Premiere Announcement: First IDC Webinar, April 18th 2026
The Diaconate in the Pope Leo XIV Era
A special Webinar for members of the International Diaconate Centre
Our guest presenters:
Bishop Shawn McKnight
The Most Reverend Shawn McKnight was installed as the 12th Bishop and fifth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas on May 27, 2025. Archbishop McKnight was born in 1968, grewup in a large Catholic family, and attended Catholic schools. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Wichita on May 28, 1994. He earned a Master of Arts degree and a Master of Divinity degree from the Pontifical College Josephinum (1993-1994) and earneda Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm in Rome in 1999.
In his book ‘Understanding the Diaconate: Historical, Theological, and Sociological Foundations’ he provides a critical understanding of diaconal ministry and the forms it can take nowand well into the future.
Fr Luc Forrestier
Luc Forestier is a priest of the diocese of Marseille, on a mission in Lille, where he is in particular an associate researcher at the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Lille. With Olivier Rota, professor of Church and religious history, and Gabriel Planchez, lecturer in ecclesiology at the same faculty, he founded Diakonos, an ecumenical, international and interdisciplinary group on the diaconate.
His work focuses on the conditions for the emergence of the diaconate in France and Italy, before and after the Second Vatican Council, because he is convinced that history sheds light onthe theological and pastoral discernments that are necessary today. More broadly, he works on ecclesiological issues, in particular the relationship between Church and Israel, synodality, ecumenism and ministries.
Rev. Dr. Anthony Gooley
Anthony (B.A. (Psych), B. Th., B.A. Hons. (Theol), Ph.D.) is a deacon of the Diocese of Lismore, Australia. He is a theologian who has worked in several university contexts and was most recently Dean of Coursesat BBI – The Australian Institute of Theological Studies, Sydney Australia. His main area of interest is ecclesiology and within that the theology of ministry. He has written several articles on the ministry of deacon and a book exploring the lack of reception of this ministry in the Church, Deacons Today: New Wine, New Wineskins, Coventry Press, 2019. He is currently working on a book developing a theology of diaconate building on the work of John N. Collins in his major work, Diakonia: Reinterpreting the Ancient Sources, Oxford University Press, 1990. Anthony’s major thesis is that the ministry of deacon has not been fully received into the life of the Catholic Church because of the theological frameworks through which the ministry is viewed. One of these is influenced by the cursus honorum and the continuing presence of so-called transitional deacons, and so deacons are viewed as pastoral associates of a presbyter. The second is based on an understanding of the deacon as primarily a minister of the corporal works of mercyand benevolent care of another, which is based on a now defunct definition of diakonia. Collins has provided us with the first scholarly study of the diakon word group and reveals this prior understanding as being without foundation in the sources. A theology of diaconate as diaconate remains to be fully articulated, an articulation which must include the work of Collins for steps toward full reception to beachieved.
Time
April 18th 2026, 2 pm Central European Time
Please check the time according to your time zone.
As this time will not be convenient for all members, the webinar will be recorded and made available for IDC members afterwards.
The duration of the webinar is expected to be 90 minutes in total, including a Q&A time.
Access details
Our meeting will take place on Zoom, using an AI simultaneous translation system.
Please register via the following link and use your e-mail address as name for registration:
The Zoom link and further technical information will be sent to you two days before the webinar.
The room will be open from 1:45 pm (CET).
We hope to see many of you live for this special event.
Thank you for your registration.