Not everyone thinks of joining the Church as more than a committed attendee, but some people have more opportunities to play a role in Church leadership than others. For example, men can be priests, bishops, cardinals, popes, deacons and friars. The only vows that a woman can take to become a recognized Church official are one of many orders of nuns.
In the Catholic Church, a woman can’t perform marriage ceremonies, hear confession or preside—even co-preside—over mass. Traditionally, women are not permitted to read the Gospel or give a homily either. These activities are reserved for other male Church officials.
There is not a reason that only men can do the above tasks. In examining the argument that a priest is intended to represent Jesus, the easiest solution is that women are excluded from being priests. Even if this is conceded, the question remains as to why a woman cannot perform these tasks, as even a deacon is able to perform these tasks.
A deacon does not have this same theological representation, yet a woman cannot be a deacon. The biggest question is: why? Logically, the role of a deacon is to support a pastor and the faithful by visiting the sick, providing counseling to parishioners, teaching the faith and even advising the pastor. What about these roles can a woman not do? Women can and often do many of these things for the betterment of the community. So why not be able to do more within the Church and make it an official leadership role?
A man can become a deacon without going to seminary, while married and even with children. A nun or sister cannot be married, must not have dependent children and is required to join a community and make vows of celibacy. There are even age restrictions for women who might want to join a community of nuns. Women are so limited in what they can do to better the Church and how much leadership they can have within the Church.
This is not to say being called into the vocation of sisterhood is any less important or relevant than those roles reserved for males. It simply seems that the logical next step in the movement toward gender equity, besides equal pay for equal work, is to allow women to become deacons following the same process as any man would.
By Kaylee Brabham, Contributing Writer
brabhakd15@bonaventure.edu
