Deacon Strong?????

I attended the information session for the permanent diaconate tonight.

This is the first step of a long process. A retreat, various meetings and interviews, etc. follow. If I ultimately do apply, and I am accepted by the bishop, I would officially enter the program next spring.

Four years of study and formation would follow, leading, if all goes well, to a 2010 ordination.

My wife attended the meeting with me. She is aware of all the time and work it entails, but she is all for it. She says she’s thought for a long time that I should be a deacon.

I have been thinking of it for a long time, too.

But the timing wasn’t right earlier. I had three daughters at home. They were the good part left from a failed first marriage (with a subsequent annulment). Joint custody meant that the half of the week I had the girls and I had to be constantly available. For their sake, I curtailed outside activities – with no regrets! – but that included forgoing any active pursuit of the diaconate.

Emily is now the only one left home, however. She will be close to finishing her senior year of high school before I would have to be actively involved in formation, so my darlings are no longer an issue.

I have long felt called to serve. I worked as a Catholic journalist for 12 years, and have been involved in various parish ministries my entire adult life. Heck, I was an altar boy up through high school, and spent one year as a seminarian.

I also flirted with other churches, feeling the call to ministry in some form.

But this would be a real commitment.

That’s scary.

So Lord, is this what you are calling me to do?