If you feel a Call from the Lord you are duty bound to follow it and discern it.
You will learn form the experience.
I am also discerning a call to the Diaconate. At the moment I have a very young family, and they will need to be older before I start the formal preparation and selection process. but I have direction in how to prepare until then.
- know the calling of the Deacon.
To serve others in Charity & Love.
To teach the Word of God Boldly.
To serve the priest in the service of the Altar
(both of these belong to all the baptised, not just to the Deacon. He, however has a extra special ordination to “be Christ to others” in these ways).
As a lay person the service of the altar can take the form of any of the ministries which is appropriate to the Lay Person at Mass and outside Mass…
The service of charity and love may be expressed by finding an appropriate charitable outreach to be involved in (e.g. voulinteer at the local Homeless shelter / soup kitchen / SVP chapter etc.)
Teaching the Word can be expressed by joining the bible study group, catechesis class (for adults or children), apologetics group or similar. As and when you have the necessary knowledge and opportunity, you could join the leadership of an existing group or start one if the presence of a suitable group is lacking.
- Get your personal and family life free of slavery to debt and (as far as possible) to Sin.
- Advance your career to where you can have the freedom to work in a manner that gives you the predictable free time to undertake the training and formal ministry of a Deacon. (or possibly change careers to something that gives you that free time, or expresses the call to teach and serve that is the Deacons calling)
Note: These are Ideas. not rules.
If you don’t have the time for all these ministries in your life at the moment, then your life is not at a stage where you could undertake the training for the Diaconate, so your goal should be to get your life to where these things are not only possible, but your new “Normal” or “Baseline.”
I’m not trying to be preachy here. I’m expressing what I am learning from a very similar struggle in my own life.
I, at times, find myself working up to 70 hours per week for months at a time (and don’t get paid extra for it)
My debts leave my wife needing to work weekends, including Sundays to make ends meet (while I take over looking after the Kids)
My job is one which while knot incompatible with the faith, offers little tangible opportunity to promote the Faith, or promote the Common Good. - (But neither did being a carpenter untill his 30’s… so if working in a secular job was good enough for Jesus himself…)
Some Deacons are employed in direct faith based or charitable jobs. but many work in factories, building sites, offices hospitals, schools etc. doing normal every day jobs. - I yearn for a “Full time Ministry” but lack the direction for something specific. The realisation of the lesson Jesus teaches us from the “Silent Years” about the dignity and value of normal work was a very valuable lesson to me.
I work in an office some days and on building sites on others. I do get to help builders and architects build better homes, and advise them on getting the Sound Insulation and noise polution emissions of buildings right. (I’m a noise control specialist).
This year I get to do a huge Pro-Bono job for a big Catholic Festival (a national Charismatic Catholic conference) to a) help them not annoy the neighbours, and b) have better sound for the attendants. If they were paying for the service it would be about £15,k ($24k).
I am also a member of a lay ecclesial community, and we support each-other as catholic families, and I have lots of opportunity to help teach the faith and Catechism, and to carry out evengelical outreaches.
For now the focus of my “ministry” lies within that group. - but this past 6 months my personal and family life have been so hectic I’ve mostly spoken with the others online only. and not been very active in-group.
I would love to work in a more charitable job. but I am where the Lord has planted me. I can push my career to where I have more predictable time available for both my family and any other ministry the lord calls me to.
I can work to be Debt Free in a sensible time scale. I must learn to stay that way, and not borrow to buy the latest nice material things for me and my family. (that’s a hard one for me)
Opportunities are there for me to develop my career to be more 9-5.30, office based and fewer and more predictible out of hours calls. They require me to be more disciplined and persevering.
If I am called to the Diaconate (And I believe I am) it is most likely that I won’t be permitted to start training until my youngest child has started school (general policy in most UK Dioceses. Untill we have a new bishop in this one I dont know what this dioceses policy will be our last bishop didn’t like Diaconal candidates to have dependant children,and made an exception for some who’s kids where in High school when they applied).
Hopefully my youngest child is not yet conceived. (our current youngest is under 1, and we plan on another in around 2 years time. Our options remain open after that.)
If we have a child in about 2 years time, and he or she starts school at 4 years old, that’s 6 years from now before I would be considered eligible to apply for selection. Therefore 11 years between now and earliest possible Ordination.
Of course it’s very possible the Lord wont send us any more children, in which case my current youngest will probably start school in Sept 2016. and if we don’t have another child by then I’ll probably take that as a sign to apply then.
I hope My thoughts, experiences and plans in this area give you food for thought.
I will pray for you, and your discernment process.
I also ask for you to pray for my family, and me.
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