Sir, - Like John Wijngaards (November 3rd), I am very conscious of the ignorance about women deacons that prevails in ecclesiastical circles. I am impressed by his statements about documentation concerning the ordination of women deacons in the Church of the East, from the fourth to the eighth centuries, but his letter leaves me with a number of questions. Since the clear teaching about seven sacraments didn't settle down until the 12th century and later, is it somewhat anachronistic to say that the women who were ordained deacons received the sacrament of Orders?
How apt is it to apply to their ordination the language of matter and form which took shape during and after the years of medieval prejudice against women? How does their ordination connect with the scheme of minor and major orders which was commonplace up to the Second Vatican Council and has now been abandoned? How does it relate with the fact that it took the Church so long a time to teach with full clarity that men deacons receive the sacrament of Holy Orders?
We have been told that the Vatican has commissioned a study of women and the diaconate. I look forward to its findings and to the dialogue that will follow. - Yours, etc.,
Rev Thomas Lane, CM, The Presbytery, Knock, Co Mayo.