{"id":2813,"date":"2008-09-19T08:05:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-19T08:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/palm-beach-celebrates-the-servants-in-the-servant-church.html"},"modified":"2008-09-19T08:05:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-19T08:05:00","slug":"palm-beach-celebrates-the-servants-in-the-servant-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/palm-beach-celebrates-the-servants-in-the-servant-church.html","title":{"rendered":"Palm Beach celebrates the “servants in the servant-church”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>During a recent trip to Florida, I was stunned to visit a parish that had not just one deacon, or two, but six. Yes, six. The vocation in the Sunshine State is booming. And Florida Catholic<\/a> looks at this trend in Palm Beach: <\/p>\n

The number of permanent deacons serving Catholics in the Diocese of Palm Beach continues to grow. What does this mean for the future of the local church?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more deacons we have the better,\u201d said Ana Daza-Jaller, coordinator of the Permanent Diaconate Formation Office, who pointed out that permanent deacons have a vital role helping parish priests, who have extremely busy jobs and large flocks that continue to increase here.<\/p>\n

Eight men joined the ranks of the clergy as deacons Sept. 6 at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola during an ordination Mass with Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito presiding. The cathedral was packed.<\/p>\n

In the south end of the diocese in Boca Raton, Deacon William Ferguson serves at St. John the Evangelist and Deacon Lon Phillips is at Ascension.<\/p>\n

Out west in Wellington, Deacon William Jacobs is at St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se de Lisieux and Deacon Joseph O\u2019Connell assists at St. Rita.<\/p>\n

The central diocese has Deacon Richard Lyles at St. Francis of Assisi in Riviera Beach, Deacon Miguel Munoz is at St. Ignatius Loyola, Deacon Stephen Scienzo serves at St. Peter in Jupiter and Deacon Martin Serraes is at Holy Name of Jesus in West Palm Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of the eight men has exhibited the necessary qualities we seek in men serving in the diaconate and has demonstrated continued growth in all of the areas concerned,\u201d said Deacon Dennis Demes, program director. \u201cIn addition to their duties in their respective parishes, each new deacon indicates an area of service to (take on in) the Diocese of Palm Beach as well, since a deacon is ordained primarily as a minister of the greater church.\u201d<\/p>\n

A deacon is to be \u201ca servant in a servant-church,\u201d according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.<\/p>\n

In 1967, the Catholic Church restored the diaconate as a permanent order of ministry, returning to the practice of the early church. Prior to the directive from Pope Paul VI, the diaconate was only a transitional stage as men prepared to be priests.<\/p>\n

The clergy member has specific duties including proclaiming Scripture, preaching and performing charity for others. Deacons also assist at marriages, preside at funerals and burial rites, and lead Communion and prayer services.<\/p>\n

There are more than 14,000 permanent deacons in the United States, according to the bishops\u2019 conference.<\/p>\n

Here the diocesan formation program, in its seventh year, has graduated 25 permanent deacons, bringing the population of \u201cactive deacons serving locally\u201d to 86, according to Daza-Jaller.<\/p>\n

The four-year diaconate program has attracted faithful men from all walks of life and professional careers. Deacon Demes pointed to projections that if the brotherhood continues to grow, deacons might outnumber priests one day.<\/p>\n

At this point, the priesthood is strong in the diocese. According to the chancellor\u2019s office, 110 priests have official assignments in the diocese with 53 parishes and missions. This figure includes diocesan, religious and extern priests. Another 65 active and retired priests have faculties in the diocese and help in parishes and ministries.<\/p>\n

At the present time, the diocesan formation program has 22 participants. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Photo:Deacon William Ferguson is vested with his stole by an attending priest and deacon during his ordination Sept. 6. Photo by Jason Collins, Florida Catholic.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a recent trip to Florida, I was stunned to visit a parish that had not just one deacon, or two, but six. Yes, six. The vocation in the Sunshine State is booming. 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}