Last time we looked at a little bit of the tradition of deacons in the Catholic Church. Deacons go way back and there is a consistent presence of deacons and the diaconate in many Church documents and writings up until the 3rd century. We also saw that the diaconate as a permanent order was brought back ...read more

Last time we saw how far back the diaconate goes in our Catholic tradition. Deacons are there from the time of the Apostles and all throughout the early Church. We saw a lot of proof. At the expense of making this an exhausting (not just exhaustive) exercise, let me lead you to Council documents: Council ...read more

In the last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at the diaconate, first by addressing the event that brought about this whole conversation and then in two parts (part 1 and part 2), briefly, the meaning of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, for I don’t think you can separate the conversation about Church hierarchy outside ...read more

Join us in prayer for the intentions entrusted to us by Pope Francis. For July 2017, we join the Holy Father in praying for: Lapsed Christians – That our brothers and sisters who have strayed from the faith, through our prayer and witness to the Gospel, may rediscover the merciful closeness of the Lord and the beauty ...read more

On the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul, at 9:30 am at St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis blessed the pallia (plural of pallium), taken from the Confession of the Apostle Peter and destined for Metropolitan Archbishops appointed during the past year. The pallium will then be imposed on each Metropolitan Archbishop by the Pontifical ...read more

At 4:00 pm today in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis held a Public Ordinary Consistory for the creation of 5 new Cardinals that included for the imposition of the scarlet beretta, the presentation of the ring and the assignment of the Title or Diaconia. The celebration began with the greeting, prayer, and reading a passage ...read more

From Pope Francis: I wish to announce that on Wednesday 28 June a Consistory will be held to appoint five new Cardinals. Their provenance from different parts of the world manifests the catholicity of the Church, which reaches all around the earth, and the assignment of a title or a diaconate in the city expresses ...read more

Pope Francis presided over a Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, concelebrated with Cardinals present in Rome, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his Episcopal Ordination. Below is the working translation of the homily: In the first Reading, we heard how the dialogue continues between God and Abraham, that dialogue ...read more

Interested in Women Deacons? Read what Sebastian Gomes recently wrote on this topic. And the two interviews with Phyllis Zagano: Subject Matters and Witness with Fr. Rosica Either the Church ordains women to everything, or we don’t ordain deacons. There are two questions we have to answer: ‘What is Ordination?’ And ‘What is the Diaconate?’ ...read more

Deacon-struct the Sacred Heart of the Father, in honour of Fathers Day. ...read more