artificial flavors. just good times. try cirkul at drinkcirkul.com. (pop music) hello, and on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco, welcome to mosaic. today we are introduced to the ministry of the catholic church which is extremely ancient and also new. it is an order of service that is referred to familiarly in the early scriptures of the testament and by st. paul and st. luke. it endured for centuries but for about 1,000 years after that, it

laid dormant. only in the 20th century did a renewed understanding of the ministry and the awareness of the church's need for it become resurrected. and the prescription was given in the documents of the second vatican council, particularly in lumin jetsio. over half a century ago, the bishops of the united states petitioned pope john paul six to approve this. since then, more than 18,000 men in the united states have been ordained to had this office. so we are talking about the office of deacon. today our guest is one of the deacons who is ordained for the archdiocese of san francisco. after this brief break, come back and stay with us as we learn about this ancient catholic vocation and the new application.

hello and thank you for joining us on mosaic. our guest today i will be introducing is deacon michael yorso. you go by mike? >> i just go by deacon. >> and mike, you are a deacon in the archdiocese of san francisco, you are an ordained minister. everything i know about the deaconed i learned from you. the idea that it is an ancient christian vocation, i will read from st. paul in the philippines

and paul who is in jail now, jailed by the romans for his catholic christian faith, writes to the people in philip i and he writes, i write to you with the over seers and deacons, ministers, grace to you and peace from god our father. i give thanks to god in remembrance of you because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. that is ancient roots of this vocation. i want you to tell me about the roots and the beginning of this vocation of deacon if you can. >> well, the very first deacons were formed in acts chapter 6. acts of the apostles? >> right. when the greek widows complained that they were not being served, that they were being ignored and neglected. they asked the apostles to appoint someone to serve them. so the apostles appointed seven good men to be the first

deacons, among them stephen. >> and this is recorded in the acts of the apostles. >> acts chapter 6. >> a few years after jesus' death. and this was the community of jerusalem finding their way with the people? >> yes, to be with on that. >> sure. >> it was necessary because like i said, they were forming into different classes and as it began to spread, people were not just jewish being brought into the faith. they were also greek. and it was the greek widows that necessitated someone of their background leaning on them. >> that's interesting. >> it was a need that needed to be filled, literally in the early church. >> i get it. i'm vague on this. already the jewish disciples had gentile converts and with a different culture and different needs. as i remember from acts, it says the apostles were busy with the

preaching and so on. what did the deacons do? what services did they perform? >> literally, they took care of them, provided them with food, shelter, clothing, and things of that nature. mainly to wait on them at table. when they gathered for the meal, the lord's meal, then they also would have.

so tell me about stephen. >> stephen obviously became the first martyr. he was also doing preaching. he was very adamant. it was because of his preaching that he was ventually martyred. >> the deacons are named in the acts of the apostles, the seven men. do we know the histories of any of the other men? >> we know a little about philip. it goes on with a story about philip, an ethiopian and the others, we don't know what they did or where they went. >> now we understand that the offices in the church became organized and distinguished over the early centuries, right? and are there three main

categories? tell us about them. >> the episcables that we would refer to bishops. >> you have to speak greek to get this program. >> we use the term bishop. and then the priests and then the deacons or serve wants. >> are there any other notable deacons in the early history? >> in the very early history, we have lawrence in rome who was asked to bring about and present to the emperor the riches of the church. >> i learned about him maybe in third grade, famous martyr. i had no association with him being a deacon. tell us the story. >> deacons at that time were controlling the finances. >> okay. >> so he was asked to supply to the emperor the riches of the church. gathered up all of the poor and

brought them to the king and he was not well received because of that. he was martyred. >> he ehas access to the finances to the church and was told hand over the treasure. that is good. that is a good man. he was martyred by the romans. was it in rome? >> yes. >> and then i heard about a doctor of the church, a learned theologian, st. ephraim. >> and he became a doctor of the church. he did many writings and letters that would still come down to us today. >> so the office of deacon, as i understand it, it became part of the order of advancedment towards priesthood, is that right? >> it became one of the orders. we had a variety of orders, porter, subdeacon, deacon, and then priest on that. >> okay. >> but there were also other

ones in there. we suppressed most of those with the exception of lector and reader and acolyte that we use at steps to the deaconed. >> okay. we will take a break and then talk more about the change from the deacons from an ancient practice to a new and modern one.

