The Archdiocese of Indianapolis, cut from the wilderness nearly 175 years ago, turned a new page in its long history today when it restored an ancient office of the church that has lain largely dormant for Roman Catholics since the Dark Ages.Twenty-five men — all but one married and most grandfathers — were ordained this morning as deacons of the church.
Aside from men on their way to becoming priests, it’s an office Catholics had abandoned until the 1970s.
Deacons are familiar to Protestants, but in the Catholic faith, they are a notch below priests but more than the average parishioner. Catholic deacons are vested the authority to conduct baptisms, weddings and funerals, preach at Mass and lead prayer services.
Unlike priests, though, they may not hear confessions, anoint the sick and consecrate the Eucharistic bread and wine.
“We aren’t clergy and we are not lay people,” said Mike East, one of the newly ordained deacons. “We walk with a foot in each role.”
Described in the Bible as helpers who took care of orphans, widows and the poor, deacons disappeared from Roman Catholicism by the 7th Century as the priesthood became preeminent, said Rev. Bede Cisco, the Benedictine monk who oversaw the local revival.
In the wake of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century, groups like Baptists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists once again embraced the role of deacons, said Greg Wills, professor of church history at Louisville’s Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Performing duties such as preparing communion and caring for needs in the church, they were deemed “essential” to a well-ordered congregation.
But Catholics opened the door for the return of deacons only in the early 1960s, following the Second Vatican Council.
A few American dioceses began ordaining deacons in the early 1970s. Chicago’s archdiocese, one of the early adopters, now has more than 600 deacons.
The Diocese of Lafayette, which includes Indianapolis’ northern suburbs, brought back deacons earlier this decade.
Over time, a handful of deacons from other dioceses transferred to Indianapolis, including five here now.
But until 2004, when American bishops adopted a fresh set of guidelines for deacons, the archdiocese declined to grow its own.
“I think here the real need for it wasn’t seen clearly because they still had enough priests to take care of a lot of ministry,” Cisco said. “Folks were more concerned about allowing the lay ministry to grow and develop as fully as possible.”
For the American Catholic Church, which is still growing thanks to immigration, deacons hold the promise of bearing the burden of ministry at a time when the priesthood is shrinking. Handling things like baptisms and funerals should reduce pressure on overburdened priests.
“We need more people involved in church ministry,” Cisco said. “And deacons give us another way.”
Today's ordination at the Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral was highlighted by the moment when the deacons lay prostrate on the floor in a prayer symbolic of their decision, in a sense, to lay down their lives for the church.
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