I AM A DEACON
By Deacon John Coughlin
I am a deacon … and I help form future deacons.
As I write these words, it has been 12 years almost to the day since Bishop Larry Silva asked my wife, Kathy, and I to take on the responsibility of directing the Permanent Deacon Formation Program for the Diocese of Honolulu. Having been ordained a deacon just a year prior (2007), and feeling unprepared for such a task, I told the bishop we would get back to him. As I hung up the phone, I remembered what we had been told during our own formation, “When the bishop asks, consider his request (whatever it is) very prayerfully before you say no!”
Kathy and I did just that, we prayed, we fretted, we doubted … but in the end, we said yes! As we look back, we both agree it was definitely the right decision, one that has brought great richness to our lives.
What do deacon formation directors do? In short, we oversee the recruitment, screening and formation (preparation) of men who have stepped forward to prepare for ordination into the ministry of deacon, a ministry of service to the church and the people of God. Formation focuses on four pillars of preparation: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral. With tremendous amounts of help from our core teams, office staff, professors, spiritual directors, advisors and, most importantly, the Holy Spirit, we guide men on a path toward life as clergymen.
While Kathy and I both work directly with the candidates, Kathy also dedicates time to candidates’ wives as they learn what it will take to support their husbands in ministry and what challenges it will bring to their families. In this diocese, wives attend all five years of formation with their husbands. They grow in their understanding of the faith, but also come to understand, to some degree, the challenges that may lie ahead. To preserve the marriage, the wife must give her informed consent to the bishop for her husband to be ordained. These years of accompaniment not only enrich the faith of the wife, they prepare her to make an adequately informed decision to allow her husband to enter ordained life.
Men entering formation come from all over the diocese, range in age from their early 30s to their early 60s, and are from all walks of life. Most are still working full time, many still have children living at home. They all have heard a calling to greater service in the church.
Formation is a rigorous process. Candidates step into a program that will immerse them in Scripture, theology, ecclesiology, church history, liturgy, pastoral care, spirituality, homiletics, pastoral field education (hospital, hospice and prison ministry) and other aspects of parish life.
Preparing to be directors
Kathy and I entered our preparation as directors at a time when national and regional organizations had emerged to train and support new directors. Bishop Silva made sure we had access to these resources, which became our lifeline in navigating a steep learning curve.
In Hawaii, we reached out to priests, deacons, religious, formation classmates, and to Chaminade University, to provide instructional resources. To date, we have been privileged to see 23 men ordained to the Order of Deacon. We are now in the final year of preparing 14 men who are anticipating ordination in just less than a year.
Over the last 12 years we have seen the program grow in many ways. It has been lengthened from four to five years. Following the guidance of the U.S. bishops and Bishop Silva in particular, the academic program has been intensified to form a solid foundation for ministry. We have concentrated, to a greater degree, on human development, pastoral training, the establishment of a solid spiritual life and the development of good homiletic skills.
Adjustments will continue as the needs for preparing men of different generations continues. In our newest group, Cohort 10, we are seeing the first members of the “Millennial” generation enter formation alongside the last of the “Baby Boomers.” This intergenerational mix makes for some interesting educational dynamics, like when we had a high school principal and one of his former students in the same cohort.
Kathy and I have recently informed the bishop that we intend to step down in four years. Within the year we hope to have the opportunity to share our knowledge with our successors and help them prepare to lead this program into the future.
The application process for Cohort 11 is scheduled to begin in 2021. We hope to have our successors ready to lead that group as we accompany Cohort 10 to their ordinations in 2024.
From that pensive “yes” a dozen years ago, we now see unfolding before us the work of the Holy Spirit reflected in those whom we have been privileged to accompany on their journey of discernment; and what a wonderful and unexpected journey this continues to be!
Deacon John Coughlin serves at St. Jude Parish in Kapolei. To learn more about the Diocese of Honolulu’s permanent deacon formation go to catholichawaii.org/diocesan-offices/permanent-deacons.
