This Wednesday is the last "full" day of the Congress and my next update will be from home. It was another very early morning as I was in the hotel lobby before 7 am; quickly downed a little breakfast then headed off for morning Lauds and Mass. In community we prayed Lauds and Mass together, a little unique but certainly beautifully celebrated. Our celebrant today was Archbishop Samuel Aquila, Archbishop of Denver. Since this was a feast day of an Apostle we got a little background on the Gospel made relatable to our service as Deacons of the Church. Even though this is day 4 of the Congress and Mass is early the turnout in the grand ballroom is still full up.
Our morning keynote speaker was Bishop-emeritus Gerald Kicanas of Tucson AZ. He gave a very forward looking talk about the Permanent Diaconate and raised interesting discussions about can we discuss the Deacon anointing the sick for pastoral needs, can permanent deacons, especially those whose wife pre-deceases him, be called to the Priesthood and what's the deal with the Vatican study about the history of women possibly being called deaconess. It was thought provoking indeed. He was followed quickly by Deacon Bill Ditewig, a theologian and former USCCB official relative to the Permanent Diaconate. He discussed beautifully the need for us to explain our diaconate from the perspective of who we are, being, as opposed to doing, which is almost always our go-to place in answering questions about our identity. He made this point too: we serve the "other", we serve God as we serve His people, we serve one another. Permanent Deacons must understand and then communicate that this ministry is not our own; it belongs to Christ. Deacon Bill also encouraged us to engage the culture and don't run from it! We are called to serve those not served. What a great morning.
Lunchtime was so awesome today as our classmates and friends Deacon Ricky and wife Lynn drove us to a great New Orleans historic eatery, Antoine's and we met Deacon Paul and wife Pam. Our lunch included oysters for appetizers, scallops or drum for the entrée and chocolate mousse for desert. Oh, did I mention the special 25 cent martinis? Yep, Wendy and I had 3 each. A great lunch experience and a great deal of fellowship with some special friends from our 2008 class.
So I did arrive a little late for the afternoon keynote delivered by Archbishop Aquila who was our presider today at Mass. He gave a sincere talk to us to embrace our call as Deacons and our call to marriage. He, like all of our speakers this week, was very affirming and encouraging to those called to the diaconate.
The break-out session I attended was facilitated by our own Deacon Ray Duplechain as we attempted to answer the question: how do we respond when others ask us what is a deacon? Do we normally go straight to answering what we do or can we describe who we are? What is the identity of the deacon?
Wendy and I settled for a nice dinner here at the hotel before we crashed for the night. We did start the ordeal of packing up but we can do the bulk of that in the morning. All that is left to this congress tomorrow is morning prayer, a keynote address by USCCB head Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and then the closing Mass. And just like that we are done! So one more update and perhaps a nice final article in a day or two. This has been one of the most rewarding weeks of my now almost 10 year adventure as a Permanent Deacon and a much needed time away for Wendy to be with me, relax when she wanted to and enjoy what she wanted to. It has been a great week!
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