There has been a lot of buzz over this topic over the past few years. I think it is an interesting question. The way I see it, there are three major thoughts that need to be worked out, and in a specific order.
1) Can a deacon wear the collar?
2) Is the deacon allowed to wear the collar?
3) Why does the deacon want to wear the collar?
Can a deacon wear the collar?
This one is a bit tricky. The code of Canon Law is pretty clear on the issue.
“Can. 284 Clerics are to wear suitable ecclesiastical garb according to the norms issued by the conference of bishops and according to legitimate local customs.
Can. 288 The prescripts of cann. 284, …….do not bind permanent deacons unless particular law establishes otherwise.” (abbreviated)
So we are called to wear “clerical garb”, but are not obligated to do so. Hmm. What is “”clerical garb”? Is that the collar? Wearing the collar would certainly be the local custom I think, after all, transitional deacons,(that is men ordained as deacons before they become priests) are required to wear the collar. That would satisfy as local custom, right? So the way I see this, permanent deacons are encouraged, but not bound to wear the collar. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has not set any mandate out of desire to let the local bishop decide what is best.
Is the deacon allowed to wear the collar?
This for me is the first really important question. It’s easy to start spouting laws and rights, but if we don’t try to get to the spirit of things first, we are seriously missing the point.
A deacon is called to obedience. A deacon, first and foremost, should be his “bishop’s man”. It is our primary call, as it is him that we are called to serve.
So to me the question is not just does your bishop allow you to wear the collar, but does he want you to wear the collar? Does he only want you wearing the collar when you are acting as minister, or would he prefer you to wear it all the time as a testament to your clerical state?
I think we get so caught up in laws, we can miss the point.
Ask, and Obey!
Why does the deacon want to wear the collar?
If a deacon wants to wear the collar because he thinks he looks dashing in one, or because he wants to be deffered to, then he’s missing the point. I’m not going to pretend that doesn’t happen, but that is hardly the norm by any stretch, so I’m not going to go into it at any length.
Let’s be honest here. In any parish, almost everyone knows who the deacons are. Heck, we know who the deacons of all the neighboring parishes are. Yes, you may have the odd guest, or the parishioner who still calls the deacon Father, but for the most part, within their parishes, they are easily identified. But then, so is the priest. If the priest put on a red hat and a pink tutu, everyone would still know who he was.
So it’s not about identification by the parishioner. Then it must be about the identification by the non-parishioner.
An ordained man was not ordained for his own benefit. He was given gifts by God to share with other people. A priest should be marked, so that if those gifts are required, he can be found easily. I am going out on a limb here, but I feel the same way about deacons. Imagine you are in the library, and someone is really interested in knowing more about the Church. Any priest knows this happens all the time, because those people feel safe coming up to ask questions, his collar has marked him as a cleric. Would we really want our deacons to keep the gifts given at their ordination to themselves? Do we not want to be open to help those who need the consolation that only the Church can give? A deacon’s cross is simply not effective for this kind of outreach, only clerical dress can do that.
I am often frustrated by nuns and monks for the same thing. I feel that without distinctive dress to let people know that they are dedicated to the service of their fellow man that they cannot live out their vocations fully. They are to be holy, set aside. I would think deacons should be the same way by virtue of the Holy Orders they have received in trust for us.
I’ll be honest, I don’t expect this to be settled in my lifetime, but I look forward to the day when there is a standard dress marking a deacon as a deacon. I’m liking how some dioceses are asking their deacon to wear grey clerical only, I think that’s right on. I certainly would rather not be confused with a priest.
Edit: I have written further commentary on this topic at:
Thanks for the thoughtful commentary on what is such a hot button topic these days. I think you should ask one other question. Why don’t priests and bishop’s want Deacons wearing the roman collar. I personally could care less about the wearing of clerical clothing except it seems odd that deacon’s are most of the time banned from the wearing. I truly think the bigger question is not why does a deacon want to wear the collar but why is he forbidden to.
That is a great question. Forbidden is a powerful word, and therefore it must have good reasons, right?
I agree, I need to write a post about that. I’ll plop down later today and do just that.
I carefully chose the word forbidden because that is what my Bishop wrote when he made his decision on the topic.
