Critical assessment of the Profile and Ministry of the Catholic Diaconate in the Archdiocese of Cape Town EUGENE GILBERT TITO A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Magister Theologiae in the Department of Religion and Theology, University of the Western Cape Supervisor: Prof. Christo Lombard November 2009 1 KEY WORDS Catholic Diaconate Archdiocese of Cape Town Second Vatican Council Canon Law Curial Documents Policy document Statues Evolution of the Diaconate Diaconate training Deacons Jubilee celebration 2 ABSTRACT The service of deacons in the Church is documented from Apostolic times. A tradition attested already by St. Ireneus and influenced in the liturgy of ordination, sees the origin of the diaconate in the institution of the “seven” mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (6:1-6). St Paul refers to the deacons and to bishops in his letter to the Philippians. (1:1), while in his first letter to Timothy (3:8-13) he lists the qualities and virtues which they should possess so as to exercise their ministry worthily. While the permanent diaconate was maintained from earliest Apostolic times to the present in the Eastern rite churches (Orthodox and Catholic), it gradually disappeared in the western church during the first millennium. The diaconate continued as a vestigial form as a temporary, final step along the course to ordination to the priesthood in the western church. In the 20th Century, the Permanent Diaconate was restored in the western church. Following the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council (in Lumen Gentium 29), in 1967 Pope Paul VI issued the motu proprio Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem, restoring the ancient practice of ordaining to the diaconate men who were not candidates for priestly ordination. The permanent deacons are assigned to work in a parish and to assist priests in their pastoral and administrative duties, but report directly to the bishop who appoints them. Unlike most clerics, permanent deacons are married or single men who also have a secular profession. In the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the first deacons to be ordained to the order of Permanent deacons took place in 1980. In the early days, the archdiocese had a clear policy for diaconate training and formation. Priests requested men to study towards becoming deacons. Over the past 30 years the bishops have ordained close to 100 deacons to minister in 75 parishes throughout the Archdiocese. Today there is a need to try to understand why deacons lack the zeal and passion that was so prevalent at their ordinations. Is it due to their training or has a need a risen for a deeper theological understanding of the diaconate. Priests do not fully understand 3 the ministry of the deacons which on occasions gives rise to conflict within the parish. Currently more and more communities are calling on the parish deacon before approaching their parish priest for advice. It is in these theoretical grounds that a critical assessment of the Profile and Ministry of the Catholic Diaconate in the Archdiocese of Cape Town was undertaken. This is pioneer research in the Archdiocese. 4 DECLARATION I hereby declare that: Critical assessment of the Profile and Ministry of the Catholic Diaconate in the Archdiocese of Cape Town is my own work, that it has not been submitted before for any degree or assessment in any other university, and that all the sources I have used and quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. Signature: ........................................ Date: ................................... Eugene Gilbert Tito 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I dedicate this thesis to the memory of my father, Harold Tito (February 1, 1927 – August 5, 1993) and my mother, Harriet Susan Tito nee Chippendale (July 31, 1930 – November 11, 2005). I thank them for the gift of life and for nurturing my faith. Thanks to God, our heavenly Father for calling me to be a deacon, a Servant of Christ and for the Capuchin Fathers for their nurturing and moulding my life. Thanks to my wife, Lynette and daughters, Maria and Lucinda for their support, motivation and patience that enabled me to complete this thesis. Thanks to His Grace, Archbishop Lawrence Henry - Archbishop of Cape Town for his inspiration, continual motivation and the opportunities that he affords me to grow within the diaconate and the church. Special thanks too for allowing me to access the archive material with regards to the diaconate. Thanks to the Deacons of the Archdiocese of Cape Town for their openness, transparency, willingness and tremendous response to the questionnaire. Special thanks to Deacons Weston Barwise and Michael Ramages for your editing. Thanks to the lecturers in the Religion and Theology faculty at UWC who lectured and moulded me through my BA(Hons) and helped me towards the completion of my Magister Theologiae. With special thanks to my supervisors, intitally Dr Kobus Anthonissen and in the later stages Prof. Christo Lombard, for the