Archbishop Hannan embraced diaconate early on

The Notre Dame Seminary chapel was packed Oct. 4  with deacons, their wives and friends for special Night Prayer from the Office for the Dead in honor of Archbishop Philip Hannan. The liturgy was taken from the breviary that priests and deacons read daily.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond was present for the night prayer and called Archbishop Hannan “a great shepherd.”

“The diaconate exists in the archdiocese because of Archbishop Hannan,” Archbishop Aymond said. “He immediately said he wanted to have this in the archdiocese.”

Put out welcome mat

Archbishop Philip M. Hannan, who participated as a bishop at all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), was one of the first bishops in the U.S. to institute the permanent diaconate. He introduced it in the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1972, and the first class was ordained in 1974. The first deacons in U.S. were ordained in 1970.

“He was a visionary,” said Deacon Ray Duplechain, director of the Office of the Permanent Diaconate. “He embraced the Vatican Council for all its beauty. One of his visions was to move forward with the diaconate rather quickly and to involve the deacons at every level of the church. He felt the great need and understood the ecclesiology (how the church relates to itself and the world).”

Deacon Duplechain traced the history of deacons back to Acts 1:6 when the disciples chose seven men to help them. Early on, deacons were involved in administration and acts of charity, he said. They thrived through the fourth century. Later, it became a stepping stone to the priesthood. Then, the Second Vatican Council restored the permanent diaconate. In 1967, Pope Paul VI made it official in an apostolic letter.

Remembering early diaconate

Among the deacons present Oct. 4 for night prayer was Deacon Angelas Robin, a member of the archdiocese’s first diaconate class. He had inquired about the program before it was even available, having read a story in Time magazine about it.

Robin said he called his parish, St. Joseph Church in New Orleans, and was told to call the archdiocesan chancery. Now retired Archbishop John Favalora, who was the first director of the diaconate program, answered the phone and wondered how he knew about the program.

“Where did you find out about it? We haven’t even let that out yet,” Deacon Robin recalled him saying quizzically.

Deacon Robin said he was given a dispensation to join the inaugural class even though he was only 30 at the time. (The minimum age to enter the permanent diaconate program was 35.) Deacon Robin was ordained at age 32.

“Most Catholic young men have an idea they might like to be a priest but as time goes on, they meet their future mate and fall in love,” Deacon Robin said. “This is the ideal of two worlds for someone in my position.”

There are only four surviving members of that first class of 12: Deacons Robin, Charles Nunez, Louis Stall and now Father David Ker Texada (ordained a priest in 1980).

Deacon Robin has two vivid memories of Archbishop Hannan. One involves his mentally challenged friend, Victor Ader, asking Archbishop Hannan for a ride home from St. Louis Cathedral.

Ader told the archbishop: “Bishop, Bishop. I know where you live, and I know how you get home. When you travel, you pass right by my house. I bet, if you wanted to, you could give me a ride home.”

The archbishop’s reply was: “I do. Get in.”

“That shows the kind of person he was,” Deacon Robin said.

The more recent encounter surrounds Archbishop Aymond’s installation in 2009. Robin found a 1974 photo from his ordination that includes Archbishop Hannan, Archbishop Aymond and himself. Robin had the photo enlarged when Archbishop Aymond returned to New Orleans, and he traveled to Archbishop Hannan’s Covington residence to have him autograph it. He had Archbishop Aymond do the same. It hangs today in his home.

The diaconate today

The ordained ministry that began in 1974 with 12 deacons has grown to 211 men serving as permanent deacons in the archdiocese, Deacon Duplechain said.  Another 44 men are in formation.

The diaconate program has evolved from two years to five years of discernment and training. Even the duties of deacons have expanded. Not only do deacons perform liturgical duties to help pastors, but they also are involved in prison ministry, nursing homes, hospitals, hospice, port ministry, campus ministry, mission work and outreach after disasters in the archdiocese.

“To me, it’s a witness to who Christ was in his service to the church and his people,” Deacon Duplechain said. “For me, it’s truly about serving and not being served.”

Fitting to have service

The decision to hold a service to salute Archbishop Hannan was easy, Deacon Duplechain said.

“It flows naturally from our responsibility as deacons to be men of prayer and service,” Deacon Duplechain said. “We thought it was fitting that we gathered to offer evening prayers for Archbishop Hannan because of his relationship to the diaconate and because of our great affinity, love and affection to him. He continued throughout his life to have a close relationship with the deacons. Deacons went to his cottage in Covington to serve Mass with him.”

Christine Bordelon can be reached at [email protected]