THE FACT OF THE MATTER
BY PAUL HOPKINS
The Catholic Church, of all Christian denominations, holds Mary the Mother of God in the highest esteem. The virgin who brought forth into the world the Baby Jesus, Son of God. She is there in the manger, with Joseph by her side, because there was no room at the inn in Bethlehem. She was there with her baby in swaddling clothes when the Three Wise Men came calling as did the Three Shepherds who had seen and followed the bright star in the sky.
She fled with Joseph to Egypt, her baby in her arms, after Herod The Great declared all new-born males should be put to the sword, so he could kill the Baby Jesus and negate the testimony of the prophets.
Mary looked after Jesus of Nazareth until he went out into his ministry; she was there for his first miracle, and she was there at the foot of the cross as he died a slow and agonising death on the cross.
The Christian faith tells us that Mary ascended into Heaven when God called her home. And Catholics are told, often, to pray to Mary to intercede with her son Jesus in our time of need.
The birth of Jesus Christ some 2,000 years ago, we, again, celebrate this coming Christmas Day and Mary is central to this holiest of days. Even in the Islamic faith Mary (Maryam in Arabic) the Mother of Jesus (Isa in Arabic) is a highly revered figure in the Quran, the only woman named in the text, with an entire chapter (Surah Maryam, Chapter 19) dedicated to her story of miraculous virgin birth and profound piety, making her a symbol of faith and purity, chosen by God above all women.
The irony is not lost on me that, in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day, a high-level Vatican commission has voted, once again, against allowing Catholic women to serve as deacons, maintaining the global church’s practice of all-male clergy, according to a report given to Pope Leo XIV the other week.
The commission, in a seven-to-one vote, said historical research and theological investigation “excludes the possibility” of allowing women to serve as deacons at this time, but recommended further study of the issue. Discussions about the possibility of female deacons, who are ordained and can assist with church services but cannot celebrate Mass, have divided the 1.4 billion-member church for the last decade.
In other Christian denominations, women deacons can baptise people, witness marriages and preside at funerals, among other duties. In some areas of the world, they can also lead parishes in the absence of a priest.
The role, for centuries considered only a stepping stone to the priesthood, was reimagined as a permanent post for only married Catholic men after a series of reforms by the church in the 1960s that was Vatican 2.
The latest decision panel, led by a cardinal and a priest from the Vatican’s top doctrinal office, included male and female church scholars. In the report, they said their assessment against women deacons was strong, but “does not as of today allow a definitive judgment to be formulated”.
The late Pope Francis opened the conversation after a request in 2016 from the Rome-based umbrella group representing the world’s Catholic sisters and nuns. Francis instituted two commissions to study the matter, which deliberated in secrecy. This report is the first time the results of those discussions have been made public.
Leo, a relative unknown on the global stage before his election in May, is not known to have commented on the issue of female deacons. Pope John Paul II reaffirmed the ban on women serving as priests in 1994, but did not specifically address the issue of women deacons. Advocates point to evidence that women served as deacons in the early centuries of the church. One woman, Phoebe, is mentioned as a deacon in one of the letters of St Paul.
After children, women are the most abused people on this planet whether it be rape, sexual abuse, coercive abuse, slavery or human trafficking. Even in countries with a strong Catholic Church hold, like South America, women are second-class citizens. In my lifetime young Irish mothers, whose ‘men ‘ had flown the nest, were treated as outsiders and shunned and shamed and sent to Magdalene laundries or, fearful and utterly alone, took the boat to England.
Yet, there are those who confess to holding a woman, the Mother Of God, close to their hearts.
One wonders what Mary would make of it all?
