Point Of Order

Swiftie at Fiskwa is, thankfully, active again, whacking away at Nick Coleman's "radio show".

However, there's something I need to point out; call it a "learning experience". Tom whiffed on one minor point.

Tom wrote:

I also blundered catastrophically by assuming what a "deacon" consists of in Nick's church du jour. Nick points out that I should have picked up Webster's for a definition rather than rely on my dog-eared copy of The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"Deacon: A third degree of the hierarchy of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, after bishop and priest."

What a mumpsumis I am!

Here I was researching schools of theology, places where guys spend years preparing themselves for ordination in answer to an ecclesiastical call, when in fact Nick was describing an office that is evidently bestowed by drawing straws among the faithful of whatever flavor of religion he happened to be practicing at the time.

Whoah, there.

The Presbyterian Church - of which I am ironically a member, and in which I have indeed been a Deacon - doesn't have monks, nuns, or generally any other full time employees other than the ministers themselves. "Deacons" are volunteers who help the minister take care of the day to day work of the church; they're usually volunteers, confirmed by congregational election (as indeed are almost all congregational business decisions in the Presbyterian Church, which runs almost all of its non-ecclesiastical business by election), who help with things like shut-in visits, assisting members of the congregation, driving the immobile to church, and so on. depending on the congregation, it can be a fairly demanding job.

(Good thing I didn't venture any guesses about how bishops are chosen...oops, there I go digressing again.)

The Presbyterian Church has no bishops. The daily operations of the Presbyterian Church are handled by a participatory democracy; congregations elect "Elders" as a sort of church board, working with the minister on church business (including hiring ministers). Elders are elected to meet as a regional "Presbytery". The Presbyteries elect further members to attend the national "General Assembly".

Which is an arrangement that tends to send Catholics into shock; 'where are the bureaucrats? Where are the buildings?" But it works - generally - for us.

And when I say "Generally", I mean "With massive imperfections, at times". While rank and file Presbyterians are famously conservative, the current General Assembly is dominated by liberal whackjobs. No moreso than the "American Catholic Bishops" or most of the Catholic parishes I see in the Metro area...

...but we digress. That's what a Deacon is. Even if Nick Coleman is one.

Posted by Mitch at April 10, 2005 10:14 AM | TrackBack