Permanent Diaconate
"Deacons play a vital role in evangelizing both to the gathered and the scattered in our community. Their ministry is of great importance to our archdiocese answering the call of Jesus to love and serve."
Cardinal Thomas Collins
Archbishop of Toronto
Do you think you God is calling you to serve as a Permanent Deacon in the Archdiocese of Toronto?
If you would like information on the Permanent Diaconate you can contact:
Office of Clergy Personnel – Diaconate
1155 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4T 1W2
Tel: 416-934-3400, ext. 304
or email us at diaconate@archtoronto.org
Cardinal Collins
To assist you in discerning if God is calling you, we have provided some articles written by Cardinal Collins about the permanent diaconate. These are listed below for your consideration. We suggest that you and your wife (if applicable) read them over a few times and discuss them.
- Let Me Introduce the Deacon
- Explore the Diaconate Sacrament
- The Deacon - Word Altar Charity
- Deacon Must Priorize His Life
- As a Deacon He Comes Third
For information, about the five year Formation Program, please go to the St. Augustine's Seminary website by clicking on the link St. Augustine's Diaconate Program at the bottom of the page.
After you have considered this calling for a period of time and you would like to discuss further a vocation to the Permanent Diaconate, please contact the Office of Clergy Personnel - Diaconate to speak to the Coordinator of Diaconal Ministry at 416-934-3400, ext. 304.
Once you and your wife(if married) decide to proceed further in the discernment process your next step will be to enter the Intake Application Process which is outlined below.
Intake Application Process
To begin the Intake Application Process, you are asked to contact the Office of Clergy Personnel - Diaconate to speak to the Coordinator of Diaconal Ministry. We will send you an Application Package in an electronic file format. This package will request the necessary information and a number of supporting documents by a specified date.
Once the information and the documents are received by the Coordinator of Diaconal Ministry, the Applicant will be contacted in order to arrange an appropriate time for a phone interview with you and if married, your wife also.
All information collected by the office from the applicant is kept in the strictest confidence and shared only with the Director of Formation for the Diaconate Program, the Rector of the Seminary and/or his designate and members of the Admissions Committee.
Your documents combined with the information provided in the phone interview will be compiled in a file. The files of suitable applicants will be sent to St. Augustine's Seminary, where the Admissions Committee, the Director of Formation and the Rector of the Seminary will take over the Application Process.
The Admissions Committee will review each of the files and then select the applicants to be interviewed. They will contact each of these applicants who are selected and where applicable, their spouses, requesting them to attend at the Seminary for an interview.
From those applicants who are interviewed the Admissions Committee will select those applicants whom they will accept into the propaedeutic year in the following fall program.
Acceptance in the propaedeutic year is not acceptance into diaconate formation, but rather into a spiritual year of aspirancy and discernment. Any invitations into the diaconate formation program are made at the end of the spiritual year.
For information about the five year Formation Program please go to St. Augustine's Seminary website by clicking on the link St. Augustine's Diaconate Program.
The Next Intake begins September 1, 2022 - Closes March 15, 2023