hello and welcome back. we are talking with deacon mike yorsio. let's talk about this. you are not a deacon from the third century a.d. >> not at all. >> you are a deacon from the 20th century. and you are ordained as a minister of the archdiocese of san francisco. as i said in the opening, your

vocation, your office is a new one, founded about 50 years ago. what happened there? >> in 1968 after vatican ii, the church was looking for ways to involve the layty more in the involvement of the church. part of that was expanding the office or order of the diaconate. so the diaconate is kind of a bridge between clergy and layouty. and the idea that we bring those people to the church. we are almost like an outreach. one of the formation directors said we should be preaching to the people in the back pew because those are the ones bringing into church, the ones that don't quite feel they belong, bring them into the church. bring them into a more full participation in liturgy, service, charity, whatever you want to call it. >> i knew that the last step for

a young man on the way to priesthood, the last order before he is ordained as a priest, he is ordained as a deacon. >> a transitional deacon. >> and then your office is permanent deacon. exactly. >> and you are ordained by the bishop for his diocese. and ordained to what ministry? you are not a junior priest of smakind? >> a lot of people think you are a mini priest and whenever the priest isn't there, you will take over. that's not the call of the diaconate. it is more one of service. the priests have christ as the icon of the high priest. that's their goal. for the deacons, it is more christ the servant as our icon, the one we tree to imitate. >> the idea of the priest in latin is alto cristo.

he does the sacrifice. >> and that's why the deacon cannot say a mass or consecrate the eucharist. we can not hear confession and we cannot anoint the sick. >> you do have liturgical and pastoral duties. what are those? >> and those, whee can preach, we can reach the gospel and proclaim the gospel. we can preach. we can baptize. we oversee vigils or committals at the cemeteries. >> so liturgical and pastoral. and as you mentioned before, the pastoral side involves outreach to the laity, specifically the marginalized people. >> right. if you think of the old i personall don'tnce of deacon.

gentleman i knew in oakland, there was a man who became a deacon. but in my own experience, i haven't seen many. but nearly 18,000 men are in the ministry of the united states. people have answered the call. who are these people? what about the call brings them in? >> the vast majority of deacons are married. you not only have a deacon in the sense of a married man as a member of the clergy but the wife also participates with him. very often in ministry, my wife works with me in marriage preparation, and in preparing couples to get married within the church and things of that nature. deacons work with the homeless, work in soup kitchens , deacons who work in jails, jail

ministry, juvenile ministries, anywhere that there is a need of service to the people of god. >> and fascinating you mention mad a okabecause i think theri e so the church looks for that and the wife has to be -- how do i put it, discern her own vocation in that as well. >> she has to be willing that her husband become ordained. we ask thad before they join the formation and we ask it every year until ordaination and then they ask it during orderination itself. >> it is a very complex vocation. there must be severe training and discernment process. >> well, i don't know if it is severe. but it is five years of theology. we start with the catechism of the church, general theology and then we move onto new testament,

old testament theology, christology, all types of moral theology. all of the things we need to learn because people will be asking us questions. >> of course, yeah. you have the training, a five year program. that is done locly forhe e t i two saturmo it isone at the st. patrick's cemetery. it is from 9:00 to 3:00, so about 6 hours, two saturdays and then we will have some evening classes sometimes. but the majority of the classes are held at seminary. >> so you are doing weeks of study with your wife's permission and cooperation. and then when you are a deacon, can your work range from a few hours a week to a full time job? >> yeah, we ask that deacons put

in about 10 hours a week. you can work it out with your pastor what that is. if you are doing homilies and presenting at the masses, that will be easily come from that. but also, we have them doing things like with food baskets or food harvest, all different types of things that deacons work with within the parish. then we also work with the jail ministries and things of that nature and homeless centers that are outside of the parish. >> my understanding is 40% or 50% of the men are holding down full-time jobs as well? >> yes, almost everyone is holding down a full-time job and maybe the wives are working too and still they are putting in

the hours above and beyond. they are not compensated for this. >> and we thank you for your service. we will come back and have one more session of talk and find out what the deacons are doing.

