As a result, some delegates protested - they refused to take their seats and stood at the back of the meeting room.

The Catholic Weekly understands the protest was led by Francis Sullivan AO and John Warhurst AO.

Sullivan is Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia and the Mater Group of hospitals. He was previously CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council. Warhurst is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University, and chair of Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn.

Sullivan told The Catholic Weekly that a "palpable division" in the Plenary assembly room was evident.

"There was a lot of anger and frustration particularly on behalf of women but also the LGBT or rainbow community if you will," Sullivan said.

"This to my mind goes to the deeper issues confronting the Church over this period of listening and dialogue. Lots of voices have come forward and there is frustration that not all those voices are not actually in the room.

"The second thing is, are we actually being attentive to what those voices are saying to us.

"Underneath it all, I have to say, even from my own experience, there is a deep grief I think that we all feel about where the Church is at, not just for ourselves personally, but collectively there are generations of people who are no longer able to identify with the Church."

The Council had been discussing a two-part set of documents called ‘Witnessing to the Equal Dignity of Women and Men'.

One motion, including the consideration of women for ministry as deacons - should Rome agree - received a qualified majority among consultative voters.

However, it fell just short of a qualified majority among deliberative voters - the bishops - and did not pass.

The other motion asked: "That each Australian diocese and eparchy foster new opportunities for women to participate in ministries and roles that are stable, publicly recognised, and resourced with appropriate formation including theological education and commissioned by the bishop.

"These ministries and roles should engage with the most important aspects of diocesan and parish life and have a real impact on those communities."

The second motion did not receive a qualified majority on either the consultative or the deliberative votes, so was not passed.

During Plenary Council assemblies, consultative votes are exercised by the 277 lay, religious and clerical members and deliberative votes are exercised by the Australian bishops.

Acknowledging the embarrassment the result had caused, Plenary council vice president Bishop Shane Mackinlay said: "This is not the way we were anticipating or hoping the process would go.

"It is disappointing and a lot of people - women and men, priests, laypeople and bishops - were very distressed.

"It was clear our members were not ready to put this to one side and move on to other things."

Mackinlay said council members were trying to redraft the motion so that a new version could be approved on Friday.

"Everybody is absolutely adamant we need to say something about the equal dignity of women and men, and the way we recognise this in the life of the Church," he said.

A four-person writing group has been established to receive recommendations from Members for the drafting of revised motions. The new motions are expected to be considered later in the week.

Source

• Catholic Weekly
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• National Catholic Reporter

Pope Francis recently issued a letter "On the renewal of the study of the history of the Church." No matter: Francis himself seems to have forgotten the history of women ordained as deacons.

When he spoke with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell in an interview last spring, she asked if young girls would be able to become deacons someday.

He answered, "No. If it is deacons with holy orders, no. But women have always had, I would say the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right?"

Wrong.

A thousand-year tradition

For more than 1,000 years, women served as deacons (or deaconesses, depending on the language). The only person in Scripture called a deacon is St Phoebe, who traveled to Rome as an emissary of Saint Paul, carrying his Letter to the Romans.

As the church matured, women deacons were ordained during Masses, just as men deacons were.

The ordination liturgies bishops used over the centuries to ordain women to the diaconate meet the standards for sacramental ordination decreed by the 16th-century Council of Trent.

These women are named in literary documents and their names are inscribed on tombstones across the lands of early Christianity.

What happened?

The Church eventually stopped ordaining anyone to the diaconate as a permanent vocation, because the diaconate of men had become a stumbling block to ambitious priests.

By the early Middle Ages, deacons and archdeacons managed church funds and charity, and with their administrative expertise often succeeded their bishops. More than 30 popes in the early church were never ordained a priest!

The solution was a requirement that any man ordained a deacon had to be on the path to priesthood. Because women were never priests, women were ineligible for the diaconate.

Current thinking

Many delegates to the recently ended Synod on Synodality, the Vatican summit on the Church's future, made it clear that they believed the diaconate should be opened to women.

The best they were offered was a promise that the subject was open for further study.

Yet there is a pontifical brick wall ahead. As Francis told O'Donnell, "Women are of great service as women, not as ministers. As ministers in this regard. Within the Holy Orders."

He seems to have slammed shut the door to recovering the church's tradition on deacons, simultaneously enabling the international walkout of women and men from Catholicism.

