The 13 members of the diocese’s seventh permanent deacon class will close their fourth year of formation by receiving the ministry of reader, or lector, Dec. 15 in the main chapel at St. Stephen Diocesan Center.
Bishop Larry Silva will confer the ministry, one of the major steps to ordination, which is now only a year away.
As lectors, the deacon candidates will be appointed to read the Word of God, except for the Gospel, at liturgical assemblies. This coming May 18, the men will also receive the ministry of acolyte, which carries the duty of assisting at the altar and at the celebration of Mass.
Ordination as deacons is set for January 2015 at each of their parish churches.
The class of candidates, the seventh for the diocese since Bishop John J. Scanlan ordained the first group of permanent deacons in the 1970s, is a diverse one, spanning 35 years in age but mostly in their 50s and 60s, coming from across Oahu and two neighbor islands, representing a mix of ethnicities. All but one are married. They represent a wide range of occupations, from mason to gas station manager to airplane mechanic to president of a non-profit organization. One is retired.
This class began formation for the diaconate with an aspirancy year starting on Jan. 8, 2010. They officially became candidates for permanent diaconate through a Rite of Candidacy on Jan. 16, 2011.
The men and their wives have been meeting one weekend a month since 2010 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center for academic formation by Chaminade University, homiletics lab and meeting with co-directors of formation Deacon John and Kathy Coughlin and the core team — Deacon Efrain and Pamla Andrews, Deacon Fred and Lina Carahasen, Deacon Tommy and Jacqueline Contrades and Deacon Modesto and Nydia-Aileen Cordero.
By this spring, they each will have earned 66 equivalent credits in theology, Scripture, ecclesiology, canon law and homiletics.
The diaconate is one of the church’s three holy orders, the others being priest and bishop. Candidates for priesthood are also ordained deacons as a step to priestly ordination. Their diaconate is often described as “transitional” to distinguish it from the “permanent” diaconate, which is open to married men and does not lead to priesthood.
Deacons may read the Gospel, preach and assist the celebrant priest at liturgical events. They also witness church weddings and preside at baptisms and funerals among other duties.
The diocese has another class of 14 deacon aspirants, which will start its second year of formation with the Rite of Candidacy on Jan. 12.
