General
Wives of Deacons: Online User's Guide (2004)
Online User’s Guide for the video, Wives of Deacons: Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives
When the Second Vatican Council renewed the Order of Deacons as a permanent part of the ordained ministry of the Catholic Church, it also permitted that married men might be ordained to this ministry. The result of this decision has been that over 90 percent of the more than 30,000 deacons around the world are married with families. More than 14,000 deacons—most of whom are married—live, work, and minister here in the United States. This video presents the experiences of six women who are the wives of deacons in the United States. They share quite candidly their thoughts and feelings about the impact of their husbands’ ordinations on their own lives and on the lives of their families: the joys, sorrows, challenges, and blessings of diaconate life.