Yes, the Catholic population is growing in developing countries, but Church government and charity are supported by donations from nations where people of wealth and even moderate means have been educated to the baptismal equality of all persons.

They are leaving the Church.

What to do?

Francis' own words must be applied here: "A proper sense of history can help each of us to develop a better sense of proportion and perspective in coming to understand reality as it is and not as we imagine it or would prefer reality to be."

• First published in RNS

• Phyllis Zagano is an award-winning author and scholar specialising in Catholic women's ministry past and present, especially the ancient tradition of women deacons.

The absence, confirmed to the National Catholic Reporter by multiple sources, triggered frustration among some delegates.

Fernandez absence sparks discontent

Fernandez was notably absent on 18 October during a scheduled forum for the working groups of the ongoing synod on synodality.

Under Fernandez's supervision, the focus of one of these groups is to explore women's ministries and access to the diaconate.

Fernandez cited a scheduling issue, not a lack of willingness, as the reason for his absence.

"I have learned of the displeasure expressed by some synod members with the fact that I was not present at this afternoon's meeting with working group number 5".

"This was not due to a lack of will, but to my objective inability to participate on the day and at the scheduled time."

Delegate frustration

Delegates expected to discuss one of the synod's most anticipated and contentious topics under his guidance.

Instead, the session was led by two junior staffers from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The National Catholic Reporter tells that one delegate, who requested anonymity citing synod communication rules, called the meeting a "disaster".

Another expressed disapproval, labelling the absence a "disgrace". Both spoke to the National Catholic Reporter on the condition of anonymity.

Fernandez' study group 5's key role

Study group 5, shrouded in secrecy, is tasked with examining "theological and canonical matters regarding specific ministerial forms", addressing in particular the potential restoration of female deacons.

During the opening day of the synod, Fernandez described the topic as an "open question" but advised against rushing any decisions.

Unlike other groups, the membership of Study Group 5 remains undisclosed.

This opacity has sparked questions among observers and participants, particularly in light of the group's central role in discussing the evolving role of women in the Church.

Ongoing work until 2025

The work of the synod's 10 study groups, which began on 2 October, is expected to continue until June 2025.

The synod, a multi-year initiative of Pope Francis, is addressing significant questions for the Church including authority, women and ministry in the Catholic Church.

Source

• The Pillar
• National Catholic Reporter

Pope Francis consistently says "no" when asked if women can be deacons or join the Catholic clergy.

But Francis supports discussion about the women's diaconate. This October's synod working document affirms "theological reflection should continue".

Since last December the Pope and his Council of Cardinal Advisors - the "C9" - have had four meetings where women's input has been sought.

Talks from the December council meeting were published in February. Speeches three women made at that meeting and two cardinals' responses to them are included in a book published on July 11.

The Church "has sometimes fallen into the trap of considering loyalty to ideas to be more important than attention to reality" the Pope's foreword to the book says.

The women's diaconate

At the February meeting, Salesian Sister Linda Pocher (pictured) told the C9 that justifications for reserving ordained ministry to men "are weak, and it is important to recognise and be aware of it".

Biblically, the 12 apostles' calling cannot be equated with the institution of priestly or episcopal orders as they are understood today.

Theological justifications for excluding women from holy orders that assumed women were inherently incapable of holding positions in the public sphere don't hold true today, she said.

Furthermore historical papal decisions don't justify maintaining the practice.

Many popes have altered positions held by their predecessors.

Some things won't change

Cardinal Seán O'Malley responded to Pocher's suggestions saying Church tradition reserves priestly ordination for men.

But Church leadership should find ways to open more ministries to women since male-only ordained ministry "will not change".

It's not a matter of men being superior to women.

While women must be able to fully contribute to the Church, "we cannot allow ourselves to make mistakes acting hastily or without a full consideration of the possible consequences of these changes".

Furthermore, women everywhere need to occupy more leadership positions - in the Vatican, in archdioceses, dioceses and parishes he said.

Anglican view

Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, spoke to the C9 about the 1978 Lambeth Conference.

It gave each church the authority to decide whether to ordain women.

Part of the theological rationale was the idea that God created all humanity with the capacity to lead and govern.

