Check this out, from Detroit Catholic:
Behind every great man, there is a great woman, or so the saying goes.
In the Church, this is often felt in the strong, steady and loving presence of mothers and wives –– such as Our Lady, St. Monica or St. Anne. In the modern Church, nowhere is it felt more than in the daily lives and humble service of the wives of permanent deacons.
Deacons perform weddings, baptisms, house visits, funerals, provide marriage prep and teach RCIA. They go where needed. They assist priests in bearing the often weighty role of ministry to the body of Christ, while also serving their own unique purpose and role in the life of the Church.
Behind the majority of permanent deacons — by some estimates, as many as 93 percent of today’s active deacons are married — is a strong, caring woman offering a soft place to land and a voice of reason that goes unseen by a majority of the congregation.
What the faithful don’t always realize is that by supporting their husbands as wives, confidants and partners in prayer, the deacon’s wife helps support the Church as a whole.
“The deacons need their wives; they need that support, they need the guidance, they need the sharing.”
“The deacons need their wives; they need that support, they need the guidance, they need the sharing,” said Karin Stewart, wife of Deacon Mike Stewart, who serves at St. Mary Parish in Monroe. “You know, that is what is important. That’s what makes them good deacons.”
According to Deacon Christopher Beltowski, associate director of the permanent diaconate in the Archdiocese of Detroit, a man cannot become a permanent deacon without the written permission of his wife. The wife is integral to the vocation because, with the diaconate, God is not calling men out of their marriage, but rather, he is calling both husband and wife forward, Deacon Beltowski said.
And while it is only a sacrament for the man, a deacon enters his new vocation having already received the sacrament of marriage, which unites man and wife as one. Thus, her role becomes inseparable from the life of the Church.
“It doesn’t mean that the wife is being ordained, but they have a certain support role and they are a part of (the vocation),” Deacon Beltowski said. “Ultimately, the deacon and his wife are examples of the domestic church, the domestic family in the Church.”
