Bishop's Schedule: Bishop Robert C. Morlino Friday, July 30, 2004 12:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison Sunday, August 1, 2004 10:30 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison Monday, August 2, 2004 -- Tuesday, August 3, 2004 Guest Presenter, National Diaconate Institute for Continuing Education Conference, Cincinnati, Ohio

Gift of permanent deacons: Becoming the Gospel fully alive

		Under the Gospel Book + Bishop Robert C. Morlino

Dear Friends,

Last Friday evening the Lord poured out a very abundant blessing of the Holy Spirit upon 20 men, new permanent deacons, ordained to serve in the Diocese of Madison.

This was the "first class" of permanent deacons to be ordained for service here. I am so grateful to Bishop Bullock, to Bishop Wirz, to Kate Wiskus, to Sister Marcia Vinje, especially to Monsignor Swain, and to all those who took an active and generous role in their formation. Likewise I am so grateful to and I so appreciate their wives and families who have supported them so admirably throughout the formation process as they will continue to offer their support in the diaconal ministry itself. As married, the deacon needs in a special way to find support and integration for his ministry in the context of his family and so much of that depends upon good and great women.

So gratitude is in order all around - gratitude to the pastors of these 20 new deacons and other priests who have counseled, advised, and supported them; gratitude to their friends and parish families; and really to all the faithful in the Diocese of Madison who have welcomed the gift of faith to be lived so as to nurture such fine vocations to the permanent diaconate.

Not a solution to priest shortage

This is the very first time that I am writing about permanent deacons, and I want the very first thing that I say about them to be the following: permanent deacons are in no way, shape or form to be seen as a solution to the problem of the shortage of priests. Even if there were a superabundance of priests it would make sense for the ministry of deacons to exist and be exercised in the Diocese of Madison which takes me to the main point I wish to make in today's column.

Christ, in giving us the sacrament of Holy Orders, offers the gift of the governing spirit to His apostles and their successors, the Bishops. Christ offers the spirit of His own sacrificial priesthood to those called to be priests in the presbyteral order. And as Christ offered the spirit of the servanthood of Christ to those first deacons called in the early Church, He even today offers this spirit to those who have followed them.

It is important to remember that St. Stephen, the first martyr, was a deacon as was the most valiant St. Lawrence. The presence of Christ in Holy Orders is alive in the Church through the governing spirit of the Bishops, through the spirit of sacrificial priesthood, and through the spirit given unto service. The deacon completes the visible presence of Christ in the sacrament of Holy Orders by being a public sign of Christ the servant, of Jesus the deacon. The fact that this ministry was lost and suppressed for many years in the Church has many explanations, but none of those explanations would reverse the decision of Christ to give us the Holy Order of Deacon as a sign of Jesus the servant, Jesus the deacon. Therefore along with Bishops and priests, the ministry of deacon is far more than appropriate in the diocese because it is a manifestation of the mind of Christ Himself in instituting the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Deacon becomes Gospel of Christ

All those who are called to be priests or bishops have already been ordained deacons, and when one is ordained a priest or Bishop after having been ordained a deacon, the sacrament of diaconate does not of course go away. The gift of the Spirit in diaconate, in priesthood, and in the order of Bishop, in each case imparts a sign or seal of the Holy Spirit on the soul of the individual which changes the person ordained at the deepest level. The newly ordained deacons have been changed at the deepest level into the likeness of Christ the deacon, that is they are icons of Christ the servant. They are ordained not unto priesthood, but unto service.

What does that mean? Perhaps the best way to sum it up is through the words of the liturgy when the deacon at his ordination is presented by the Bishop with the Gospel Book. At that point the Bishop says, "Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach." Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach - that is, integrate your whole life around the living message of the Gospel which you have now become. What an unbelievable gift! The deacon has in a real sense become the Gospel of Christ, not as words printed in a book but as alive and proclaimed, as believed and taught and practiced. What an awesome mystery and mystical identification for each deacon with Christ!

If the deacon becomes the Gospel fully alive, there is no room in his being for anything else. The life of Christ fills the spiritual being of the deacon. This in no way takes away from his role as husband or father because the more he is filled with the life of Christ, the better husband or father he will be, and indeed the better selfless servant of God's people he will be, because the Gospel alive and well, not simply as words in a book, is most fully realized on the cross.

