Study diaconate of women

I am not sure, whether our women in Church will be delighted to hear that Pope Francis has created a commission to study the possibility of allowing women to serve as deacons. Those of you, who are following Pope Francis’ ecclesiology, will not be completely surprised at this vital move. This news must have come in as real surprise for many theologians and biblical scholars. Pope John Paul II claimed in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis that “the Church has no authority whatsoever to ordain woman as priests, citing Jesus’ choosing of only men to serve as his twelve apostles.”

We have to bear in mind that the decision to have women deacon in the Church will not be made overnight without proper consultation. The Pontiff has appointed an equal number of male and female experts as members of the commission, which will be led by Archbishop Luis Frencisco Ladaria, a Jesuit who serves as the second-in-command of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation. This matter will be properly and thoroughly studied bearing in mind the earliest times of the Church. Many Church historians have said however that there is abundant evidence that women served as deacons in the early centuries of the Church. The apostle Paul mentions such a woman, Phoebe, in his letter to the Romans. Hence, this reality is not new to the early Church.

Pope Francis’ openness to studying the possibility of women serving as deacons could represent an historic shift for the global Catholic Church, which does not ordain women as clergy. The Second Vatican Council focused on lay collaboration in the Church, hence, the role of the permanent deacon was reconstituted which allowed married men to be deacons.

Why is this so important for us? In order to arrive at an answer for this question, we need to bear in mind, who and what is a deacon?

A deacon is an ordained minister of the Catholic Church. There are three groups, or ‘orders’ of ordained ministers in the Church: bishops, presbyters (priests) and deacons. Ordained deacons in the Church are called to functions of Word, Sacrament and Charity, but bishops, presbyters and deacons exercise these functions in various ways. As minsters of the Word, deacons proclaim the Gospel, preach and teach in the name of the Church. As ministers of the Sacrament, deacons baptize, lead the faithful in prayer, witness marriages, and conduct wake and funeral services. As minsters of Charity, deacons are leaders in identifying the needs of others, then marshalling the Church’s resources to meet those needs. The diocesan bishop ordains the deacon in his diocese, hence, if the study posits women deacon, the bishop of the diocese will ordain the women deacons just like male deacons.

Dear faithful let us not draw conclusions at this juncture lest we judge the commission of study on the matter. We await the decision of the commission which will guided by the Holy Spirit as it did in the early Church. It is important that we allow the spirit to work in the Church. We draw our inspiration from the Vatican Council II to involve our laity in the life of the Church. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who have been a great help in proclaiming the Good News of Christ not by preaching by without preaching. Continue to do so and bear much fruit.