The national directory addresses the the dimensions and perspectives in the formation of deacons and the model standards for the formation, ministry, and life of deacons in the United States. It is intended as a guideline for formation, ministry and life of permanent deacons and a directive to be utilized when preparing or updating a diaconate program in formulating policies for the ministry and life of deacons. This volume also includes Basic Standards for Readiness for the formation of permanent deacons in the United States from the bishops' Committee on the Diaconate and the committee document Visit of Consultation Teams to Diocesan Permanent Diaconate Formation Programs.

The Director's Edition consists of the full text of the Directory plus a CD including
From Pope John Paul II

• I Will Give You Shepherds (Pastores Dabo Vobis)
• The Heart of the Diaconate: Servants of the Mysteries of Christ and Servants of Your Brothers and Sisters
• The Permanent Deacon's Ordination

From the Vatican

• Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons (Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Diaconorum Permanentium)
• Decree on the Catholic Eastern Churches (Orientalium Ecclesiarum)
• Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons (Directorium Pro Ministerio et Vita Diaconorum Permanentium)
• Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium)
• Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes)

From the Bishops

• A Family Perspective in Church and Society, Tenth Anniversary Edition
• A National Study on the Permanent Diaconate of the Catholic Church in the United States, 1994-1995

For more information from Committee on the Diaconate