we're going to talk about deacons. and i think first of all, what we need to do is to make it clear that the roman catholic is different than the protestant. how are you different? >> i deacon is a called order. it's a order of the church. deacon priests and bishops. and, three missions around preaching, around sharing the word and charity with a major focus on charity and serving the most needy. and deacons oftentimes go into the calling later in life. and they can married. >> that's different. give us a short introduction what what do.

>> it's all the applicants. they're called to serve and discerning whether they may be potentially deacons and providing a program of formation over five years that includes course work and ministry both in parishes and the needy part of the archdiocese. >> and what do you do? >> i'm the coordinator of ministry and life of deacon and their wives. and i watch over the transfers, the assignments, the needs, anything that sports the deacons and the ash much diocese and supports their family life. all of that crosses my desk. and we have 68 active deacons and another ten retired. so about 90 all together.

and so even those living outside the archdiocese are still my concern because they are ours. >> i don't think a lot of people understand what it is. we call it the permanent -- so how did it come about? you're married men. you have a function in the church. that makes you different right away. so talk a little bit about that history. it's new, isn't it? >> it's relatively new in its re-instatement. there was a deacons that were not intending to go on to become priests and then it became a transitional. >> so a long and ancient

history of it in the roman catholic church. >> it was reinstated when? >> 1967. and it's an option for my bishop of any diocese in the world that would like to organize a program to form people for the permanent deacon. many diocese have opted to do that through the world. >> and this is not just the united states. >> no. >> this is through the world. so the early deacons, we're talking about the first thousand years is something that began with the beginning of the church, right? >> that's correct. we'll talk about that when we come back from this short break. ,,,,,,

we're talking about the order of deacons in the roman catholic churches. these are married men that have the ability to preach to have baptisms to hear confessions. >> not that. there is a saying among deacons, we hear confessions but cannot give you absolute foregiveness. >> and we ended the first segment about talking about the history. this was reinstated the 1960s as an order. bus it has a long history started early in the church. >> it goes back to the beginnings of the church when the apostles were doing their work in jerusalem, they

realized that there was more work than they could address. and they needed to spread the word. but they needed to deal with the poor. so they selected the beginnings, the seven deacons, steen being the most prominent to serve the needy, the poor, the orphanages and the widows. >> and steven the deacon met with an early death? >> yes. >> he was stoned. >> yes. >> so it was saul watching on the sidelines. there were the apostles and the deacons and then there were priests. >> eventually. >> but that did not happen till a little later. >> there were not enough apostles that evolve in the bishops to do the service as the church expands and the

priest developed. >> the deacons were around for a thousand years mainly to help the poor to do the social service and justice work that the apostles didn't have time for themselves and then what happened in a thousand years? >> during that thousand years, there was an evolution and because deacons were appointed by the bishop to help with things became also involved in the administration of the diocese as they evolved. and they became skilled at that and many of them actually helped manage the finances of the diocese and they became really quite established in the administration of the church during that time. and one of the things that happened was there was some concern about deacons becoming too prominent in the church or

too powerful. so there evolved this decision to maybe we dent need permanent deacons after all. and have is a step towards becoming a priest and a thousand years went by before this reinstatement in 1967. >> so what brought about the re- instatement? >> that started maybe in the 1940s. there was a good deal of discussion about the benefit of reinstating the permanent for the sake of the church in the mood dearn world. and it got a real boost through discussion in vatican 2. after that, pope paul the sixth reinstated it. >> were there different circumstances in the 1940s and 1950s that sought to fill a hole that the deacons could

fill? >> i think so, especially if the european society. with the coming of the wars and there were just lots of social unrest and disruption and the need for the church to address some of that through charitable works, works of justice and that sort of became a sponsor. there was actually a lot of discussion about it by catholics that were confined to concentration camps in the 1940s t comes out of the concentration camps, some of the early literature. >> and then it became a matter of universal church concern. >> right. >> what was the date that it was reestablished? >> 1967. >> 1967. >> i can't be more specific than that we'll talk about what deacons do since 1967,

especially in the united states. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

welcome back. you're watching mosaic. welcome to all of you watching us. and we're talking about deacons today. it's not a very well known group of people in the church. and we want to make it a little more better known. but there's a great need for deacons in the church today, particularly with the fact that we have a shortage of priests. who do deacons do? could you take us through a typical day for a deacon? >> it does vary with the gifts that the deacons bring. so there's the visible part

where you'll see deacons on the alter assisting at mass. deacons that can witness baptisms. deacons are available to do funeral vigils as we have less and less priests. they work in the streets and with the needy and homeless shelters, hospital and visit the sick and the dying. so there are a mere many things. >> this is deacon rich foley who is charge of formation of new deacons. could you say something about your work, maybe while you were a deacon and working in a special program. >> much of my ministry has been in homeless shelters and recovery centers. so i spent a few years at the

st. paul wellness center with people that are trying to rebuild their lives and find god in the process. >> these are mostly people with addiction problems? >> yes, drugs and alcohol. >> why is that ministry important to the the program? >> from the very beginning it was designed to meet the needs of those that are marginalized. people that were not being taken care of by the regular running of the community and so this order was established to address that need and it still is a hallmark. there are deacons around the country that work primarily in truck stops, for instance, with meeting with truck drivers who

