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 meeting, so I could recover from jet lag.

As soon as I arrived in Rome, I attended the celebrations honouring the three US bishops—they call bishops "monsignors" in Rome—the three US bishops named cardinals then: Blasé Cupich, Kevin Farrell, and Joseph Tobin.

Arriving in Rome

I resided outside the Vatican at the generalate of the LaSalle Christian Brothers for a few days, and on Thanksgiving Day, 2016, I arrived at the Vatican City gate called Porta Sant'Uffizio, in the Palazzo Sant'Uffizio.

That is the Vatican City gate near the building known in English as The Holy Office, where the business of the Congregation, now Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith takes place.

I presented my passport to the Swiss Guard and was permitted through the gate. I walked past Saint Peter's Basilica on the right and the German cemetery on the left, to the guard booth of the Pontifical Gendarmerie, the Vatican military police.

Again, I presented my passport.

The officer looked at the list of expected guests. He looked at me. He looked again at the list. He looked at me. I asked if there was a problem. No madam, he answered.

But you are listed here as "Monsignor Zagano."

He would not let me take a picture of the list.

I proceeded to Domus Sanctae Marthae, the small guest house where Pope Francis lives, and, as a guest of the Holy Father, was saluted as I entered the building.

The desk clerk greeted me, took my passport, and looked at her list which included "Monsignor Zagano."

She looked at me, looked at her list, looked at me, and we both had a good laugh. She let me get a copy of the list.

That was a Thursday, and my first meal at Domus Sanctae Marthae was Thanksgiving dinner with other guests, including an American Nobel Laureate. This, I thought would be some ride.

My Commission met for the next two days, and again in March 2017, September 2017, and June 2018, for a total of eight days over nearly two years. Of course, there were many, many Zoom meetings and emails during those years.

I suppose you would like to know what we gave to the pope.

So, would I.

I'll get to that.

Women - managers not ministers

The question before us this evening concerns the future of women in the Catholic Church.

Please believe me, the future of women in the Catholic Church is the future of the Catholic Church because the future of the Church depends on women.

Women comprise the largest segment of church-going people in the world, Catholic or not.

In the Catholic Church, women staff the Parish Outreach. Women teach Catechism, Women bring their children to church. Women bring their husbands to Mass, at least on Christmas and Easter.

But women at every level of Church life are restricted to management and cannot perform ministry as it is formally understood.

Let me define the terms.

By "management," I mean all the non-ordained and therefore non-ministerial tasks and duties in Church organisations, from parish centers, to diocesan offices, to episcopal conferences, to the papal Curia.

That includes the parish secretary, the diocesan chancellor, the bishops' conference spokesperson, and every employee of every Vatican dicastery. These, except for the jobs (called "offices") that have legal authority over clerics—over deacons, priests, and bishops—these management positions are jobs that any layperson can have.

I am not saying the people in these jobs (or offices) are not "ministering," for they truly perform "ministry" as the term has been enlarged over the past forty years or so.

Yes, the head of the parish religious education program, the organizer of the diocesan CYO, the employees of the USCCB, and the people in the papal Curia are all "ministering" in a sense. But they are not performing sacramental ministry in the classroom, on the playing field, or behind their desks.

So, by "ministry" I mean sacramental ministry, as performed by ordained deacons, priests, and bishops. You know the differences. Deacons may solemnly baptize and witness marriages.

In addition to these sacraments, priests may anoint the sick (give "last rites"), hear confessions and offer absolution, and celebrate the Eucharist.

Performing confirmations is generally restricted to bishops, who sometimes delegate their authority to confirm to priest-pastors.

All these are "clerics," and as such can legally preach at Masses and serve as single judges in canonical proceedings.

So, "Management" is open to women. "Ministry" is not.

It might be helpful to use the distinctions known in military and business organisations: "management" would be "admin", and "ministry" would be "ops."

That is, "management" handles administrative matters, and "ministry" would be the core operations of the organisation.

The analogy may not be perfect, but the important word here is "admin" or "administration." That is what, in his own words, Pope Francis believes women are capable of.

In November 2022, when the pope met in Domus Sanctae Marta with the editors and writers of America Magazine, the journal's executive editor, Kerry Weber, asked him the following question:

Holy Father, as you know, women have contributed and can contribute much to the life of the church. You have appointed many women at the Vatican, which is great.

Nevertheless, many women feel pain because they cannot be ordained priests. What would you say to a woman who is already serving in the life of the church, but who still feels called to be a priest?

Francis' long and thoughtful answer expanded the notion of "ministry" somewhat.

However, he retained the great divide between the ordained and non-ordained, between those people who are central and those people who are not central to the essential operations of the church, to the ordained tasks and duties of performing sacraments, and (because of their ordained status) of preaching and judging.

That is, Pope Francis clearly distinguished the people who can be ordained—men—from those who cannot be ordained—women.

His comments were based on a theoretical construct presented by the long-dead Swiss priest-theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988), a former Jesuit of whom several prominent theologians are critical.

The Petrine Church and the Marian principle

One theologian central to Vatican doctrine since his appointment to the first iteration of the International Theological Commission (ITC) in 1969, Joseph Ratzinger—the future Benedict XVI- said "[von Balthasar] is right in what he teaches of the faith."

Some of what von Balthasar "taught" is what Francis presented to America Magazine: "the Petrine church" and "the Marian principle.' So, the pope said, "The church is a woman. The church is a spouse."

Specifically, in response to the question about ordaining women, Francis distinguished the "ministerial dimension, [which] is that of the Petrine church" from "the Marian principle, which is the principle of femininity (femineidad) in the church, of the woman in the church, where the church sees a mirror of herself because she [the church] is a woman and a spouse."

The pope continued, describing the church as female, and then said, "There is a third way: the administrative way….it is something of normal administration. And, in this aspect, I believe we have to give more space to women."

Francis went on to extol the "functioning" of women in management, summing up his comments by saying, "So there are three principles, two theological and one administrative."

To sum up his belief, the "Petrine principle" covers ministry and the "Marian principle" presents the church as "spouse" and these two so-called "theological principles" are complemented by the "administrative principle" to which women are suited.

Francis concluded by asking, "Why can a woman not enter ordained ministry? It is because the Petrine principle has no place for that."

The Executive Editor of America Magazine, Kerry Weber (a woman) did not ask a follow-up question.

We can return to the question of women in ministry, but let us examine women in management more closely, the idea that women exemplify the "administrative principle" that Francis presented that late November day in 2022.

Management

The Church has advanced somewhat in its inclusion of women in management, in administrative positions in local dioceses.

For example, in the United States today, 54 women serve as diocesan chancellor, an important, non-ministerial position. (c.f. The Official Catholic Directory, Athens, GA: NRP Direct, 2023. There are 28.73% Latin Rite and 11.11% Eastern Rite female chancellors. In Latin Rite dioceses, 23, or 12.71% of chancellors are deacons, none in Eastern Rite dioceses.)

The chancellor is the senior administrative officer, the highest-placed office manager of a diocese, but the chancellor—in his or her role—is not performing "ministry" as it is formally defined, and the chancellor has no jurisdictional authority.

In Rome, especially in the Roman Curia, the question of women in managerial or administrative positions gets complicated.

We know women have been appointed to positions in the Curia, but these appointments are not to offices with jurisdiction. It is important to remember that only persons with jurisdiction can make decisions.

The easiest way to understand the situation is to look at the Instrumentum Laboris—the working document-for the coming session of the Synod of Bishops this October (2024):

In a synodal Church, the responsibility of the bishop, the College of bishops and the Roman Pontiff to make decisions is inalienable since it is rooted in the hierarchical structure of the Church established by Christ." (IL #70)

Listen carefully: "the responsibility…to make decisions is inalienable since it is rooted in the hierarchical structure of the Church."

And who makes up the hierarchy? The hierarchy is the ordained men of the Church.

The paragraph asserting the "inalienable" right of the clergy to make decisions underscores the "you discern, we decide" fact of ecclesiastical discipline, of church law.

Its roots are in Canons 129 and 274 of the Code of Canon Law. (Can. 129 §1. Those who have received sacred orders are qualified, according to the norm of the prescripts of the law, for the power of governance, which exists in the Church by divine institution and is also called the power of jurisdiction. §2. Lay members of the Christian faithful can cooperate in the exercise of this same power according to the norm of law. Can. 274 §1. Only clerics can obtain offices for whose exercise the power of orders or the power of ecclesiastical governance is required.)

Canon 129 states that ordained persons are qualified for the powers of governance and jurisdiction, and that lay persons can "cooperate" in this power.

Canon 274 states that only clerics can obtain offices requiring the power of orders or governance (or jurisdiction.)

But this same paragraph in the coming Synod meeting's Instrumentum Laboris later goes on to give ample room to the actual process of synodal discernment and it even throws a lifeline to the non-ordained of the Church.

The paragraph ends by suggesting the Code of Canon Law restricting the non-ordained to a "consultative vote only" (tantum consultivum) should be, in its words, "corrected."

It remains to be seen what correction could be made. As the synodal processes in Australia and Germany, for example, have proven, requests for change meet great resistance, and at least in the case of Germany rebuke, from Rome.

Having said all this, we must acknowledge the fact that there are more women in more responsible managerial roles in the Roman Curia than during prior pontificates.

The Roman Curia comprises the staff offices for Pope Francis, each managing a specific part of the Church's organisational needs, for example, the choosing of bishops, matters involving other clergy and religious, oversight of finances, and the operations of Vatican City State, from managing the library and museums to overseeing the pope's representatives (called papal nuncios) abroad, etc.

In the Roman Curia, there are sixteen curial offices called dicasteries.

There are also the Secretariate of State, three Institutions of Justice (Apostolic Penitentiary, the Supreme Tribunal, the Tribunal of the Roman Rota), four Institutions of Finance (Council for the Economy, Secretariat for the Economy, the Office of the Auditor General, and the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (A.P.S.A.)).

Of these, only A.P.S.A. has a woman undersecretary, Sister Silvana Piro, F.M.G.B

Curial offices with women as senior officers include:

• the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (Secretary Sister Simona Brambilla, M.C.; Under Secretary Sister Carmen Ros Nortes, N.S.C.),
• the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life (Under Secretaries Dr. Linda Ghisoni and Dr. Gabriella Gambino),
• the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (Secretary, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, FMA). These women hold paid professional appointments.