I have posted my thoughts as to why the bishops might feel this way at “Forbidden to wear the Roman Collar”. This issue is still very much up in the air. Some bishops forbid it, some command it while religious duties are being performed. I don’t think we’ll have a norm any time soon!
While, I’m personally not much interested in looking like a priest after 19 yrs of diaconal ordination. There are, no doubt, situations where the collar would be beneficial to others.
But what interests me in this issue is the insight into the mind of the Bishops. I mean, the FACT of the matter is that until there were married deacons, they had NO concerns over issues of either dress or address. And the forms were UNIVERSAL in the U.S. (Rev. Mr. and Roman Collar)!
So, I do believe it speaks volumes about the episcopacy’s feelings toward married men (as that is the only difference here).
Why? Well, why can seminarians (without a single minor order) wear collars ? Bishop’s have no concern that the faithful will be confused, etc. To say nothing of the multitude of various Protestant clergy wearing the “roman” collar these days.
And sadly, this problem could be settled to the satisfaction of BOTH sides of the issue in a simple manner- select a non-roman collar for deacons (Paulist, Redemptorist, Christian Brother, Oratorian, Alexian, etc. Or develop a new one! I believe Atlanta uses the Christian Brothers/Oratorian model.)
It would identify deacon as a cleric in major orders and specifically as such with no problems or confusion, etc. Not to mention deacons (who are not trapped in the parish sanctuary) are photographed doing all kinds of service in the community. It may be just me but I think the Church can use all the good publicity it can get these days.
We CAN’T figure this out?! Or we don’t WANT to?
So let’s create our own collar! Get yourself a black shirt with a regular collar and put your deacon cross on the left side of the collar (same side as your stole!). In the summer make it a black polo shirt. Get a nice suit jacket and “Bam!” something new in the great Tradition! Spread the word!;-)
Just don’t waste too much time on this. It’s not nice to keep the poor waiting
Great thoughts, and I agree on all points. Heck, I don’t care what they decide to do, they can ask all deacons to wear a pink flamingo hat for all I care. I just think it does a great disservice to the People of God to not make the designation. Ordination is not for the man, but for the people, and that’s not much good if the people have no idea that a man pledged to service is standing in front of them, especially if that person is not a member of the parish that deacon happens to be stationed at.
I think it’s time for the conference of bishops to decide what’s normative. Yes, of course a bishop should have the right to augment or disregard that as he chooses, but in my humble and irrelevant opinion, there should be a baseline for them to work with.
Yes, and my REAL question and interest is Why Not? Why is the diaconate the ONE vocation that is the exception (Nuns, Priest, Brothers)?
The only difference that I can detect is that we are married. Oh, and btw, last I checked that was a GOOD thing. Some even say it’s a sacrament!
Oh, Well, God is always doing something new and the poor are waiting. Besides,the only looser in this approach is not the People of God, the marginal or the deacon. This hurts/undercuts the “hierarchical” concept of the Institutional Church and denies it some good will and publicity.
See you at the Prison, Dance! ALL those people know are the deacons;-)
I’m not sure I agree, I think the marginal ARE hurt by this lack of distinction. Those folks who really desire some spiritual help, but don’t know where to turn are more often found in the library or grocery store than in Sunday Mass. Ask any priest, and he will tell you people come up to him with questions all the time in his daily life. THAT is where distinction is valuable, in dealing with the marginalized, the poor, (especially the spiritually poor), and the curious. None of these people will talk to a stranger, but the collar opens them up, because they know that this person has been pledged to help them. The evangelical opportunity is so glaringly obvious I can hardly watch without being blinded.
I totally agree with you on how this deeply undercuts the hierarchical concept of the Church too. It seems madness to desire nuns and monks to wear habits, but not men with Major Orders. Here we have a prime opportunity to show the world more men pledging obedience to their bishops in the public sphere, and we want to hide them under the carpet. I honestly don’t get it.
The distinction between the priest and the rest of us should be maintained at any cost. If I were a deacon, out of respect for the priesthood, I would NOT want to wear the collar. The deacon is a very special character who is one of us, and the humility of his simple dress is at once a lesson to US and a testimony from HIM. The great deacons that I know personally would be wounded at the heart to think that they might be confused with priests. With our merely-human minds, we can not begin to know the ineffable and divine character of the priest, who himself can not grasp it. One thing, however is for certain: Only a priest is a priest, and there should NEVER be any doubt or confusion about who he is. Thanks be to God.
