The ordination of Catholic women as deacons: The state of the question

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The ordination of Catholic women as deacons: The state of the question
 
Creator Rakoczy, Susan
 
Subject Theology; Women's Studies Catholic Church; Women; Deacons; Ordination; Ministry
Description The report of a commission set up by Pope Francis to study the question of women as deacons in the Catholic Church was issued in May 2019. Whilst it is well known that the Catholic Church refuses to ordain women, the form of the diaconate being discussed is that of the ‘permanent diaconate’ for men, which was established after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). This article first discusses how this issue has arisen, clarifies the types of deacons and reviews the reasons why the Catholic Church refuses to ordain women. It then looks at Scripture and the history of the Church to assess the historical role of women deacons. The issue of women’s ordination emerged after Vatican II (1962–1965). Women’s ministries have grown immensely since then and this is a factor in the question about the ordination of women deacons. There are important theological issues involved in the study around women deacons. Lastly, the article raises questions about the future of this issue under Pope Francis and his successors.Contribution: The issue of the ordination of women deacons in the Roman Catholic Church is a current and contentious issue. This article reviews the historical evidence for women deacons and the views of theologians and Church leaders in order to assess whether there are grounds for hope.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2020-09-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Historical and Theological Inquiry
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v76i2.5965
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 76, No 2 (2020); 10 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5965/15956 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5965/15955 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5965/15957 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5965/15954
 
Coverage World-wide Early Church History; Medieval Church history; 20th and 21st Century Roman Catholic Church Gender
Rights Copyright (c) 2020 Susan Rakoczy https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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