Original scientific paper
Deaconry and deaconesses.History and future of the deaconry of women in the Church
Ante Mateljan
orcid.org/0000-0001-6481-364X
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split
Terezija Tea Škarec
Abstract
This work first presents the new-testament foundation of
diaconate in the Church, then the development of deaconry in
the framework of the sacrament of Holy Orders. The second part
presents the testimonies about the diaconate of women in some
Eastern Churches throughout the history, with special reference
to the issue of sacramentality of consecration / ordination of
women. The third part presents contemporary theological issues
about the deaconry of women, pastoral challenges and attitudes
towards the ordination of women in recent documents of the
Church Magisterium. At the end some points on the following
issues that remain are stated: on the specifics of deaconry as
such; on sacramentality of ordination of women in the Church
history, since the terminology referring to it is very uncertain;
on the Church authority to hand on the deaconate to women; on
the subject whether woman as such is able to be the recipient of
the Holy Order of deaconate.
The authors hold that the reasons for accepting the
deaconate of women in the Church today are: the ministry of
deaconesses was at least for some time a legitimate ministry in
the Church; that ministry was marked by the terms mysterion (in
the east), and ordo (in the west), which indicates a sacramental context; none of the general councils, nor any document of the
Church Magisterium that obliges the whole Church, has directly
declared against the deaconate of women. It is necessary to
consider not only the theological and liturgical reasons, but also
the pastoral reasons for such a renovation. Many new Church
services (pastoral assistants, women employees in charity,
catechetic and evangelization services) in fact already include
the elements of deaconate of women.
Keywords
sacrament of Holy Orders; deaconate; deaconate of women
Hrčak ID:
58475
URI
Publication date:
19.3.2010.
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