(OSV News) -- Deacon Scott Dodge thinks of permanent deacons as "clerics who live lay lives."

In the nearly 20 years since he was ordained for the Diocese of Salt Lake City, he's ministered to people who are incarcerated, who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, who are homeless and who identify as LGBTQ+. Now the 57-year-old oversees the formation of other deacons, while also ministering at a parish. A convert to Catholicism from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he has been married for 30 years and has six children, ages 12-29. And he works a regular job.

As ordained clergy, deacons often serve in social ministries and on the margins of society, "dealing with people who are on the peripheries or completely away from the church," Deacon Dodge said. That, he said, gives deacons a unique perspective -- one that he and many other deacons feel may be missed at October's general assembly of the world Synod of Bishops on Synodality, which has only one identified deacon among its invited delegates worldwide.

Deacon Bill Ditewig flagged the dearth of deacons in a July 17 post on his blog, "Deacons Today: Servants in a Servant Church." At the time, it appeared as if there were no deacons on the list of delegates released July 7 by the General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops, although a deacon from Belgium has since identified himself as a delegate. No deacons, however, appear to yet be attending from North America, where a large share of the world's deacons serve.

The lack of apparent deacons among assembly delegates has been disappointing and frustrating to many deacons in the United States, not only because it means the delegates may not fully represent vocations in the church, but also because the diaconate embodies values Pope Francis has promoted throughout the synod's two-year preparation period, Deacon Ditewig told OSV News.

"There's a unique charism to the diaconate. We are not priests, and we are not laity," said Deacon Ditewig, a theologian who was ordained for the Archdiocese of Washington and now lives in Tampa, Florida. "If there's an order that's almost designed to be synodal, it's the diaconate. We don't have an agenda. Our agenda is set by the needs of the people we serve and the notion of going to the margins, caring for the poor. We're supposed to be the ones who help animate the way."

Deacon Greg Kandra, who blogs at "The Deacons' Bench,'' describes permanent deacons' ministry as "a bridge between the sanctuary and the sidewalk." A deacon of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, he told OSV News he hopes that synod organizers reconsider the current delegate composition and invite more deacons.

"Deacons are ordained to be the eyes and ears, the hands and feet of the bishop, and to be able to act on the bishop's behalf for the needs and concerns of the people in the pews. … He lives a very different life from other members of the clergy and a life that is much more connected with the realities of the people in church, and so he's able to speak to that in a very candid and very personal way," he said. "I think that it's important for the synod to hear that."

Pope Francis announced in March 2020 that the upcoming Synod of Bishops would be on the topic of synodality, with the theme "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission." The synod general assembly is scheduled to take place over two sessions, the first Oct. 4-29, 2023, and the second in October 2024. To prepare for the assemblies, the church engaged in a listening process that began in dioceses in 2021 before progressing to episcopal conferences and then continental levels. Continental-level reports were shared with the General Secretariat of the Synod earlier this spring.

Synthesis of that information was reflected in the working document for the synod released in June. That document includes several references to the ministry of permanent deacons and includes the reflection question, "How is the ministry of the permanent diaconate to be understood within a missionary synodal church?"

The list of participants for October's synod assembly released in July includes voting nonbishops for the first time in history. Nonbishop attendees were proposed by bishops' conferences and approved by Pope Francis, or directly appointed by the pope.

Of the 363 voting delegates at the synod assembly, about 27% are nonbishops. The assembly also includes nonvoting experts and facilitators. Fifty-seven were named in July, and their number was expected to grow. A synod official told OSV News that there are at least two deacons who are delegates, but that the number of participating deacons will not be known until the registration process is complete.

Deacon Dennis Dorner, chairman of the board of directors for the National Association of Diaconate Directors, acknowledged that some permanent deacons feel slighted by the lack of representation and see it as another indication that their ministry continues to be misunderstood and under-utilized by the church five decades after it was reinstated.

However, he said that in many dioceses, permanent deacons have already made significant contributions to the synod as leaders in the local phase. In the Archdiocese of Atlanta, where he directs the office of the permanent diaconate, deacons served as the principal facilitators for its listening sessions.

"I think our voices certainly were heard," he said of the pre-synod process. "We have that bridge perspective of being in the world, not necessarily of the world, with so many of our guys in secular employment, so many of us married, having children, grandchildren."

Permanent deacons' ministry inherently includes listening, accompaniment and collaboration -- values key to the synod's objectives, he said. Whatever their attendance at the synod assembly, they have an important role as "feet on the ground" for implementing the synod's objectives.

The theology of the permanent diaconate envisions the deacon as an "aide" to the bishop, Deacon Ditewig said. Deacons were an integral part of the early church hierarchy but faded out of use over the centuries, with men being ordained transitional deacons on the path toward priesthood. The Second Vatican Council called for restoration of the permanent diaconate, and the first permanent deacon in the U.S. was ordained in 1969.

A more robust presence of deacons at the synod assembly also may add context to anticipated discussion on a controversial topic: women in the diaconate. The synod's working document called for reflection on the question, stating, "Most of the Continental Assemblies and the syntheses of several Episcopal Conferences call for the question of women's inclusion in the diaconate to be considered. Is it possible to envision this, and in what way?"

While cautioning against "false expectations" for the synod's outcomes on the topic, Deacon Ditewig said it would be helpful for the church to hear from permanent deacons about their experience as it considers the question.

He hopes that the synod's second assembly of bishops, scheduled for October 2024, will include more deacons, but told OSV News it is important to shift focus to what deacons can do to help their bishops achieve the synod's objectives and support synodality within their dioceses.

In an Aug. 10 blog essay -- his third on deacons and the synod -- Deacon Ditewig suggested deacons closely follow the synod through reliable sources, study the synod's working document, discuss the synod's progress with deacons and others Catholics, and prepare to implement the synod's "concrete consequences."

"Each and every one of us is called to be part of a synodal Church," he wrote in the essay's conclusion. "Several hundred people have been invited to participate in a remarkable gathering in October. The vast majority of us will not be there in person. That does not mean we do not have a responsibility to participate in our own ways. Instead of feeling 'left out' we should embrace our baptismal inclusion in the People of God, and for deacons, our vocational call to animate the Church’s diakonia -- and synodality."- - - Maria Wiering is senior writer for OSV News.