The Deacon

Our parish pastor will tell us, as permanent deacons, what our assignments are, but, if we search our hearts, many of us will find the work we want to do, not have to do.

The average age of deacons at ordination often limits the time available to effectively organize and begin our public ministry, particularly if it’s a start-up. This fact, coupled with the continued demand to serve those who are drawing a troubled breath, resulted in my co-founding Deacons of Hope.

Having gained the support of Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, and Bishop Vann Johnston Jr. of Kansas City-St. Joseph, in Missouri, we — canonically — are a clerical association of Christ’s faithful. In short, Deacons of Hope is a parish-based, nonprofit pro-life ministry for permanent deacons.

While there are over 160 orders of priests and religious in the Church, this program is the first of its kind for permanent deacons.

To Protect and Defend

As a pro-life ministry, Deacons of Hope serves not only the unborn, but also the poor, the imprisoned, the marginalized, the oppressed, the sick and the aged, regardless of sex, race, nationality or creed.

Deacons of Hope has set as its mission to protect and defend the image and likeness of God at every stage of human life with a ministerial preference for the unborn and their mothers.

I am on record as saying that no pregnant mother should ever have to choose an abortion simply because they’re homeless. Additionally, the mothers and infants today are the widows and orphans that the diaconate was sworn to care for 2,000 years ago. We were given this exact responsibility!

A deacon’s servant mission can best be realized by serving women, notably those who are homeless, unemployed and pregnant, who find themselves in a Planned Parenthood facility seeking to end the life of their unborn. Deacons of Hope’s primary mission is to support these women and provide housing, as well as financial, emotional and educational support, to allow them to save and care for their infant, rather than to undergo an abortion and a life of guilt and regret for the life they ended.

Deacons must be Christ-like servants, to properly define the diaconate; and, therefore, there is no better way today than to offer life, both to mother and infant, encompassing God’s most precious creation.

Deacons of Hope organizes this ministry and perpetuates how important the life of the infant is to the life of the Church! We can no longer ignore our responsibility.

Individually, Deacons of Hope is centered and focused on the proper interior life, which “ought to be the stem, filled with vigorous sap, of which our works are the flowers,” according to Jean-Baptiste Chautard, OCSO (“Soul of the Apostolate,” TAN Books, $24.95).

Deacons of Hope is designed to target the most vulnerable women in need and provide for all their needs through the servant deacon, representing the person of Christ, and to heal and transform these women at the most vulnerable point in their lives.

Our website, deaconsofhope.org, has an online membership application (no fee to join). In addition, there are videos provided focusing on the St. Mary’s Home for Mothers, as well as a list that is building on media coverage we’ve been blessed to receive so far.

Full membership in Deacons of Hope is limited to Catholic men who have been ordained into the permanent diaconate. However, others who feel a call to support and assist us in this ministry may become associates with the Deacons of Hope. Associates can be spouses, benefactors, parishioners, etc., who feel called to support Deacons of Hope through prayer, association and works.

We also invite you to follow @DeaconsOfHope on Facebook.

Together as brothers in Christ, through our service to him as permanent deacons, we can be in community with one another, serving our local areas and doing his work, and, as we await his return, bring the message of hope and new life to the troubled and unborn.