When the Apostles were challenged with handling all the needs of the early Church, especially those of the Hellenist widows, they instructed their followers to\u00a0\u201cpick from among you seven men of good repute, full of Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty\u2026 these they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them\u201d (Acts 6:3,6).<\/em><\/p>\n While the seven were initially chosen to serve the needs of the Hellenists, the Holy Spirit soon led them to minister in other ways. St. Stephen is the first to be seen giving witness to the Paschal Mystery before the Sanhedrin and was subsequently stoned, becoming the first martyr of the Church (Acts 7). Later, Deacon Philip, led by an angel, encounters the Ethiopian Eunuch who is trying to understand a passage from Isaiah. Philip teaches him and Baptizes him and is then spirited away to another location (Acts 8).<\/p>\n While deacons appear in the early and middle history of the Church \u2013 some even being elected to the papacy \u2013 they disappeared in the latter centuries as a \u201cpermanent\u201d state and became a \u201ctransitional\u201d state for those men being formed toward the priesthood.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Restoration of the Diaconate<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n During World War II, priests in the Nazi concentration camps petitioned the pope to assign deacons to them in order to serve the multitude of needs in the camps. In 1957, Pope Pius XXII spoke favorably of a restored permanent diaconate but determined \u201cthe time was not yet ripe.\u201d<\/p>\n The issue would be raised again during Vatican II and on November 21, 1964, Pope Paul VI would promulgate\u00a0Lumen Gentium, The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.\u00a0<\/em>This keystone document of the Second Vatican Council proclaimed that \u201cthe diaconate can in the future be restored as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy,\u201d leaving it up \u201cto the competent territorial bodies of bishops\u2026 to decide whether and where it is opportune for such deacons to be established for the care of souls.\u201d<\/p>\n On June 18, 1967, Pope Paul VI released his apostolic letter issued\u00a0moto proprio<\/em>\u00a0entitled Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem (Restoring the Permanent Diaconate).\u00a0 As of that date, the permanent diaconate was restored in the Latin Church.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops proposed, requested and received approval from the Holy See to establish the permanent diaconate in the United States, as desired by the local ordinaries. Denver was one of the earliest dioceses to implement a program for the formation of men and ordained its first permanent deacons on April 6, 1974.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row type=”full_width_background” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” bg_image=”13″ bg_position=”center center” background_image_loading=”default” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” scene_position=”center” top_padding=”8%” bottom_padding=”10%” text_color=”light” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” enable_gradient=”true” color_overlay=”#003e7e” color_overlay_2=”#ffffff” overlay_strength=”0.8″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” enable_shape_divider=”true” shape_divider_color=”#ffffff” shape_divider_position=”bottom” shape_divider_height=”180″ bg_image_animation=”none”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-37","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nUnited States and Denver Dioceses<\/h3>\n