Pope Francis has created a commission to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church. On Tuesday, he named 12 experts — six men and six women — to serve on the panel.
Francis had promised to establish the panel in May in a meeting with an assembly of leaders of women’s religious orders.
The
Vatican said that Francis decided to institute the commission “after
intense prayer and mature reflection.” Francis’ predecessors have
repeatedly said that church doctrine bars women from being ordained as
priests or deacons. But some Catholics, especially in the United States
and Europe, have been advocating for women to serve as deacons and hope
the commission will open the door.
Deacons
are ordained like priests, but only priests celebrate Mass. But deacons
may preach, perform weddings, funerals and baptisms, and help
administer a parish.
Phyllis Zagano, a professor of religion at Hofstra University and the author of many books on women in the Catholic Church,
was appointed by Francis to the commission. Ms. Zagano spoke with
Laurie Goodstein, the national religion correspondent for The New York
Times.
Q: Why is this an important issue for the Catholic Church now?
A:
Pope Francis has said repeatedly that he wants to see more women in
more positions of authority, and there are certain offices that women
cannot fully obtain because they’re not clerics. The ordinary means of
entering the clerical state is by ordination to the diaconate. So it’s a
simple way to have women who are trained, ordained and given faculties
by their bishops to minister on behalf of the church.
Q: What do you expect the commission to accomplish?
A:
I don’t know that the commission itself would make any conclusion. It
would make a recommendation to the Holy Father on what history has
demonstrated. And history clearly demonstrates that women served in the
diaconate. The pressing question is whether women can be admitted to
sacramental ordination as deacons, and that is a deep theological
question that should be undertaken.
Q: What are your hopes for the commission?
A:
I hope to participate in a serious discussion about not only the
history of women in the ordained diaconate in Christianity, but also the
possibilities for the future.
Q: When did you learn that you had been appointed to the commission?
A:
At 8:30 this morning. The announcement of the members of the commission
came as a surprise. That I was placed on it is a great honor to my
research and the support of many, many scholars around the world who
supported my research and helped me with it. I think the commission is a
fine group of individuals, mostly European, coming from different
perspectives and different academic disciplines.
Q: Have you been told when you will meet, or how much time the commission has been given to do its work?
A: No, not yet.
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