The Deacon's Bench
A blogger took issue with this post, and offered her thoughts:
Deacons have their place but they are not an alter Christus. They are not intended to be a substitute for the priesthood.
Yes, yes, yes, I know that the Church allows permanent deacons to preside at weddings, baptisms and funeral home services but most people look at the diaconate and just see nice old men who do all the scut work so that the priest has more time to devote to the sacraments. Other people are quite frank about their distaste for what they see is as laymen playing priest. Deacons who find these perceptions offensive should either shrug their shoulders and carry on or lobby for their pastor to launch a teaching project telling the folks in the pews what deacons have permission to do.
And finally, the guy who writes Deacon’s Bench really doesn’t seem to like weddings or group baptisms anyway. I get the impression that he’d be happier with an Amish style affair.
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