I got an e-mail this afternoon from a deacon who appreciated some of my thoughts here, in the current issue of America.

Then he added this:

Just before I was ordained in 2002 I asked one of our professors, a priest who was head of worship for the diocese what the presbyterate thought of the diaconate. He first asked if I really wanted to hear: I assured him I was pretty sure I knew. He then asked me if I knew the women religious were on the bottom rung of the ladder in the hierarchical thinking; when I nodded in the affirmative he then said ‘deacons are just below that, maybe a little above the maintenance staff of each parish.’ Seven years later I’ve learned he was being charitable!

And so it goes.