The Fishwrap has an article replete with wailing and hand ringing.
In a nut shell (a pretty good description of what’s inside the wrap that is that publication) they lament that there are members of YET ANOTHER Commission on women deacons who
- aren’t in favor of ordaining women to the diaconate
- have published against doing so
- have not published about it at all
- work at places they don’t like.
For example, Fishwrap and Fishwrap‘s promotrix of deaconettes, Phyllis Zagano, are not happy at the appointment of an American woman who is a professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Catherine Brown Tkacz (“tuh-kotch”). Tkacz, a serious scholar, wrote an unfavorable review of one of Zagano’s books, calling it “flawed”, which in academic parlance is … one way to say it.
Fishwrap doesn’t like Fr. Manfred Hauke, who has written against the ordination of women.
Fishwrap doesn’t like Caroline Farey, who hasn’t written on the topic. Apparently they don’t like women without a preconceived bias towards ordination. I’ll bet they also don’t like the fact that she works for the Diocese of Shrewsbury, and the excellent Bishop there, at a place co-founded by Deacon Nick Donnelly. Heh heh.
Fishwrap doesn’t seem optimistic.
At the end of the piece…
Zagano, a senior research associate in residence at Hofstra University who is also an NCR columnist, also said that the new commission “appears to include individuals against restoring women to the ordained diaconate.” [Imagine allowing such people to have a say in a Commission on the issue!]
“Since there has never been any Magisterial finding that women cannot be ordained as deacons, I can only hope and pray that this new commission does not present an argument that women are ontologically different from men or that women cannot image the risen Christ,” said Zagano.
There are really good reasons for why women cannot be ordained to any of the Holy Orders.
Firstly, men and women are different.
Also, women can’t “image” the risen Christ, who is male, in the same way that another male can “image” the risen Christ. Can women “image” Christ! Sure! They are human beings made in God’s image and likeness. But women are not men and Christ was and is still now a man. Facts, like Christ’s maleness, are stubborn things.
Moreover, as the Second Vatican Council taught, though there is a distinction between the sacerdos (bishop and priest) and diaconus, the is a unity in the three grades of Holy Orders. If women cannot be ordained to the priesthood, they cannot be ordained to the diaconate.
In addition, as everyone pretty much knows, those who want women to be ordained to the diaconate are really angling for priesthood. Obvious.
In any event, the YET ANOTHER Commission on Deaconettes (YACOD) seems fairly tame.
Bottom line: It’s not going to happen. Eh-vur.
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The word “restored” jumped out to me. I am not sure he uses the word ‘ontogeny’ correctly. Does he see a difference, ontologically, between Mary and Joseph? They are not pursuing an inquiry; they are attempting persuasion.
I find it curious that the Holy Father has stepped into box to take another swing at this.
He already knows the outcome – groundball back to the pitcher.
I can see him creating another “official “ role for woman just outside of Holy Orders.
That the hierarchy is even preoccupying itself with this idiocy in the midst of a global crisis when most Catholics can’t go to Mass or receive the Sacraments proves how utterly irrelevant and bankrupt is the “spirit of Vatican II church.”
Well, one thing I know about Caroline Farey: she is absolutely orthodox, an excellent lecturer, and knows how to hold her own in conversation. Ph. D. Summa cum Laude from… , I think, the Gregorian university in Rome. Academically in the top range, and won’t be budged by bullies.
I think the most important question is…….
is the Fishwrap good for lighting fires?
C’mon, it must have SOME positive use……surely?
Manfred Hauke wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the subject of female ordination, in which he makes it very clear that a priest is a living icon of Jesus Christ, and a woman cannot be a living icon of a man.
Women in the Priesthood?: A Systematic Analysis in the Light of the Order of Creation and Redemption
Anita Moore,
I have read bishops blaming the virus on immorality. It is true that Sodomy and Murder (or abortion) are sins crying to heaven for vengeance.
I’m still waiting for one to say that the China virus is Divine punishment for the pope selling out Chinese Catholics to the Communist govt.
Of course COVID is due to sin: ALL of the pain and suffering and misfortunes we must bear are due to sin – either our own sins or the sins of others, or original sin. What we will never know, is precisely that these sufferings over here are due to that subset of sins over there and no others. There is a communion of the good of all men that makes such an analysis impossible to be realized. God, in his infinite mercy, intends us to benefit from sufferings in such wise that we sometimes are paying for temporal punishment due for our own sins, sometimes we are paying for temporal punishment due for others’ sins, sometimes we are undergoing purification to perfect our love, or all three.
I have done a rather extensive analysis of JPII’s Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, which is here:
http://whatswrongwiththeworld.net/2019/10/the_recent_zoo_synod_and_the_i.html
I think the conclusion is very solid: JPII made an ex cathedra declaration putting the matter to rest. Interestingly, the question comes up in the difference between the Latin and the English, because (as I understand it – but not having enough Latin to confirm), the “priestly ordination” in English might look like it is referring specifically to the ordination to the presbyterate, but in the Latin the term would not mean that narrowly, and would rather refer to “orders” generally, i.e. ordination to any one of the three sacerdotal orders equally. Can some Latin scholars here coonfirm?
Like Fr. Z, I say “it’ll never happen”. Which is not to say some silly bishops won’t TRY to make it happen – heck, there have been silly bishops who tried to ordain women to the presbyterate.
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The Church is gearing up to be in a position to ensure ample amounts of money flowing into the coffers after the COVID-19 crisis passes. If it is women deacons that will ensure the collection baskets are full, it will be so. I see a fracture coming…Not what we want by any means, but in Pope Benedict XVI’s words “The Church will be smaller.”