Where are our deacons?

This week we celebrated the feast of St Lawrence, a deacon. From what we were told of him, he was in charge of looking after the church treasury and distribution of materials to the poor and needy.

If you recall the reason for instituting the ministry of the Diaconate, this was not out of place as Acts 6 tells us "In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Greek-speaking Jews among them complained against the Native Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. ² So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. ³ Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them ⁴ and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” And following this the first seven deacons were chosen, and so was born the diaconate ministry. 

Fast forward to the present time and I have to ask, where are our deacons? I know that in the church, there are permanent deacons and there are transitory deacons but in this part of the world, the transitory deacons are more common. These are the deacons who are awaiting ordination to the priesthood and so serve as deacons for only a short period, about six months to one year. 

The fall-out of having more transitory deacons than permanent deacons is that the apostles of our time (the priests) are more involved in 'management and distribution of funds' and therefore have insufficient time to 'give their attention to prayer and to the ministry of the word'. 

Perhaps when we celebrate a feast like this, it causes us to ask these pertinent questions. Why don't we have more permanent deacons who will dedicate themselves to the material needs of the faithful so the priests can focus on the spiritual? Are we lacking men and women that are 'known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom'? And if we are, what can be done to revitalize this ministry in the church especially to have more permanent deacons?

And some people can argue that we have societies and committees in the church responsible for these activities like the Society of St Vincent de Paul and Welfare committees in most parishes. If this is the case, why do we still have priests heavily involved in funds management? From a RACI stand point (RACI means Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed), in what segments should the priest be found? Personally I think definitely he should be Consulted and Informed but the Responsibility and Accountability should lie with those chosen and mandated to carry out these duties.

Last year, the Archdiocese of Lagos released a new set of guidelines for general church administration covering Management of funds and Human Resources. In these guidelines, credible people are to be chosen to be members of various councils including the Parish Finance Council which has ultimate responsibility for parish funds management.

Perhaps this is a step in the right direction; and I hope that we can ultimately get back to the place where priests devote themselves first and foremost to the ministry of the word and the sacraments without the material needs of the faithful been neglected; because we need permanent deacons who have consecrated their lives to the service of God and can give themselves to doing this in the poor and needy.