MORE THAN A DOZEN TO BE ORDAINED TO THE PERMANENT DIACONATE

Our parish had two deacons but one recently died and the other had surgery and can only do "modified duty" so to speak. Deacons can be a great help, depending on their orthodoxy of course. I read somewhere that Pope Paul VI's original idea for the restoration of the diaconate was geared toward mission work and that this never happened. Seems like the whole deacon restoration thing is still finding its way, and that we will feel the real impact in a couple of decades. I have also read that a diocese (Seattle?) refused to have permanent deacons until recently. As of 2002, there were 13,764 deacons in the U.S. Here are some more statistics on Deacons worldwide. Here is some official info on deacons from the U.S. Catholic Bishops office.