Women deacons are in effect working well in the Church, except we do not call them deacons, and they are not ordained. This is the view of Dr Joe Grayland, theologian, author and parish priest of three parishes in Palmerston North, New Zealand. He questions whether we need another form of the clergy. – Originally Read more
The Second Assembly of Australia’s Plenary Council was disrupted on Wednesday when a vote to include women as deacons failed to attract enough support from Australian bishops. – Originally reported 7 July 2022. As a result, some delegates protested – they refused to take their seats and stood at the back of the meeting room. Read more
Cardinal Walter Kasper, a conservative voice in the Vatican – and often called ‘the pope’s theologian’ – has publicly supported the inclusion of women deacons in the Catholic Church. Speaking to the German catholic journal Communio, Kasper noted that after considerable thought, he believes it “theologically possible and pastorally sensible” for women to be admitted Read more
Transcript from Rita Cassella Jones Lecture at Fordham of September 17, 2024. As you know, I belonged to the initial Pontifical Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women. We were named in August 2016 and first met in November of that year. I traveled to Rome several days in advance of the scheduled Read more
New Zealand Catholics who communicated with CathNews are unsurprised but remain disappointed that the Vatican has ruled out women deacons. They see it as a wasted opportunity to address the gender divide in the Church, and ask if God did not create men and women in his own likeness. They feel confused by an outdated Read more
The Vatican announced on October that there is currently no basis for ordaining women deacons. The announcement came from Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, head of the Vatican’s Doctrine Office. It came after a year-long study by a specially appointed unnamed synod group. “We have concluded that there is still no room for a positive decision Read more
The agenda for the next round of the Synod on Synodality, scheduled for Oct. 4-27 in Rome, will focus on female leadership and the inclusion of women in the Catholic Church, according to a document released Tuesday (July 9) by the Vatican. The “Instrumentum Laboris,” or “working document,” is an initial plan for the second Read more
Pope Francis’ recent interview that seemed to close the door to women deacons isn’t the final word on the topic says Sr Laura Vicuña Pereira Manso. She refers to the pope’s interview for a CBS “60 Minutes” show in May. In it Francis said he was opposed to women deacons if it involves the sacrament Read more
In a May 21 interview with CBS, the Holy Father confirmed the exclusion of women’s diaconal ordination from the scope of discussion at the Synod on Synodality in the Catholic Church. There are undoubtedly many reasons for this authoritative decision, and it can be legitimately reduced to the pope’s personal conviction formed in prayer, which Read more
On 2 May, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa ordained Angelic Molen as its first modern deaconess in a church near Harare in Zimbabwe. The Western media has gone a bit mad, calling it “breaking with tradition” and a radical new step forward. Ordaining women deacons The usual suspects have trotted out the Read more