This weekend I attended the ordination of my girlfriend's father as a deacon. The ordination at the cathedral was very nice. The Litany of the Saints was especially beautiful. Our Diocese has about 250 deacons and sometimes it is easy to take them forgranted. There are about 23,000 permanent deacons, with about 15,000 in the United States. They are now doing many baptisms, funerals and weddings. Since the first class of deacons were only ordained about 25 years ago, the Diocese is still finding their way with these guys. It is a blessing to have a corps of ordained men who will serve the Church however. 13 men were ordained deacons this weekend but only 1 man will be ordained a priest in June, and Bishop Murphy asked everyone present to pray for more vocations to the priesthood. I would say the restoration of the permanent deaconate was one of the best changes done in the Church in the 60's.