Transcript from Rita Cassella Jones Lecture at Fordham of September 17, 2024. As you know, I belonged to the initial Pontifical Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women. We were named in August 2016 and first met in November of that year. I traveled to Rome several days in advance of the scheduled 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
Without doubt, the best line to emanate from the Synod on Synoldality is “Excuse me, Your Eminence, she has not finished speaking.” That sums up the synod and the state of the Catholic Church’s attitude toward change. In October, hundreds of bishops, joined by lay men and women, priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers met Read more
Predictably, the anti-Pope Francis media giant, Eternal Word Television Network, and its subsidiaries give airtime to synod critics, including some who pass along false “facts” about things discussed and proposed. One programme has an American host who smirks at the concept of spiritual conversation. On the other side of the street, more liberal Catholic media Read more
By all accounts, Pope Francis has had an eventful papacy. This first pope from the Americas has breathed new life into the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, refashioned the Vatican’s staid bureaucracy, and pushed the Catholic Church to focus on the needs of the environment and global peripheries. One especially interesting turn: Only 22 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