Half the Deacons Are Missing: A St. Phoebe Day Reflection

Happy St. Phoebe’s Feast Day! 

Today is a day to celebrate the vocation of the diaconate. More than ever, the world needs deacons and the diaconate needs women! 

The Synod’s Final Document says that: “Deacons respond to the specific needs of each local Church, particularly reawakening and sustaining everyone’s attention to the poorest in a Church which is synodal, missionary and merciful” (#73). 

Women hearing this call may remind you of women like your grandmothers, mother, sisters, aunts, friends. We are every-day people seeking to bring healing to a hurting world. We are defending Jesus’ dream for humanity that we love our neighbors as ourselves.   

It is urgent that the question of women and the diaconate continues being discerned in our Church (Paragraph 60). We believe that the Church cannot animate diakonia at the scale that is needed in each of our local communities when half the deacons are missing. 

With this vision of a synodal diaconate in our hearts, we have been working on something special and are sharing it with you today…

In January, the Vatican invited testimonies from women discerning a call to the permanent diaconate. We gathered stories from women in the Discerning Deacons community. Ellie, Anna Robertson, and board member Yolanda Brown carried these testimonies to Rome in February for the Jubilee of Deacons. These testimonies were submitted to the Vatican office studying women’s participation in the Church and to the Office of the Synod. They bear witness to the Holy Spirit animating women to boldly serve in diaconal ministry—while also naming the constraints that limit their service. Today, we are honored to share these stories with you in written form, in both English and Spanish – AND we are thrilled to announce a shared collaboration to bring these stories forward in video form as well!

Discerning Deacons and Loyola Productions present Called to Serve, a microseries about 11 women and their stories. Season trailer releases today at 12 PM Eastern / 9AM Pacific. Follow @discerningdeacons @loyolaproductions on Instagram to receive all the updates.

We hope these stories help others to be courageous in following where the Holy Spirit is prompting–even if it can feel impossible at the moment. 

We hope these stories can bear witness to the reality that women are already responding to Christ’s call to serve as deacons. We invite everyone to share their witness and their hope – as together we make visible the ways this discernment is an urgent one for enlivening the Church for mission. 

Thank you dear reader for being part of our community. We hope you enjoy the video trailer and share it widely. Starting in October we will begin releasing a weekly episode featuring a woman’s witness. Can we count on you to share them with your friends, family and colleagues? 

The ancient diaconate was formed in times like these. Deacon St. Stephen is our Church’s first martyr, and Deacon St. Phoebe bravely carried St. Paul’s letter to the Romans to a fledgling faith community daring to believe that Jesus came to bring Good News in which all belong.

If you haven’t yet registered for today’s global, virtual St. Phoebe Prayer and Celebration, you can still do so! Join us today, September 3rd @ 8pm ET / 5pm PT  as we gather together as a community. And be sure to find a local celebration near you this month!