diligent and thorough way in which they have guided me. I am also deeply grateful for the support, encouragement, love and care from all those who are always keeping me in prayer. Thank you. Bellville Eugene Gilbert Tito November 2009 6 Table of Contents. Key words 2 Abstract 3 Declaration 5 Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 Introduction 9 Chapter 1 12 The restoration of the Permanent Diaconate in the Catholic Church 1. Permanent Diaconate 12 2. Historical diaconate 13 3. The Commission of the 2nd Vatican Council 18 4. Introduction to the Constitution - Lumen Gentium 20 5. The Decree on the Restoration of the Permanent Diaconate 24 6. Other Vatican Council documents: – permanent deacons 29 7. Apostolic letters of Pope Paul VI - Implementation 32 8. Code of Canon Law: - permanent deacons 39 9. Judicial status of Permanent deacons 44 Chapter 2 50 Magisterial teaching about the Permanent Diaconate 1. Teachings of Pope John Paul II about the Permanent Diaconate 50 2. The Curial documents of 1998 about Permanent deacons 53 3. Year 2000 Jubilee celebration for Permanent Deacons 60 Chapter 3 71 The diaconate in today’s context in the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town 1. South Africa Catholic Bishops Conference 71 7 2. Evolution of the Permanent Diaconate – Archdiocese of Cape Town 79 3. Statutes of the Council of Deacons 105 4. Policy document regarding deacons 109 5. Faculty to exercise diaconal ministry 122 6. Profile of Permanent deacons 124 Chapter 4 132 Empirical Research 1. Research results 132 Chapter 5 148 Proposal and recommendations 1. Theology of Mission 148 2. Comparative Study 149 3. Deanery Forums 150 4. Deacon wife survey 150 5. Recommendation needing immediate attention 150 Conclusion 158 Bibliography 160 Appendices 165 (A) Chronological order of events 165 (B) Letter to deacons – research 168 (C) Diaconate research questionnaire 169 (D) Chairman’s indaba address to the deacons 174 8 Introduction The service of permanent deacons in the Church is documented from apostolic times. A tradition attested to already by St. Ireneus and influenced in the liturgy of ordination, sees the origin of the diaconate in the institution of the “seven” mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (6:1-6). St Paul refers to the deacons and to the bishops in his letter to the Philippians. (1:1), while in his first letter to Timothy (3:8-13) he list the qualities and virtues which they should possess so as to exercise their ministry worthily. While the permanent diaconate was maintained from earliest Apostolic times to the present in the Eastern rite churches (Orthodox and Catholic), it gradually disappeared in the Western church during the first millennium. The diaconate continued as a vestigial form as a temporary, final step along the course to ordination to the priesthood in the Western church. In the 20th Century, the permanent diaconate was restored in the Western church. Following the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council (in Lumen Gentium 29), in 1967 Pope Paul VI issued the motu proprio Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem, restoring the ancient practice of ordaining to the diaconate men who were not candidates for priestly ordination, but for ministry (Walsh 1979:217). The permanent deacons are assigned to work in a parish and to assist priests in their pastoral and administrative duties, but report directly to the bishop who appoints them. Unlike most clerics, permanent deacons are married or single men who also have a secular profession. In the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the first deacons to be ordained to the order of Permanent deacons took place in 1980. In the early days, the archdiocese had a clear policy for diaconate training and formation. Priests requested men to study towards becoming deacons. Over the past 30 years the bishops have ordained close to 100 deacons to minister in 75 parishes throughout the Archdiocese. 9 Today there is a need to try to understand wh y deacons lack the zeal and passion that was so prevalent at their ordinations. Is it due to their training or has a need risen for a deeper theological understanding of the diaconate. Some priests do not fully understand the ministry of the deacons which, on occasions, gives rise to conflict within the parish. Currently more and more communities are calling on the parish deacon before approaching their parish priest for advice. It is in these theoretical grounds that a critical assessment of the Profile and Ministry of the Catholic Diaconate in the Archdiocese of Cape Town needs to be undertaken. This would be a pioneer research in the Archdiocese. Methodology and Research procedure In order to investigate the research problem stated above, the following logical steps will be followed. The first step will be to offer a brief synopsis of the restoration of the permanent diaconate in the Catholic Church; how the idea of restoring the diaconate was developed within the church; how the popes implemented the restoration.