Women's subordination to men followed humanity's fall from God's grace, she said.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich replied, saying the Anglican ordained ministry is "not entirely adaptable to Catholic ordained ministry.

"In the Catholic Church we have a unity of doctrine and a unity of the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome, which represents the universal Church" he said.

There are divisions between Anglican parishes supporting women's ordination and those that don't - particularly in recognising women bishops' authority, he notes.

He is concerned that ordaining women could hinder the Church's warming relations with the Orthodox churches.

He wonders if the Church's synodal path that recognises its members' baptismal dignity in which "ordained ministry becomes true service" could "reduce the frustration of many women".

Source

• United States Catholic Bishops Conference

Veer Dusauchoit (pictured), 62, argued the refusal violated the Belgian Constitution. The court agreed, fining Archbishop Luc Terlinden and his predecessor Cardinal Jozef De Kesel €1,500 each.

The court however made the point that it does not have the authority to judge church matters.

Luc De Cleir, spokesperson for the Mechelen court, stated "The court considers that the archbishops made an error in assessing the application. It concerns only admission to training, not the question of actual ordination as a deacon".

The archdiocese is reviewing the ruling and might appeal.

The Catholic Church restricts the diaconate, a degree of Holy Orders, to men.

"It's not because she is a woman"

Father Tommy Scholtes, spokesperson for the Belgian bishops' conference, highlighted "a certain paradox in the court's decision which condemns while declaring itself incompetent to define who can be admitted to diaconal training".

Scholtes defended against sexism accusations, stating "It's not because she is a woman, but for now only men can be ordained as deacons. The bishops considered that since the person could not be ordained, it was inappropriate for her to undergo the training".

He added "We could just as well have been criticised for admitting someone to the training while knowing she could not complete it".

Scholtes suggested that the Belgian Church is relatively progressive regarding female deacons. "We have requested that a theological commission explore this question at the next session of the Synod". This is scheduled for October.

Ambiguity in the judgement

Louis-Léon Christians, a law and religion professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, believes the ruling will not set a legal precedent. He pointed out the ambiguity in the judgment, where the judge acknowledged religious freedom and the Church's internal affairs while ruling on compensation.

According to Mr Christians, two lessons can be drawn from this case. Firstly, the church would undoubtedly benefit from a better welcoming of individuals' requests, where the judge noted an "immediate refusal to consider".

Secondly, "there is a lack of a culture of credible conflict within the church" the Belgian canonist remarked. He added that "if the church were a little more concerned with its own law and procedures, the faithful would be more inclined to turn to it rather than to civil justice".

Pope Francis recently reiterated that the ordination of female deacons is not under consideration.

In an interview with CBS, the pontiff had said "If we are talking about deacons with Holy Orders, no. But women always have the function of deaconesses without being deacons". He highlighted the significant service women provide within the church without formal ordination.

Sources

La Croix International

CathNews New Zealand

Veer Dusauchoit, 62, claims her exclusion from the programme is solely because she is a woman.

"I want to train as a deacon because it interests me and I think that I will then have more tools to do what is expected of me here in the church. And I can't do that because I'm a woman so, yes, I am indeed angry, but I'm also determined" Dusauchoit told Belgian broadcaster RTBF.

Dusauchoit has served her parish in Herent, near Leuven, for 30 years. There is no longer a priest there, so she works with other volunteers to lead celebrations of the word of God and funerals.

And so she decided to enrol in a four-year diaconate course.

However, the Belgian woman said her application was rejected once her gender was revealed during a phone call.

Unlawful and legally wrong

Supported by her congregation, Dusauchoit sees this as unlawful gender-based discrimination.

"My community understands my frustration" she told Radio2 in April. "This is unlawful and legally wrong."

Without the commitment of women, "the church in Flanders would simply collapse," Dusauchoit claimed.

The Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels has not commented on the ongoing legal proceedings. However, it reiterated the Church's stance that only men can become deacons.

The diaconate is one of the three ordained functions within the Catholic Church, alongside the priesthood and the episcopate. Currently, only men can receive ordination.

Belgian bishops support including women in the diaconate but emphasise that this decision lies with the universal Church. The matter is expected to be discussed at the Synod on Synodality in the autumn.

The Mechelen civil court has one month to decide on Dusauchoit's case.

