June 5, 2012      Martin Mallon   (Ireland)       Martin's previous articles

    The Ministry of Women Deacons and Canon 129


Is it not time to reinstate the ministry of women Deacons? The church appears frightened at the thought of, once again, introducing this ministry as it involves the ordination of women and is, perhaps, one step from having female priests. But is this a good enough reason not to reinstate a ministry women traditionally held? Clearly not, especially as a report made at the request of Pope Paul VI by a Camaldolese monk named Cipriano Vagaggini stated:

“Yes, he said, there were women deacons, and they were ordained.”

The article from which the above quote was taken can be found at here 

The church has another problem with the ordination of women to the diaconate: canon 129 states that governance in the church must be held by an ordained minister, hence women Deacons would be eligible. The church would be open to equality at all levels between men and women. Could this be the main problem?

John Paul II's encyclical, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, specifically refers to the ordination of women as priests and ignores the question of the ordination of women as deacons.

In addition, the evidence suggests that there were female apostles. We have St Paul in Romans 16:7 calling Andronicus and Junia(s) apostles. The original Greek for Junias is Iounian which can be translated as Junias(male) or Junia(female). In fact, there is no historical record of a man ever having been called Junias. It appears there was at least one female apostle. Further information can be found here 

We are straying from the original topic of women deacons, a traditional church ministry, but we must to show that women can and have led the church. Mary held the disciples together in the Upper Room for Pentecost and the first person the risen Lord appeared to was Mary Magdalene. He gave her a mission to go to the
Apostles, which is why John Paul II called her the “Apostle to the Apostles”. As has already been mentioned Junia was a female apostle who St Paul highly valued. St Catherine of Sienna practically ordered the Pope to move the Holy See back to Rome from Avignon. Then there was Joan of Arc! These are just some examples of female church leaders despite canon law now reserving all power to ordained males. This demonstrates that the Holy Spirit has different ideas regarding Church governance than the hierarchy.

If the Church does not believe a woman should be leading the Church as an ordained minister then let this be stated loud and clear. I would emphasise, once again, that Ordinatio Sacerdotalis only referred to the priestly ordination of women and no reference at all was made to the ordination of women deacons.

St Paul said it best: “For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:27-28) It is time this was actually put into practice.

In light of the above we must ask ourselves: "What happened to put an end to all of this?" I think we know the answer, but why does the church not change now? Reinstating women deacons would be a step in the right direction.