WILL
THERE BE DEACONESSES ONE DAY? *** The documents mentioned in the previous answer do not necessarily exclude women from the diaconate, but to the presbyterate and the episcopate. However, the Catholic Church invites only men to the diaconate. Vatican II stipulates that “this diaconate will be able to be conferred upon men of more mature age, even upon those living in the married state. It may also be conferred upon suitable young men” (Lumen Gentium, No 29). We find the same terminology in the Code of Canon Law (Can. 1024). Numerous Christians, of both sexes, would like women to be ordained deacons. The Canon Law Society of America believes that the ordination of women to the permanent diaconate could be allowed; this seems also an opinion held among Orthodox. In April 1997, the first international congress for the diaconate of women took place in Germany. In November 1998, 73 % of the delegates in the Synod of Montreal voted in favor of deaconesses. Of course, no such decision should be based on popular consensus, but rather on apostolic origin and motives. Historical, theological and sacramental studies continue. What was the Church’s attitude in the first centuries? Did women become deaconesses through the reception of a sacrament? The case of Phoebe in the letter to the Romans (Rm 16: 1), an excerpt from the first letter of Paul to Timothy (3: 11), and liturgical activities of the first centuries, are interpreted by some as a sign that there was a sacramental ordination of deaconesses, by others a simple religious blessing. In 1998, Bishop Saraiva Martins, secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, answered that there was no ordination of deaconesses. Can we separate the diaconate from the priesthood and the episcopate? Here again, opinions differ: some say that the diaconate necessarily belongs to the sacred order with its three degrees: bishop, priest and deacon, and, therefore, must be conferred only to men; others affirm that the permanent diaconate is not necessarily a step towards the priesthood and, therefore, can be conferred to women. In 1987, Cardinals Danneels and Hume asked the Pope to reestablish the order of deaconesses. The door may not be hermetically sealed. Among those expecting further studies, I mention the members of a commission of the American episcopate, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, and many others. |