Dear Jeane:

Thank you for this question. The term celibacy refers to any person who is not married. Thus, your husband obviously is not a celibate because he is married. The term chastity refers to sexual abstinence. Because sex outside of marriage is a sin all unmarried people, that is all celibates, are required to remain chaste.

The rules for the Permanent Deaconate are that the state of life of the man at the time of ordination is what he must remain. Thus...

1) When a single man is ordained a Prominent Deacon he must remain unmarried the rest of his life.

2) When a married man gets ordained a Prominent Deacon he continues with his marriage as normal. The stipulation is that should he lose his wife he may not be remarried, unless he has young children in which it would be prudent to remarry. This can be done, however, only with the permission of the Bishop.

Most dioceses do require something from you (the wives). You must be supportive of your husband as a deacon. Many times the wife is to attend classes in seminary with her husband. In this sense the wife participates in the ministry of her husband in a supportive role. The details of that will depend upon the Bishop of your diocese.

The status of your marriage, however, does not change after your husband is ordained. The marriage remains with all personal, conjugal, and parenting (if there are children) responsibilities and obligations.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary