I was reading a December 16, 2022 article by Phyllis Zagano, in the National Catholic Reporter entitled, “In Synod Discussion of Women’s Ordination, the Diaconate is Neglected.” The word diaconate means the office of deacon.
The current Synodal process brings to light how women today not only feel about their Church but how they perceive they are seen in this Church. Women down through the centuries have been both neglected and denigrated in our Church’s History. Women certainly believe, they should be a part of Church governance and as well being afforded the opportunity to resume the role of Women Deacon once again today.
The Petrine Theory argument is the major reason cited for Women not being allowed to hold ordained positions in the Catholic Church. With this theory the Church believes, because Jesus, only chose male apostles, they cannot allow women then to be Priests. Only males qualify for this, (‘in persona Christi capitals ecclesia, ‘) in the person of Christ the head of the Church.
When interviewers from America, asked Pope Francis,” and why can’t a woman not enter ordained ministry? It is because the Petrine Principle has no place for that. Yes, one has to be in the Marian Principle which is more important. Women is more, she looks more like the Church, which is mother and spouse.”
The author of this article presents us with some very fascinating history! It affords us the reader an interesting look into a piece of past history that certainly is not of common knowledge to most everyday Catholics. It brings past lingering questions or previous thoughts about women, either never being ordained properly as a Women Deacon, to a complete halt. Or if Women’s diaconal ordination was indeed a sacrament? Her following three points literally present the very truth of this matter at hand, why women in our Church today, should be allowed to resume a previous role that early women in our Church’s history performed:
- “The surprise in the Marian Theory is that older documents say the diaconate is and acts “in the name of the church.” So if the church is female, then ordained deacons should mirror that fact.”
- “To complicate matters, the priesthood came about some two centuries after the diaconate. History records ordained women deacons up through the 12th century, with bishops ordaining women as deacons using liturgies often identical to those for male deacons.”…
- “For too long, theologians battled over whether diaconal ordination was a sacrament, but that was apparently first resolved at the 16th century Council of Trent. So, women were sacramentally ordained as deacons. It will now take a third Vatican Council to reaffirm that.”
Here we truly can see the office of Deacon, operating from its conception in our Church’s early history. Bringing back Women Deacons in our Church today is not starting a new tradition, but rather bringing back a previously lost tradition hiding within the shadows of our Church Walls.
To learn more about this topic, be sure to opt in for a chapter of the book, Scandal in the Shadows. Click the image to the right.
