Permanent Diaconate Office revamp underway

"The principal function of the deacon, therefore, is to collaborate with the bishop and the priests in exercise of a ministry which is not of their own wisdom but of the Word of God, calling all to conversion and holiness." - Congregation for the Clergy, Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons, no. 23.

When the National Directory for the Formation - Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons was released and the norms went into effect in 2022, the diocesan Office of the Permanent Diaconate was already discussing an evaluation of the program. With the promulgation of the new directory, the office had a roadmap for making changes and improvements to the diaconate program.

Deacon Mark Prosser, chief of staff for Bishop Walker Nickless, explained, “At that time the bishop had asked me to work on oversight of that program.” He said dioceses were aware that a new directory for the permanent diaconate and norms were soon coming from the USCCB.

After studying the new directory, the deacon said Bishop Nickless “determined that a priest, not a deacon, has to be director of the diaconate, according to the new directory. Father Brent Lingle, pastor of Storm Lake St. Mary Parish, was appointed as director.

After several years of serving as a teacher for the diaconate formation courses, Father Lingle was very familiar with the program. Once named director he started “reading the directory line by line, taking extensive notes, and did my own intensive study,” the priest said.

Father Lingle and Deacon Prosser soon recognized that the diocesan program would have many changes to be in compliance with the new directory.

“To have a program that reflects what the directory lays out – it’s taking time, energy and resources to really get us where we need to be,” Father Lingle explained, noting many dioceses dropped their permanent diaconate program for lack of resources to implement the new norms outlined by the USCCB.

The director started the arduous task of reorganization, temporarily halting recruitment of potential permanent deacons for the diocese.

 “During this time, we did have one cohort that was ordained. We had another cohort that was already in process, so they were all maintained and (their formation) continued,” Deacon Prosser said.

Major areas in need of change included the curriculum, committees, staffing and job descriptions in order to be in line with the norms. 

“One of the biggest steps that occurred is Father Lingle, after doing a bunch of research recommended changing the curriculum and the bishop approved the outline of the curriculum,” the chief of staff explained. 

Father Lingle said to offer effective academic formation, he coordinated with the Diaconate Institute of the Pontifical College Josephinum to provide distance learning “to provide the intellectual dimension of formation.”

There are four dimensions of formation – intellectual, pastoral, spiritual and human, he explained.

“They’re not really doing all the formation but they are really helping us with the intellectual side, which would be what we would consider the academic piece of it,” the director said. “The Josephinum is a seminary, an accredited institute. They’ve got the professors and curriculum and courses and all those sorts of things. As a diocese we don’t have the resources, people or ability to deliver content like that.”

In addition to the convenience of quality distance learning, the Josephinum also offers a Spanish track for deacon candidates that may have better academic success in Spanish. 

Father Lingle noted that there are also formation sessions held in-person in Storm Lake on Saturdays.

Personnel 

Deacon Prosser said Father Lingle’s job description as director was “revamped and brought into compliance.” Also, Deacon Tim Murphy of Carroll, who has served as director of deacon personnel for many years, has an updated job description with the title of coordinator of pastoral formation and post-ordination formation personnel.

“As director of the diaconate, I oversee personnel, the deacons of the diocese. So (Deacon Murphy) will help me – he was doing some of that already as director of deacon personnel,” Father Lingle said. “He will do some of the things he has been doing, ministry agreements and interviewing them on a regular basis because I can’t. He will be my boots on the ground doing those things and reporting back to me.”

The director will have a second staff member assisting him in managing the permanent diaconate program, a coordinator of formation. 

“We had a full-time position here at the chancery office that we had not backfilled because we wanted to make sure that we did it in compliance with the directory,” Deacon Prosser said, adding that the diocese is now advertising for applicants for the coordinator position. 

As Father Lingle has numerous responsibilities as pastor of a large parish with a Catholic school, the new staff member will need to be close by for best results. Rather than working out of the Sioux City chancery office, the coordinator of formation will be housed in the Storm Lake St. Mary Parish office. 

“I presented the idea to work out of Storm Lake. As a side benefit, the formation classes are in Storm Lake and when we have those formation Saturdays, it makes it more efficient and effective,” the priest said.

The Storm Lake placement of the coordinator will be more convenient as it is centrally located in the 24 counties of the diocese in order to better travel to meet with pastors and potential candidates for the diaconate, Deacon Prosser pointed out. 

For information on applying for the new Storm Lake-based position, contact Juli Singer, diocesan director of human resources at [email protected].