The question of the access of women to ordained ministeries and
especially to diaconate is raised since the Council Vatican II by the Catholic
Church. It was so through some cardinals speeches then through several bishops'
synods in the sphere of influence for the restoration of a permanent diaconate
for men.
The magisterium talked for the first time in 1976 : Paul VI's
statement "Inter Insigniores " says again the traditional position of
the Church about the women's expulsion from ministerial priesthood. This text
doesn't mention the question of diaconate. In the following years, many
episcopal conferences resumed this problem, especially in Germany and in the
United States.
In 2004, cardinal Martini
says :"Concerning the female diaconate, I think that it deserves a
greater recognition than what is made possible by the law.I could'nt give a
theorical solution to it. We are most certainly witressing the emergence of new
ministries which acknowledge the great role and the great efficiency of female
ministries in the Church."
Pope John-Paul II, in his letter "Ordinatio
sacerdotalis" in 1994, reasserts the expulsion of women from sacerdotal
ministry. He relies on canon 1024 :Only a baptized man validly
receives the sacred ordination. And this text makes it clear that
this canon is a part of the "depositum fidei" and couldn’t be
circumvented..
The most recent text issued by Rome is that of the international
theological commission, body which had been mandated by the Holy See to study
again the diaconal ministry. It ended its mission on september 30 ° 2002..
Without closing the door on a possible diaconal ministry for women, it was up
to the magisterium to decide and the commission wants to clarify two points :
1- Deaconesses
in the ancient Church are not "purely and simply assimilated to
deacons."
2- Unity of the "Order" sacrament is maintened despite
the clear difference between the bishops and presbyteries ministries on the
hand, and the diaconal ministry on the
other hand.The conciliary text "Lumen Gentium" had announced
that hands are imposed on deacons "not for priesthood but for
service.". So , we are waiting.
The Catholic Church still makes women working according to the
status of "official in pastoral". They can be found everywhere,
innumerable catechists, chaplains in hospitals, jail visitors. Some of them
have access to certain secondary functions in the Roman Curia, others are
integrated in episcopal councils.They give communion, bring it to people homes,
proclaim the word of God during the mass, organize and preside over funerals etc..In
fact, women have almost all the responsabilities as a deacon but don t have
their title.
When a candidate to a permanent post shows a right profile, she is
offered a signed contract if she is paid, and the bishop gives her a
"Mission letter".
This letter is founded upon canons 145,146,149,157
of the canonical law in the chapter of ecclesistical services.
But some remarks
must be done :
1) Canon 145 says :"An ecclasistical
service means every office constituted in a stable way by divine or
ecclesiastic arrangements to be executed with the idea of a spiritual
end."
But the current use says that the mission letters have to be
withdrawn after three or six years…Cf "Des ministres pour l'Eglise".(
Ed. Le Cerf-Centurion.2001).
As a matter of fact, the mission letter doesn't
define a state of life and the office it delivers has but a relative and
ephemeral stability.
It is actually a limited administative nomination without any permanent or sacramental
feature. This is a temporary act meant to compensate for the lack of ordinay
ministers or, in other words a supply post. "Wher the need of the
Church asks for it because of a lack of ministers, laymen can substitute
for some of their functions, for example to exercise the word ministry, preside
over liturgical prayers, give baptem or communion."(Canon 230.)
2) Permanents in pastoral being paid most of the time, they are
subjected to the diocese financial contingencies. When these latter are short
of means, they fire them. Then there is no spiritual concern in all that as
bishops behave like civil employers. There is no appeal possible as the work
contract is linked with the mission letter.
3) The law about ministries is not different for
the nuns. But they are given services more easily, thanks to their
respectability and their devotion.