I get you. I really do. I even agree. However, I think you might be missing something of great importance. Of course a deacon should not want to be confused with a priest. He is not a priest. In the same way, a priest should never want to be confused with a bishop. A bishop is our living connection to the rest of the Church, the very source of Catholic identity. No good priest would ever want to be confused with a bishop. That real and deep difference does not mean the priest is worth less. Quite the contrary, the priest has deep, eternal value for what he is, because of his relation to the bishop. The same is true of a deacon. Should a deacon want the be a priest? Of course not. But he IS a deacon, and he IS clergy, whether he likes it or not, whether he is humble about it or not.
You see, using your words, if the priest is not “one of us” then the deacon can’t be either, the deacon is NOT a really great layman. A deacon is an ordained man who has given his life in obedience to his bishop, not in the same way or degree as a priest, but in a way every bit as real, permanent and sacred as a priest. That misconception is one the problems with deacons not having a distinctive style of dress outside of liturgy, it blurs that reality. Bishops have pink hats and big crosses so that we never get them confused with priests. All I am saying is that deacons need an alteration of the standard clergy dress that clearly marks them as deacons.
If your issue is with the collar itself, you should probably know that the collar has never been reserved for priests alone. It is worn by some monks, transitional deacons, even men in seminary who have not received orders, not to mention many of our protestant brethren in many different forms.
Dance,
Wonderful insights. Where are you in formation and when will you be ordained? I am less than 90 days from ordination as a permanent deacon (May 4th). In doing hospital ministry I can tell you that a collar would certainly be a HUGE help.
Blessings on the path you are on and know of my prayers,
–dan
Congratulations on your pending ordination! May God Bless your ministry.
I am light years from that day, and the day keeps getting pushed farther back. At best guess, we are 3 years out, and we’ve been in the process for three years. It is a wonderful opportunity to learn patience.
Good for you. In my diocese (Diocese of Crookston (MN)) the formation process is currently 6 years total as well. Deacon Candidates want great/excellent formation and our 6 years of study have been amazing. Hang in there Dance, your remaining time will pass quickly – sure did for me. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Blessings, –dan
Honestly, The hardest part is constantly being asked how much longer I have, even by my priest! (I think he’s more excited than I am, he already let me know that I would be his slave…) I simply tell them I expect to be ordained before I become a great-grandfather, but there are no guarantees. You are right though, I just love our formation class, I get so much out of it that I cannot really put it into words. Already it seems to be moving so fast.
Yes to all before me. I have done a bit more than create my own collar. I had made through Boric Religious Supply, long sleeve black t-shirts embroidered with the Deacon Cross on the left chest. I have for many years worn two shirts together, a white t-shirt then whatever. In this case a white t-shirt under my black long sleeve was a natural. The white t-shirt collar shows above the black collar.
I should mention the look of the black/white shirt combination was purely accidental but I stuck with it.
Deacon Chris,
Has your shirt combination generated any comments by anyone, especially your parish priest or your Bishop?
Blessings, –dan
I am quite curious as well!
There have no comments and I wear my black shirts almost daily. My point has never been to imitate a priest especially at my parish however I do believe the shirt helps at the hospital.
By the way Dance, how’s the weather up there. The thermometer down here in in so cal says 100!
100 degrees? No way. I’m not coming to visit. If it gets over 70 I start getting uncomfortable!
Greetings all involved in this interesting discussion. Here is (yet) another view, this from Father “Z”.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/12/quaeritur-permanent-deacons-and-the-roman-collar/
Blessings, –dan
The Diocese of La Crosse seems to have the perfect solution. Permanent deacons are allowed to wear grey clergy shirts with roman collars. The collar opens conversations and allows the public to easily identify the deacon as a clergyman and the gray color helps the lay faithful distinguish between a priest and a deacon. I believe similar guidance is in place in the Diocese of St. Paul as well.
It seems that the grey clerical wear for Deacons is becoming more and more common. Such an easy solution yet it is still being met with resistance by priests and bishops. I pray everyday for an understanding of why they resist accepting the married Deacon fully into the brotherhood of clergy. We should be their most natural and strongest ally. Hopefully more individuals will open up to the trend of grey for Deacons.
This is most definitely my preferred solution.