The book emerges from the author's personal experience as a deacon, conversations with hundreds of deacons, and ongoing personal study. He takes for granted preparatory work on the diaconate that deacons will have undergone during preordination formation. The first chapter picks up Cardinal McElroy’s statement: “We are living in a wonderful moment in the life of the church.” The following chapters reflect on issues that are particularly significant: being rooted and founded in Jesus the deacon, and the spirituality of the deacon.

Endorsements

"Deacon Owen Cummings has written another gem on ministry and life for deacons in the United States. He reminds deacons of the necessity to be rooted in 'Deacon Jesus,' to be formed and reformed by the words of Scripture, especially the Gospels, placed in our hands at ordination, and to be ministers who find joy in living lives of spiritual discipline, which are but means to the end of our diaconal imitatio Christi Servi. Deacon Owen has distilled much scholarship and pastoral experience into a short work. His distillation produces deep wisdom for deacons, our lives, and our ministries."

—Deacon Scott Dodge, director of the Office of the Diaconate, Diocese of Salt Lake City

"Deacon Cummings, a master teacher, engages with the pressing questions of the day that concern the diaconate. Cummings draws upon the classic, rigorous academic tradition of the Church and his own thirty-plus years of pastoral experience, to provide a contemporary theology of the diaconate that is both easy to read and thought provoking. This volume will serve as an excellent update to his classic 2004 text Deacons and the Church."

—Deacon Scott Pearhill, DMin, director of communications, Diocese of Boise; editor of the diocesan newspaper, Idaho Catholic Register

"Owen Cummings's Deacons is a sane, balanced, and optimistic assessment of the diaconate in the twenty-first century. It's also a call: to renewed faith, hope, and love in the service of Christ—to radical self-emptying, not just for deacons but for the whole Church."

—Deacon Chris Anderson, professor emeritus of English, Oregon State University

Owen Cummings has been a permanent deacon for thirty-four years for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. He has been teaching theology for fifty years in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Currently he is Distinguished Regents' Chair of Theology at Mount Angel Seminary, Oregon.

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