Bridget Mary's Response to Pope's Commission to Study Female Deacons in Roman Catholic Church

https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-institutes-commission-study-female-deacons-appointing-gender-balanced


Bridget Mary's Response to Pope's Commission to Study Female Deacons in Roman Catholic Church

The gender balance and makeup of this Commission is a positive first step in the study of female deacons in the Roman Catholic Church. It is my hope that this study could lead to a deeper appreciation of our earlier tradition of women deacons, priests and bishops in leadership roles in the church, and to the full equality of women as priests, bishops, and decision makers in a more inclusive, egalitarian church . The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is working to transform the clerical, dominator approach of the institutional church to a community of equals model where all are welcome to celebrate sacraments at the Banquet of God's infinite love. See our vision, mission, values statement on our website: www.arcwp.org

Our Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement has been ordaining women deacons, priests and bishops to serve in grassroots, inclusive faith communities, thus renewing the church on the margins, one renewed community at a time. Our international movement is  calling on Pope Francis to dialogue with us, lift excommunications, and honor primacy of conscience. We are  over225 members on 5 continents, in 13 countries, serving 81 faith communities in 34 states in the United States. Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP

WOMEN PRIESTS THEN AND NOW

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/popes-deaconess-commission-includes-womens-priesthood-supporter
Phyllis Zagano, who was appointed to the Pope's Commission argues: "There is overwhelming historical evidence that women were ordained deacons by bishops intending to perform a sacrament. If women were sacramentally ordained deacons and the diaconate shares in the sacerdotal priesthood … then women have already shared in the sacerdotal priesthood,” Zagano wrote for America magazine in 2013.

“The humanity of Christ overcomes the limitations of gender, and no church document argues an ontological distinction among humans except documents that address the question of ordination,” she continued. “This view is not likely to dampen growing worldwide enthusiasm for women deacons.”

Scholarship Supports Female Deacons

Once the Commission that Pope Francis called for delves into the scholarship, they will have a lot to share.

First, according to the 1976 Pontifical Biblical Commission's Report, the Vatican's own scholarship, there is nothing in scripture that supports a ban on women's ordination...."It does not seem that the New Testament by itself alone will permit us to settle in a clear way and once and for all the problem of the possible accession of women to the presbyterate."

Second, the Ordination Rite that was used to ordain women deacons was identical for men and women.  

See outstanding scholarship cited  below on the comprehensive  website quoted below: http://www.womenpriests.org/pordain.asp

"Women deacons have been documented extensively for the first nine centuries in especially the Eastern part of the Church." See Romans 16: Paul praises Deacon Phoebe and commends her leadership in the local church. Women deacons assisted in the baptism of women which  required anointing and immersion of the whole body.  We know the exact ordination rites that were used.  They involve the imposition of hands by the bishop,  the invocation of the Holy Spirit to impart the  diaconate and the imposition of the diaconate stole.  Read here one typical example of such a rite.  International Church Councils, such as Chalcedon,  Trullo and Nicaea II endorsed the ordination of  women deacons." Three, there is no evidence whatsoever, that ordination was required to preside at house church Eucharistic celebrations in early Christianity.  Four, the history of ordination evolved  was understood differently in the first  centuries of the church's history then in medieval and contemporary times. See Gary Macy, The Hidden History of Women's Ordination  So my advice to the Vatican Commission is check out the Pontifical Biblical Commission's report in 1976, visit the women priests website quoted above that cites years worth of scholarship by John Wijngaards, and read: No Women in Holy Order? The Ancient Women Deacons by John Wingaards, Canterbury Press, 2002.  In addition, they should consults experts like Phyllis Zagano,German theologian Ida Raming and theologian and archaeologist Dorothy Irvin.  Indeed, Pope Francis has opened a hornet's nest at the Vatican! No doubt the hard liners in the Vatican Curia are irritated by opening up this topic for study. They fear that it could lead to women priests!  I believe that Pope Francis' Commission is a positive first step and could lead to the full equality of women as priests, bishops, and decision makers in a more inclusive, egalitarian church. Our Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement has been ordaining women deacons, priests and bishops to serve in grassroots, inclusive faith communities, thus renewing the church on the margins, one renewed community at a time. Our international movement is  calling on Pope Francis to dialogue with us, lift excommunications, and honor primacy of conscience. We are 225 members on 5 continents, in 13 countries, serving 81 faith communities in 34 states in the United States.