may need some counseling or some support as they stop with their big rigs in the truck centers. they coordinate shuttle buses to take the drivers to sunday mass so they can leave the big rigs at the truck stop. and this is in the airports around the world. and there are deaconthat's the primary ministry is to those in transit in airports. it's very important in countries where someone may not have the proper papers and need somebody to watch after them after the officials have district attorney inside them entry in the -- officials have denied them into the country. >> i'm aware that some of the deacons work in san joaquin and the jails in the county. very important work. >> i've got to also say that the wives of deacons, wives go right through the formation program with the deacons and

formed and they get their own ministry assignments through the program and very often go on to significant ministries after that and my wife is dedicated to visiting assisted living homes and she does communion services in the homes and many of the deacons' wives are involved in the ministry as well. >> so you are taking care of the marginalized a lot, the edge, the people that get forgotten. that is what deacons do but you're an important part of the life of the parish. so preaching, for example. how is preaching for the different parishes? >> it's rewarding. one of the things that we all bring are our life experiences. but we come with wealth of life

experiences, being parents and being out in the community. >> so you have a different take on the scriptures and how to say some words that may be mean something a little differently to people out there in the pews. >> connect to their lives. >> that is why the ministry of preaching traditionally had been attached to the deacon. it was that the bishops and the priests realized that their ministry was more local to the parish complex and the deacons were out in the street doing work. they could bring back the needs to the congregation. >> we're going to come back in a few moments and talk about the great day versety -- diversity in the archdiocese. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

hello. welcome back. we're here with deacon foley and leon talking about the permanent deaconment and the history in the roman catholic church and the archdiocese of san francisco. so we have an order nation of two deacons coming up? >> we, 12 deacons june 24th at the cathedral. eight of the men are married. and they reflect the diversetive our archdiocese. three of them are spanish. >> and a lot of things that people don't understand if you count catholics in the ash of diocese of san francisco, about

41% of them are latinos. and about 17% of filipinos. and there are about 10% others. so we're a very diverse diocese. >> and we're excited about it as they are. the needs continue to grow. and the more that we can provide the ministry and the training, the support, the bertha we can serve the people of the archdiocese. >> how does a person become a deacon? you both said that you had different experiences in life first. but then what kind of a man is attracted to the deacon. how do they apply? >> i think that the path is different as there are individuals. so we have our stories whether it comes out of the early

experiences in life or whether it's a recent calling to be served and through parish ministries and gifts that you would like to put into practice and sharing. so every one of them has a different story. and people are invited to come into the formation program really to discern that sense of calling to the deacon. so that is five years that provides course work and opportunities, but to help individuals reflect and answer the question is this what i'm call to do? we have another class that is two years away from ordination. >> how many are in the group that are two years out? >> 15. >> they go through a process of discernment. what do they study? what kinds of things do they

look at? >> there are some foundational courses. some sense of the history as we have talked about. old testament and new testament to understand scriptures. they're finishing a course on consolation ministry and dealing with grief and building the support of ministries within parishes. so there's a slew of courses that they'll take over the five years, that coupled with various minister experiences that extend themselves in their own parish and opportunities and other parishes and other social service agencies. >> if somebody is watching us or knows somebody that might be interested, what number should they call? >> (415)614-5615.

and i can answer all the questions. repeat that please. >> (415)614-5615. >> actually that is our main office number. >> but that will work just as well. >> yes, it will. >> were talking about the wives and the women in the process is there some sense that they feel second class citizens? it's a difficult role, i would imagine to have your husband ordained, your learning everything but you're not ordained. >> that does surface for sure, especially since they participate fully in the program. they can chose to participate fully as their husband and many do. they attend all the classes. they go into the supervised

ministry during the pastor part. there's that tension that tens on. some of the wives still feel that they're prepared and ready should the church decide that we're going to have women deacons. they're ready to go. and so it is something that is potential and it is something that is worth examining. we can discuss the possibilities of women being ordained to the deacons. that is a different discussion. >> tell me about the perhapses maybe that there may be in marriages in the deacons? >> at time it's a little mentoring by people that have more experience dealing with it. sometimes it's just a word of

advice that can solve a lot of problems could be different than that. but usually these things are worked out nicely in the first two years. i had one example, i wife called me on the phone and said she's having a hard time of her husk a deacon. -- her husk a deacon. -- her husband a deacon. he was at the office writing his homely. i said go home and write your homely. they have this new possibility and they go with it. >> and we're talking about the

class, especially the one that is going to be ordained. and that will be live streamed if you want to stay at home and watch this and you can see it on the life screen your screen right now. and you'll see some happy men and their wives and families. another great class of deacons to come and help news the archdiocese of -- help us in the archdiocese of san francisco. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. ,,,,,,,,,,,,

welcome to bay sunday. i am your hosted to, mesh elks we have got a packed show with a non-profit, a disco legend and comedy. and first up margo andean day, the wonder woman. yes! come to go talk to us about their upcoming show. welcome. >> welsh i have been known to wander. >> all right,. >> i am just going go to theater. >> wonderful, tell me about this. >> well, it is the first ever new year's show which is also a non--profit theater and