Other dicasteries of the Roman Curia have women who are termed "members," and who, alongside clerics (usually cardinals and bishops), largely act as trustees for the dicasteries' work and who meet in Rome from time to time.

All dicasteries have female staff who assist with day-to-day operations, as clerks, secretaries, and translators, but clerics retain the overall organisational power in the Vatican.

While women are also members of Councils and Commissions, for the most part, these are not full-time professional appointments. For example, one of Pope Francis' initial endeavors was to regularise Vatican finances, and so within one year of his election, he established the Council for the Economy, as mentioned earlier.

The title of Pope Francis's Apostolic Letter establishing the Council for the Economy as a dicastery of the Roman Curia is Fidelis Dispensator et Prudens, (faithful and wise manager).

The fifteen-member Council for the Economy has consistently maintained a clerical majority and is coordinated by a cardinal. However, its website describes seven members as "experts of various nationalities, with financial expertise and recognised professionalism," and six of those seven are women, each a financial professional.

Its deputy coordinator, Dr Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof, is a law professor who is also an advisor to the "Women in Church and Society" sub-commission of the Pastoral Commission of the German Bishops' Conference.

As you move down the Vatican's wire diagram to the groups with a consultative role, more women are present in "titled" roles.

The Secretary for the Pontifical Commission for Latin America is Argentinian Dr Emilce Cuda, and the Adjunct Secretary for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is American Dr Teresa Kettelkamp.

The Secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission is Spaniard Dr Nuria Calduch-Benages, a well-known biblical scholar and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Dr Calduch-Benages is the unpaid Secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. I do not know if Dr Cuda or Dr Kettlekamp is paid.

You see, not every Vatican appointment comes with a salary.

The voluntary nature of participation in certain positions in the Vatican increases as the commissions and institutes that are ad hoc, or adjunct, to one or another dicastery proliferate.

While participation is unpaid, travel expenses are covered, including (if needed) a few nights' lodging in Domus Sanctae Marthae. However, budgetary and language restrictions within the Vatican cause a significant default to choosing participants and members already residing in Rome and its environs.

And it is important to recall that women -whether secular or religious women - have no guarantee of ecclesiastical salaries outside their voluntary Vatican work.

So even if chosen, it is sometimes difficult for a woman to accept a consultative Vatican appointment.

So, yes, there are many women involved in Vatican operations. Those central to actual management functions of the Curia are salaried Italian women, including many religious sisters, and others fluent in Italian.

Those in more consultative roles are from a larger pool of qualified individuals. Those in even more peripheral positions, such as the members of the two Pontifical Commissions for the Study of the Diaconate of Women, include more women.

But even the commission I served on was comprised of members of other, more permanent Vatican commissions, or they were members of university faculties in Rome. Except me. I was the only member of my commission with no Roman or Vatican connection.

Ministry

The Commission I served on was about ministry as the Vatican formally defined it then and how the Vatican realistically defines it to this day. If you ask the folks at Merriam-Webster, "ministry" comprises the office, duties, or functions of a minister.

That is, ministry is about the office, duties, or functions of a member of the clergy.

As I noted earlier, Pope Francis seems to depend on categories invented by Hans Urs von Balthasar, categories the pope calls "theological."

He said the ministerial dimension is that of the Petrine church and the Marian principle is the principle of femininity in the Church. That appears to eliminate women.

As grating as these categories are, it is important at this point to recall how Pope Francis has referred to women from the very beginning of his pontificate.

In May 2013, during his first address to the International Union of Superiors General, Francis recommended that the sisters be mothers, not old maids.

His repeated "jokes" and other comments about women have fallen flat time after time.

Who can forget his calling women theologians the "strawberries on the cake"? That was ten years ago, but it signaled one way Francis saw women professionals then.

What about now?

Francis has repeated his feminine analogies about the Church.

Just last March, in an address to participants in a conference entitled "Women in the Church: Builders of Humanity," the pope said, "The Church is herself a woman: a daughter, a bride and a mother."

While the qualities he attributes to women are laudable for everyone, he emphasises two aspects of "women's vocation": style and education. He notes that "style" includes the ability "to bring love where love is lacking, and humanity where human beings are searching to find their true identity."

He speaks directly to the conference participants about "education," expressing his hope that "educational settings, in addition to being places of study, research and learning, places of ‘information,' will also be places of ‘formation,' where minds and hearts are opened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit."

Without digressing to the 1967 Land O'Lakes Statement and its controversy or Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae on Catholic universities, I must note here the distinction between theology and apologetics, as well as the tasks and duties of the diaconate.

As for Catholic education, the fact of the formative influence of Catholic education cannot be disparaged nor denied, but theology is not apologetics.

As for the diaconate, the deacon is ordained to the ministries of the Word, the liturgy, and charity. If we consider the historical position of the deacon as the principal coordinator of the charity of the Church, then the duty of the deacon to proclaim and preach the Word in the liturgy becomes evident.

If we apply the pope's words to the diaconal ministry of women throughout the centuries, in the West up through the mid-12th century, we can see that it was women deacons who brought love where love was lacking and who provided formation to women and children.

We know women were ordained in Lucca, Italy in the mid-1100s, but realistically in the 12th century, no person who was not destined for priestly ordination could be ordained deacon.

Since by that time, most women deacons were monastics, with few serving as what might be termed "social service" deacons, and because the diaconate as exercised by men had become mostly ceremonial and generally moribund, the sacramental ordination of women to the diaconate ceased in the West.

I spoke at length about women in management. But what about women in ministry?

It is impossible to ignore Pope Francis' emphatic "no" when he was asked in a CBS television interview about the sacramental ordination of women as deacons.

He seemed to support his "no" with his opinion that the "deaconesses" in the early church—and "deaconess" is the word he used—that the "deaconesses" in the early church served diaconal "functions" without being sacramentally ordained.

That understanding is not supported by scholarship.

A little recent history

Since 1971, the Church has, at various times and various levels, directly discussed the ordination of women as deacons.

In 1971, the second meeting of the Synod of Bishops included substantial discussion about women in ordained ministry.

By 1973, Pope Paul VI established a Commission on the Role of Women in Church and in Society, which met intermittently over a period of two years. In that Commission, the question of women priests was immediately off the table.

But at its first meeting, one of the commission's fourteen women members asked to discuss women deacons.

The Commission's president, an Italian archbishop, immediately closed the discussion.

He said the diaconate was a stage of orders directly connected to the priesthood—this argument would soon be termed the "unicity of orders" -and therefore women deacons could not be considered.

Even so, he augmented the commission's final two-page report with a seven-page private memorandum to Pope Paul VI, which was much more positive about women deacons.

Meanwhile, in 1969 the International Theological Commission had been created to address questions of doctrine.

The world's foremost (male) theologians gathered in Rome on occasion to discuss pressing issues for the Church.

Women in ministry soon became one of those pressing issues, and the Secretary of the International Theological Commission, perhaps at the suggestion of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, named a small sub-group of theologians to study the female diaconate.

Their discussion was quite positive—even Yves Congar thought the ordination of women as deacons was possible—but despite some members urging a positive vote on the question, none was taken, the question was tabled, and the ITC proceeded to write a document that opined women could not be ordained as priests.

The official commentary to that document stated that the question of women deacons would be left for "further study."

Academic debate continued, and there remained no consensus as to whether the women deacons of history were sacramentally ordained.

However, to say the women of history were not sacramentally ordained would be to dispute the intent of the ordaining bishops, who used the same ritual for women deacons as for men deacons.

The formal rituals used to ordain women were performed within the Mass, where the persons to be ordained as deacons—whether male or female—were ordained by the bishop inside the sanctuary, through the laying on of hands with the epiclesis (or calling down of the Holy Spirit); they were invested with a stole, self-communicated from the chalice, and the bishop called them deacons.

That is, both male and female candidates were ordained in identical ceremonies and were called deacons, or, in some languages, the women deacons were called "deaconesses."

So, why could women not be ordained today?

Several reasons are given, all of which fall to either logic, history, or both. They are,

• Women deacons were blessed but not "ordained";
• "Deaconess" always means the wife of a deacon;
• Male and female deacons had different functions;
• The unicity of orders limits ordination to men (cursus honorum);
• Women cannot image Christ (iconic argument);
• Women are not valid subjects for ordination;
• Women are "unclean" and restricted from the sanctuary.

Since the 17th century, scholars have argued over the history of women deacons, one or another questioning whether the women deacons of history were sacramentally ordained.

In the 17th century, one scholar, Jean Morin, studied all the existing liturgies in Latin, Greek, and the languages of Syria and Babylonia.

He determined that the liturgies met the criteria for sacramental ordination set forth by the Council of Trent.

A century later, another writer disagreed.

When we arrive at the 1970s, the question of women in the church, especially the question of women priests, was in the air.

Nothing came of the work of the ITC sub-commission, except one member, Cipriano Vagaggini published a long and dense article stating his positive view.

Vagaggini was so well thought of, that the 1987 Synod of Bishops asked his opinion on women deacons, which he freely shared.

After reminding the assembled bishops that in 1736, when Pope Benedict XIV approved ordained women deacons in the Catholic Maronite tradition, he permitted them to administer the sacrament of extreme unction within their monasteries, Vagaggini continued:

If that is the case, one senses the legitimacy and urgency for competent authorities to admit women to the sacrament of order of the diaconate and to grant them all the functions, even the liturgical functions that, in the present historical moment of the church, are considered necessary for the greater benefit of believers, not excluding—as I personally maintain—if it is judged pastorally appropriate, equality between the liturgical functions of men deacons and women deacons. (- Cipriano Vagaggini, "The Deaconess in the Byzantine Tradition" in Women Deacons? Essays with Answers, Phyllis Zagano, ed. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016, 96-99, at 99.)

His recommendation went nowhere, and around that time I was told in Rome by the highest placed women in the Curia that "they can't say ‘no'; they just don't want to say ‘yes'".

The discussion continued and was picked up by the 1992-1997 ITC, which again formed a subcommittee and again found in favor of restoring women to the ordained diaconate.

Their 17-page document was printed, numbered, and voted on, but not promulgated. The ITC president objected. He was then the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

So, the question went to yet another ITC subcommittee, which in 2002 published a paper stating that the question was "up to the Magisterium" to decide.

