Ordaining Women to the Diaconate: a small step forward?

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/12/world/pope-women-deacons/index.html
(CNN)Pope Francis said the Vatican should study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons, answering a call that women, particularly in the United States, have been asking the church to address for decades.
The Pope’s potentially groundbreaking remarks came, as they often do, in an off-the-cuff response to a question — and it was not altogether clear exactly what he meant.
This time, the question came from the heads of women’s religious orders, who met with Francis at the Vatican on Thursday and pressed him for tangible ways in which women might play a larger role in leading the Catholic Church. To date, Francis has praised the “feminine genius” but has not carried through on vague promises to appoint more women to leadership positions.
In a series of pointed questions — the Pope joked that he felt like a goalie taking shots — the women called him out, asking why they can’t preach at Mass or be ordained as deacons.
Women can give “reflections” at Catholic worship services, but only priests should preach homilies at Mass, the Pope answered, according to Vatican Radio, because they are acting “in persona Christi,” or, in the person of Christ. Church leaders have used a similar argument to prevent women from being ordained as priests, saying that Jesus’ disciples were all men.
But in the Bible, St. Paul mentions least one woman, Phoebe, who served the early church, possibly as a deaconess.
Asked about Phoebe on Thursday, the Pope said the role of Phoebe and other women wasn’t clear, and he would ask the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to look into it.
“Constituting an official commission that might study the question?” the pontiff asked, according to National Catholic Reporter. “I believe yes. It would do good for the church to clarify this point. I am in agreement. I will speak to do something like this.”
It is not clear, however, whether the Pope meant that the Vatican will study the role of women deacons in history or the possibility that women could be deacons in the future. The Vatican press office declined to comment, saying they are awaiting a full transcript of Francis’ remarks.
Vatican Radio, however, which is run by the church, portrayed the Pope’s remarks as a broad call “to set up a commission to study the possibility of reinstating female deacons.”
The question is controversial because it would open the door for women into the Catholic Church’s all-male clergy.
Since Vatican reforms in the mid 1960s, “permanent deacons” — those who do not plan on becoming priests — can perform many of the same functions as priests, including preach, celebrate marriages, lead funeral services and run parishes. They cannot hear confessions or consecrate the Eucharist, and only married men or celibate men over age 35 are eligible for the diaconate. There are about 13,000 deacons in the United States, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“Opening a commission to study the diaconate for women would be a great step for the Vatican in recognizing its own history,” The Women’s Ordination Conference said in a statement.
“While WOC celebrates this step from the Vatican, until women are included in all decision-making structures and as priests and Bishops of the Church, equality remains painfully denied.”
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/world/europe/pope-says-hes-open-to-studying-whether-women-can-serve-as-deacons.html?_r=0
 
Pope Francis Says Panel Will Study Whether Women May Serve as Deacons
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO and LAURIE GOODSTEINMAY 12, 2016
L’Osservatore Romano, via Associated Press
ROME — Pope Francis said on Thursday that he would set up a commission to study whether women can serve as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church, revealing an openness to re-examining the church’s long-held insistence on an all-male clergy.
His move was hailed as a breakthrough by Catholic women who have clamored for years to be given a more prominent role in the church, and who cite research showing that women in the church’s early history served as deacons.
But the idea will face stiff resistance from some who believe that ordaining women as deacons is the first step toward ordaining female priests — which recent popes have ruled out, citing church doctrine.
The pope’s comments were made during an assembly of leaders of women’s religious orders, and were consistent with his style: a seemingly off-the-cuff remark that opened a broad horizon of possibilities.
During a discussion at the Vatican on Thursday, which at one point touched on the role that female deacons played during the early years of the church, Francis was asked about the possibility of an official commission to study the issue. His response was, in essence, “Why not?”
“Constituting an official commission that might study the question?” Pope Francis mused out loud, according to the National Catholic Reporter. “I believe yes. It would do good for the church to clarify this point. I am in agreement.”
“I accept,” the pope said later. “It seems useful to me to have a commission that would clarify this well.”
Deacons are ordained ministers in the Roman Catholic Church, and in many parishes they perform the same roles as priests. They are permitted to preach at Mass, perform baptisms, witness marriages and conduct funeral services. Deacons must be men over the age of 35, and they may be married (though if a deacon’s wife dies, he is expected to remain celibate).
The church in the United States has for decades been actively encouraging men to become deacons to assist priests stretched thin because of a shortage of priests. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says more than 13,000 men are now serving in what is called the “permanent diaconate.”
This is not the first time the issue of female deacons has come up. In 1995, an American group of canon law experts said that ordaining women as deacons in the church would be in keeping with Catholic theology and past practice, though the Vatican never acted on that recommendation. The topic has continued to be discussed, however: Just last week, scholars met at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto for a conference titled: “Women, the Diaconate and the Future of Ministry.”
Groups that have pushed for women to play a greater role in the church welcomed the pope’s declarations, as an important — if embryonic — step.
The Rev. James Bretzke, a professor of theology at Boston College, said in a statement, “I can’t underscore enough how groundbreaking this is for the church.”
Father Bretzke, who, like Pope Francis, is a member of the Jesuit religious order, added, “If women can be ordained as deacons, then this is going to weaken — not destroy, but weaken significantly — the argument that women absolutely are incapable of being ordained as priests. So this is opening more than a crack in the door.”
The Women’s Ordination Conference, an American organization that supports the idea of female deacons, priests and bishops, said in a statement: “Opening a commission to study the diaconate for women would be a great step for the Vatican in recognizing its own history.”
 
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36278520
Pope willing to set up study into possibility of women deacons
Pope Francis made the remarks during a meeting with members of women’s orders
Pope Francis says he is prepared to commission a study into whether women can enter the Catholic clergy at the rank of deacon – one below a priest.
He was making the remarks in a closed-door meeting in Rome with senior members of women’s religious orders.
Deacons are ordained ministers who can preach or preside over weddings and funerals, but can not conduct Mass.
However Vatican media reported that the Pope did not consider the possibility of ordaining women priests.
‘I accept’
During a 75-minute conversation on Thursday the Pope was asked if he would be willing to create a commission to study whether women could serve as deacons.
According Vatican media, Francis said he was open to the idea: “It would be useful for the church to clarify this question. I agree.'”
The pope gave his blessing to the idea of setting up a study into female deacons
Currently all Catholic priests and deacons are male. Priests must be celibate, but deacons can be married men.
Groups advocating women’s ordination have long argued that there have been many female deacons in history.
The BBC’s James Reynolds in Rome says the remarks do not constitute a formal Vatican announcement. But they do signal the Pope’s willingness to examine a greater official role for women within the Church.