[Oldcath-l] What to do

[+Marty]

+Anthony

You pose an interesting problem faced by the RCs with Permanent
Deacons.

In my humble opinion, the ordination to major orders should be as
close as possible to the ordination to the priesthood, i.e. perhaps
within six months of priestly ordination. The book learning has for
all intensive purposes are complete and they spend the time in service
to the People of God. Learning and applying different liturgies,
reading the Gospel, and preaching a good sermon, properly prepared
(taking less than 10 to 15 minutes); assisting the priest in the
Eucharistic Prayer and the Communion, learning the rubrics and
visiting the sick. Many Old Catholic priests are weak in liturgies,
rubrics, preparing and giving timed homilies; it is hard to retrain
them after ordination. 

The difficulty with RCs and permanent deacons has been the lack of
interaction with the People. In effect, they can only marry, baptize
and bury and make calls at the hospitals. They cannot hear
confessions, or give the anointing of the sick, or confect the
Eucharist. Their usefulness to the pastor is limited. Thus, the
deacons lose heart and drop out.

If your deacon is not associated with a priest-mentor then his
interaction is limited. If your deacon's illness was such that it was
debilitating, then he may have a good reason for not continuing his
studies; if it wasn't then why bother and release him. 

+Tony, you used the plural in your letter to indicate more than one
deacon with the problem of dropping their studies?

May God Bless You,
 
+Marty
 
For the Greater Glory of God

-----Original Message-----
From: oldcath-l-bounces at stsams.org
[mailto:oldcath-l-bounces at stsams.org] On Behalf Of Sam'l B
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 11:46 PM
To: xlnctony at uacatholicchurch.org; Old Catholic Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Oldcath-l] What to do

On 08/05/2009 06:55 PM, Bishop Anthony wrote:

> Obviously this person is in no way ready to even be a Deacon much
less a
> priest.

	You  said it right there -- he needs a few more years of study
and 
service (diakonia) before he goes any farther.  Being a responsible 
grown-up who is ready and willing to minister to the needs of real 
people is the bottom line.

	You might want to prepare yourself to be whined and pouted at.
;-)

+Sam'l

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