The actual program began this morning. Deacon Dupont delivered a keynote speech on the development of the restoration of diaconate since Vatican II. The Americans are pioneers. They started nearly immediately after the ecumenical council. Today, there are more than 40,000 permanent deacons in USA. Deacon Dupont is the President of the National Association of Diaconate Directors. He painted a rosy picture of USA.
Theologically, deacons are icons of the servanthood of the Church. The Church should be the servant of humanity. This is most clearly expressed in the service of deacons. Deacons sacramentalize service. Deacons serve the Word, serve the liturgy and serve in charity works. To help us visualize the development of diaconate in USA, Deacon Dupont summarized it into three generations. The first generation lasted for the first twenty years. It was marked with the service of liturgy. Here, most of the conflicts with priesthood arose. The second generation saw the rise of service in charity and deacons began to identify their service with the underprivileged. Of course, the service of liturgy continues but it occupies less time of the deacons. After about 10 years, the service of the Word emerged. At last, the American diaconate has matured. Meanwhile, the American deacons as a whole is aging.
It is obvious that the Church needs young recruits. However, the Church also has worries about young deacons. She is rather hesitant and the Hong Kong Diocese tends to accept more mature aspirants. Deacon Stephen Kwok begged to differ. He believes that when a young father responds to the vocation and begins training, the whole family benefits from the husband's training. It is easier for younger children to incorporate into their identify the children of a deacon, whereas for teenage children, it would be more difficult because adolescence suffers from identity crisis. Deacon Stephen has a valid point.
In a sharing in response to Deacon Dupont's keynote address, Deacon Raymond Chan shed a different light on the ministry of deacons. In his situation, the parish priest never gave him a chance to deliver homily. He had to serve where no priests want to serve. Priests tend to see him as a rival. On the other hand, some stronger laity communities do not want to lose their autonomy to deacons who are caught in the middle, rejected on both sides. Only the bishop supports him or the bishop wants to implement the idea. This is not as rosy a picture as painted by Deacon Dupont. I hope I am not judgmental. I feel that communication skills are essential in diaconate ministry. Deacons are interfaces between the laity and the priests.
Many people who spoke today spoke the same vocabulary --- humility. A deacon cannot be not humble. He must be an icon.
Today, I feel better. At least, my room has a proper label. Yesterday, I had to take down the original label and wrote my own name at the back. In the morning, I met the Vicar General on our way down to the chapel for the morning prayer and mass, he told me to make sure the sound system would function properly when the speakers delivered their speech. I was puzzled. Had the VG Office not already assigned somebody to handle it? Indeed, the major problem did not lie there but somewhere else. Deacon Dupont wanted to present his PowerPoint with his own notebook computer! This would surely bring chaos. In the end, we copied his PowerPoint onto own computer to play.
No matter what, I have learned not to be so pushy today. Dear Lord, teach me to be humble. Amen.
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