Nothing happened.

Until, in 2016, the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) asked Pope Francis to form another Commission. And so I went to Rome that following November in 2016.

There was another pontifical commission, which met twice for one week each, in September of 2021 and July of 2022.

The Synod on Synodality

The first session of the current Synod on Synodality asked for the reports of each Commission because in synodal discussion some felt ordaining women as deacons would restore a tradition, while others disagreed.

The Synod stated that questions about women were "urgent," and so, one of the ten "study groups" charged by the pope and the Synod office to provide detailed reports to Synod members was charged with the question of women deacons.

Meanwhile, as I mentioned, in his televised interview with CBS-TV's Norah O'Donnell, the pope said "no" to women deacons.

Specifically, he denied the possibility to Norah O'Donnell, who asked him:

Norah O'Donnell (23:05): I understand you have said no women as priests, but you are studying the idea of women as deacons. Is that something you are open to?

Translator (23:15): No. If it is deacons with holy orders, no. But women have always had, I would say the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right? Women are of great service as women, not as ministers. As ministers in this regard. Within the Holy Orders.

That could be the end of it, or not. I am attempting to get the Spanish recording or the Spanish transcript.

What did the pope understand?

Was he being asked about the diaconate as a preliminary step to the priesthood?

On the face of it, his response is wholly incorrect.

There was no distinction between women deacons and deaconesses throughout history. It is a fact that some, if not all, were sacramentally ordained.

What the Church has done the Church can do again.

And the Church has done it.

On May 2, the Greek Orthodox Church of Zimbabwe ordained a woman deacon—they prefer the term "deaconess"—using the liturgy it uses for ordaining men as deacons.

The ordaining prelate, Metropolitan Seraphim, just changed the pronouns.

We know that Synod reports from every corner of the world ask the Church to recognise the baptismal equality of all people.

While women are increasingly added to church management, the only response to requests for women deacons has been Pope Francis' televised "no."

We sit and wonder what the future holds.

I cannot tell you what my Commission did.

Despite my three requests to the Commission president, then-Archbishop Luis Ladaria, twice in writing and once in person, I have not seen what he gave Pope Francis in the name of the Commission I served on.

I can tell you one thing, however.

After our first meeting formally closed, I asked to say just one more thing, to the group and to the Commission president.

I said: "When I arrived at the Vatican, I was listed on the guest list as ‘Monsignor Zagano.'"

One member asked: "If she's a monsignor, what are we doing here?"

Exactly.

• Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D. is senior research associate-in-residence and adjunct professor of religion at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
• Transcript from Rita Cassella Jones Lecture at Fordham of September 17, 2024.

The move comes amid growing debate within the Synod on Synodality. Members are pushing for further discussion and clarity on the controversial issue.

At the heart of the discussion is whether women should be allowed to serve as deacons. This role has traditionally been limited to men.

While the Vatican has resisted making a definitive decision, the ongoing consultations signal a willingness to consider a broader range of perspectives.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández (pictured), prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith which is in charge of the study group, announced that the dicastery would consult other women and receive input from participants in the Synod of Bishops.

Cardinal Fernández stated that input from theologians, synod participants and non-appointed women would be welcomed. This is a shift from the more limited consultation phase that relied heavily on appointed experts.

Time not ripe for a decision

The discussions on women's ministry are not limited to theological arguments but focus also on practical implications for the Church's operations.

Deacon Geert De Cubber, the only permanent deacon at the Synod, highlighted the importance of involving deacons in these discussions. "Inevitably, you have to consult deacons on the diaconate but also you have to involve their wives, you have to involve their kids," he said.

De Cubber pointed out that deacons play a significant role in parish life, a reality that needs further attention.

However, the question of ordaining women as deacons remains contentious. In his earlier remarks, Cardinal Fernández suggested that a positive decision on this issue is currently impossible. Pope Francis also does not believe that the time is yet ripe for a decision on the diaconate for women.

Despite this, the discussions will continue. Cardinal Fernández's dicastery oversees the study of women's ministry and has not ruled out the possibility of future changes.

Sources

UCA News

Katholisch

CathNews New Zealand

It is the women who predominantly do the heavy lifting of Catholic life; they educate, research, facilitate, spiritually nourish and sustain the regular rhythms of Catholic religious practice.

And, yet, the hierarchy of the Curch needs to justify and validate their presence and gifts by writing documents about their irreplaceable charisms or feminine genius, their mystery and mystique, their call to complementarity.

The Church leadership does this because it sees the clamouring for the inclusion of women in its sacramental ministry as both a rupture with theological tradition and as a threat to its universal unity.

So when the issue of women in the diaconate surfaced at last year's first session of the Synod on Synodality, it was not a surprise nor particularly welcomed. But it wasn't banned either.

There was a genuine expectation among many that the subject would resurface during the second session - currently unfolding in Rome. But Pope Francis, fearing its contentiousness would detract from the larger agenda of the synod, sought to defang the matter.

He set up a study group to look at the issue and placed oversight in the hands of fellow Argentine and trusted theologian Victor Manuel "Tucho" Fernandez.

Understandably, many concluded that the Pope was shelving an issue that remains for many Catholics a subject of urgency. But that interpretation, in my view, misreads Francis's intention.

This unique synod constitutes the high point of his papacy; it is establishing a new way of functioning as a Church built on the pillars of deep listening, respectful dialogue and openness to others, a model of social behaviour and governance that could be the Church's gift to a fractious world.

Allowing debates around women and holy orders would compromise what Francis wants the synod to accomplish.

Still, the issue isn't going away. It needs to be addressed fully, transparently and with integrity. Francis's narrative about women and their place in the Church is a potent blend of the platitudinous and the pious. And it is unpersuasive.

So where do we go?

In the 19th century, when the doctrine of papal infallibility was in the process of being formally declared as dogma at the First Vatican Council, there were bishops and thinkers who, though not technically dissenting from the teachings, felt for various reasons that the Council wasn't the right place to handle the matter.

They were called the Inopportunists.

Well, I am an opportunist in that I think the role of women in ordained ministries - deacon and priest - is not best served or aired in the current synod. We need to do some serious institutional scouring beforehand.

The primary concern must remain the scourge of clericalism and how we practically and methodically establish structures that confirm its erasure. Clericalism is a perversion of the priesthood resulting not in a selfless ministry of service but in entitlement. It is an abuse of power. Read more

• Michael W. Higgins is the Basilian Distinguished Fellow of Contemporary Catholic Thought at the University of Toronto's St. Michael's College. His latest book is The Jesuit Disruptor: A Personal Portrait of Pope Francis.

The enthusiasm gave way to a certain disillusionment after two more days. That was to be expected.

But the fact that it would happen so quickly and that this "sobering up process" even began with disillusionment and anger surprised even me, the "hopeless" optimist.

This surprise began with the presentation of the working groups' interim reports. I was very curious and was really looking forward to it. But what was then "delivered" was, to put it mildly, disappointing!

Interim results? Rather disappointing

Beautiful little films with wonderful landscapes, pretty flowers, smiling faces, praying people, all done very professionally, combined with an introduction of the employees of the respective group are nice, but they are not reports, not even interim reports.

But there are still reporters. There's bound to be something more, I thought. But what came next was not what I had expected.

One of the rapporteurs announced that the work of his group was being handled directly with a Roman dicastery, bypassing the synod.

This does not necessarily seem satisfactory to someone who is supposed to "report".

Some reports by other reporters have also led me to suspect that no interim status could be communicated here because many groups have not even started their work properly.

That would be regrettable, but things can still improve.

But when the head of the dicastery responsible for the question of the diaconate of women finally announced that the Holy Father had actually already made it clear that there would be no decision on this in the foreseeable future, and that an official document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith could even be expected on this question soon, I somehow felt like a watered poodle.

Because then there would be no need for a working group on this topic.

As a participant in an assembly that is supposed to realise the principle of synodality and has the task of implementing synodality more deeply in all areas of church life, I was expecting a different procedure here.

And I admit: I was pretty miffed - both in terms of content and the way the synodal assembly was handled.

At least I found it comforting that I was not alone in feeling this way. I was able to experience this the next day, when the so-called "Circoli Minori" gathered at the round tables for their first working meetings, in some of the conversations during the breaks.

Debate is welcomed by all

It was emphasised everywhere that the discussion about the indispensable role of women in the church must be continued intensively.

And I have the impression that many in the auditorium realise that establishing the status quo exposes us to the accusation of a male-centric and reductionist anthropology.

That is why even those who have strong reservations about women's participation in the ordained ministry or are completely opposed to it are nevertheless in favour of a serious and theologically sound debate on this issue. Read more

• Father Thomas Schwartz is Chief Executive of the Eastern European aid organisation Renovabis and a participant in the Synod on Synodality in Rome. He regularly writes about his experiences and impressions in his blog

"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 God would speak to me only through the voice of a priest.'"

The young woman's elders, said Hidalgo, were shocked to realise that despite their own deep Catholic faith, the religion had failed to pass to the new generation, and particularly that, like many young Catholic women, Hildalgo's niece felt the Church had inhibited her from truly experiencing her faith.

Discerning Deacons

Her niece's experience is the kind of story that drove Hidalgo to co-found Discerning Deacons, an organisation that argues for the ordination of women deacons.

The group launched in 2021, spurred in part by the 2019 Synod for the Pan Amazon Region, a meeting in Rome that highlighted the dire need in South America's remotest regions for more contact with clergy.

Deacons can preach at Mass, baptise children and marry couples, though they cannot say Mass, hear confession or anoint the sick.

But Hidalgo's 12 years spent helping with pastoral duties at a Jesuit church in the Latin American immigrant community of Boyle Heights, California, suggested that giving women the responsibilities of the diaconate would also hold out a promise of empowerment and stanch an outflow of women that has become more pronounced in recent years.

A study released in April by the Survey Center on American Life found that women, especially Gen Z women, are now leaving religion at a more rapid rate than men. The same poll found that 65 percent of young women said they don't believe religious institutions treat women and men equally.

The effect seems to be hitting Catholics even harder.

In 2018, a survey of more than 1,500 Catholic women by America Magazine found that only 24 percent attend Mass at least once a week — a lower share than the 27 percent of women of all faiths who attend, as is often cited in a recent study by political scientist Ryan Burge.

