From the land of Joseph Smith and Mitt Romney comes this nice piece on the diaconate:

Amid all the distress among American Catholics over the shrinking number of priests, one bright fact stands out: Nowhere in the world have Catholic men heeded the call to a separate ordained ministry as in the United States.

In fact, roughly half of all permanent deacons in the church worldwide live in the United States, helping priests who are stretched thin tend to the needs of a growing church.

Last year, according to a study at Georgetown University, there were more than 16,000 permanent deacons in the United States alone. The average age was 63.

The diocese of Salt Lake City, which covers the state, has 75 deacons, 50 of them in active service in parishes. Another 22 men are studying to be deacons and will be ordained in January 2010.

“This is not a profession. It’s not a position. There is no money for a deacon,” says Forrest Gray, a retired National Weather Service meteorologist who was ordained in 2004 and now runs the diocese’s office that serves deacons.

“It’s a question of do you want to serve the people of God?”

That’s a question to which an astonishing number of men are answering a resounding “Yes.” Read the whole article from the Salt Lake Tribune for more.

The Holy Spirit is definitely up to something. (And, for those who are wondering: yes, that’s your humble blogger in the picture.)

Photo: by Ed Wilkinson, The Tablet