A Vocation of Service to the Church
Since its beginnings the Church has been served by deacons, men who receive Holy Orders “not unto the priesthood, but unto the ministry” (CCC 1569). In the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that the apostles selected seven holy men, headed by St. Stephen, to serve the material needs of the faithful, particularly of the widows and orphans, while the apostles themselves, as priests, were devoted to “prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).
Since the Second World War and Vatican II, the permanent diaconate, which had unfortunately fallen out of common practice since the days of the early Church, has been restored and many men have answered God’s call to this unique vocation.
The University of Dallas is blessed to be served by Deacon Ryan Sales, who has been a member of the community since 2022, and became the director of Campus Ministry during the 2023-2024 school year.
As a former police officer and paramedic, Sales’ life has always been, in his words, “characterized by service.” But it wasn’t until 2012, when he and his wife Anna moved from the Philippines to Canada, that this life of service took a new turn, and Sales began to discern a vocation to the permanent diaconate. Upon completing diaconate formation with his diocese, he was ordained a deacon in 2018.
During the first couple years of his diaconate ministry, Sales faced many challenges at the parishes where he served. He describes this time as “the greatest period of growth in my spiritual life…it forced me to the foot of the Cross.” He thanks God for this time of spiritual maturation, which, in his words, was “proof that God equips the called, He doesn’t call the equipped.”
Sales describes a deacon as a “living icon of Christ the servant.” With St. Stephen as his patron, Sales lives out his diaconate through a “radical and complete gift of self,” a white martyrdom paralleling St. Stephen’s red martyrdom. He fulfills this vocation every day at UD in his joyful, loving service of her students.
“Where I find that the deacon has a particular calling,” says Sales, “is really in the nitty-gritty, the messiness of life upon which grace builds…we don’t strive for holiness in a vacuum. We do so from the context of a messy, messy life…as a deacon I’m right there with you…there’s no separation there.”
Sales points out that when a deacon is serving in the Mass, it is he who proclaims the prayers of the faithful. “We should know the needs of the faithful,” he says, “because we come from the faithful. We live with the faithful. We are not the shepherd. We are to come to Mass smelling like the sheep.” The permanent diaconate is unique and beautiful in this
way: deacons receive the sacrament of Holy Orders and are members of the clergy, yet they live among the laity in order to walk more closely with them on the path to holiness.
As the director of Campus Ministry, Sales offers spiritual direction to students, serves at Mass, prepares couples for marriage, leads student retreats and much more. He and his family also host students for dinner at their home on Monday nights, a ministry which Sales describes as “one of my favorite ways of serving students.”
Sales asks for our prayers for the Church’s deacons, and that Holy Mother Church will establish an official day of prayer for deacons. We are blessed to have him at the core of the UD community.