Consultation

Pope Francis has opened new opportunities for women to be heard, but compared to the gains made by women elsewhere, the Church's attempts at equality seem feeble.

At the Pan-Amazonian Synod in 2019, bishops voted by a staggering 137-30 tally in favor of female deacons, but the proposal was shelved for further study.

In 2021, Francis invited the Catholic faithful in parishes around the world to gather and speak about their hopes, fears and concerns for the future of the Church.

The massive, three-year consultation, given the underwhelming name of Synod on the theme of Synodality, rattled the hierarchy by showing they had questions about priestly celibacy, welcoming of LGBTQ+ Catholics and even monogamy.

No issue, however, was more urgent to rank-and-file Catholics than the lot of women. The quest to ordain women as deacons, long swept under the rug, reemerged with a newfound energy.

"The Synod process was asking: what's in your heart? What do you think the Holy Spirit is asking of you?" Hidalgo said. "Suddenly, all these women started saying: ‘Oh, if I could discern a call to the diaconate, I would love to do that.'"

After forming Discerning Deacons, which has taught hundreds of women how to lead conversations on the female diaconate in their parishes and on college campuses, Hidalgo said its organisers were convinced that "a growing number of young women are quite discouraged by the limits they see in the Church."

As bishops convened in pre-meetings for the synod, the question of female participation came up again and again.

European Catholics reported "a tension" between a changing society and the Church "practicing a second-class status of women."

In Oceania, "the role and place of women in the Church was a uniform concern," and Latin American and Caribbean bishops asked that attendees of the upcoming summit at the Vatican address the question of "the opening of some ministries to women," according to reports from the bishops' meetings.

The Maronite Church, a Middle Eastern rite in communion with Rome, held its own Synod on Women in 2022, after its bishops suggested that the Church "should begin to reflect seriously on the re-establishment of the diaconate for women," which an earlier pope had allowed the Maronites in 1746.

But in March 2024, Francis put on the brakes.

Canceling discussion of women in the diaconate at October's second meeting of the synod, Francis instead created a study group to tackle this and other controversial topics, charging them with reporting back in 2025.

The report on the female diaconate would be submitted to the Vatican's Department for the Doctrine of the Faith, a notoriously secretive and historically conservative office.

"The support for women's recognition is getting stronger and stronger.

"I don't know how the leadership inside the Vatican think that they can make it disappear by closing the doors, closing the curtains, and having a secretive study," said Miriam Duignan, executive director of the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research and a leader of Women's Ordination Worldwide, an umbrella organisation.

The case for women

Duignan will be among dozens of Catholic women making the case for women deacons on the sidelines of October's synod meeting, in vigils, prayer events and public demonstrations.

"They have opened Pandora's box," she said. "They've encouraged people to speak out, and they're not going to stop speaking out now or ever again."

In his letter to the Romans, in the New Testament, Paul introduces a woman named Phoebe as "deaconess of the Church" and praises her as "a helper of many and of myself as well."

A smattering of women deacons has since been scattered across the history of the Church, especially in the Eastern traditions.

In the 12th century, the Church interrupted the ordination of deacons altogether, and for about 900 years, until the Second Vatican Council, it didn't come up.

But in debates during Vatican II in the 1960s over how to re-energise the Church, the deaconate came to the fore once again.

Eventually the male deaconate was restored, but Pope Paul VI supported further study on the ordination of women. In 1973, he defaulted to commissioning a study that took three years to report that nothing in the Bible barred women from becoming priests.

As the Vatican ordered up further studies in the early 1990s without publishing their findings, the current lines were drawn:

Opponents argued that the biblical and historical female deacons didn't serve the same role as deacons today, or served only females in highly segregated contexts. Advocates claimed that the modern diaconate, mostly seen as a first step toward becoming a priest, is the outlier.

In 1994, now-Saint Pope John Paul II declared, "The Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women," seemingly closing the discussion forever.

Francis has supported John Paul's ruling, shutting down hopes in an interview with CBS News in May for women's ordination of any kind. But he has also kept up the pattern of commissioning studies, with one in 2016 and another in 2020, without revealing their findings.

"I think it's pretty clear that the Vatican is trying to lower expectations of any outcome of this synodal gathering," said Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference.

McElwee said that it would constitute a "scandal" if the synod were to fail to recognise the call by thousands of women. She described the October summit as "a tipping point" for many.

Coupled with the decline in the number of priests, a downward trend that started in 2012, the demand for women deacons seems to have gathered an irresistible momentum.

A February study by Pew found that 64 percent of U.S. Catholics support the ordination of women as priests. Another Pew report on Sept. 26 in major Latin American countries found overwhelming support for ordaining women priests, especially among young generations.

"While women may not be in the pews in the same numbers on Sunday, that doesn't mean that they're not watching, organising, praying and working on correcting this injustice," McElwee said.

Some women have lost hope in the synod, and Francis. Citing a misogynistic and suffocating environment, Lucetta Scaraffia quit her job in 2019 as the head of "Women, Church, World," the only Vatican magazine specifically aimed at a female audience.

"We women have never been given anything without fighting for it," said Scaraffia.

"There is this absurd idea that a good pope will come who will give women power. But that has never happened in history or in politics. Women took that power for themselves," she said.

In his Sep. 27 visit to the Louvain Catholic University in Belgium, Francis talked about women in terms of their "fertile" and caregiving nature, the latest example of his frequent tone-deafness on gender.

He recently warned a group of priests that "gossip is for women" and once referred to the women appointed to a prestigious theological commission as "strawberries on the cake."

But Scaraffia said deeper issues of trust in Church leadership have arisen with the rampant abuse of power, including sexual abuse of religious sisters by priests.

In her meetings with nuns, she has heard widespread yet often hidden demands of women religious for greater authority and, in some cases, ordination as an antidote.

Close observers of Francis' leadership note that he has allowed women to head Vatican departments and to become lecturers.

Priests and bishops have become accustomed in this pontificate to brushing shoulders with women in curial offices and seeing them participate more actively at Mass. But more significant reform remains incremental.

The World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations, which represents more than 8 million Catholic women in 50 countries, has shown itself willing to move at the Church's pace, listening to Catholic women from all walks of life.

They tell in the organisation's latest report how women often express feeling invisible and unappreciated for the work they do for the Church.

"The Church cannot go on with only men making all the decisions, when more than half of the Catholic population are women," said Monica Santamarina, president general of WUCWO.

Santamarina said canon law allows women to do many things in the Church. They can sit on pastoral and diocesan councils that advise the parish priest or the bishop.

If women start by occupying those roles and showing other women and men that it's possible, she said, young people will be attracted to the Church as well.

"I think that what is at stake for us women at the synod is not to take a step backwards," she said. "I think we have to become a little more patient, more careful," she added.

Barbara Dowding, vice president at WUCWO, believes the diaconate is possible for women but doubts it will happen in her lifetime.

"For bishops and priests who are living now and go back a long way, the very notion of having a woman ordained to anything is just so hard for them, you know? Because it's been a male-dominated Church in so many ways," she said.

There will be 54 female voting delegates at the October Synod, commonly referred to as Synod mothers, who will engage with prelates and priests in roundtable discussions.

The youngest is Julia Oseka, 23, a Polish student of physics and theology at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, who said she felt awe at the responsibility of representing the hopes of so many women.

"As I sat on that chair, I felt how many women before me contributed so that we might one day be listened to. I also felt inspired by so many women who are, for me, models of leaders in the Church," she said at a webinar organized by WUCWO on Thursday (Sept. 26).

Oseka said that sitting in and voting at the synod "is a gift" and praised the opportunity "to dialogue on the same level with priests, bishops and lay people."

Whether women watch the synod with disappointment or bated breath, Oseka urged that the event should be interpreted as "a sign not to give up on the task of giving visibility to women in the Church."

• Claire Giangravè is a Rome-based reporter for RNS, covering the Catholic Church and the Vatican.
• First published by RNS

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, Weiler (pictured) stated "We are in the process of breaking through the glass ceiling". She referred to the growing number of women in leadership roles at the Vatican and the participation of women in the global synodal process.

However, Weiler emphasised that much more needs to be done, particularly in addressing the persistent prejudices and clericalism that still hinder women's full participation.

"Even the Church is not free from the machismo that exists in society" she said.

Weiler also highlighted the importance of women contributing to leadership, stating that their involvement is essential for the future of the Church.

"Surely the women's diaconate as sacramental service would be an important step, albeit alongside or together with several others who are also very important in my opinion" Weiler wrote in a recent article for Feinschwarz, a theological publication.

Strengthening synodality

For Weiler, addressing "toxic masculinity" and clericalism is key to strengthening synodality in the Church.

She believes promoting synodality of mentality and structure is crucial for the Church's progress.

Reflecting on her experience in Latin America, she noted that many women in the Amazon region already live out a vocation to diaconal service.

"The Church would publicly recognise what these women are already living, namely that they represent Christ who is present among us and reminds the Church that this is an indispensable part of her mission.

"For the future of the Church worldwide, it will be crucial that women can contribute to the design and practice of leadership in the church with their charisms and abilities" Weiler continued.

Pope Francis appointed Weiler as an advisor to the Vatican General Secretariat of the Synod earlier this year.

Sources

English Katholisch

Katholisch

CathNews New Zealand

Although I disagree with him, I accept that we are not going to see women deacons during his pontificate.

But if Francis or anyone else opposes ordaining women deacons, there is a simple solution: stop ordaining anyone as deacons, and let both women and men serve many of the same functions as catechists.

Women deacons - past present and future

The topic of women deacons has caused a good deal of controversy of late: Francis raised hopes that women might be ordained deacons in 2016, when he created a commission to examine the history of women deacons.

This was in response to a request from the International Union of Superiors General, which represents some 600,000 religious women around the world. A second commission to study the possibility of women deacons was formed in 2020.

Sadly, the reports of these commissions were never made public.

At last year's synod, the topic of women deacons was again discussed and received strong support from many delegates, especially the women delegates.

However, this year the Pope disappointed many by removing the topic from the synod agenda and setting up yet another commission to study the issue, which will report back in 2025.

And when asked in his May interview with CBS News about women's ordination, the pope gave a flat "no" to women deacons.