hello and welcome back. we are having an enjoyable and illumeinating conversation with deacon mike. i didn't ask you for your full title at the archdiocese that you work? >> i'm the director of diaconate ministry and life. >> i take it that means that deacons have a ministry and they also have a life. >> right. >> how many deacons do we have in the archdiocese? >> this is always an excellent question. we have 110 incarnated in the archdiocese of san francisco. 20 of those are outside of the archdiocese. >> in ministry? >> yes, as far as away as guatemala and honduras. heai 90,be5 are red. 75 active deacons for san

francisco. >> and they are mostly in parish work? >> almost all are in parish ministry. some are in geo ministry or some are both in parish work and an archdiocese ministry. >> we have about 100 parishes and about 100 deacons. how many would we like to have? what would be the ideal? >> ideally, i would like to have two deacons per parish. that way, not all of it falls on one person. we could use two deacons per parish. we have plenty of room to grow and we have plenty of time. we need people joining us who are a little bit younger. we ask that they don't apply after the age of 60. >> that makes sense. i know that retirement age is a time when a man who is freed of his prior responsibilities looks around and ses this may be for me. so you have some of these people

applying. but you want c't be 35. >> okay. and i noticed in january, there were three evening meetings at different places and different counties. the advertisement is interested in being a deacon? come to an informational meeting? no salesman will call. >> no commitment or anything, just information. >> but people are able to find out readily what the diaconate is and how they can find out about it from you. and you are on a website? >> you know, sfr.org. we also have an office at the chancery, office of the diaconate or diaconate formation. you can call deacon fred toto or deacon mike. >> excellent. deacon mike, i have to say, the job seems to have agreed to you. when we first met, i thought you were 20 years younger than i am.

but i find out that is not the case. something is working for you. >> i have been fortunate. >> how did you discern this vocation? >> it is a long process for me. out of grammar school, i felt called to seminary and i spent eight years in seminary. >> and you are a local boy, san francisco. >> yes and senior year in high school and also in college, idiscerned that got was not calling me to priesthood. he was calling me to service in the church but not to priesthood. so i kind of put that aside and got married and raised a family of four children. and it wasn't until i guess i was about 50 or 55i began feeling a call to more, to do more. and i capacity saying, i don't know what that is. well, my best friend, padre mateo, told me that mike, you are being called to the

diaconate. and i thought, oh, no, god doesn't want that. so i argued with him for a long time about it. he turned out to be correct. i was being called to the diaconate. it took me a while to realize that and a little argument with god. but as i decided to aspire to it and discern whether or not this was for me. and obviously, i found it vafrp for me. and my wife was only two supportive. in fact, she told nee, what took you so long? >> is that right? okay. you and your wife with four cades and you had a prior career of teaching. >> yes, i had a teaching store in san francisco. >> and you have a masters in station industry yes. >> all walks are found in the diaconate. and you need each other in this. >> we definitely do. that was the surprise for me and

my wife, as we joined the diaconate community, it was such a warm and welcoming sdmuvenlt there are so many good people there. i think that i'm constantly humbled by how many of the deacons and wives are doing wonderful ministry. and i always say why am i the spokesperson for this. they are out there doing it. >> we have one minute left. can you give us a brief close to prayer? >> in the name of the father and the son of the holy spirit, lord, we thank you for the day that you have given us. we ask you to guide us to where you want us to be today as you do always. this we ask through christ our lord, amen. >> amen and thank you for joining me. i want to tell our audience, you can as we said find out about the diaconate in the archdiocese of san francisco by going to the

website, sf arch.org. there is a web page and mike's tell phone number is there. informational evenings, they will continue. >> yes. >> come in and take a look, ask about the diaconate. it's a fascinating occupation and a great service to the church. thank you once again to being with us. and we will see you next time on mosaic.

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