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Formation: resources Application Overview Interested in Becoming a Deacon?

Steps to Ordination

Aspirant: An individual who has been formally accepted as a deacon aspirant by the Ordinary and is formally enrolled in the propaedeutic period. The required materials and review processes required for admission to the propaedeutic period are as follows:

• Application has been audited and found complete.
• Accepted to one of the following: the Kino School of Theological Studies, the Programa, a Master’s Degree Program, Builders of the New Earth, an equivalent or alternative program.
• Letter of petition from the individual to the Bishop has been received.
• Letter of endorsement from his pastor has been received.
• Letter of approval from his wife has been received if he is married.
• Letters of recommendation have been received.
• Employer recommendation and check of previous employment
• Background check has been completed.
• Attendance at required formation meetings
• Involvement in a Discernment Circle
• An interview of the couple with either the Associate Director of Formation, or with the Director, or delegate, has been completed.
• An evaluative interview of the couple by a Deacon Couple appointed by the Formation Board
• Testing and Examinations completed including but not necessarily limited to the following:
  • Medical Examination
  • Dental Examination
  • Psychological Examination
  • RE-FOCUS or other measure(s) of marriage stability and spirituality
• Educational Examinations as appropriate.
• An affirmative staff review chaired by the Associate Director for Formation has been completed.
• An affirmative appearance of the couple before a formation review board has been held.
• The Director of the Office of the Diaconate reviews the application and determines whether to forward it to the Ordinary.
• The Ordinary reviews the applicant’s file and decides whether to invite the individual to enter the discernment process as an aspirant.
• Staff Screening for disqualifiers and impediments.

Candidate: An individual who has completed or is in the final stages of completing the aspirant process and the evaluation process required for candidacy. The individual has been subsequently invited by the Ordinary to be admitted to candidacy for the diaconate. Enrollment among the candidates for the diaconate does not constitute any right necessarily to receive diaconal ordination. The formation process is a combination of completing the School of Ministry at Kino Institute and completing formation meetings scheduled by the Office of the Diaconate. The formation meetings are designed to allow a formal discernment process to continue while the candidate is completing the School of Ministry.

The goal is to select men who measure well against a standard of excellence. This does not necessarily mean academic excellence, but it does mean that any man admitted to the formation process will display major ministerial gifts and potentialities for excellence which are inherently diaconal. In other words, admission as a candidate is not to be based on meeting some minimal qualifying threshold, but rather admission is to be based on the display of rich talents needed by the Church of Phoenix to build and become the Body of Christ. In some fashion, each applicant is to exhibit characteristics in their way of ordinary life that points to extraordinary capacity in diaconal ministry.

The Admissions Review Board interviews all aspirants in person. The review board shall have the entire application file available to them prior to the review of the aspirant who has petitioned to be admitted to candidacy for formation. The members receive an executive summary of the aspirant profile in advance of the interview.

Aspirants applying for admission to candidacy for formation should be actively and visibly committed to ministry in the parish/diocese and must be well known to the pastor or supervisor.

Application Overview

Steps in the Discernment Process

Levels of Admission
General Criteria for Deacon Applicants
Steps to Ordination
Documentation Required for Candidacy
Process for Advancement to Ordination
Advancement to Ordinand & Ordination