He seemed to believe that women who acted as deacons in the early Church were not ordained, although RNS columnist Phyllis Zagano and others have done extensive historical research showing they were in fact ordained.

Deacons and catechists

Deacons cannot celebrate Mass, hear confessions or anoint the sick, but they can baptize, preach at Mass and preside over weddings and funerals.

As ordained ministers, they are members of the clergy, not laypersons. Permanent deacons remain deacons all their lives, whereas transitional deacons are eventually ordained priests.

The permanent diaconate was revived for the Catholic Church in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council, where the council fathers thought it would be helpful in mission territories.

But the hope that permanent deacons would spread the word in Africa, southern Asia and other places traditionally considered missionary lands never came to pass.

Today the United States is home to almost 20,000 of the 50,150 Catholic deacons in the world, or about 40 percent, according to the Vatican Statistical Yearbook.

The U.S. and Europe combined have more than two-thirds of the world's deacons.

There are only 500 or so deacons in all of Africa, fewer than in the Archdiocese of Chicago, which has more than 850.

Instead, Africa's Catholic bishops prefer catechists, who may be men or women.

There are more than 450,000 catechists in Africa.

They teach the faith, hold Bible study, run small Christian communities, prepare people to receive the sacraments and do Communion services when priests are not available.

The African bishops put a great deal of resources into training catechists.

Lay vs. ordained Catholics

Those who advocate women deacons point out that only the ordained, whether deacons or priests, can give homilies at Mass or preside over weddings.

Catechists can do neither, and expanding their role would neither give women a greater role in the Church nor expand the number of people who can minister to the faithful.

But in the case of giving homilies, this is simply canon law and can be changed, and laypeople can be delegated in many circumstances to preside at a wedding.

The ministers of the sacrament of marriage are the couple, not the priest or deacon, who only witness the marriage for the Church.

Similarly, lay people may preside at funerals without a Mass. And any layperson, even a non-Catholic, can baptize.

In truth, there is nothing a deacon can do that a layperson cannot do.

I am not saying that many male deacons do not do wonderful work for the church. I am simply saying that they could do the same work without ordination.

Concerning clericalism

The diaconate has drawbacks that catechists do not.

As clerics, the diocese is financially responsible for them under canon law.

If a deacon's wife dies, he cannot remarry unless he gets a dispensation, which is not always granted. If a deacon gets in trouble, the Church must use the same complicated canonical process used for laicising priests.

Limiting the diaconate and priesthood to men is painful for many women in the church, but if we cannot ordain women as deacons, there is no reason we have to ordain men.

If the point of ordination is simply to give the deacon more status, this is another form of clericalism.

There are not enough priests, which means that people do without the Eucharist, without confession and without the anointing of the sick. Too many Catholics die without the sacraments because there is no priest available.

If deacons were allowed in emergencies to perform the latter two sacraments, they would have something important to do that a layperson cannot do.

But as they cannot, we can do without them. The church existed for centuries without the permanent diaconate.

If the church doesn't need women deacons, it doesn't need men deacons either.

The U.S. church would do well to follow the example of the African church and forget about deacons and develop a catechists' ministry.

• First published by Religion News Service
• The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at RNS.

Women's leadership in the Church

In May, the first-ever deaconess was ordained in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Less than two weeks ago, the Vatican held a press conference announcing that the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith is creating a document about women's leadership roles.

And in preparation for October's meeting of the synod on synodality, the instrumentum laboris was also released, including a pointed remark about the question of the female diaconate:

"While some local Churches call for women to be admitted to the diaconal ministry, others reiterate their opposition. On this issue ... it is good that theological reflection should continue, on an appropriate timescale and in the appropriate ways."

Some have argued (understandably) that this comment reflects "delays, deferrals, further reflections, unpublished reports — while the platitudinous waffle about women's charisms and gifts drones on year after year."

As a professor at a Catholic university who was raised in the Episcopal Church, I read the situation a bit differently: I suspect that the dicastery does not know exactly what to do.

Its leaders realise that the question of the role of women is urgent, but they are worried that a schism could result if women are ordained as deacons.

The Gospel and Mary Magdalene

As the dicastery considers the possibilities, I suggest there is an avenue it hasn't looked at yet.

From my expertise in manuscripts of the Gospels, I'm interested in the possibility that the Gospel of John provides a blueprint for women's roles in pastoral care and ministry, particularly in its characterisation of Mary Magdalene.

This sacred text may contain unique and surprising theological resources that are urgently needed in our time.

Throughout the history of the Church, people have always wondered whether Lazarus' sister Mary is the same woman as Mary Magdalene.

Several years ago, I published a study of previously overlooked manuscript variants in the story of Lazarus, and came to the conclusion that Martha, a character from Luke, might have been editorially added to this story to diminish Mary's importance (click here to see the argument in full).

Incredibly, by combining real readings from just three of the world's most important Gospel manuscripts, John 11:1-5 can be fully and sensibly reconstructed without Martha:

1 There was a certain sick man, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary his sister.
2 Now this was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
3 Therefore Mary sent to him, saying, "Lord, behold, the one you love is sick."
4 But when Jesus heard he said to her, "The sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son may be glorified through it."
5 Now Jesus loved Lazarus and his sister.

Martha's presence is also inconsistent in ancient artwork, as well as in the writings of Church fathers; around 210 CE, Tertullian even stated that Mary was the Christological confessor of John 11:27!

The obvious textual parallels between the Lazarus story and Mary Magdalene's encounter with Jesus imply that Mary of Bethany would more likely be identifiable as Mary Magdalene if Martha were not present in John.

If Martha were not present, Mary (Magdalene?) would perform five crucial ministries throughout the second half of the Gospel of John.

The Magnified One

In a 2021 study I co-authored with professor Joan Taylor, we also demonstrated that the word "Magdalene" does not necessarily reference Mary's hometown; it could just as well be an honorific title referencing Mary as "the magnified one" or "the Tower-ess."

So, why would somebody add Martha to John's Gospel?

This theorised editorial change would have ensured that in this Gospel, the woman confessing Jesus as the Christ (John 11:27) cannot be understood to be the first person to whom the risen Jesus appears (John 20:11-18).

If Martha were not present, Mary (Magdalene?) would perform five crucial ministries throughout the second half of John:

1. Confessing Jesus as the Christ (John 11:27);
2. Serving (diakonei) the supper (John 12:2);
3. Anointing Jesus for burial (John 11:2, 12:3);
4. Witnessing his death and resurrection (John 19:25, 20:1, 11-17);
5. Proclaiming the Resurrection (John 20:18).

The Marian Ministry

Historian Diana Butler Bass argues that these five roles can be understood as a model for "Marian ministry," and through them we may be able to recover something of the evangelist's original vision for women.

She and I have already submitted this proposal for the synod's consideration.

The concerns of theologians like Cardinal Raymond Burke are understandable, who worry that "a revolution is at work to change radically the Church's self-understanding, in accord with a contemporary ideology which denies much of what the Church has always taught and practiced."

But this is not only a contemporary conversation; there are dozens of examples of women deacons in antiquity. Read more

• Elizabeth Schrader Polczer is assistant professor of New Testament at Villanova University. She holds a doctorate in early Christianity from Duke University, with a focus on textual criticism, Mary Magdalene, and the Gospel of John.

Pope Francis provokes "an insane hope" he says. Hope of reform. Hope that may remain unfulfilled.

"I am one of those people who - as Pope Francis says - live in the Amazon, suffer with it and love it passionately."

He and the other Amazon bishops worked together at the Synod to make sure the situation for the Church in the Amazon is clear and to offer solutions to its immense problems.

The 85-year old Kräutler says at the synod many Amazon bishops expressly called for proven men and women from remote church communities to be ordained as priests.

They voted on the issue of ordaining lay men and women who met the proposed criteria and the outcome showed 80 percent had voted in favour of viri probati (people of proven faith) and the diaconate for women.

"And Pope Francis did not accept it."

Kräutler says the Pope's response was frustrating and disappointing as he "had previously told us bishops: Make bold proposals to me".

Amazon bishops ignored

Kräutler says it is inconceivable that Francis did not mention the Amazon bishops' proposal at all in his final document of the synod.

He feels pessimistic about the universal Church's synodal process. He says "Nothing will come of it - nothing was achieved but expenses".

He does not believe this October's universal church synod will discuss "pressing reform issues" at all.

Reform inevitable

Yet Kräutler predicts that Church reform in the Amazon region is inevitable.

He says as a young "itinerant bishop" in remote areas he was often asked his wife's whereabouts. Celibacy isn't a concept that fits into the Amazonian reality. His response that he was unmarried resulted in strange looks.

Eventually he escaped the strange looks by lying. He told enquirers that "my wife is far, far away".

The villagers regretted this loneliness "but at least there were no more strange reactions".

Married priests are among the reforms he sees coming.

"Married priests will come first, then the diaconate for women. Women priests will be the next stage."

In Kräutler's view, the reasons Francis won't ordain women - to protect them from clericalism - is "a joke".

He says "the unordained men in the Amazon region are much more clerical than the women who lead parishes".

Furthermore he knows "no woman who lives clericalism - not one. We need women - also in ministries.

"It cannot be that ancient men design a theology of women."

Next steps

Kräutler hopes the next pope will bring back a "springtime for the Church" - similar to the one he experienced as a young man at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

Francis has set the reform process in motion and the Church could not go back on the approaches he initiated, Kräutler says.

Source

• katholisch.de

Their vision continues despite Pope Francis saying a very public 'No' to the idea as recently as last week's CBS News interview.

No way

During the CBS interview, Francis said he is not open to the possibility of ordaining women deacons.

He clarified his stance saying "Women have always had, I would say, the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right?

"Women are of great service as women, not as ministers, as ministers in this regard, within the holy orders" said Francis, referring to the sacrament of ordination.

Disappointment

"I was quite devastated to see his response" said Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference.

The Conference also advocates for women's ordination as priests and bishops - which Francis has also clearly vetoed.

But McElwee said she is surprised Francis refused to ordain women to the diaconate.

"It's a very sad day when a powerful man like a pope tells a young girl that she can't, or will never be equal in their own church and will never be able to follow their call from God" McElwee says.

Some have a vocation to become ordained deacons, she believes.

