I cannot follow the logic in Dubois statement that "deacons did sign on to the promise not to remarry when they were ordained. "It's part of who you are as a deacon. You were willing to accept it as part of the ordination rite." Clerical status has little to do "who you are as a deacon." If we all could ordain ministers (deacons, priests, bishops) and not confer special clerical status, we would be nearer to the early church. It wasn't until after Constantine that anyone "had" clerical status. The only clerics in the gospels were the temple priesthood. Sometimes the customs of late antiquate should cede to the customs of the apostolic church.