The Sunday after her confirmation, when young people raised Catholic are supposed to embrace their faith for themselves, Ellie Hidalgo’s niece begged her parents to not make her go to church. “She said, ‘I just don’t think this Church is set up for somebody like me,’” Hidalgo recalled in a recent interview. “‘I don’t think Read more
Birgit Weiler, a theologian and nun based in Peru, has called for the Catholic Church to address what she describes as “toxic masculinity” within its structures. Weiler, a theological advisor to the Latin American bishops’ council CELAM, highlighted that Jesus challenged the patriarchal norms of his time, treating women as equals. During an online lecture, Read more
As the official synodal process enters its fourth year, the Vatican recently released the document, the instrumentum laboris, to guide discussions for the October 2024 synod. The document was relatively stunning in its admission of challenges, beauty of language on the Trinity and Christ and mission; and, for its announcement that opening the diaconate for Read more
The Vatican’s handling of the women deacon issue is drawing criticism as the October Synod of Bishops approaches, with calls for greater transparency intensifying. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, a key organiser of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, has called for sincere dialogue on women’s roles in the Church. Hollerich said that as a Read more
Dr Phyllis Zagano and Dr Joe Grayland discuss the diaconate, the actual need for deacons and women deacons. Joe Grayland – What’s the point of having deacons You’ve written a lot about the diaconate and women as deacons. So I’m going to start because, coming with a little bit of a parish priest appreciation, it’s Read more
On 2 May, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa ordained Angelic Molen as its first modern deaconess in a church near Harare in Zimbabwe. The Western media has gone a bit mad, calling it “breaking with tradition” and a radical new step forward. Ordaining women deacons The usual suspects have trotted out the Read more
The question of women, ministry and leadership echoed loudly in parishes and bishops’ assemblies when Pope Francis called two years ago for a worldwide discussion among rank-and-file Catholics about the Church’s main challenges and issues. The question is resounding more loudly as the summit of bishops and lay Catholics known as the Synod on Synodality, Read more
The Vatican is unlikely to make any statement on the possibility of women being ordained to the diaconate in the Roman Catholic Church until after the international bishop’s Synod on Synodality next year, said international expert Dr Phyllis Zagano. Dr Zagano was one of 12 scholars appointed by Pope Francis in 2016 to the commission Read more
Now it is formally illegal to ordain a woman as a deacon. Or as a priest. Or as a bishop. On June 1, Pope Francis promulgated revisions to the Code of Canon Law detailing crimes and punishments. The new “Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church” takes effect on December 8. Most of the revisions Read more
Women served as deacons in Europe for about a millennium in a variety of ministerial and sacramental roles, according to Phyllis Zagano, an author and professor of religion at Hofstra University, and Bernard Pottier, S.J., a faculty member at the Institut D’Études Théologiques in Brussels, in an interview this week with America. “They anointed ill Read more