As the daughter of an ordained permanent deacon, I have witnessed firsthand the Holy Spirit work through diakonia. I also witnessed people drawn to my parents because they felt they were relatable, as a married couple with children striving to live out the Gospel day to day. Restoring women to the diaconate deeply matters to me because I know and trust that all of the women faithful will be better served by it. I know that women are being called by the Holy Spirit and women are living diakonia in creative, ordinary ways today. Now, as a mother of a toddler girl, I want to discern with the Church on how to make way for her to discern her own future calling, should the Spirit call her. 

Discerning Deacons is a community of hope. In these divisive times, we need role models of faith who live with contagious hope. That is what I have found in the DD community. My soul is nourished by this work and by our hopeful faith. 

At the Assembly of Hope, I was deeply moved by looking around the room and seeing people from all ages present. The intergenerational witness within Discerning Deacons is crucial for this work, and it reminded me that our ancestors are interceding for us and discerning with us. 

The Assembly of Hope was balm to the soul when I heard the good news shared publicly. As a theology teacher, I am always looking to the Vatican and keeping up with what they are doing, and often, I am the only one in my circle who knows. It was so wonderful to hear the current state of this discernment and to see the good news embodied by so many of us. It almost felt miraculous — God’s grace overcoming the despair so rampant in our communities today. 

Ana López is a theology teacher and spiritual director based in Los Angeles, CA. She is also a leader with the Dorothea Project, a community of Catholic women formed by Catholic Social Teaching, called to speak truth and defend human dignity.