IDC Delegates’ Assembly virtual meeting: 22nd May 2025
On 22nd May 2025, the IDC Board and Delegates met virtually for their first assembly and second meeting since the new board and delegates were elected at Sacrofano, near Rome, in February 2025. Where applicable, letters have been sent by the IDC to the elected board members and delegates’ bishops, to demonstrate the bond recognised between the IDC and the local churches where deacon board members and delegates are incardinated.
Present in the meeting were members from India, Hong Kong, Australia, Spain, Argentina, Colombia, the United States, South Africa, Germany, France, and Lithuania. Our Italian delegate was unfortunately not able to participate, as too, the delegate from the United Kingdom, due to prior commitments. Although the IDC’s focus is the diaconate in the Catholic Church, we are pleased to continue having an ecumenical delegate, now through Rev. Sandy Boyce, a deacon of the Uniting Church in Australia. Sandy’s presence, together with that of Dr Marie-Françoise Hanquez-Maincent – as a woman who happens to be married to a deacon – also contribute to the presence of the “feminine genius” in the IDC.
The board and delegates applied their minds to three themes in the meeting. Firstly, the further development of the role of the delegates within their world regions, through the taking on of a collaborative dynamic in the local churches, which are in the present moment challenged to become synodal. Without doubt, deacons as bridge builders who have the vocation of bringing the Good News from the sanctuary to the street have a very particular call to collaborate in accomplishing this.
The assembly determined that more contemporary modes of communication need to be used by the IDC, especially through social media. Further, the regularity of contact between the IDC and the members worldwide and local churches was highlighted. Communication strategies are constantly in need of revision in a technologically driven world.
Finally, there is no doubt that with the world economies taking a knock, and the Church in Germany – the chief source of revenue for the IDC – increasingly under financial limitations, the IDC needs to become self-sufficient. This requires planning and creative strategies.
The meeting concluded as it began, in prayer, as the members of the IDC board and delegates move back into their daily realities, consciously attempting to seek ways to promote the diaconate in the world.
author: Rev. Deacon Callum Scott, South Africa