Further study

Although Francis is against ordaining women deacons, he wants the idea of women deacons of the non-ordained variety considered in a synodal way.

At present, the issue of women deacons has been assigned to one of 10 study groups examining controversial issues.

The groups will report at the October 2024 meeting of the Synod on Synodality, and again in July 2025.

Women must be heard

Women's participation in the life and mission of the Church faces significant challenges.

Canonical and institutional reform is needed and better representation in leadership roles should be possible, the Catholic Church in Ireland told the synodal assembly in Rome last October.

Ireland's newly completed summary report says while the people appreciate the growing recognition of women's valuable contributions to the Church, more is needed.

Denying women ordination to the priesthood and the permanent diaconate is an ongoing concern.

"That these ministries are not open to women is seen by some as limiting their opportunities for leadership and decision-making roles, perpetuating a model of co-responsibility that is not fully inclusive" the summary states.

While some women feel very empowered in the Church today and valued for the roles they hold, change is sought.

"It was clear in the contributions that if women's voices are not heard at higher levels, nothing will change" the report says.

Source

• The Tablet
• Religion News Service

She made the comments to Dr Joe Grayland from Tubingen University, Germany. in an interview for CathNews.

Deacons bring Gospel into action

Zagano, a leading scholar on the diaconate, argues that women deacons could be a tonic for the Church, revitalising it by bringing the gospel into action.

Asked why the Church needs deacons at all, Zagano said "The diaconate is really about bringing the gospel in action to the people of God".

Temporal and spiritual

Clarifying that the role of a deacon is both temporal and spiritual, Zagano said that historically deacons managed charity and performed weddings, baptisms and funerals.

She told Grayland that deacons' actions were crucial in spreading the gospel and restoring the diaconate, especially for women, and that they could help the Church address modern challenges.

"If we recover the diaconate today, I think the deacon would be the one to help get the chequebook out of the pastor's hands, spread the wealth around and take care of the poor" she said.

Diaconate - not an apprenticeship for priesthood

Zagano however has some reservations about the role of transitional deacons, those ordained as a step before priesthood, as they were serving as apprentices.

Questioning the necessity for this, she said there is one diaconate and that many people have said there's no reason to ordain anyone a deacon before that person is ordained a priest.

Clarifying, Zagano said being a deacon is about service and is the opposite of having power.

"I was asked the other day about power and women asking to be deacons so they could have power.

"My answer is simply that if you want to be ordained to have power, you should probably do something else.

Grayland asked Zagano whether having power is the issue. Zagano said that it is, but an individual will not get much or any power.

"Certainly an individual who comes to be a deacon just because he or she can't be a priest or a bishop will be shown the door; they are two separate questions."

A global perspective

Zagano acknowledges cultural differences within the global Church.

She acknowledges that some regions may be more receptive to the idea of women deacons while others face different challenges.

"If your territory does not need or wish for women in the diaconate, it will not have it" she says.

"But if Austria and Germany find that the diaconate can include women and the Church can accept it, and there is a need for it, then that's what it is."

She argues that the Church's mission should include all its people and that justice for women in the Church means recognising their equal humanity and ability to proclaim the gospel.

Zagano's advocacy for women deacons continues to spark significant debate within the Catholic Church.

Her call for justice and equality resonates with many, but the path forward remains contentious.

As discussions continue, the Church must balance tradition and modernity in its mission to spread the gospel and serve its global community.

Personal journey and advocacy

Zagano's interest in the diaconate stems from her own experience.

Archbishop Jean Jadot, Papal Nuncio to the US, encouraged her to pursue her studies and advocacy despite challenges.

During their conversation Jadot told her "Don't quit".

Today she continues her advocacy, emphasising the historical precedent and modern necessity of women deacons.

Read more on deacons in the Church

What is a Deacon?

Ten-year-old Beth asks her parents about the new deacon in the parish.

They explain the diaconate and she is surprised.

She quickly finds out that her classmates do not know what a deacon is or what a deacon does.

She and her and her friend Carol ask their CCD teacher, who explains what a deacon is today and helps them to begin to think about the future.

What is a Deacon by Irene Kelly

Just Church

Just Church engages the reader in the synodal pathway to a "Just Church" that can and should reflect its social teaching.

An important measure of justice is an ecclesiology open to participation by others beyond celibate clerics, especially in consideration of competing Catholic ecclesial bodies and methods of membership.

Just Church study guide - Phyllis Zagano's free Study Guide.

This week, in a CBS TV interview, he explained that ordaining women has never been on his agenda, but non-ordained female deacons could be.

Female diaconate supported

In February, one of Francis' theological advisers, Sr Linda Pocher, said while the Church wasn't considering women's priestly ordination, Francis actively supports the idea of female deacons.

She said discussions about the role of women in the Church were an integral part of the ongoing Synod of Bishops on Synodality, scheduled to end this October.

Francis confirmed this point in the TV interview.

He told the interviewer that he wouldn't consider female deacons with Holy Orders.

"But women have always had, I would say, the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right?"

"Women are of great service as women, not as ministers, as ministers in this regard, within the Holy Orders."

They are "the ones who move changes forward, all sorts of changes."

"...making space in the Church for women does not mean giving them a ministry, no. The Church is a mother, and women in the Church are the ones who help foster that motherliness," he continued.

"Don't forget that the ones who never abandoned Jesus were the women," he pointed out. "The men all fled."

Surprise reversal

The pope's response surprised some who believed he was open to the possibility of ordaining female deacons.

During his pontificate, he has created two commissions to study the question of female deacons.

The first, tasked with examining the role of female deacons in church history, came back with inconclusive results.

The second commission, which focused more on the ministry of the diaconate, met in September 2021 and July 2022. The results of that work have not been made public.

The October 2023 Synod on Synodality where the subject was further discussed concluded the topic required further study.

In its final document, the synod assembly asked that the embargoed reports from the first study commission be given to the synod assembly this October to help guide their recommendations.

In the period between the two meetings, ten study groups organised by the Vatican's synod office and others will look into the topics the synod said merited further discussion.

One asked "theological and canonical questions about specific ministerial forms" which include "the question of women's possible access to the diaconate".

Discussion vs discernment

Francis has changed his mind in the past about matters he'd previously seemed to favour.

In 2017, he seemed to open the door to ordaining married men capable of ministering to the many remote communities in the Amazon.

However soon after the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon closed, Francis said it was not possible to ordain married men since the Amazon Synod was merely a discussion.

"There was a discussion … a rich discussion … a well-founded discussion, but no discernment, which is something different from just arriving at a good and justified consensus or at a relative majority" Francis said.

A synod is a "spiritual exercise," a period for discernment of how the Holy Spirit is speaking, and for self-examination regarding the motive beyond positions.

"Walking together means dedicating time to honest listening, capable of making us reveal and unmask (or at least to be sincere) the apparent purity of our positions and to help us discern the wheat that - up to the Parousia [the second coming] - always grows among the weeds."

Source

• CathNews
• CathNews
• CathNews
• NCR Online
• Catholic News Agency
• America Magazine

It is precisely such a "revisioning" that many historians and theologians of the diaconate have been engaged with for many years, so it is affirming to hear two prominent church leaders express such a view.

In particular, Cardinal Cupich and Cardinal McElroy raised the question of whether it remained necessary or even desirable to ordain seminarians to the diaconate prior to ordination to the presbyterate.

This suggestion is not new.

I want to offer some rationale as to why eliminating a seminary diaconate (what I have referred to elsewhere as an "apprentice model" of the diaconate) is not only possible but necessary for envisioning a mature and fully formed diaconate for the future.

By way of introduction, it should be remembered that in the ancient and early medieval church, direct ordination was common, with sequential ordination in the pattern of the cursus honorum a later development that developed regionally.

This system of "coming up through the ranks" was revamped and simplified at the request of the world's bishops at the Second Vatican Council and implemented by Pope Paul VI in 1972.

It should be noted that these changes affect the Latin Rite of the church.

The rite of tonsure (which brought a candidate into the clerical state and made him eligible to receive subsequent ordination) was suppressed, as were the minor orders of porter, lector, exorcist and acolyte.

Pope Paul retained the functions of lector and acolyte as lay ministries that no longer required ordination.

Finally, he turned his attention to the three major orders of subdeacon, deacon and presbyter.

He suppressed the subdiaconate and tied entrance into the clerical state to diaconal ordination. The pope's actions resulted in the three orders we currently have: episcopate, diaconate and presbyterate.

Experience in ministry

The overall purpose of sequential ordination was to ensure candidates for the higher orders had gained experience in ministry before assuming greater responsibilities.

In the seminary system, tonsure, the minor orders, then subdiaconate and diaconate were all tied to different stages of seminary formation.

Seminarians nearing the end of the process would be ordained deacons and then sent into a parish setting for a period of time prior to ordination into the presbyterate.

This has been replaced by a pastoral year that normally precedes diaconal ordination.

In a practical sense, one might question the purpose of requiring ordination to the diaconate as a prerequisite to presbyteral ordination.

Of course, it is sometimes suggested that diaconal ordination is essential for those en route to the presbyterate (and episcopate) because it grounds them in the foundation of all ministry: the church's diakonia.

While this sounds reasonable, it would also seem to be the case that all ministry, lay, religious and ordained, is to be grounded in diakonia and therefore more of an effect of baptism than holy orders.

The new edition of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Program of Priestly Formation includes a "Vocational Synthesis Stage," during which a seminarian-deacon would go "outside the walls" of the seminary into a parish assignment for some period of time, likely six to 12 months.

The text takes pains to declare that this is not a stage in which the seminarian is undergoing "on-the-job" training, but that he is coming into a fuller appreciation of the demands and blessings of the clerical state.

Still, the whole feel of this section of the program of formation is of an apprenticeship, as the seminarian-deacon is incorporated into the community of the clergy within the diocese, an incorporation that is still focused on his eventual ordination into the presbyterate, not an appreciation of the diaconate in its own sacramental identity.

The sacramental "goal" lies ahead.

Finally, I would further point out that a seminarian's formation, no matter how lengthy, is focused in one direction: the presbyterate.

At no point is the seminarian discerning a vocation to the diaconate, which serves merely as a final step in his preparation for presbyterate.

It is truly an apprenticeship model. But a vocation to one order does not and should not presume a vocation to another.

