This article raises the question: will the Vatican change its mind on female deacons? Yes, I believe it could happen sooner than we think! "Pope Benedict XVI issued an apostolic letter that distinguished between the role of bishops and priests and the purpose of deacons. While bishops and priests act as icons of Christ, deacons act as Christ's servants, he wrote." I disagree with Pope Benedict's theology because in Christ we are all equal.. Galations 3:28 affirms that by our baptism into Christ, "there is neither male nor female... all are one." Female priests are visible reminders that women are equal images of Christ and that is the reason that the Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement has been such a threat to the institutional church. We did not wait for permission, but found a way to move the church forward . An unnamed bishop with apostolic succession ordained our first female bishops, therefore, providing our international initiative with valid orders. Now there are women priests serving in inclusive communities that welcome all to receive sacraments. I call it a "holy shakeup" that is being felt all the way to the Vatican. Hence, now the question of women deacons is on the Pope's agenda for discussion. Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwp, www.arcwp.org
"Lynne Mapes-Riordan, of Evanston, hopes women will one day serve as Roman
Catholic deacons. After 800 years, she could be one of the first.
Growing up, she never gave ordination a second thought. But then she learned that, unlike the church's verdict barring female priests, the question of female deacons has never been resolved.
That open question has led Mapes-Riordan, 49, and fellow parishioners at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston to seek an answer. If the church finds in favor of female deacons, she could become one of the first women ordained since the 12th century. After meeting last winter with members of the parish, including Mapes-Riordan, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George reportedly promised to raise the question in Rome during his visit earlier this year.
Scholars say female deacons wouldn't be a novel idea but the restoration of a tradition abandoned centuries ago.
The idea of female deacons "is being talked about very slowly," George said earlier this year during a forum at the Union League Club in response to a question about the future likelihood of female priests. "The diaconate is a more open question. At this place, at this time, it is not a possibility."
Mapes-Riordan, a lawyer, wife, mother of two and longtime parishioner at St. Nicholas, does not take a position on whether women should become priests. The church has made it clear that's not permitted. Ordaining women as deacons is not the same, she said.
"In a strange way, I don't see this being about women," Mapes-Riordan said during a recent interview inside St. Nicholas. "I see it as being about church and mission. We have this part of a puzzle, this piece, that I'm not going to say is missing, but we could have a fuller picture if this (letting women become deacons) was added. I don't see it as a women's issue. I see it as a matter for our church..."
Growing up, she never gave ordination a second thought. But then she learned that, unlike the church's verdict barring female priests, the question of female deacons has never been resolved.
That open question has led Mapes-Riordan, 49, and fellow parishioners at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston to seek an answer. If the church finds in favor of female deacons, she could become one of the first women ordained since the 12th century. After meeting last winter with members of the parish, including Mapes-Riordan, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George reportedly promised to raise the question in Rome during his visit earlier this year.
Scholars say female deacons wouldn't be a novel idea but the restoration of a tradition abandoned centuries ago.
The idea of female deacons "is being talked about very slowly," George said earlier this year during a forum at the Union League Club in response to a question about the future likelihood of female priests. "The diaconate is a more open question. At this place, at this time, it is not a possibility."
Mapes-Riordan, a lawyer, wife, mother of two and longtime parishioner at St. Nicholas, does not take a position on whether women should become priests. The church has made it clear that's not permitted. Ordaining women as deacons is not the same, she said.
"In a strange way, I don't see this being about women," Mapes-Riordan said during a recent interview inside St. Nicholas. "I see it as being about church and mission. We have this part of a puzzle, this piece, that I'm not going to say is missing, but we could have a fuller picture if this (letting women become deacons) was added. I don't see it as a women's issue. I see it as a matter for our church..."
1 comment:
I smell a Ratz.
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