Dear Catholic Exchange:
Weren’t there women deacons in the early Church?
Mr. Fullen
Dear Mr. Fullen,
Peace in Christ!
In Romans 16:1-2, St. Paul affirms the service of Phoebe as a deaconess. The question, then, surrounds the role of deaconesses in the early Church and whether they were ordained ministers, i.e., did they receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders as male ministerial priests did.
In the early Church, there is frequent mention of deaconesses in the East, and also in the West after the fifth century; however, there is no evidence of deaconesses possessing the ordained, sacramental power of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, even though sometimes they were referred to as “ordained.”
The prime duty of deaconesses was to assist at the Baptism of women, which in ancient times was primarily done by immersion and included several ceremonies in which the female candidate was less-than-fully-robed. Thus the propriety of having deaconesses assist vs. male ministers. As aspersion-sprinkling gradually replaced immersion, the importance of the office of deaconess diminished, affirming that assistance at Baptism was indeed the principal duty of deaconesses.
Deaconesses also helped with the pastoral administration of women in Christian communities. There is no record of the office of deaconesses being exercised after the beginning of the 11th century in the West, although the office continued for several centuries afterward in the Eastern Church.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechism) affirms that only men can receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders (nos.1577-80). Some argue that women could be ordained deaconesses, meaning reception of Holy Orders at that level, but not ordained priests. This argument fails to recognize that it is theologically impossible for women to be priests, or exercise Holy Orders in any sense, and that only a changeable discipline, i.e., celibacy, prevents deacons from becoming priests.
Because of ongoing debate regarding women serving as ordained deacons, the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, Divine Worship, and the Clergy issued a “notification” on the issue in September 2001. The Pope specifically approved the document prior to publication. The complete text of the notification follows:
1. Our offices have received from several countries signs of courses that are being planned or underway, directly or indirectly aimed at the diaconal ordination of women. Thus are born hopes which are lacking a solid doctrinal foundation and which can generate pastoral disorientation.
2. Since ecclesial ordination does not foresee such an ordination, it is not licit to enact initiatives which, in some way, aim to prepare candidates for diaconal ordination.
3. The authentic promotion of women in the Church, in conformity with the constant ecclesial magisterium, with special reference to (the magisterium) of his Holiness John Paul II, opens other ample prospectives of service and collaboration.
4. The undersigned Congregations — within the sphere of their proper authority — thus turn to the individual ordinaries, asking them to explain (this) to their own faithful and to diligently apply the above-mentioned directives.
Vatican officials continue to note that there are many other ways in which the Church can promote the dignity of women and their participation in the Church without ordaining women deacons. As www.cwnews.com noted, “There has been substantial debate among Catholic historians and theologians as to whether women were ordained as deacons in the past. A Vatican commission has been studying the question of female deacons for seven years, and is expected to conclude that study later this year.”
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