In a later essay in 1956, Professor Rahner would continue this thought, writing,
The Church has functions to perform which in fact--above all, in our own situation—
cannot be adequately carried out by priests, even though in the office of priesthood there
are interior elements of a perduring nature which will always be essential to the Church.
From the testimony of Scripture and Tradition the diaconate is not simply a mere
stepping stone by which a man attains priestly ordination, only to have his diaconal role
end upon completion of this transition to the priesthood. Rather, in its essence the
diaconate is a distinct office sharing in the one Order, an office which can and even
should represent a permanent and lifelong commission for a man. 52
Interest in a permanent diaconate soon spread beyond Germany. In 1956, at an international
congress of pastoral liturgy in Assisi, Italy, Bishop von Bekkum of Indonesia proposed the
possibility of restoration of a permanent diaconate, for the better unfolding of the liturgy and for
worship services without a priest. It was clear by these statements that the topic of a permanent,
perhaps married ordained diaconate was international. Unfortunately, in 1957, Pope Pius XII
although sympathetic, declared that “the time was not yet ripe.” 53 Not yet ripe, however, the
support for a permanent married, ordained ministry, the need of the afflicted around the world
together with the lack of enough priests to answer this need contributed to the inclusion of a
permanent diaconate in the discussions of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican.
On January 25, 1959, Pope John XXIII announced his intention to convene Concilium
Oecumenicum Vaticanum Secundum, the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, of the
Roman Catholic Church (Vatican II). It was to be an opportunity for spiritual renewal. The
Council would have two fundamental intentions, “aggiornaménto” and “ressourcement” In an
address to a group of Blessed Sacrament fathers Pope John XXIII expressed hope that the
Council would accomplish an updating of the Church or, “aggiornaménto”, “to bring the Good
News of Jesus Christ proclaimed by the tradition into the world of today, addressing the
52
53
Ibid. 19
Josef Hornef, “The Genesis and Growth of the Proposal,” in Foundations for the Renewal of the Diaconate, 20.
31