The Office of Deacons assists the bishop in care, guidance, and support of deacons through communication and personal contact.  It promotes deacons’ spiritual, intellectual, and ministerial development and helps promote harmonious deacon-pastor relationships.  The Office of Deacons also assists the bishop in the assignment of deacons.
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The permanent deacon brings a unique pastoral presence to the parish community.  He is an ordained minister whose ministry is “service sacramentalized” through the proclamation of the Gospel, through his participation in liturgy, and through his dedication to ministries of charity and justice.
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The deacon is described as “the bishop’s ear, mouth, heart and soul” (Didascalia Apostolorum II, 44, 4 Funk. Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum I. p. 138).
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The deacon is at the disposal of the bishop in order that he may serve the whole people of God and take care of the sick and the poor; he is correctly and rightly called “the one who shows love for orphans, for the devout and for the widowed, one who is fervent in spirit, one who shows love for what is good” (Ad Pascendum, Deacon’s Ministry: Flannery, Vatican II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents I. Revised Edition 1992. P. 434).