In the modern Roman Catholic church, the office of deacon had fallen into disuse except as a short-term transitional stage between layman and priest, until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s decided that it ought to be resuscitated. Since then, married men have been ordained to the permanent diaconate, the status of men who receive an ordination as deacons but do not go on to become priests. They must promise never to remarry in case their wives predecease them. See also clerical celibacy. Such a deacon is almost always a part-time clergyman who has another job. As a non-priest, such a man cannot perform the miraculous transubstantiation nor otherwise function as the primary celebrant at a eucharistic liturgy nor administer the sacraments of Reconcilation, Confirmation, or Anointing of the Sick, but he helps distribute communion, he preaches, he baptizes, and he officiates at weddings. Often he administers communion to those who because of illness cannot attend Mass.

Most permanent deacons are in the United States; in other countries the practice of ordaining permanent deacons is far less extensive.