The Deacon

Since the advent of the Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons and the Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons, diocesan formators have struggled to put together solid formation programs. While both sources lay out the principles and guidelines for formation, and while it is possible to develop a solid curriculum entirely locally, in reality many dioceses struggle to find and consistently engage the right faculty to teach this curriculum in a truly diaconal manner, and to find effective ways to assess and mentor in an ongoing manner the men who come forward in discernment, as well as those who continue into the candidacy years.

In 2022, Franciscan University’s Catechetical Institute (CI) fielded a new solution to the challenge of ongoing formation of currently serving deacons. This Ongoing Diaconal Formation (ODF) is now being used by many dioceses to substantively address the new guideline for five years of post-ordination formation. As dioceses have grown to trust the institute’s approach to this arena of ministry, and the many other areas that the Catechetical Institute’s outreach covers, a further discernment at Franciscan University has resulted in a decision to create formation to serve diaconal candidacy programs.

Blended Approach

This new formation collection is designed to be a blended learning approach that seeks to supplement, and not supplant, the local diocesan learning community so necessary for formation. This approach respects the principle of subsidiarity and enables dioceses to pay for only what they use. This kind of blended system has been well-tested and employed by universities and seminaries for decades. The delivery system is called “blended” because it involves the use of synchronous and asynchronous components. Where the synchronous component would be classroom presentations (either live or video), the asynchronous component is available via the Catechetical Institute’s learning management platform.

The content available allows field-level workshops and Bachelor of Arts-level and/or Master of Arts-level courses to be taken anytime during the year, enabling greater integration into existing formation programs using different delivery approaches. This rich array of options, mapped onto the four dimensions of clerical formation, is offered to diocesan diaconal directors in the manner of a smorgasbord: the diocese selects what content is needed from the Catechetical Institute’s collection when it is applied in the diocese’s curriculum and at what level or depth that diocese’s candidates need a given topic.

All levels of formation offered are attuned specifically toward the diaconate, rather than a generic version of such content. In other words, the entire collection of offerings is configured to the diaconate rather than configuring the diaconate to a standard curriculum. Spanish translations and subtitling are in view as well. The entire collection is designed to be affordable, with flexible, scalable pricing, often benefiting from existing financial arrangements in the 60% of U.S. dioceses with which the Catechetical Institute is already partnered.

The blended approach has several distinct advantages. Both workshops and academic-level content can be preassigned by the instructor to maximize discussion time in the classroom, or it can be watched as a group. The same video can be accessed after the classroom session at anytime during the course to refresh the candidate’s knowledge. It can also be used when, for reasons of sickness, distance or other impediment, a candidate cannot be present, or a session needs to be postponed.

What the Catechetical Institute is creating is a modification of the process used for priestly spiritual formation by the Institute of Priestly Formation (IPF) developed by Father Richard Gabuzda. Franciscan University’s approach has two notable differences. First and most obvious, where the Institute of Priestly Formation focuses on Christ the Priest, this new approach will focus on Christ the Servant. Second, where the Institute of Priestly Formation model supplements priestly formation in a summer program, this new design makes possible a consistent clerical hermeneutic throughout all stages and times of the year that deacon candidates are engaged in formation.

In our survey of best practices, it is clear that many current formation programs are heavily weighted in the doctrinal and pastoral formation with little emphasis on the spiritual and human. This results in a diaconate of “doing” rather than “being,” thereby diminishing the effectiveness of diaconal ministry. The presupposition here is that the interior life — that is, intimate communion with Christ the Servant — is the true source of the diaconate for the deacon and for the Church. As the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Diaconorum Permanentium points out, it “constitutes the heart and unifying center of every Christian formation” (Basic Norms, No. 71).

RIM Approach

The specific approach being used with all the content is known as the RIM (Relationship, Identity and Mission) Vocational Dynamic, it maintains the focus on Christ the Servant, which, according to the Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons is, “The element which most characterizes diaconal spirituality” (No. 72). This is accomplished by asking three fundamental questions throughout the formation process as they relate to all aspects of diaconal formation:

• What does this course reveal about my “relationship” to Christ the Servant?

• What does this course reveal about my “identity” in Christ the Servant?

• What does this course reveal about my “mission” for Christ the Servant?

The RIM Vocational Dynamic assumes that intimate communion with Christ the Servant is the source of the deacon’s life and ministry. This concerns, as first priority, the cultivation of the interior life. Only in his relationship to Christ the Servant can a deacon discover his identity in Christ the Servant, and only within his identity in Christ the Servant can he hope to exercise his mission for Christ the Servant. This progression forms an ongoing dynamic. As the deacon lives out his diaconal mission, he deepens his relationship with Christ. This deepening further strengthens his identity as deacon, and this strengthened identity enables him to realize his mission more effectively.

