I have some sympathy for Kathleen McDonnell’s concern for the introduction of the permanent diaconate in the Irish Diocese of Killaloe, or any diocese for that matter, though not for the same reason that it's just “another ordained exclusively male ministry” (News from Britain and Ireland, 6 September). I feel the permanent liturgical expression of the diaconate is a smokescreen and a procrastination about the inevitable ordination of married men to the priesthood.Ordain as many deacons as possible, if this means hands-on service of the poor and those on the edge. But the image of an often elderly diaconate alongside an elderly priesthood, in the sanctuary, makes us look very tired and unimaginative, and not the best image for encouraging vocations.(FR.) John Michael Han