The Deacon

11/08/2024

Exploring Our Apostolic Mission: Deacons can be part of a missionary role strategy. By Msgr. Gregory Smith.

The Smiths were the last family on the block to get color TV. That wasn’t all bad. By the time the color set arrived, I’d seen the “Wizard of Oz” half a dozen times, so the moment when Dorothy opened the door in Technicolor was doubly wondrous.

11/06/2024

Clergy as Catalysts, Agents of Change: Helping the homeless Off The Streets. By Deacon Michael J. Oles.

A tearful mom hugs volunteers who furnished her home and made beds for her family. She can now be reunited with her three children who have been in foster care.

11/04/2024

Deacon Stephen Fahrig writes about his love for praying the Liturgy of the Hours.

In June 1997 I fell in love … with the Liturgy of the Hours. Yes, that’s right — I fell in love with the official prayer of the Catholic Church, and I have loved it ever since. A month or two prior to my introduction to the breviary, I had begun to see a spiritual director on a regular basis. ...

11/01/2024

“Rushing” to open the diaconate to women in the Catholic Church would short-circuit a necessary reflection on the relationship between ordained ministry and charismatic leadership, said Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Pope Francis asked study groups to look into some of the more controversial questions raised during the synod process; the groups gave brief reports to the assembly.

10/30/2024

Deacon Anthony Liguori Jr. spreads his faith by "shaking it up"--as a highly regarded Elvis Presley tribute act.

Deacon Anthony Liguori Jr. is used to new parishioners gawking at him. But he doesn't mind. He realizes that when people meet a clergyman for the first time, they're not expecting a jet-black pompadour and long sideburns straight out of an earlier era. He knows exactly what they're wondering, too: "...

10/28/2024

Father Patrick Briscoe, OP, shares 10 things we need to know about Pope Francis’ latest encyclical, Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”), which offers the Church a striking new reflection on the transformative love of the Sacred Heart.

Pope Francis' latest encyclical, Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”), offers a striking reflection on the transformative love of the Sacred Heart.

10/22/2024

Pope St. John Paul II and Servanthood: How Christ’s selfless service is a model for deacons. By Deacon Dominic Cerrato.

Pope St. John Paul II, though writing little on the diaconate, nonetheless consistently emphasized the concept of Christ the Servant throughout his pontificate. Drawing upon his extensive writings, we can gain deeper insight into Christ’s redemptive love expressed in sacrifice. Some of John Paul.....

10/21/2024

Loving the Liturgy of the Hours: We must be men of prayer. By Deacon Stephen Fahrig.

In June 1997 I fell in love … with the Liturgy of the Hours. Yes, that’s right — I fell in love with the official prayer of the Catholic Church, and I have loved it ever since. A month or two prior to my introduction to the breviary, I had begun to see a spiritual director on a regular basis. ...

10/18/2024

Father Daniel Dozier proposes how deacons can help guard and cultivate the virtue of reverence.

One of the observations I frequently hear from those who attend an Eastern-rite Catholic liturgy is that the sense of reverence strikes them. The word “reverence” comes from the Latin reverential, meaning “awe” or “respect.” In the Catholic tradition, reverence is considered a virtue tha...

10/16/2024

New from Our Sunday Visitor--Daily video devotions from Fr. Patrick Briscoe: https://buff.ly/4eG0oOg

10/14/2024

What do angels have to do with being a permanent deacon?

What do angels have to do with being a permanent deacon? It turns out, a lot. Surprisingly, we can find evidence of a relationship between angels and deacons in the world’s art museums. This is because much of 15th-century Northern European art (“Northern Art”) is populated with angels vested ...

10/11/2024

Carlos Briceño interviews Capuchin Father Regis Armstrong, an expert on St. Francis of Assisi, and examines how the saint’s service stems from “finding the leper.”

Throughout history plenty of men have been born poor and, through hard work, good fortune or even deceit, died wealthy. We often remember who they are because of their achievements or the influence and impact they had in their communities or throughout the world. Rarely does history, hundreds of yea...