National Directory for the Formation, Ministry and Life of Permanent ...

16 Chapter 1The primacy ofapostolic ministry26. St. Paul points out that the Holy Spirit is the source of allministries in the Church and that these services are quite distinct. 17The distribution of ministerial gifts follows a design set by Christ:In the building up of Christ’s Body various members and functionshave their part to play. There is only one Spirit who,according to His own richness and the needs of the ministries,gives His different gifts for the welfare of the Church. What hasa special place among these gifts is the grace of the apostles towhose authority the Spirit Himself subjected even those whoare endowed with charisms. 18IV. The Reestablished Order of DeaconsDiaconate: Apermanent rank inthe hierarchyThe deacon:Configured to Christthe deaconDeacon: Neither a layperson nor a priest,but a cleric27. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, taking seriouslythe role of the deacon to which St. Paul refers in his first letter toTimothy, remind us that “those who serve well as deacons gain goodstanding and much confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus.” 19 It wasfor serious pastoral and theological reasons that the Council decidedto reestablish the Order of Deacons as a permanent rank in thehierarchy of the Church.28. The Sacrament of Holy Orders marks deacons “with animprint (‘character’) which cannot be removed and which configuresthem to Christ, who made himself the ‘deacon’ or servant of all.” 20For this level of Holy Orders, Christ calls and the Church asks thebishop to ordain deacons to be consecrated witnesses to service. Inhis post-synodal exhortation The Church in America, Pope John PaulII makes his own the words of the bishops of that gathering: “We seewith joy how deacons ‘sustained by the grace of the Sacrament, inthe ministry (diakonia) of the liturgy, of the word and of charity areat the service of the People of God, in communion with the Bishopand his priests.’” 2129. Ordination confers an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It configuresthe deacon to Christ’s consecration and mission. It constitutesthe deacon as “a sacred minister and a member of the hierarchy,”22 with a distinct identity and integrity in the Church thatmarks him as neither a lay person nor a priest; rather, the deacon isa cleric who is ordained to diakonia, namely, a service to God’s