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About Diaconal Ministries

Mission    Vision    Director    Patroness   
Overview: Diaconal Ministries exists to renew the Church in the Heart of Christ the Servant. Rooted in the Church’s living Tradition and faithful to the Magisterium, our work seeks to help deacons and priests rediscover and more deeply integrate the diaconal dimension of Holy Orders into their lives and ministries. Diaconal Ministries
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At the heart of this mission is the conviction that every ordained minister is configured to Christ who “came not to be served but to serve” (Mk 10:45). For permanent deacons, this configuration is expressed in a distinct and stable way. For priests, the diaconate remains an indelible part of their ordination, a permanent mark that ought to shape the way they preach, celebrate the sacraments, and shepherd God’s people. Diaconal Ministries accompanies both deacons and priests in rediscovering this foundational identity so that all their ministry may flow from an encounter with Christ the Servant.
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Mission: Diaconal Ministries seeks to:
  • Foster deeper intimacy with Christ the Servant in the lives of deacons and priests, so that ministry springs from contemplation rather than activism.
  • Help priests recover and live their diaconal identity as an integral, permanent dimension of their priesthood.
  • Assist deacons in entering more deeply into the mystery of their ordination, so that their service becomes a full gift-of-self to the Church and the poor.
  • Support dioceses and parishes through solid theological formation, practical resources, and spiritually grounded pastoral strategies.
     
Building especially on the personalism of Saint John Paul II and a robust theology of the diaconate, Diaconal Ministries offers formation that is intellectually sound, pastorally realistic, and spiritually rooted.​​
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Vision: We envision a Church in which:
  • The diaconate is fully integrated into the life of the Church and seen as a vital expression of Christ’s own humble service.
  • Deacons live a unified, Eucharistic spirituality in which their family life, professional work, and ecclesial ministry are all ordered to Christ the Servant.
  • Priests and deacons collaborate in genuine clerical communion, each living his own order, yet sharing one common configuration to the Servant Christ.
  • The People of God are led more deeply into the mystery of charity, especially toward the poor, the forgotten, and those on the margins.
 
In short, Diaconal Ministries seeks to help the Church “breathe” with the heart of Christ the Servant, so that every aspect of pastoral life is marked by humble, sacrificial love.​​
Mission
Vision
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Director
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The Director: Deacon Dominic Cerrato, Ph.D., is the Director of Diaconal Ministries and Editor of The Deacon magazine, published by The National Association of Diaconate Directors. He has taught theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Duquesne University of the Holy Ghost, and Holy Apostles College and Seminary, and has more than four decades of experience in pastoral ministry at both diocesan and parish levels.​
Deacon Dominic holds a BA in Theology from Franciscan University, an MA in Theology from Duquesne University, and a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from the Graduate Theological Foundation. Ordained in 1995 as the first permanent deacon of the Diocese of Steubenville at the age of thirty-five, he is a national speaker, author, and retreat master. In addition to numerous scholarly articles and popular writings on the diaconate, he has published several books on diaconal theology and spirituality.
 
In 2020, he was appointed by Pope Francis to an international papal commission to study the question of women and the diaconate. Deacon Dominic and his wife, Judith, have been married since 1982 and are blessed with seven children and many grandchildren.
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Patroness
Our Patroness: Mary, Mother of the Diaconate
This ministry is entrusted in a special way to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In her humble “yes,” she receives and bears Christ the Servant, offering the Church the perfect model of diaconal service.Because she is the Mother of Christ the Servant, and deacons are configured sacramentally to that same Christ, Mary may fittingly be invoked as Mater Diaconati, Mother of the Diaconate. Under her patronage, Diaconal Ministries seeks to form servants according to her own heart — attentive to the Word, prompt in charity, and steadfast at the foot of the Cross.
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Maria, Mater Diaconati
Ora Pro Nobis
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