The Diaconia of Charity

37. In virtue of the Sacrament of Orders, deacons, in communion with the bishop and the diocesan presbyterate, participate in the same pastoral functions, (¹⁴³) but exercise them differently in serving and assisting the bishop and his priests. Since this participation is brought about by the sacrament, they serve God's people in the name of Christ. For this reason, they exercise it in humility and charity, and, according to the words of St Polycarp, they must always be “merciful, zealous and let them walk according to the truth of the Lord who became servant of all”. (¹⁴⁴) Their authority, therefore, exercised in hierarchical communion with the bishop and his priests, and required by the same unity of consecration and mission, (¹⁴⁵) is a service of charity which seeks to help and foster all members of a particular Church, so that they may participate, in a spirit of communion and according to their proper charisms, in the life and mission of the Church.

38. In the ministry of charity, deacons should conform themselves in the likeness of Christ the Servant, whom they represent and, above all, they should be “dedicated to works of charity and to administration”. (¹⁴⁶) Thus, in the prayer of ordination, the bishop implores God the Father that they may be “full of all the virtues, sincere in charity, solicitous towards the weak and the poor, humble in their service... may they be the image of your Son who did not come to be served but to serve”. (¹⁴⁷) By word and example they should work so that all the faithful, in imitation of Christ, may place themselves at the constant service of their brothers and sisters.

Diocesan and parochial works of charity, which are among the primary duties of bishops and priests are entrusted by them, as attested by Tradition, to servants in the ecclesiastical ministry, that is, to deacons. (¹⁴⁸) So too is the service of charity in Christian education; in training preachers, youth groups, and lay groups; in promoting life in all its phases and transforming the world according to the Christian order. (¹⁴⁹) In all of these areas the ministry of deacons is particularly valuable, since today the spiritual and material needs of man, to which the Church is called to respond, are greatly diversified. They should, therefore, strive to serve all the faithful without discrimination, while devoting particular care to the suffering and the sinful. As ministers of Christ and of his Church, they must be able to transcend all ideologies and narrow party interests, lest they deprive the Church's mission of its strength which is the love of Christ. Diaconia should bring man to an experience of God's love and move him to conversion by opening his heart to the work of grace.

The charitable function of deacons “also involves appropriate service in the administration of goods and in the Church's charitable activities. In this regard, deacons “discharge the duties of charity and administration in the name of the hierarchy and also provide social services”. (¹⁵⁰) Hence, deacons may be appointed to the office of diocesan oeconomus (¹⁵¹) and likewise nominated to the diocesan finance council. (¹⁵²)