330. What is the effect of the ordination to the diaconate?

330. What is the effect of the ordination to the diaconate?  

(Comp 330) The deacon, configured to Christ the servant of all, is ordained for service to the Church. He carries out this service under the authority of his proper bishop by the ministry of the Word, of divine worship, of pastoral care and of charity.

“In brief”

(CCC 1596) Deacons are ministers ordained for tasks of service of the Church; they do not receive the ministerial priesthood, but ordination confers on them important functions in the ministry of the word, divine worship, pastoral governance, and the service of charity, tasks which they must carry out under the pastoral authority of their bishop. 

To deepen and explain

(CCC 1569) "At a lower level of the hierarchy are to be found deacons, who receive the imposition of hands 'not unto the priesthood, but unto the ministry"' (Lumen gentium, 29; cf. Christus Dominus, 15). At an ordination to the diaconate only the bishop lays hands on the candidate, thus signifying the deacon's special attachment to the bishop in the tasks of his "diakonia" (Cf. St. Hippolytus, Trad. Ap. 8: SCh 11, 58-62). (CCC 1570) Deacons share in Christ's mission and grace in a special way (Cf. Lumen gentium, 41; Apostolicam actuositatem, 16). The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint (“character") which cannot be removed and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the "deacon" or servant of all (Cf. Mk 10:45; Lk 22:27; St. Polycarp, Ad Phil. 5, 2: SCh 10, 182). Among other tasks, it is the task of deacons to assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries, above all the Eucharist, in the distribution of Holy Communion, in assisting at and blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel and preaching, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to the various ministries of charity (Cf. Lumen gentium, 29; Sacrosanctum Concilium, 35 § 4; Ad gentes, 16). 

Reflection

(CCC 1571) Since the Second Vatican Council the Latin Church has restored the diaconate "as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy" (Lumen gentium, 29 § 2), while the Churches of the East had always maintained it. This permanent diaconate, which can be conferred on married men, constitutes an important enrichment for the Church's mission. Indeed it is appropriate and useful that men who carry out a truly diaconal ministry in the Church, whether in its liturgical and pastoral life or whether in its social and charitable works, should "be strengthened by the imposition of hands which has come down from the apostles. They would be more closely bound to the altar and their ministry would be made more fruitful through the sacramental grace of the diaconate" (Ad gentes, 16 § 6). 

(Next question: How is the sacrament of Holy Orders celebrated?)