Sources

English Katholisch

RTL info

CathNews New Zealand

Participants at the 1998 Wellington Archdiocesan Synod voted in favour of a lay pastoral leadership model rather than introducing the permanent diaconate, the major motivator reportedly that both women and men might then participate in parish leadership.

Whilst the preparatory sessions for the Synod 2023 are calling for the opportunity for increased participation in leadership in the Church for women, there are conflicting views on the diaconate.

These are probably best summarised by two opposing views of participants on the commission studying the question of women in the diaconate in the Catholic Church.

On the one hand, Phyllis Zagano (Women: Icons of Christ) demonstrates almost conclusively that, historically, certainly for much of the first millennium, both men and women were ordained to the diaconate by the same bishop, at the same liturgy, using the same words and ritual.

Then on the other hand, Deacon Cerrato (In the person of Christ the Servant - a theology of the diaconate based on the personalist thought of Pope John Paul II) takes the purely Thomist approach that there is a unicity in Orders that sees the bishop, priest and deacon share in the Alter Christos, each in his own way, and therefore if women are admitted to the diaconate (which he argues they can't be), then equally they might be admitted to the priesthood and the episcopacy.

Both views are fraught.

One needs to be mindful that one cannot read current practice or understandings into historical practice and understanding.

"Ordination" has a different meaning now from what it did during that first millennium.

The current Thomist view of "ordination" developed early in the second millennium is based on the Aristotelian thinking of the schoolmen.

In considering whether to move toward the ordination of women to the diaconate, the Church, and indeed individual women, needs to consider if they wish to perpetuate a clericalist system originating from the "political needs of the church as a public body within the Roman Empire" (Thomas O'Loughlin, Discipleship and Society in the Early Churches) and which perpetuates that model: hierarchical, patriarchal and arguably misogynist.

Pope Francis has an often-expressed dislike for such clericalism.

He is looking to grow a distinctly lay ministry in which both men and women can participate.

As Archbishop of Buenos Aries, he instructed his priests: "If you can, rent a garage and find some willing lay (person), let them go there, do a little catechesis and even give communion" (cited in Vallely, 2013, Pope Francis, Untying the Knots. Kindle loc. 2237).

Francis is also appointing women to senior positions within the Vatican.

In Pope Francis's view, the laity has historically and still ‘proclaims God's word - teach, organise communities, celebrate certain sacraments, seek different ways to express popular devotion and develop the multitude of gifts that the Spirit pours out in their midst' (Querida Amazonia, QA #89).

Francis expounds on his vision for lay ministry and leadership.

"In some cases, a ministry has its origin in a specific sacrament, the Sacred Order: it pertains to the "ordained" ministries of the bishop, the priest and the deacon. In other cases the ministry is entrusted, with the liturgical act of the bishop, to a person who has received baptism and confirmation and in whom specific charisms are recognised, after an appropriate journey of preparation: we then speak of 'instituted' ministries." (Explanatory letter to Spiritus Domini).

In that same letter, Francis goes to some length to explain that the development of lay ministries in no way detracts from the ordained ministry but rather enhances it.

O'Loughlin posits what might be seen as an alternative approach: "Where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus, he is with them (Matt 18:20) and so their actions together - such as celebrating a meal - take place in the presence of the Father, because Christ, present among them, is always their High Priest.

"This theological vision has important implications for individual Christians who find themselves performing specific acts and ministries, within the church.

"There is no suggestion in the first-century documents that leadership at the two key community events, baptism and eucharist, was restricted in any way or the preserve of those who were community leaders.

"Any subsequent distinctions such that particular ministries are not potentially open to every baptised person are tantamount to a defective theology of baptism by which all ministry is brought into being."

Zagano suggests that the existing framework can be modified by changing one word in Canon Law.

Perhaps rather than enter into the existing framework, the Church might consider changing the framework such that lay women and men who have completed a programme of formation are authorised to do the very things that ordination to the diaconate authorises as a norm rather than as an extraordinary mandate:

• the authority to baptise,
• witness marriage,
• preside at funerals,
• proclaim the gospel,
• give homilies during the Mass, and
• offer a ministry of service.

Joe Green is a lay pastoral leader and director of parish mission in Ohariu, Wellington.

• First published in "Launch Out Letters", the journal and newsletter for lay leaders and ministers. Republished with permission.