ATLANTA--"Transforming Boundaries: Going Beyond the Familiar" was the theme of the 1997 National Association of Diaconate Directors (NADD) meeting held April 9-12 at the Radisson Hotel in Atlanta.

Over 215 diaconate leaders from throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia attended the annual meeting, at which Deacon Maury Reed of Green Bay, Wisc., assumed the presidency of the NADD for the coming year. The NADD is the association of diocesan directors of the permanent diaconate in the U.S.

Deacon Peter D'Heilly of St. Paul-Minneapolis was chosen president-elect to assume the office of president at the 1998 annual meeting in San Diego. Sister Yvonne Lerner of Little Rock, Ark., was elected secretary. Also serving on the NADD board of directors for the coming year are Msgr. Joseph Roth of Charleston, S.C., past president of the NADD, and Deacon Gerald Wilson of Rockville Centre, N.Y., treasurer.

Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of Nashville, Tenn., chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on the Diaconate, briefed delegates to the meeting on the committee's activities and said no word has yet been received on the directory from the Vatican which is expected to have an impact on the permanent diaconate in the future. The directory will be developed out of a 1995 plenary on the diaconate, held in Rome, which was devoted to discussion on the diaconate. Also reporting to the delegates was the NADD president, Msgr. Roth.

Keynote presentations included those by Father Robert Barron of the Chicago Archdiocese, Dr. Robert Bela Wilhelm and Dr. Patrick J. Aspell on issues relating to boundaries facing deacons as individuals and as members of faith communities and how to transform current boundaries. Father Nick Rice, president of the National Federation of Priests' Councils, spoke on the permanent diaconate in relationship to declining numbers of priests in the country.

Ten workshops were also offered including one on the theology of the diaconate by Louanne Bachner, Ph.D., a member of Holy Cross Church, Atlanta, who has taught in the archdiocesan diaconate formation program, and one on Catholic sites on the Internet by Deacon Al Gallagher of the archdiocese who serves at Holy Family Church, Marietta. Cenacle Sisters Susan Arcaro and Barbara Young led a workshop on spirituality for wives of permanent deacons and Peter Mayfield, Ph.D., an Atlanta practicing clinical psychologist led a workshop on the screening process for diaconate candidates.

Deacon Alfred Mitchell of the Atlanta Archdiocese and Deacon George Foster of the Savannah Diocese co-chaired the convention.