ACP statement on Bishop Alan McGuckian’s comments on female diaconate.

21 March 2026

It is reported (Irish Catholic, 19 March 2026) that Bishop Alan McGuckian ‘thinks the door to female diaconate is shut and that his fellow Jesuit Pope Francis should have said so’.

We respectfully disagree.

Bishop Alan has spoken boldly. But has he listened to the ‘sense of faith’ of the overwhelming majority of Irish Catholics on this issue? To the latest authoritative papal magisterium arising out of the Synod on Synodality, to which he contributed by his participation? To the Final Report of the Study Group on Women in the Church which notes the discomfort of many women when ecclesial realities are compared with the civil societies of many of the countries in which they live, which sees the ‘question of women’, including that of access to the sacrament of Holy Orders, as a ‘sign of the times’, which notes that an increasing number of women, of every age group in different parts of the world, no longer feel ‘at home’ in the house of the Lord, to the point of leaving it altogether? To the voices of women who feel called to ordained ministry?

Bishop McGuckian’s main argument is from the ‘Catholic dispensation…the sacramental nature of things…the bridegroom and the bride’. But this argument is problematic. The rich biblical symbolism of bride and groom needs to be freshly understood in a modern context, now accepted by Church teaching, which sees marriage as a reciprocal relationship between equals, and not one of hierarchical subordination. Are not women, made in the image and likeness of God, capable of representing Jesus Christ as effectively as men? Is not the humanity of Christ of more basic significance than his male biological sex or his masculine gender?

We welcome the fact that Bishop Alan has spoken in the public forum and in such a patently honest way. Too often Bishops take refuge in a kind of inscrutable silence when it comes to controversial matters. In a healthy organization public debate, even when it involves conflict, is a help towards truth. We have surely learned in the Church universally and in Ireland that silence is not a good strategy. A synodal Church is one where unity is not identical with uniformity, but can admit of diversity.

In this spirit the ball is surely in the court of the other Irish bishops. Will some feel called to voice their own honest thoughts and feelings? Will the overwhelming majority of the Catholic faithful in Ireland find some public episcopal support for their instinct on this issue?

And can the Irish Synodal Assembly, next October, issue a strong statement on the role of women, including a call for a reconsideration of the teaching on female ordination?