Vatican Announces Commission on Women Deacons [AmericaMagazine]

Vatican Announces Commission on Women Deacons

Tim Reidy, Gerard O'Connell | Aug 2 2016 - 6:45am | 26 comments



In a press release issued this morning, the Vatican announced that "after intense prayer and mature reflection," Pope Francis has established a “Commission of Study on the Diaconate of Women” and named twelve members to it, six of them women, including one American—Professor Phyllis Zagano, who teaches at Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.

Professor Zagano is a widely published author on the subject of women deacons whose writings who have appeared in America.

Editor's note: This post was updated at 8:15 am to include a fuller analysis of the membership of the commission and context from Pope Francis' discussion leading up to this decision. We will continue to update this post as more information becomes available.

In addition to the 12 members, he appointed as president of the commission the Jesuit priest, Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, who is Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. A full list of the members is included below.

The Vatican made the announcement today, Aug. 2, and recalled that during the meeting with participants of the Plenary Assembly of Religious Superiors on May 12, the pope had expressed the intention “to set up an official commission to study the question” of the Diaconate of Women, “especially regarding the first times periods of the church.”

RELATED: Phyllis Zagano talks to "America This Week" about the possibility of women deacons.

Five of the members teach at pontifical universities in Rome; four are members of the International Theological Commission. In addition to the commission's president, Archbishop Ladaria, two other members are Jesuits. They come from different countries: five are from Italy*, and others from Rwanda, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium and the United States.


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I would have thought the reinstatement of a married priesthood the first to be looked at!!!

 

This is not going to go well.

 

In what way, do you think?

 

Women deacons have always led to women priests, which always led to women bishops, no?

 

Yes, I agree. I had just thought for a moment, when I first read your initial comment, that the Pope might be opening the proverbial can of worms, just a little, with no intention of opening it all the way. Thereby creating more anger and acrimony on the left. A stirring of the pot, if you will

 

Another thought, does the Pope have authority to change dogma, assuming that this is considered dogma?

 

Perhaps Pope Francis is hoping to put female ordination "to bed" expecting that there will be a finding against female deacons

 

What Catholics consider to be dogma seems to be fluid in every age, it seems, so although to the outside world they will present one answer internally they keep shifting about what their values are. It used to be that to kill a Protestant was a blessing sanctioned by the Pope himself. Today they would not accept this dogma as their own, so which was right, Catholicism then, or Catholicism now?

I fear that may be exactly that. Why is he doing this?

 

I'm not familiar with the specifics here but was there an instance of an initiative started by him but then acted against? It seems like when he starts something, it always gets finished or resolved in the liberal direction. I am thinking of the global warming encyclicals, the liberal encyclical on marriage, and the interfaith prayers with Muslims and Lutherans.

 

It seems like the media twisted Pope Francis' words:

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-angry-over-media-slant-on-women-deacons-55348/

 

Wasn't there a similar story where he repudiated any idea that Communion would be given to divorced and remarried? Political messages seem very odd with this Pope.

Can we think of a single major conservative project or commission or encyclical he had authored? I'd like to learn about it if he had.

 

I acknowledge that in the modern age the order of deacons generally leads to the priesthood.

In the early Church there were "deaconesses", however they had a role quite different from the role that male deacons carry out today and probably quite different from the role that I imagine those advocating female deacons are currently envisaging.
https://orthodoxwiki.org/Deaconess

Here area two opposing Eastern Orthodox views on female deaconesses -
http://incommunion.org/2008/12/10/restoring-the-diaconate-of-women/
http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/deaconnesses.aspx

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church seems to advocate a restoration of theories of female deaconesses.
http://ukrainianorthodoxchurchworldwide.com/deaconesses.html

I wonder if the EO advocates and the RC advocates have the same or different things in mind when they talk of a female diaconate.

 

I think that one of the confusions on the art of some revolves around seeing the three orders of sacred ministry as being tiered, and failing to understand the integrity of each order of ministry in it's own right.

A deacon is a deacon. A deacons ministry to the gospel and to the service of those disadvantaged by politics, poverty, or other issues, is central and critical to the lie of the Church. A deacon is not an apprentice priest. It makes perfect sense to speak of the ministry of the diaconate. Someone may well be called to this ministry and no other. A great number of our saints and martyrs where in Deacons orders.

A priest is a priest. One of the qualifications to be ordained to the priesthood is that one must be a deacon. This reminds the priest that their ministry embraces to and does not forgo the ministry of service. A priest exercises the sacramental role of celebrant of the Holy Eucharist at the behest of the Bishop. A priest is not an apprentice Bishop. Much of the daily round of the weekday tasks of a parish priest represents their fulfilling of their ministry as a deacon.

A Bishop is a Bishop. Much of the ministry of a Bishop is to be the focus of unity for the Church, and specifically a role of oversight of the Church, including their responsibility to maintain orthodox beliefs, and the role as pastor pastorum - to be a priest to the priests under their care.

 

Are we saying then, that reintroducing this ministry could be a back door to WO?

 

I think that was specifically not what I was saying.

 

I hear you clearly Br. Phillip. I was referring to everybody else (I shoul have been more clear)

 

It really depends on how the Vatican defines deaconesses, further to Christina's posting. I like the office of deaconess, and was always fascinated with the ones in the Early Church. There are courses for this, and they are not ways to the priesthood.

 

Holy Orders do not work like that, in the actual church in reality. Deacons are priests in becoming for 99% of the time. All bishops are made of priests. That's just how the world works. I don't know if there is much point in fantasizing about how we wished Holy Orders would work, and making conclusions in the real world off our imagined hypotheticals.

Making women deacons proceeds to make women priests, which proceeds to make women bishops.

 

It would appear that the Church Of England had an order of deaconesses and were admitting women to that order until 1986 (or until they had completed their training as long as it was started prior to 1986). This is a document about that order.

https://www.churchofengland.org/media/35581/deaconesses.pdf

However, the Church of England allowed women to become deacons from 1986 and deacons can, of course, apply to become Priests.

http://origin-www.legislation.gov.uk/ukcm/1986/4/introduction