Deacons

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I would like to know what people on the website think of this. Would the Church ever bring in women as deacons? I know that the Church wouldn't bring in women as priests but what about deacons? No one ever talks about this. It is always "the Church doesn't have women as priests." But would the Church ok women as deacons?

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), June 16, 2003

Answers

No. Deacons receive the sacrament of Holy Orders, and the Pope has declared as an article of faith that the Church does not have the authority to ordain women. That would include all levels of orders - deacon, priest, and bishop.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 16, 2003.

Scott, I know the catholic Church doesn't allow women Deaconesses yet, in Roman 16:1, the word diakonos (deacon) is used for a woman.

< a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1055817777- 6513.html#1"> Phebe, a deaconess

Here is the same word as a verb for the first deacons of the Church in Acts 6. < a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1055818042- 4304.html#2"> first deacons

of the early church. Were there women deaconessess? probably.

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonzalez@srla.org), June 16, 2003.


Yes, there were "deacons" and probably "deaconesses" in the early church, but at that time it was not yet an ordained position. Deacons were simply appointed assistants who took care of a lot of the everyday chores, freeing the apostles to concentrate on preaching. Deacon as a sacramentally ordained step toward priesthood was instituted quite a bit later.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 16, 2003.

Hey Paul - Do you have the name of that document that the Pope put out a few years ago on the subject? The reason I asked was because I thought that the document only applied to the ordination of priests.

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), June 17, 2003.

Paul I wanted to say something else too, just so I can understand this more fully. Paul had deaconesses. And they weren't ordained. But there were no "priests" either. That evolved later just like the title of deacon did. Also doesn't Paul say that to be a good bishop one must be married? But than were does the Church get the idea of celibacy?

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), June 17, 2003.


Hi Scott, St. Paul did advise the folks in Corinth that it would be better to remain single, "as I am," he said, because of all the trouble they would have in this life and because they could serve God better without the cares and concerns of a wife or children. So clearly, the discipline of celebacy stems from these words of St. Paul.

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), June 17, 2003.


Dear Scott,

The Church had priests from the very beginning, regardless of when the term "priest" came into common useage. At the Last Supper Jesus empowered the apostles to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice, commanding them to "do this (celebrate the Mass) in remembrance of Me". That is the central function of a priest - what actually makes a priest a priest - to make the sacrificial offering on behalf of the people, which in Catholic terms means offering the Mass. Jesus also specially empowered the apostles to forgive sin sacramentally, another specifically priestly function. The True Church established by Jesus Christ cannot exist without the priesthood, for the heart of His Church is the sacraments. So the apostles were indeed priests, and also bishops.

No, Paul did not say that bishops must be married! What he said was that a bishop must not have more than one wife. This was a response to a situation that was developing in the Church at the time. Converts were coming into the Church from two major sources - Jews and pagans (Gentiles). Some individuals were coming up in the ranks of the Church so to speak, from both groups of converts, and eventually reaching a status where they might be appointed bishops. Jewish men of course never had more than one wife. But some of the pagan men who had converted did have more than one wife. Given Paul's teaching on the sanctitiy of marriage, and especially his strong analogy of the marital relationship as a symbol of the relationship between Christ and the Church, he was insistent that monogamous marriage was the will of God. Therefore he taught that a bishop "must be the husband of one wife" as a condemnation of polygamy, NOT as a requirement that bishops be married. On the contrary, Paul taught that one who is dedicated to a life of service to the Church is better off unmarried, as he himself was.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 17, 2003.


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