Words matter

With this in mind, let us turn to two major considerations revealed in the language often used to describe the diaconate.

First, we must immediately retire the use of adjectives to describe a deacon as either a "permanent" deacon or a "transitional" deacon.

For decades now, scholars and bishops have pointed out that there is only one Order of Deacons, just as there is only one Order of Presbyters and one Order of Bishops.

All ordinations are permanent, so calling a deacon a "permanent" one is redundant, and calling a seminarian-deacon a "transitional" deacon is sacramentally wrong.

All deacons are permanent.

We do not refer to a presbyter who is later ordained a bishop as a "transitional" priest!

The U.S.C.C.B. recognized this years ago and renamed the secretariat responsible for the diaconate.

It had been known as the Secretariat for the Permanent Diaconate, and the actual Committee of Bishops responsible was known as the Committee on the Permanent Diaconate.

In the mid-1990s, the word "permanent" was removed from both the committee's name and its supporting secretariat.

Although this realization was made decades ago, we still encounter references to men being ordained into the permanent diaconate or into the transitional diaconate, as if there were two separate orders of deacons.

Why is this such a big deal? Because words matter.

To think of the diaconate as a temporary stop on the road to somewhere else minimizes the sacramental significance of where one is already.

How many deacon-seminarians have heard comments on the day of their diaconal ordination, "Well, you're almost there, aren't you?"

And how many so-called permanent deacons have heard, "O.K., so when is your real ordination?" meaning, "When will you be ordained to the presbyterate?"

One newly-ordained deacon recalls a family member commenting after his ordination that the ceremony "was almost like a real ordination"!

A deacon is a deacon is a deacon.

Maintaining an apprentice model in the seminary dilutes and distorts all of this.

Second, the apprentice model perpetuates a distorted image of the diaconate.

As experienced by a seminarian, the diaconate is largely liturgical, school-based and, if the seminarian is lucky, parish-based.

This makes sense if the diaconate is seen as a kind of "on-the-job training" for the presbyterate.

But it does not reflect the realities, challenges and lifelong commitment to the diaconate faced by other deacons not aspiring or preparing for the priesthood. Continue reading

Nonetheless, she hopes the Catholic Church will continue to explore the topic of women's leadership with "courage".

"I'm aware ... that to many such an opportunity feels rare, if not historic. I'm thankful for the privilege, and equally want to honour the risk Pope Francis surely took in welcoming it" she wrote.

Wells - who is the deputy secretary-general of the Anglican Communion - was one of three women to meet with Francis and his so-called "C9" group of nine cardinals on 5 February.

The C9 meet each quarter to advise Francis on church governance.

The group's last two meetings have focused on the role of women in the church.

Ecumenical engagement

Including both women and an Anglican woman bishop for the first time ever at the usually all-male meeting suggests Francis sees the value of ecumenical engagement.

That engagement is "not only for collaboration between churches but for listening and learning from each other" Wells says.

According to Wells, Salesian Sr Linda Pocher (from Rome's Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences "Auxilium") organised the session for Francis.

Ordained women

Pocher asked her - as an Anglican woman bishop - "to speak to the story of the ordination of women in the Church of England and in the Anglican Communion, offering a personal perspective as well as the broader ecclesial journey" Wells said.

Francis has expanded the Catholic Church's dialogue with both the Anglican Communion and with women's ministries throughout his papacy.

Wells said she told Francis and the C9 the story of Florence Li Tim-Oi who (because of extenuating circumstances) in 1944 became the first woman to be ordained to the Anglican priesthood.

At the time, it was impossible for male priests to visit her Chinese congregation in Macau.

Nearly 50 years later in 1992, the Church of England's General Synod voted to ordain women - though certain parishes don't have to accept ordained women as priests.

In Rome, Wells said, she discussed the "levels of decision-making in regard to women in the three orders of deacon, priest and bishop" with the pope and cardinals.

She said the pope and cardinals "listened graciously, evidenced from their questions and the discussion which followed".

In addition, she said she is impressed by the ongoing synod on synodality, where topics include questions about ordaining women to the diaconate and priesthood.

The "urgent need" for expanded roles for women's ministry, as the synod's synthesis report described it, is expected to top the agenda when synod delegates reconvene in Rome this October.

"We might expect that, whatever the path ahead in terms of women and ordination, the Spirit will be at work to affirm and harness the gifts and graces invested in women for the sake of the whole body of Christ" said Wells of the synod.

Pocher said after the women met with Francis and the C9 that she believes that Francis is "very much in favour of the female diaconate". Women's ordination remains out of bounds for him however.

Source

• NCR

Sr Linda Pocher, speaking to Europa Press, clarified that the Catholic Church is not considering women's priestly ordination, yet the pope actively supports the idea of female deacons.

Participating in the Pope's Council of Cardinals (C9) meetings, Pocher - alongside other female theologians - provided insights into women's roles in the Church.

The discussions are integral to the ongoing Synod of Bishops on Synodality, scheduled to end this October.

Pocher, a Salesian theologian, along with Lucia Vantini and Father Luca Castiglioni, addressed the council highlighting key issues regarding the role of women in the Church.

The session included Anglican Bishop Jo Bailey Wells who shared insights into the ordination of women in the Anglican Church.

"The pope asked me to organise this meeting of reflection on the world of women in the Church and, to me, it seemed interesting to compare the experience of the Anglican Church" Pocher said.

Pocher asked Wells to explain the process in the Anglican Church that led to their decision to ordain women and how this decision "changed life in her Church."

Role of women in the Church debated

Pocher emphasised the pope's evolving perspective on the distinction between ordained ministry and baptismal priesthood, exemplified by allowing women to vote in synods, a change heralding broader participation in Church matters.

"The diaconate was also discussed. We know that the pope is very much in favour of the female diaconate, but he is still trying to understand how to put it into practice" she said.

Although the discussions at the C9 were receptive, Pocher noted varying degrees of openness among cardinals influenced by cultural contexts.

The topic of women deacons gained prominence in 2016 when Pope Francis initiated a commission to study the issue. Despite two commissions, a definitive conclusion remains elusive.

In 2019, the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon witnessed widespread support for the female diaconate. However conclusive action is pending.

During last October's Synod of Bishops on Synodality, the topics of women priests, the women's diaconate and the role of women in the Church were among the most debated and contested issues.

Sources

Katholisch

Crux Now

National Catholic Register

CathNews New Zealand

Even so, there were those who hoped for forward motion on married priests, women deacons and LGBTQ issues.

They will be disappointed by the final report issued by the synod.

For Francis it was not about the hot-button topics.

It was always about the synodal process, which he hoped would overcome divisions in the Church and recommit us to the mission of Jesus — of proclaiming the gospel of the Father's love and compassion for all of humanity and the earth.

If anything, movement on LGBTQ issues was reversed, as can be seen by the fact that the synod refused to even use the term LGBTQ in their report, even though the Vatican and the pope now use the term in their documents.

The 40-page report shows that power in the Church, at least in the synod, has moved from the Global North (Europe and the United States) to the Global South (especially Africa).

Africans were able to insert into the report pastoral concern for those in polygamous marriages but fought tooth and nail to keep any reference to LGBTQ Catholics out of the report.

They were joined by Polish bishops and others in opposition to what they termed "LGBTQ ideology." Many of their comments at the synod would be considered homophobic in the Global North.

The patriarch of Syria even stormed out of the synod rather than sit with someone who had opposing views on the matter. You wonder if they ever knowingly had a conversation with a gay person.

The treatment of LGBTQ issues in the synod's working paper, or Instrumentum Laboris, was better than in the final report. The report did not even describe the debate in the synod.

On the other hand, the synod did not close discussion of LGBTQ issues or use language like "intrinsically disordered."

Rather, it says, "Certain issues, such as those relating to matters of identity and sexuality … are controversial not only in society, but also in the Church, because they raise new questions."

One gay advocate responded, "Have they been asleep for the last 50 years to think these are new questions?"

The report continues on a slightly open note: "Sometimes the anthropological categories we have developed are not able to grasp the complexity of the elements emerging from experience or knowledge in the sciences and require greater precision and further study.

"It is important to take the time required for this reflection and to invest our best energies in it, without giving in to simplistic judgements that hurt individuals and the Body of the Church."

Although this leaves the question open for discussion, the general impression given is, "We have the right answers, we just don't know how to communicate them."

"I'm disappointed not only that LGBTQ were excised," Jesuit Father James Martin, who ministers to the LGBTQ+ community and was handpicked as a delegate by Pope Francis, told The Washington Post.

"But also that the discussions we had, which were passionate on both sides, were not reflected in the final document."

The discussion of women deacons neither advanced nor set back the issue. Rather the report describes the state of the question, which was not changed by the synod:

Different positions have been expressed regarding women's access to the diaconal ministry.

For some, this step would be unacceptable because they consider it a discontinuity with Tradition. For others, however, opening access for women to the diaconate would restore the practice of the Early Church.

Others still, discern it as an appropriate and necessary response to the signs of the times, faithful to the Tradition, and one that would find an echo in the hearts of many who seek new energy and vitality in the Church.

Some express concern that the request speaks of a worrying anthropological confusion, which, if granted, would marry the Church to the spirit of the age.

Again the role of the African members was important here.

While the Synod on the Amazon favored women deacons, the African church does not have many deacons at all. Catechists play a much more important role in Africa.

It is no wonder that there is little interest in women deacons in Africa where there are few male deacons. Women in Africa are dealing with patriarchy and clericalism on a larger scale.

Surprisingly, the possibility of having married priests got less attention at the synod than women deacons. One delegate told me that only three interventions discussed optional celibacy. Others said it never came up in their small groups.

Here all the synod could say was: "Different opinions have been expressed about priestly celibacy.

"Its value is appreciated by all as richly prophetic and a profound witness to Christ; some ask, however, whether its appropriateness, theologically, for priestly ministry should necessarily translate into a disciplinary obligation in the Latin Church, above all in ecclesial and cultural contexts that make it more difficult.

"This discussion is not new but requires further consideration."

If after a month that is all they can say, why did they bother?

This brings us back to Pope Francis' view of the synod as a way of overcoming divisions and modeling how decisions should be made in the Church.

For almost all the synod members, the experience was positive. The conversations in the Spirit at roundtables of about 10 members were especially good.

