Women and the Diaconate
We are indebted to Sharon Tighe-Mooney who has written this article for us about the very topical issue of women and the diaconate.
Sharon clearly outlines what has been the stumbling block for the hierarchy – “the fear that including women to any extent would lead to a call for admission to the priesthood”, … “Fear, which is signified by the prioritising of the preservation of the self, has been the dominant feature in the Vatican’s response, both to the exposure of its faults as well as to the challenges that are a normal part of the human evolutionary experience. That is why a perfectly reasonable proposition, to restore women to a formal ministry within their own church, has floundered.”