It is fairly obvious, in Australia as elsewhere, that there is a wide range of opinions and pastoral practices in regard to the permanent diaconate
Its virtual disappearance for many centuries has not helped us to understand the profound value of this ministry. Neither is the all too often mentioned shortage of ordained priests an excuse to prop up the network of Church services in many dioceses around the world by ordaining permanent deacons.
The American Bishops’ Committee on the Diaconate released the results of a national study in 1996, identifying some issues for the future. The first one posed the following question: “How are the issues of the deacon’s identity and acceptance to be resolved in light of the tendency of many to use the deacon to address the present shortage of priests?”
The second issue resembles the first: “What are the best means of response to the demonstrated need for a more focused effort on the national and diocesan levels to form and challenge deacons towards roles and ministries more clearly differentiated from the ministerial priesthood?”
As recently as 2003, Cardinal Walter Kasper of the Vatican’s Council for promoting Christian Unity pointed out that the theological understanding of the permanent diaconate remains unclear, a matter of theological dispute, which has resulted in a variety of pastoral tasks assigned to deacons.
He singles out three major dimensions of diaconal life: 1. the theological (relational problems about the meaning of ordination to sacred orders – bishop-priest-deacon – which constitute one Sacred Order); 2. pastoral (basically boundary problems, involving the issue of who does what) and 3. personal (connected with the theological and pastoral grey areas, causing, in many dioceses, a morale problem for the diaconal ministers).
This morale problem may be the result of an unclear theological interrelationship between roles, or it may stem from the issue of the deacon’s marital status. On many occasions, marriage or family life requires the full attention of the deacon. He finds himself in a dual sacramental situation: his married life and his diaconal life. And the celibate clerical leadership, both Bishop and priest, may not be sensitive or appreciative of the pull factors between family and ministry.