The servanthood of Jesus the deacon is fully manifest in the powerlessness of the cross. The deacon sees himself as called to no other power except that of the Gospel, which in the eyes of this world looks like weakness, looks like the powerlessness of the cross. It is this sacrament of the diaconate that is first received by every priest and Bishop in addition to its being received by those who remain permanently deacons. So all of us are taught that the only power worth having is the power of the Gospel, and the power of the Gospel is none other than the powerlessness of the cross. To be the sign of Christ the servant, the icon of Jesus the deacon, is to be content with the powerlessness of the cross as one's only source of power.

Sign of hope to powerless

The final point that I would want to make today is that the willingness to be powerless with Christ crucified makes the one ordained a deacon truly a welcome, attractive sign of hope to all the powerless of this world for whom Christ has a preferential love and to whom the deacon is sent in a special way. The deacons' service of the word, at the altar, and of charity, all are ways of communicating the powerlessness of the cross to all those who are called to live in one way or another that powerlessness. Christ wants those who are powerless to feel especially close to Him rather than to have contempt for their powerlessness. He wants those who are powerless to know that they have a special home in His heart. The deacon is sent in a special way as the icon of Jesus the servant, Jesus the deacon, to bring them this powerful message for which they long, filled as it is with paradox.

Much more remains to be said about the theology of the permanent diaconate and about permanent deacons in the days ahead. This is simply a beginning. But let us pray and reflect on the wonderful gift to the Lord's Church which is the permanent diaconate, on this wonderful gift that we have received so abundantly here in the Diocese of Madison last week. Let us be filled with gratitude. And let us take every opportunity to express our joy, our congratulations, and our deep appreciation to these 20 fine men and their wives who have taken a risk in responding to Christ's call "to put out into the deep so that they can lower their nets for a catch." Thank you for reading this. God bless each one of you. Praised be Jesus Christ!

Official Appointments:

Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison, wishes to announce the following appointments of newly ordained deacons, effective July 24, 2004 for terms of one year:

Deacon John Baxter to St. Mary Parish of Platteville under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Charles Schluter.

Deacon Jerome Buhman to St. Maria Goretti Parish of Madison under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Msgr. Michael Burke.

Deacon William Bussan to St. Augustine University Parish of Platteville under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Charles Schluter.

Deacon James Davis to St. Jude Parish of Beloit under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Steven Kortendick.

Deacon John Fernan to Holy Redeemer Parish and St. Raphael Cathedral Parish of Madison under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Msgr. Paul Swain.

Deacon Richard Fischer to St. William Parish of Janesville under the pastoral supervision of Rev. John Auby.

Deacon Gregory Gehred to St. Joseph Parish of Fort Atkinson under the pastoral supervision of Rev. William Nolan.

Deacon Thomas Hale to Sacred Heart Parish of Reedsburg under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Thomas Monaghan.

Deacon Steven Hayes to Nativity of Mary Parish of Janesville under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Stephen Umhoefer.

Deacon David Hendrickson to St. Dennis Parish of Madison under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Kent Schmitt.

Deacon John Houseman to St. John Vianney Parish of Janesville under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Donn Heiar.

Deacon Patrick Jozefowicz to St. Mary Parish of Bloomington and St. John Parish of Patch Grove under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Eric Nielsen.

Deacon John Kraus to St. Mary Help of Christians Parish of Sullivan and St. Mary Parish of Palmyra under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Msgr. John Hebl.

Deacon Raymond Lukesic to Holy Redeemer Parish and St. Raphael Cathedral Parish of Madison under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Msgr. Paul Swain.

Deacon Richard Martin to St. Maria Goretti Parish of Madison under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Msgr. Michael Burke.

Deacon Todd Martin to St. Peter Parish of Madison under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Roger Nilles.

Deacon Ronald Pickar to Sacred Heart Parish of Reedsburg under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Thomas Monaghan.

Deacon Joseph Stafford to St. Albert the Great Parish of Sun Prairie under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Michael Richel.

Deacon Dennis Sutter to St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish of Portage and St. Mary Help of Christians Parish of Briggsville under the pastoral supervision of Rev. James Murphy.

Deacon Lawrence Tranel to Holy Ghost Parish of Dickeyville, St. Joseph Parish of Sinsinawa, and Immaculate Conception Parish of Kieler under the pastoral supervision of Rev. Francis Steffen.