Theological liberalism is on its deathbed. It refuses to go quietly. One of its many last requests is that the Catholic Church consider women deacons. A commission has been set up to explore the possibilities. I can predict the outcome.
There will be no deaconesses because there can be no deaconesses because it is not a thing in the Catholic faith. The commission has an orthodox bent to its membership: it is likely to repeat the 2003 International Theological Commission’s conclusion that deaconesses, as liberals define them, did not exist in the early Church. If anyone regards this as opening a door to female ordination then they will be disappointed, for it runs counter to Catholic theology.
Public debate can only generate confusion. Liberal hopes will be raised; conservative priests will be quoted saying terrible things by the Guardian. The Pope has already said that he is angry at the press coverage of the commission, angry at the suggestion that it will lead to the creation of deaconesses. So what, precisely, is the point of it?
I must confess to you, my brothers and sisters, that I am a little angry about this. Not because I’m opposed to theological conversations in principle. Not because we mustn’t examine the role of women in the Church and ask if they are well served by it (although we should dismiss out of hand any suggestion that Catholicism as a faith is sexist). Dame Felicitas Corrigan, the famous Benedictine nun, once said: “People nowadays talk about the Church having ‘degraded women’. They don’t know what they’re talking about. It is Christ who uplifted women to a level they had never known throughout the Old Testament or the ancient world.” Dame Corrigan was right. From outlawing polygamy to the veneration of martial saints such as Joan of Arc, Christianity has protected and empowered women.
Of course the Church – a human institution – has often reflected the patriarchal attitudes of the society around it, a failing that it has slowly come to terms with. But look into our doctrines and you’ll find teachings about personhood that are far more radical and liberating than we give them credit for.
But, no, I’m not just irritated by the potential for misrepresentation of our teachings – I am worried about any distraction from them. There are other things we should be talking about.
Count up the world’s challenges: global warming, income inequality, narcotics, Islamist terrorism, Donald Trump. Add to them the Church’s troubles: sexual abuse, empty pews, an ageing priesthood. I would suggest that deaconesses come very low down this combined list of things that need addressing.
At the top of the list, I would write the name Jesus Christ. Because that’s who we should talk about the most. All the time in fact. He is the answer to all our problems. And whenever there is some new movement towards so-called reform, I just want to shout: “Talk about Jesus!” Because the Word is what the world needs to hear.
The irony is that getting back to the essentials of the faith is what liberalism was originally all about. In the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, an apocalyptic mindset emerged. Everything was about to end. So everything was suddenly on the table. Liberalism wanted to question and re-examine the faith, like an archaeologist digging through the Earth to find the real, the original face of God. Perhaps liberalism’s gift to us today is a spirit of inquiry, even a greater literacy about religion.
But the human psychodrama of 1968 cannot define our approach in 2016 or be allowed to compromise the eternal mission of the Church – which is to save souls. Everything we do, we must ask ourselves: “Is this going to bring anyone closer to Christ?” I do not see how deaconesses will do that. Not, to repeat, that they will even happen. And a potentially fractious debate about them will only encourage doubt.
An interesting fact about this year’s World Youth Day: not a single hymn was sung at Mass. Hallelujah! Father Friel, an American priest, wrote on his very good blog: “Praise & worship songs were used throughout the day at the arena … but no garden variety metrical hymns or songs were sung [during] Mass, from the Sign of the Cross to the Final Blessing. This, in itself, is revolutionary.”
These things do not happen by accident. Priests and parishioners have been carefully promoting the beauty of sacramental music, which sells itself when heard because it is so advantageous to prayer and reflection. But this also suggests that if you treat young people like adults, they will behave like adults. The condescension of assuming that they’ll only enjoy Mass if it’s accompanied by a drum kit and guitar is thus disproved. The music of the spheres sings to everyone, regardless of age.
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