By Karen Vance
Enquirer contributor

ERLANGER - For the first time in the Catholic Diocese of Covington's history, the church's permanent deacons will be educated outside the diocese.

The diocese, which encompasses 14 counties in Northern Kentucky, will send its six permanent deacon candidates to be educated at the Athenaeum of Ohio in Anderson Township in Hamilton County, along with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's 32 candidates.

The Diocese of Covington has had its own three-year permanent deacon program at the Catholic Center in Erlanger since 1982, with the first set of deacons being ordained in 1985. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati began their deaconate program in 1974.

"We began to think that when you've got a good program across the river, why duplicate it here for so few people," said the Rev. Gilbert Rutz, the former director of deacon formation for the diocese and now a vicar general.

Rutz, himself a graduate of the Athenaeum's Mount St. Mary's Seminary when it was still in Norwood, said the new program under the leadership in Covington of the Rev. William Neuhaus will continue to foster good relationships between the Diocese of Covington and Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

"I think it will be great for our deacons to establish relationships with deacons in Cincinnati. It's very enriching to have them learn together," Rutz said. "I think it's going to be good for everyone involved."

For the Athenaeum, the Covington deacon candidates combined with the large number of Cincinnati candidates makes for one of the largest deacon classes in the school's history. They assembled for a retreat Sunday and will participate in a formation day on Aug. 28 before classes begin. This is the second-largest class ever for the program; the largest was in 1976.

The Rev. Benedict O'Cinnsealaigh, director of formation at the Athenaeum, attributes the growing interest in the deaconate in part to rising concerns over the priest shortage.

"More men may feel they're being called to serve in this way. More men are realizing the need," he said. "Most of them really love their priest and want to help them. They want to lend a hand and are more willing to make a sacrifice."

O'Cinnsealaigh said the majority of the men who will begin the three-year program are older with stable work and family environments, and often grown children.

"We usually look for someone who loves other people and working with other people," he said. "They bring to the church a maturity in their faith and a variety of experiences. They bring their own struggles and the wisdom they've gleaned from those experiences."

He believes the new relationship with the Covington deacons at the school will only add to a sharing of those varied experiences.

"The dioceses and the areas are different enough that they each bring something new to each other," he said.

John Convery, 63, of Pierce Township in Clermont County, agreed the addition of Covington candidates could only enrich the experience. He, like most of the deacon candidates, worked professionally before answering the call.

He had considered the priesthood as a teen but chose to have a family and a career as an engineer instead. After 38 years in the workforce and of marriage and five now-grown children, the St. Thomas More parishioner is looking forward to the work of a deacon.

"I'm back to doing the things that I was called to do as a young man," he said. "My life's gone full circle."

The role of the deacon has its roots in the early church as described in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles as helpers to the Apostles themselves.

In the modern church, deacons are men, usually older, with good standing in the church. The men can be married and have children.

They serve several roles within a parish and a diocese through ministry of the word, ministry of the liturgy and ministry of charity.

They assist in Masses by reading the Gospel, the prayer petitions and, in some cases, preaching the homily. In liturgy, a deacon can perform weddings, baptisms and funerals. He cannot perform the preparation of the Eucharist without a priest or hear confession.

And in the ministry of charity, the deacon is expected to be most in touch with the needs of people at the parish and in the community, lead social action, perform works for the poor and bring the Gospel to people.

Deacons also often take on many administrative duties of the church to lessen the load on the parish priest.

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E-mail kbvance@adelphia.net