¹ ‘…it will be possible in the future to restore the diaconate as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy.’ There had been a full debate about this proposal.

² Extracts from this appear in the Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons; also Insegnamnenti XVI, 2 (1993), pp. 954ff.

³ The original journal, which failed to attract enough subscribers in northern Europe, is now incorporated within the American journal Josephinum Diaconal Review. This is now the only Anglophone academic journal devoted to the diaconate.

⁴ There is now a considerable body of theological literature on the permanent diaconate, mostly from the United States and Germany. In addition to the study by Collins cited below (which is, of course, broader in scope), together with other writings by him, and the Vatican documents also cited below, one should add: Keating, James (ed.) The Deacon Reader (Leominster: Gracewing 2006)Google Scholar, Cummings, Owen F., Deacons and the Church (New York: Paulist Press 2004)Google Scholar, Cummings, Owen F., Ditewig, W. and Gaillardetz, R., The Theology of the Diaconate (New York: Paulist Press 2005)Google Scholar, Ditewig, W. The Emerging Diaconate New York: Paulist Press 2007Google Scholar and his many other works, and Zagano, P. Called to Serve - A Spirituality for Deacons Ligouri: Ligouri publications 2004. The best study published in Britain is Bridie Stringer, Baptising Babies and Clearing Gutters (Matthew James 2013)Google Scholar and in Ireland: Dullea, Gearóid (ed.) Deacons Ministers of Christ and of God's Mysteries (Dublin: Veritas 2010)Google Scholar. See also the Proceedings of the National Assembly of Deacons in England and Wales and North European Diaconate Conference 2011, New Diaconal Review issue 7 (November 2011), in particular the keynote addresses by Michael Hayes, William Cavanaugh and Jozef Wissink. The International Diaconate publishes the journal Diakonia Christi (mainly in German) - for details go to www.diaconia-idc.org.

⁵ London: CTS 1998, in one volume, although the documents were issued by two Vatican congregations (Clergy and Catholic Education) and from www.vatican.va.

⁶ London: CTS 2003.

⁷ See the spirited debate between Phyllis Zagano and Sara Butler in various issues of the New Diaconal Review. Professor Zagano is a member of commission of the ITC set up by Pope Francis to examine the issue of women and the diaconate On this issue see Macy, Gary, Ditewig, William and Zagano, Phyllis Women Deacons Past, Present and Future (New York: Paulist Press 2011)Google Scholar.

⁸ The Pope's action in setting up the enquiry follows the important change made by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 which made a change in the text of Canon Law. In the Apostolic Letter Omnium in Mente the Pope revised the text of canon 1008, adding a new canon (1009) to read ‘Those who are constituted in the order of the episcopate or the presbyterate receive the mission and faculty to act in the person of Christ the head, while deacons are enabled to serve the people of God in the diaconate of the liturgy, the word and charity’. While at first sight this might look like an effort to demote the diaconate in terms of importance, at the time it was interpreted as possibly preparing the way for women to be ordained to the diaconate.

⁹ The Rites of the Roman Catholic Church, (New York: Pueblo 1980) volume II, pp. 56-57Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Perhaps also reflected in the only reference to the permanent diaconate in a papal encyclical, Benedict XVI's first letter Deus Caritas Est 21: ‘…the social service which they were meant to provide was absolutely concrete, yet at the same time it was also a spiritual service; theirs was a truly spiritual service which carried out an essential responsibility of the Church, namely a well-ordered love of neighbour.’

¹¹ Principally in his seminal study Diakonia: Interpreting the Ancient Sources (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1990)Google Scholar.

¹² ‘Deacons and the Servant Myth’, The Pastoral Review vol. 2 issue 6 (November/December 2006)Google Scholar.

¹³ To the Trallians 2.3.

¹⁴ Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000, pp. 31ff.

¹⁵ Particularly pp. 93ff.

¹⁶ ‘It is not particularly remarkable that he is the god of merchants and others who use roads, including thieves, though the latter characteristic illustrates his non-moral nature…in Crete we find him associated with a piece of ritual topsy-turvydom…’ (‘Hermes’, in Hammond, N. G. L. and Scullard, H.H. (eds.) Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2^nd ed., [Oxford: Oxford University Press 1970]Google Scholar), citing Aristophanes, Ploutos 1155. In his dialogue with Carion in the play Hermes is portrayed as a thief who helps other thieves.

¹⁷ This point was made in a lecture (not published as far as I am aware) by Fr Jim O'Keefe (then President of Ushaw) at the annual Diaconate Directors and Delegates conference in Leeds in November 2000. When this paper was read at the conference, scepticism about this suggestion was expressed by Fr Nicholas King SJ.

¹⁸ ‘The Deacon: an Icon of Christ the Servant’, The Pastoral Review vol. 2 issue 4 (July/August 2006)Google Scholar. The bishop was a strong supporter of the ministry of deacons, but he disapproved of them preaching at Sunday Mass because he saw this as the function of the principal celebrant of the Mass.

¹⁹ Currently this is the case in the Archdiocese of Cardiff. The diocese of Salford for many years did not accept candidates, but this policy has recently changed.

²⁰ Listing the subjects that should form part of the curriculum of formation, the document says: ‘Christian morality, in its personal and social dimensions and, in particular, the social doctrine of the Church.’ [81 (e)]. The Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons, citing Gaudium et Spes 40-45, makes it clear that the deacon's ministry should involve ‘promoting life in all its phases and transforming the world according to the Christian order’ (38).