of Acolyte
- Two more reviews by the Diaconate Review Board
- A practicum
- A five-day canonical retreat
Please keep these men in your prayers. They have come a long way and have a way to go, but if they persist and the Church approves, at the end of this process the Diocese of Norwich will have five new and outstanding deacons.
By Deacon Ben LoCasto