Permanent deacons: do they have TWO vocations?

[Lepanto]

Some say that that marriage is a vocation, some say that it is a state of life.

Assuming that marriage is a vocation and that the permanent diaconate is a vocation, does a permanent deacon therefore have two vocations? If so, how can a man have two callings?

 

[Cristiano]

Both of them are vocations. Do you really think that humans can only be called to do one thing?

 

[plato3]

It is very surprising when you hear the priority of vocations in the life of the permanent deacon. First, in every believer’s life comes faith in God. During our formation, we were taught that our family comes next-this vocation is how our vocation to the diaconate is expressed. If any family problems come up, they have priority over our deacon ministry. Next comes our employment vocation. Deacons are not paid as a rule and must have their own income and health insurance. So, next comes our employment needs and they come before our ministry-last, comes our ministry as a deacon. When married permanent deacons get their priorities mixed up-serious problems often break out in the family. I have seen some unhappy situations when ministry was put before family.

 

[Lazerlike42]

Some say that that marriage is a vocation, some say that it is a state of life.

Assuming that marriage is a vocation and that the permanent diaconate is a vocation, does a permanent deacon therefore have two vocations? If so, how can a man have two callings?

“Vocation” is just a word that means “calling.” It comes from Latin. Think about the word “vocation” and some of our english words like “vocal.” One’s vocation is the calling one has received from God. So yes, married permanent deacons do have two: they are called to marriage, and they are called to the diaconate.

The confusion comes in when we begin to think about a vocation as though it were a state of life. It’s not. A vocation is a calling to something - sometimes to a state of life. The word is very broad, and it can be used for anything. God gives people all sorts of vocations. A priest will receive many vocations as God calls him to do various things throughout his life. The reason this confusion comes up sometimes is because the word is commonly used almost exclusively to refer to a person’s big, life-long calling - that state of life in which a person will live as he goes about answering all of God’s other callings. Therefore, when somebody says that a deacon is married - or think of this: an Eastern rite priest is married - we start to think of them as having two states of life because we confuse the term “vocation” with “state of life.”

Peace, and God bless

 

[Sister_Rose]

The vocations that we are most used to hearing about are the vocations to a particular state of life. Priesthood, Consecrated Life, Married Life and Single Life.
Some people denote it as Vocations with a big “V”
The word vocation is a little broader as others have said. There can be a lot of overlap actually.
Consecrated Life actually includes religious life, consecrated virginity, erimetical life (hermits), secular institutes, societies of apostolic life.
One can be a deacon and married and a secular franciscan
One could be a priest and a religious or in a secular institute
One could be married, then widowed and enter religious life
One could be single and in a society of apostolic life.
Our vocation from God, the whole of it, is very particular to each of us. Your personal vocation in life goes beyond what state in life God is calling you too.

 

[Lepanto]

I thank you for your responses, but for the purposes of this thread, I’m only thinking about vocations as discussed / defined in the catechism.