Aspiring to Service
Deacon Tim Elliott, Director of Deacons for the Diocese of Knoxville
Today and tomorrow I have the privilege of celebrating mass for our new class of aspirants to the diaconate. I discovered this morning that several of the men who are still near the beginning of their formation are ones I have known for several years. A few of them I have known since I was in high school. All of them are men who are prayerful, dedicated to serving the Church and serious about their faith. One of the reasons I enjoy spending time with deacons (and those training to be deacons) is that it reminds me that men can indeed engage in serious prayer together and be leaders in the church. Too often groups like the Knights of Columbus and others are seen simply as a social club, when in fact there are many men who are deadly serious about their faith.
Even though the Church gets accused often of having an exclusively male leadership, I cannot tell you how often as a priest I have felt that I was living in a world dominated by a spirituality geared towards women. Just this past week I was invited to our annual Advent by Candlelight event, which is organized by and for the women of our parish. It is a beautiful event, but usually the only men invited are the priests of the parish (though this year our new director of liturgy was also invited). It is also not unusual for me to feel that as a priest I am being treated as someone who (like the stereotypical housewife) is in need of being taken care of. My last statement is not meant as an affront to women and housewives, just simply the perception that I often have when among many Catholic men.
Our Catholic deacons and men aspiring to serve in this role have been for me a welcoming place where men can be engaged in our faith as men. I have been lucky enough to also find groups of men who gather together for regular prayer in my current parish assignment and in others, but the reality is that these groups are still few and far between. My hope is that one benefit of the growing number of deacons in our Church will be the promotion of more men’s spirituality and a growing desire for men to find ways to engage their faith.
Please include in your prayers all men who are in formation for the diaconate.
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