Archbishop Vari announces a new permanent diaconate course – The Archbishop of Gaeta HE Mons.Luigi Vari on July 16 last wrote an open letter in which he announces that the path for a new diaconal ordination is resumed, the fourth to be exact in the diocese since the Second Vatican Council restored the permanent diaconate. The last took place on April 28, 2007 and, therefore, fifteen years have passed. The first ended on May 25, 1991, thirty-one years ago. The start of the permanent diaconate is due to the presbyter Don Ettore Santoro who convinced the late archbishop Mons. Vincenzo Maria Farano, who will make the first two ordinations. Then the third was curated by Mons. Pier Luigi Mazzoni, whose tenth anniversary of his death is being remembered these days.
Archbishop Vari announces a new permanent diaconate course – Mons. Luigi Vari in a letter much appreciated by both the ordained and the laity wrote verbatim: “Dear friends, in this phase of the synodal journey I feel the need to resume the journey of discernment and formation for the permanent diaconate. For over thirty years our Diocese has already welcomed this sign of God’s grace which is manifested in the richness of service that several of our brothers have given and continue to offer in the diaconal order. As shared in the last presbyteral council, this recovery will be characterized by a series of steps that will accompany us for the next few years. In the first place a time of discernment opens in which as a diocesan community we are called to recognize the gift of the diaconal vocation in some of our brothers. In this phase of listening and prayer we must pay attention to the following signs and requirements: – the spirit of service; – the ecclesial sense and love for the Church; – the ability to relate; – the spirit of prayer; – willingness to collaborate; – the ability to accompany and guide realities, groups and communities. Having identified the signs of the diaconal vocation and having completed a first phase of discernment together with the wives and families of the brothers we have identified, we will move on to the time of theological and cultural formation. In this path we will refer, together with the other dioceses of southern Lazio, to the Leonian Theological Institute which has prepared a path of Diploma in Theological Sciences for the permanent diaconate: the itinerary is divided into two cyclic two-year periods, for a duration of four years, and ends with the exam De Universa Theologia.
Archbishop Vari announces a new permanent diaconate course – The courses take place intensively in Anagni for four Saturdays per semester from October to June. During the time of theological formation we will be committed to carrying out the path of discernment and care of spirituality through a diocesan team which, collaborating with the parish priests and the communities, will accompany the candidates on their path and will allow them to grow in the different dimensions that characterize the diaconal vocation. In these months, therefore, let us commit ourselves with a spirit of prayer to read the signs of the diaconal vocation in our communities so as to identify men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom (cf. Acts 6: 3) that they can undertake the path of formation for the diaconate. Useful in this process of personal and community discernment are the documents on the permanent diaconate: the “Fundamental norms for the formation of permanent deacons “ and the “Directory for the ministry and life of permanent deacons “ the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Congregation for the Clergy; the document “Permanent deacons in the Church in Italy. Guidelines and Standards”Of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. For relevance, I am attaching to this letter the note of the Italian Episcopal Conference “The instituted ministries of the Reader, of the Acolyte and of the Catechist for the Churches that are in Italy”. In view of the National Eucharistic Congress, I take the opportunity to also send the apostolic letter of Pope Francis “Desire You wanted “. I entrust this time of discernment to the Virgin Mary so that she, Mother of the Church and Servant of the Lord, teach us to be servants of God’s grace in the community that the Lord gives us at this time ”.
Archbishop Vari announces a new permanent diaconate course »Tuttogolfo