PERMANENT DEACONATE IN POLAND - AN EXPERIMENT OR THE RESTORATION OF THE PROPER AND PERMANENT HIERARCHIC LEVEL IN THE CHURCH? (Diakonat staly w Polsce - eksperyment czy przywrocenie wlasciwego i trwalego stopnia hierarchicznego w Kosciele?)

After the Vatican Council II in the Catholic Church the service of permanent deacons has been restored. In the world there are over 37 thousand of them. In Poland the first deacons were ordained in 2008. The service of permanent deacons is the restoration of the permanent and proper level of holy orders, and in consequence it consolidates and enriches the hierarchical structure. At the same time it is a gift for the whole Church understood as a community of complementary states, offices, services and charismas. In Poland, for various reasons, there is a risk that permanent deaconate will be treated as a pastoral experiment. If this happens so, it would be a damage to the development and the deserved place for the deacons' service, but also in a way it would be wasting the chance to consolidate the communal character of the Church.