What is it about?

The dream of bringing the churches closer together is still very much alive! The approach of Receptive Ecumenism developed at Durham University challenges us all to learn from other church traditions. This essay asks how the Roman Catholic diaconate can learn from the diaconates of The Church of England and British Methodism. This could help to make the Roman Catholic diaconate better and could help towards bringing the churches closer together.

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Why is it important?

The church has traditionally had a threefold ministry of bishop, priest and deacon but over time the diaconate almost died out. The diaconates of the Roman Catholic Church, The Church of England and British Methodism have been restored or further developed recently and are still capable of change. These changes could lead to exciting possibilities for the individual diaconates and maybe even move us towards closer unity between the churches.

Perspectives

I hope this article contributes in some small way to ecumenism: bringing the churches closer together again. There has been a lot of exciting work on Receptive Ecumenism at Durham, ARCIC-III and elsewhere but little of it has focused directly on the diaconate. Hopefully this essay goes some small way towards filling that gap. The article is open source and free so just click on the 'Read Publication' link below.

Gareth Rowe
Durham University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Diaconates in Transition: Enriching the Roman Catholic Permanent Diaconate from the Experience of the Church of England and British Methodism, Ecclesiology, February 2022, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/17455316-18010006.
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