Theologian Phyllis Zagano on the Diaconate of Women: There's No Theological Argument
Phyllis Zagano, theologian: The People of God have already decided on the diaconate of women, even though many Church leaders seem unwilling to accept it.
By Dawid Gospodarek and Phyllis Zagano
Dawid Gospodarek: You've documented fifty years of the work of Vatican commissions on the diaconate of women. Is there anything in the archives we didn't know about before?
Phyllis Zagano: In complete secrecy, the commissions studied the history of the sacramental ordination of women in the Church. This is the subject of my latest book, The Vatican and Women Deacons. One of its appendices contains the text of an eighth-century liturgy for diaconal ordination. I published it in the original Latin. The instructions for that liturgy specified the correct pronouns to be used when ordaining a man or a woman.
The prevailing view in the Church is that the diaconate, the presbyterate, and the episcopate are one and the same sacrament of holy orders. So if the sacramental priesthood is reserved for men, the diaconate, by the same logic, should be too.
