Becoming a Deacon in the Catholic Church

John Barrett of Brick, New Jersey, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Queens College and then worked as the CFO of Hamilton Township while running his own consulting company. In 2016, John Barrett returned to school to earn a master’s degree in theology, graduating from Georgian Court University in 2019. A year later, he joined the Diocese of Trenton and became a permanent deacon at The Church of St. Martha in Point Pleasant.

To become a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church, a man must be at least 35 years old, a practicing Catholic, in good physical health, and baptized for at least five years. Men who wish to go through the ordination process can be married, but the married must be valid or annulled by the time the man is ordained. The man’s wife must consent to this call from God, and the man cannot remarry after joining the diocese.

A deacon, different from a priest, watches over the Catholic church, passes the sacrament, and helps the bishop with secular work, while a Catholic priest is seen as a direct connector between God and the people.