{"id":23245,"date":"2026-01-27T17:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/?post_type=witness&p=23245"},"modified":"2026-01-27T17:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:12:17","slug":"jolaine-m-j-liupakka-pmin","status":"publish","type":"witness","link":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/es\/witness\/jolaine-m-j-liupakka-pmin\/","title":{"rendered":"Jolaine M.J. Liupakka, PMin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jolaine wrote this reflection following St. Phoebe Day 2025:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

St. Phoebe, My Vocation, and the Hope That Carries Me<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWherever God has put you, that is your vocation. It is not what we do but how much love we put into it.\u201d -St. Teresa of Calcutta<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesterday was the feast day of St. Phoebe\u2014a saint I hadn\u2019t even heard of until a few months ago. But today, she\u2019s one of my favorites.<\/p>\n

Phoebe appears in St. Paul\u2019s Letter to the Romans, where he commends her as a \u201cdeacon of the Church\u201d and entrusts her with delivering his letter to the Roman community (Romans 16:1-2). This brief mention is more than a historical footnote\u2014it points to her as an ordained and respected leader, preacher, and teacher of the early Church.<\/p>\n

I was introduced to St. Phoebe through Discerning Deacons, an organization passionately working to amplify women\u2019s voices in the Church and advocate for the restoration of women to the diaconate.<\/p>\n

Last night, I joined hundreds of people from around the world for a virtual prayer service hosted by Discerning Deacons. We prayed for our Church, lifted up the voices of communities across continents, celebrated the elevation of women\u2019s leadership in Paragraph 60 of the Vatican\u2019s final document of the Synod on Synodality, and heard the call to go forth and share the Good News.<\/p>\n

It was a night that filled me with HOPE<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You see, I\u2019ve long felt a Vocation to ministry\u2014not just a job, but a deep, persistent calling from God to teach and preach the Gospel, and care for others. And yet, over the years, I\u2019ve been told\u2014by more than one Church leader\u2014that what I feel is not a \u201cVocation,\u201d but merely a \u201cjob.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why?
\nBecause I\u2019m a woman.
\nBecause I get paid.
\nBecause lay ministry isn\u2019t formally recognized as a Vocation.
\nBecause, \u201cJesus didn\u2019t ordain women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never mind that priests are paid.
\nNever mind that most of them don\u2019t carry the financial burdens many lay ministers do.
\nNever mind that several women are mentioned in the Bible as leaders and ministers.
\nNever mind that countless women have poured their lives into ministry for centuries.<\/p>\n

Still, I remain\u2014not because this is my plan, but because it\u2019s God\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And last night, as I listened and prayed with women and men across the globe, I felt seen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I felt seen in my call to pastoral care, to teaching, to preaching\u2014just as clearly as my ordained colleagues are seen in theirs. I felt valued. Not invisible. Not dismissed.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what the future holds\u2014for me, or for the role of women in the Church.<\/p>\n

But I know this:<\/p>\n

I have HOPE.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hope that women\u2019s gifts will be recognized, not just quietly acknowledged but joyfully celebrated.
\nHope that the Church will continue discerning the Spirit\u2019s movement.
\nHope that my Vocation\u2014and the Vocations of so many others\u2014will be recognized for what they truly are: holy, vital, and Spirit-led.<\/p>\n

St. Phoebe, Pray for Us!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I felt seen in my call to pastoral care, to teaching, to preaching\u2014just as clearly as my ordained colleagues are seen in theirs. I felt valued. Not invisible. Not dismissed. I don\u2019t know what the future holds\u2014for me, or for the role of women in the Church. But I know this: I have hope.”<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":23246,"template":"","witness-tag":[],"class_list":["post-23245","witness","type-witness","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/witness\/23245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/witness"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/witness"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"witness-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/witness-tag?post=23245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}