Deacon Dominic Cerrato named editor of Deacon Digest

This arrived in my in-box this afternoon. Exciting news about Deacon Digest:

Deacon Dominic Cerrato has been named editor of Deacon Digest magazine, a publication of Our Sunday Visitor serving permanent deacons and their families. The announcement was made April 19 by Gretchen R. Crowe, editor-in-chief of Our Sunday Visitor.

“Deacon Dominic is the ideal person to be editor of Deacon Digest as it seeks to support, serve, form and inform permanent deacons in the United States and around the world,” Crowe said.

“His understanding of the role of the deacon, his theological background and his pastoral heart for the diaconate make Deacon Dominic the perfect fit to direct the content of Deacon Digest.”

Deacon Cerrato was ordained a Roman Catholic permanent deacon in 1995 for the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio. He earned a Ph.D. in theology from the Catholic Theological Foundation via Duquesne University in 2009; a master’s in theology from Duquesne University; and a bachelor’s in theology from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. Currently the director of Diaconal Formation for the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, Deacon Cerrato also serves as executive director of Diaconal Ministries, a national ministry developed under Bishop Jeffrey Monforton of the Diocese of Steubenville that ministers to permanent deacons and those they serve. He also has served as adjunct professor of pastoral theology at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut.

“I look forward to the ability to select quality writers who convey the heart of the diaconate in terms of the primacy of the interior life and the inherent relationship between diaconal theology and pastoral ministry,” Deacon Cerrato said. “I’m convinced that these key elements deeply resonate in the heart of every deacon inspiring them to serve. With this as a primary focus, the new Deacon Digest has the potential to strengthen the diaconal community well beyond its traditional diocesan boundaries. This would have the effect of revealing Christ the Servant in powerful ways enabling the diaconate to more effectively provide its own unique contribution to the mission of the Church.”

Deacon Cerrato is author of “In the Person of Christ the Servant: A Theology of the Diaconate Based on the Personalist Thought of Pope John Paul II” (St. Ephraem Press, 2014) and “The Indispensability of the Diaconate” (Josephinum Diaconal Review, 2017). He was a contributor to “Character of the Deacon: The Spiritual and Pastoral Foundations” (Paulist Press, 2017).

Deacon Cerrato is a member of both the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and the National Association of Diaconate Directors, and he serves as director of spiritual direction for the Pastoral Solutions Institute in Steubenville. He has been married to Judith Cerrato since 1982, and the couple has seven children and many grandchildren.

“The heart of the diaconate for me is deep intimate communion with Christ the Servant. This is the source of my diaconate in my marriage, my family and my ministry. It inspires me to serve as Christ served, to live as Christ lived and to touch as Christ touched,” Deacon Cerrato said. “Understood this way, diaconal ministry is nothing less than divine acts of love expressed through human hands, imperfect though they are. Thus, in the end, it’s not me who serves, but Christ who serves in me. This interior vision of the diaconate, shared implicitly by so many, must find a clear and consistent voice in the Church. I can think of no better vehicle than Deacon Digest to do just that.”

Our Sunday Visitor acquired Deacon Digest in 2017. The first bimonthly issue under the new publisher will be July/August 2018.

Congratulations! I know a lot of people are excited to see this new iteration of an old friend, Deacon Digest. It will be great to have it available once again!

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