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.”
Gorgeous George does not come out of this very well, not gorgeous at all, In fact.
Some denounce Francis for alleged unkindness to Cardinal Sarah and Georg G., and say that saints do not behave like this. Really? Saints are great at delivering tongue-lashings at heretics and also at their friends (Jerome v. Rufinus), and might claim to be imitating Jesus in so doing. The opportunistic snowflakery of the Francis-bashers is childish.