As ordained clergy, deacons also serve the faith community in various sacramental and devotional ways.
The deacon is an ordinary minister of baptism and presides at marriages. The deacon is also authorized to
preside at the solemn celebration of the Liturgy of the hours, or Divine Office, and at the benediction of the Blessed
Sacrament, where he may give the blessing with the Blessed Sacrament and carry the monstrance in procession.
Deacons also customarily preside at funeral vigils and devotional services such as the Way of the Cross. Deacons are also authorized to perform all the blessings of the Church with the notable exception of the blessing of a seminary building.
The deacon has other roles in the liturgy proper only to him. The great Easter Proclamation, the Exsultet, was in the ancient Church permitted only to the deacon.
Two other historic diaconal proclamations were restored to the liturgy:The Proclamation of the Birth of Christ at Christmas Midnight Mass and the Proclamation of the Date of Easter at Epiphany.
During the liturgy of the Triduum, the deacon conducts the Veneration of the Cross at the Solumn Liturgy of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday and brings the Easter Candle into the Church at the Easter Vigil. These corresponding diaconal processions, each with theri three proclamations by the deacons, tie the death and resurrection of Jesus together in the Triduum liturgy.
Deacons also customarily preside at funeral vigils and devotional services such as the Way of the Cross. Deacons are also authorized to perform all the blessings of the Church with the notable exception of the blessing of a seminary building.
The deacon has other roles in the liturgy proper only to him. The great Easter Proclamation, the Exsultet, was in the ancient Church permitted only to the deacon.
Two other historic diaconal proclamations were restored to the liturgy:The Proclamation of the Birth of Christ at Christmas Midnight Mass and the Proclamation of the Date of Easter at Epiphany.
During the liturgy of the Triduum, the deacon conducts the Veneration of the Cross at the Solumn Liturgy of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday and brings the Easter Candle into the Church at the Easter Vigil. These corresponding diaconal processions, each with theri three proclamations by the deacons, tie the death and resurrection of Jesus together in the Triduum liturgy.