Sir, - Having read Patsy McGarry`s article (October 12th) on the possible introduction of a male only diaconate for the Catholic Church, I am moved to write my very first letter to The Irish Times. I am appalled that yet again the giftedness of women is to be overlooked.
Why ordain married men after three long years of formation and training when already there exists a body of women, solemnly vowed for life to the service of God, formed and trained and with practical experience of ministry, i.e. religious sisters and nuns?
I also find it difficult to believe that unmarried young men would undertake celibacy without the privilege of priesthood. If they married later, would they be fired?
In spite of the existence of a commission to examine the possibility of a diaconate for women, which incidentally is scriptural, there seems to be little awareness that women are in the majority of those who still go to church, that they form half the human race, that they give birth to and mould the future generation, and yet they are denied.
Before God we are all equal, "male and female, Jew and Gentile, slave and free" (St Paul). - Yours, etc.,
Theresa Barnes Dunne, BA, H Dip in Ed, Dip Cat, Churchtown, Dublin 14.