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The Diaconate
Transitional and Permanent
What is a deacon and what is the difference between a transitional deacon and a permanent deacon?
Transitional deacons are seminary students in the process of becoming ordained priests. They serve as deacons for one year and are then ordained by the bishop as priests.
Transitional Deacons are seminarians who are ordained as deacons, usually in their final year before priestly ordination; they are referred to as ‘transitional deacons.’
Permanent deacons are ordained to the Catholic Church and have no intentions of becoming a priest. Deacons may be married or single.
Permanent deacons are mature men, aged over 35, married or celibate, who by virtue of their ordination are members of the clergy. The word ‘Deacon’ means servant. Their ministry is one of service to the Church, and with the Church to the world, with a special concern for the poor and marginalised. The majority are in secular employment or retired. A few are paid by the Church or employed as chaplains in hospitals and prisons.
To find out more about the Permanent deaconate contact Fr John Harvey
Vocations Story
Good Shepherd Sunday
Deacon Paschal Uche - Message for Good Shepherd Sunday
Saint of the Day
- Blessed Anton Martin Slomshek
Blessed Anton Martin Slomshek Feast date: Sep 24 Anton Martin Slomshek who was born November 26, 1800 at Ponikva, Slovenia is the first Slovenian to be beatified. Slomshek is known as a great educator, largely responsible for the nearly 100% literacy rate among Slovenians, a remarkable turn around from the very poor state of the nation's educational […]
- Sep. 24 Tuesday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Weekday
The Memorial of Our Lady of Walsingham was reinstated to the liturgical calendar in England in 2000. The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is entrusted to Mary under this title. This feast day celebrates the shrine in Norfolk, England, which was a popular medieval pilgrimage site. In 1061, the lady of the manor of Walsingham, Richeldis de Faverches, was instructed by a vision of […]