We have heard the cries of the people of the Amazon and around the world – WOC Responds to New Women Deacon Commission

April 8, 2020

The Women’s Ordination Conference welcomes the news of the appointment of a new Vatican commission studying the ordination of women deacons. This announcement comes 165 days after Pope Francis’ remarks at the close of the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon region, when he committed to further study on the topic: “I am going to take up the challenge … that you have put forward, that women be heard.” 

In May 2019, Pope Francis delivered a report from the original commission to the International Union Superior Generals (UISG), and while this report was never made public, he stated at the time: 

“I cannot make a sacramental decree [on women deacons] without a theological, historical foundation.” 

The Women’s Ordination Conference supports a commission that is open to the movement of the Spirit and the reality of the historical record, not one that seeks to justify a foreordained conclusion cementing women’s second-class status in the Church. 

The “theological, historical foundation” exists in abundance, thanks to the work of scholars like Dr. Phyllis Zagano, Dr. Gary Macy, Dr. Dorothy Irvin, Dr. Hans Wijngaards, Sr. Christine Schenk, and others. Holding women deacons to an impossible standard of historical consistency that is not used for other elements of our tradition is out of line with the essentially Catholic belief in development of doctrine. 

Women have been protagonists in the history of our faith since the time of the Gospels, something we are particularly reminded of this Holy Week. We do not need to prove our sacramentality. The ability of our bodies to manifest revelation is not up for debate.

We have heard the cries of the people of the Amazon and around the world for this ministry to be restored. We pray that the overwhelming historical evidence of women deacons, and the urgent need for women’s ordained ministries, guides the work of this commission to formalize a path toward ordination for women by recognizing the sacramental work that women already do. 

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Contact: Kate McElwee, Executive Director: kmcelwee@womensordination.org

Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) is the oldest and largest organization working to ordain women as deacons, priests, and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church. A feminist voice for women in the Roman Catholic Church, WOC is a grassroots-driven movement that promotes activism, dialogue, and prayerful witness to call for women’s full equality in the Church.