At first, some bishops were not used to being told by a laywoman that their four minutes were up and they had to stop talking.

But most accepted the process and learned how to participate in a setting where bishops, priests, religious and laymen and women were all listened to with respect.

The problem now is how to repeat that experience around the globe in the year of consultation prior to the next session of the synod in October 2024.

Few people are going to read the 40-page document.

Pastors need a simple set of instructions on how to continue the conversation in their parishes. Hopefully, the Synod Secretariat will come up with a simple roadmap for the interim discussions.

In addition, there are lots of interesting and important items in the report about refugees, migrants, human trafficking and poor people.

It recognised the need to foster peace and protect the earth. It stressed the importance of ecumenism and interreligious cooperation.

It argued for the Church to be more synodal, and expressed a desire for better formation of clergy and laity, as well as the "need to make liturgical language more accessible to the faithful and more embodied in the diversity of cultures."

Every bishop and pastor should be able to find something in the 40 pages to discuss with his community.

Attempting to write a 40-page document in the last week of the synod was a mistake, especially when dealing with a multicultural international group of 364 members. Over a thousand amendments were offered to the first draft.

The official text was Italian with an interim English translation, which I used in this column.

No other translation was available, which left Spanish speakers out in the cold.

The solution was to read the entire 40 pages to the assembly with simultaneous translations before the report was voted on paragraph by paragraph. No one knows when the official translations will be published.

In his homily at the synod's concluding Mass, Pope Francis acknowledged that the work of the synod is not done.

"Today we do not see the full fruit of this process, but with farsightedness we look to the horizon opening up before us," he said.

"The Lord will guide us and help us to be a more synodal and missional Church, a Church that adores God and serves the women and men of our time, going forth to bring to everyone the consoling joy of the Gospel."

Now that the first session of the synod is over, the ball is in everyone else's court. We are invited to continue the conversation in the Spirit.

Those like me who are impatient for change need to remember the words of Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich who described the Church as "the people of God, walking through history, with Christ in her midst."

"It is only normal that there is a group walking at his right, another at his left, while some run ahead and others lag behind," explained Hollerich.

"When each of these groups looks at Christ our Lord, together with him they cannot help but see the group that is doing the opposite: those walking on the right will see those walking on the left, those running ahead will see those lagging behind.

"In other words, the so-called progressive cannot look at Christ without seeing the so-called conservatives with him and vice versa. Nevertheless, the important thing is not the group to which we seem to belong but walking with Christ within his Church."

Let's keep walking toward the horizon.

• The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at RNS. Previously he was a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter (2015-17) and an associate editor (1978-85) and editor in chief (1998-2005) at America magazine.
• First published in Religion News Service. Republished with permission.

The Women of the Church conference was for Catholic women leaders.

It took place recently.

All was not bleak, as highlighted by Women of the Church keynote speaker, theology Professor Kristin Colberg (pictured), who discussed "Fruit and Seed: New Roles for Women in a Synodal Church".

"What's happening with women in the Church is not just the beginning of something new, but it's the realisation of something that's already happening," she told participants.

"Because we're living through it, we can fail to see how radical and exciting a time this is in the Church," she said.

Colberg is on the synod's theological commission. She also helped write the synod's continental document "Enlarge the Space of Your Tent".

After reading synodal reports from across the globe, she said it was clear that women's issues were not just a Western concern.

"The whole world is ready to move on the issue of women," she told conference attendees.

She thinks the synod will bring a "fundamental transformation of the Church."

Including women as synod voting members is a significant shift, she noted. It is bringing new means of discernment and decision-making.

"After such changes, there's no turning back," she said.

Women of the Church at the conference

On the last day of the conference, participants met in small groups for synodal listening sessions. In these, they reflected on the conference topics and on the Holy Spirit in their own lives.

One attendee said the event was an opportunity to discern where God is leading her.

"It fills my cup to be connected with women who are active in the Church and who are struggling like I am.

"Although we have far to go for greater equality and female leadership in the Church, there are visible signs of fruits from what's been done and seeds for the future that are being sown — all indicate we are indeed moving," she wrote.

"There is a transformation happening from within."

Source

• NCR

It's about allowing the church to fulfil the mission given to it by God, said women at an international conference on priesthood at the Vatican last week.

Organized by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the conference examined the theology of the priesthood and its relationship to consecrated life.

The speakers included Professor Michelina Tenace, Sister Alessandra Smerilli and Martha Olavarrieta de Gómez Serrano.

"The church needs women and must call them to serve for the good of all people" said Tenace (pictured).

She spoke of the 2016 Study Commission on the Women's Diaconate of which she is a member.

Women deacons' disappearance in the Latin-rite church didn't mean women no longer had a place - their holiness continued to be recognised and their service utilised.

"As all the baptised are called to serve humanity, today the issue's not about restoring the past, but discovering what ministry do the people of God need.

"Ministries for women are urgently needed to recognise the true identity of the church" Tenace said.

"Our duty to serve the church must constantly. Ask: 'How can we better serve humanity seeking salvation and in the way most in compliance with the mandate of the Lord'".

Smerilli said the ministry should be examined from the 'logic of communion' as part of the covenant between God and human beings, rather than a perspective of 'claiming' rights or powers.

Genesis describes the covenant as beginning with God entrusting creation's care to a man and a woman — a responsibility that remains today.

The church, its mission and women suffer when women's gifts and call to service are underutilised, she said.

"We need to reflect both the male and female aspects of God, and to work together in reciprocity and dialogue, in communion and fruitfulness in every area of human experience.

"Women are a rightful part of this advancement toward the truth inspired by the Holy Spirit", she said. Women in the church and 'female charisms' have achieved 'extraordinary things' in the past.

"The church is called to seek alliances between men and women, despite any resistance to change", she said.

"Constructive, unifying and mission-oriented collaboration among men and women, both religious and lay, and of multiple generations, already happens in many places, parishes or associations" Smerilli said.

Olavarrieta, a mother of nine, was active in family ministry in Mexico City and helped organise the World Meeting of Families there in 2009. She spoke of ways families cultivate the faith among their members and reach out to evangelise and serve the larger community.

It is a vocation of saying 'yes' to the gifts and graces of life and marriage and journeying together with priests.

"Women have always walked alongside Jesus, reaching out to him as mothers, sisters, daughters, and this is how he addressed them," Smerilli said. Priests today still need a variety of women to carry out Christ's mission.

Source

• CNS
• IMAGO - images

While abuse of power can take many forms, many abusers rely on the excessive and, let's say it, clericalist use of secrecy.

For decades many Church bodies, including the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, have repeatedly called for removing the pontifical secret.

On December 17, 2019, Pope Francis finally lifted it for cases of sexual violence and abuse of minors committed by members of the clergy.

Nevertheless, this is just one step.

A culture of secrecy still exists in the Church, for reasons not always justified and or even healthy.

This culture continues to contribute to authoritarianism, clericalism and patriarchalism - all attitudes deeply disrespectful of equality among the baptized.

We can cite three examples.

Crimen sollicitationis, a text that remained secret for more than a century

We know today, without yet knowing all the twists and turns, the journey of the text Crimen sollicitationis, aimed at setting up procedures to respond to the case where a cleric solicits sexual favours in the context of confession.

The issue was explosive. The Church first addressed it in 1741 and included it in the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

But the text explaining the procedure to be followed in case of the "crime of solicitation", which gave its name to this document, was published for the first time in 1922.

Yet it remained secret. We only learned of its existence in 1962!

This document contained practical procedures to follow when dealing with an abusive cleric. But it was never officially published. It was sent only to a few episcopal conferences.

Which conferences and why?

Is it enough to invoke a certain idea of "harm done to the Church" to justify this secrecy?

Was it not, on the contrary, a question of doing "good" to the Church at a time when it had to face up to the evidence of reality?

Crimen sollicitationis remained in force until 2001.

The lack of transparency surrounding the condemnation of contraception

The second example has been investigated many times.

At the time of Vatican Council II, Pope Paul VI reserved the question of birth control for himself.

He appointed a "Papal Commission for the Study of Problems of the Family, Population, and Birth Rate". Its work was to remain secret.

But in June 1964 the pope revealed the commission's existence.

Catholic public opinion was overwhelmingly positive.

Successive leaks have revealed that experts known for their conservatism had rallied around the idea of new directives, and thus Paul VI felt compelled to enlarge the commission several times.

But in the end, the majority of the commission's members agreed that "contraceptive intervention", i.e. the pill, was permissible!

But the text was not published, nor were the negotiations that took place from October 1966 (when the commission submitted its report to Pope Paul) until the July 1968 publication of Humanae vitae.

That controversial encyclical, of course, did not endorse the commission's report. Instead, it condemned the use of artificial contraception.

As Martine Sevegrand reminds us, "the encyclical is the revenge of the men of the curia... disavowing practically all the experts and a strong majority of bishops".

Two conclusions can be drawn from this.

First, according to the words of Christ, "nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, nothing is secret that will not be known" (Luke 12,2), and at the moment of revelation, the scandal is twice as bad.

And then, was Humanae vitae never welcomed because the People of God (and even the fathers of the council) were not ultimately involved in this reflection that took place in the shadows?

Female diaconate, a report never published

A third example is both a protest and a demand for today.

It concerns the commission for the female diaconate set up by Pope Francis on April 9, 2020.

Following the 2003 work of the International Theological Commission, Francis appointed a commission in 2016 in response to numerous requests, including that of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG).

It finally submitted its report in May 2019.

But this document, which was supposed to provide arguments, was never published.

Why?

What were they afraid to disclose?

The pope himself was not satisfied and appointed a new commission.

But what will come of it? Will this commission finally make its arguments public?

The question of the diaconate, like that of birth control, and like many other issues, cannot be confined to the secret archives of the Roman Curia.

These texts are not secret, since they must be rooted in the Word of God and the practices of the early Church.

All their arguments must absolutely be published and made available to the People of God. If they are not, the people cannot accept them.

Wanting to maintain the secrecy of texts that should not be kept secret is to further contribute to the logic of collapse highlighted by the recently published report on the sexual abuse in the French Church.

• Marie-Jo Thiel is a physician who teaches ethics in the theology department at the University of Strasbourg (France). She is an award-winning author of numerous books and essays.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.