When the permanent diaconate was restored by the Second Vatican Council, its theology in terms of its nature and role in the Church was severely underdeveloped. The RIM approach being implemented by the Catechetical Institute is a developed, pragmatic, spirituality-centered theology of the diaconate in continuity with the tradition. The development team engaged by the institute aims at blending academic rigor with spiritual depth, integrating Franciscan’s renowned theology, catechetics, philosophy and counseling expertise with many field experts, all grounded in fidelity to Catholic teaching and adapted to the specialized needs of diaconal training. This new diaconal candidacy focus coheres well with Franciscan University’s larger mission of integrating faith, reason and evangelization, to help future cohorts of deacons become effective agents of the New Evangelization, capable of creatively addressing modern challenges while maintaining doctrinal fidelity.

Diocesan Impact

The Catechetical Institute’s proven record in the ministry-formation arena is leveraged in this approach to help diaconal-candidacy programs have measurable outcomes and mature forms of qualitative and quantitative evaluation and assessment. Feedback mechanisms help ensure continuous program improvement, delivering well-formed deacons ready for effective ministry. This approach’s impact is designed to be felt at the diocesan level, where newly formed deacons would contribute to increased participation in sacramental life, more effective pastoral care and expanded community outreach.

This formation approach takes seriously the principle of subsidiarity. We recognize that formation for ministry passing is a social activity. In his landmark social encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno, Pope Pius XI gave the classic definition of subsidiarity: “Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do. For every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them” (No. 79; see also Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 1883 and 1894).

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Importance of Continuing Formation

The National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacon in the United States contains a chapter on the importance of continuing formation after ordination.

It states: “The post-ordination path in formation is motivated by the same dynamism as the holy order received: ‘Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands. … Be diligent in these matters, be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to everyone. Attend to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in both tasks, for by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.’” (No. 240).

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All conversion is local, which is why ministerial formation must remain a robustly supported local activity. Failure to honor this principle risks disempowering the local formation effort in favor of a distant cult of experts. This new collection of diaconal-candidacy-formation tools is designed to support and complement that being undertaken locally and personally. Never forgetting that formation is always first and foremost God’s attentive presence to us as individuals, our blended learning approach addresses various aspects of what best fosters local competency. This includes encouraging personal accountability for spiritual growth, for ministerial excellence, and creating tasks and assessments that demonstrate the effectiveness of soul-to-soul persuasion, dialogue and genuine openness to others.

Likewise, we seek to honor the movements of grace within each man called to diaconal ministry, building people to serve people. In the Catechetical Institute’s courses and workshops, we encourage relational ministry, challenge the prevalent “program-running” mentality in which deacons often become absorbed, and support developing true ministerial leadership, team-building skills and administrative efficiency, all with the goal of helping deacons to be more personally available to people in competent and conversion-oriented ways.

Following this divine pedagogy, the work of forming souls must be attentive to the words of Pope St. Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi: “In the long run, is there any other way of handing on the Gospel than by transmitting to another person one’s personal experience of faith? It must not happen that the pressing need to proclaim the Good News to the multitudes should cause us to forget this form of proclamation whereby an individual’s personal conscience is reached and touched by an entirely unique word that he receives from someone else” (No. 46).

To reemphasize, nonlocal help and training can aid, but must not supplant; candidacy formation in its essence must remain fundamentally local. The long-term goal should be forming a confident, competent, empowered, trusted diaconal figure whose vocation can become the locus of teaching, community fellowship, liturgy and prayer, allowing the immanent hospitality of Christ to enliven parish life with a spirit of human warmth and welcome around that particular church’s sacred altar.

A spirit of Franciscan joy permeates the academic life at Franciscan University, and the workshops and courses for candidacy formation encourage just such a joyous response to ministerial challenges. The closer we grow to Christ in his Church, the more joy we experience. This entails a radical openness to God’s will and an acceptance of the refining and transforming role of suffering. We recognize that such joy flows from great trust, generosity and personal sacrifice. Moreover, the workshop and course tasks aim to foster an instinctive loyalty to Mother Church through the graced channels of the Church’s hierarchy and an acceptance of the Faith, whole and entire, in all its rigor and vigor.

DR. BILL KEIMIG is the deputy director of the Catechetical Institute at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.