Sir, - Father David O'Hanlon (October 27th) manifests the astonishing ignorance about women deacons which still prevails in ecclesiastical circles. When will Church leaders open their eyes and acknowledge the facts?
Ancient Greek and Syriac manuscripts contain ordination rituals for male and female deacons, documenting the Church's practice from the fourth to the eighth centuries AD. A study of the documents shows that in the Church in the East, centuries before it split with the West, both men and women were admitted to the diaconate through a precisely equivalent sacramental ordination. Both men and women candidates were conducted into the sanctuary to face the bishop, who was seated before the altar. Both received the laying on of hands by the bishop, who invoked the Holy Spirit to impart the grace of the ministry of the diaconate, using identical words. Both were vested with a stole as a distinctive sign of their ministry. Both received Communion from the bishop and both were handed the chalice with the precious Blood.
Sacraments are, by definition, sacred signs. In its long history the Church has come to accept two aspects of the sign element in each sacrament: the matter (an object or an action) and the form (the words that are spoken). Where we find these both present, we know that the sacrament has been validly administered. And being precise in details here is no luxury, as the Catholic Church has always insisted.
In the case of Holy Orders, from time immemorial the imposition of hands has been considered as the matter of the sacrament, the invoking of the Spirit on the ordinand as the form. These constitute the essence of the sacramental sign, by which everyone knows that this person has been truly ordained. Additional symbols are the conferring of the sacrament during the liturgy of Mass right in front of the altar, the laying on of the distinctive vestment, and the handing over of an instrument of the ministry, such as a chalice. Through all these external signs the universal Church publicly imparts the sacrament of Holy Orders so that both the recipient and God's people know the sacrament has been completed. All these sacramental signs were applied to women deacons, just as they were to male deacons.
If the Church ordained women deacons and male deacons with exactly the same sacramental signs, how could anyone say that one - the diaconate of men - is sacramental, and the other - that of women - is not? Do not the severe words of the Council of Trent apply here? "If anyone says that, through sacred ordination, the Holy Spirit is not given, and that therefore the bishop says in vain: `Receive the Holy Spirit'. . .Iet him be anathema` (Constitution on Holy Orders, Canon 4). The Church will not get out of its present state of confusion if medieval prejudice against women remains unchallenged. - Yours, etc.,
John Wijngaards, High Street, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England.