Be yourselves and don’t let anyone diminish your role in the church, motivational speaker Samuel Betances urged some 700 permanent deacons and their wives at a Jan. 23-24 diaconate convocation at Rosemont’s Intercontinental Chicago O’Hare Hotel. “You’re not mini-priests and you’re not just filler for liturgies. You’re complete deacons. And you need to understand your ministry,” said the Northeastern Illinois University sociology professor who has advised three U.S. presidents, and run training programs for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and community groups. But, he added, nothing is as important as helping the Chicago archdiocese’s 676 deacons find their way through “the cultural shift we’re going through. The church is changing and the church is aging,” Betances said. And the role of the modern deacon is still evolving, he said. Deacons might start by redefining their own mission, inviting people from two or three parishes for discussions on what their congregations can do to help families of Alzheimer’s’ or dementia patients, victims of domestic or gang violence, he said. He added that deacons should not limit themselves to working with people like themselves, but reach out beyond their comfort zones and not be afraid to confront the political or community “sacred cows” when necessary. “Goliath had the power, but David had the authority,” Betances said. Deacons can become bridges between the church and the people, he said.“Only problem being a bridge is that people walk all over you.” Don’t marginalize Responding to a written query later in the program asking when deacons might expect to see pastors told to “respect and use” deacons and stop “marginalizing” them, Cardinal George said he wasn’t aware that kind of problem existed these days. But if it is, the local vicar should be told immediately. “Most of the pastors I’ve talked to are happy to have deacons. If they don’t have one, they’re asking for one more and more,” Cardinal George said. But that doesn’t mean deacons are going to be running parishes. That’s not a deacon’s job, Cardinal George said. “We haven’t had to do that yet. But I have been encouraging pastors to consider ministry a team effort.” Come a long way Still, the permanent diaconate has come a long way since the ancient office was revived after the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal George said. “The first time I talked to the deacons 12 years ago, there were a lot of questions about whether the permanent diaconate was an experiment or here to stay. I haven’t heard any questions like that this time around,” Cardinal George said. The cardinal said he “insists” on having a deacon participate in any service he leads because liturgically it “just doesn’t work” otherwise. Pope John Paul II himself reportedly felt the same way, said Deacon Anthony Llorens of St. Martin de Porres Parish, 5112 W. Washington Blvd. Llorens sang the General Intercessions when the pontiff said Mass before more than a million people during his 1979 Chicago visit. Deacons, who work with the poor in the rough West Side neighborhood around St. Martin de Porres “get a lot of respect,” said Llorens, who was ordained in 1972 and has run the RCIA program for more than 20 years. Leonard Richardson, a deacon at St. Sabina Parish for 22 years, who still enjoys “just being able to be part of people’s lives on their journey as Christians,” said he sees a day when deacons will be doing more and more things because of the continuing priest shortage. His wife, Betty, sees her role as “assisting and supporting” her husband. “People call on the deacon to minister to them at all times. You need to feel secure with yourself and him,” she said. Tom Lambert of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, who helped to train Richardson, said he takes particular personal satisfaction working with the mentally ill and their families because his oldest daughter had a mental illness. He and his wife Rita also got involved in the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Several men attending the convocation said it’s a lot harder to become a deacon today than it was when they went through the program. Training has gone from two years to four years and screening of candidates is a lot more extensive, Richardson and Llorens said. Candidates must be between 31 and 62 years old, have been Catholics at least three years and must have at least a high school diploma or a GED. If they are married, they must he in a “stable” marriage for at least five years, and if they’re single, they must agree to lifetime celibacy before ordination.