Implementing Synod outcomes – what is ours to do?

Discerning Deacons recently gathered together with board members and several dedicated leaders at St. John’s Abbey Guesthouse in Collegeville, Minnesota for a few days of prayer, reflection, and visioning. We were pleased to see pages of the hand-written and hand-illuminated Saint John’s Bible and to be reminded of the collaborative efforts of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica is beginning the Rule of St. Benedict. 

It also was a fitting start to Lent, spending some time set apart to pray for conversion of hearts and for clarity – what is ours to do as Discerning Deacons now that we are in a time of implementing the outcomes of the Synod? What is ours to do as values we once took for granted to guide our common life – care for the most vulnerable, the poor around the world, the sick – can no longer be taken for granted. 

As we sought to understand the events, people, and experiences that have shaped Discerning Deacons, we could see the generational work that we are humbled to be a part of and upon which we seek to build. 

Sunday morning we attended Mass at St. John’s – which concluded with a profound pastoral letter written by Bishop Patrick Neary. This letter was proclaimed in every parish in the St. Cloud Diocese. 

Today I am compelled to ask you for a deeper commitment. In doing so I join with my fellow Bishops and indeed our Holy Father in addressing the crisis created by the US Administration’s recent and abrupt suspension and termination of lifesaving U.S. humanitarian assistance programs. CRS is a major participant in these programs.

These actions massively impact our Catholic Relief Services teams and partners across the world. These dedicated people representing us are witnessing the impacts in real time. As food distributions are halted, people are going hungry. Without treatment for acute malnutrition, children will die. Entire communities are at present without shelter and clean water. Farmers are unable to plant crops. Mothers and infants are going without health care. Sadly, the lives of our sisters and brothers in many areas hang in the balance.

Therefore, I ask that each of us respond as we are able. Please help us to utilize the remaining days of Lent with asking your beloved parishioners to prioritize sacrificial giving to these CRS programs to at least partially off-set the funding gap hampering CRS lifesaving services.

It was a powerful moment of communion with Catholics around the world – who today seek to stand in the gap to meet urgent needs. 

The full text of Bishop Neary’s letter can be found here.

And here is a link to contribute to CRS: DONATE

This Tuesday evening we joined with the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess for an ecumenical dialogue between Orthodox and Roman Catholics with regard to the question of women and the order of deacon(nesses)!

Many thanks to our panelists Rev. Dr. Radu Bordeianu, Kelly Meraw, JoAnn Lopez, and Dr. Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos who shared wisdom, experience, and expertise from each tradition to help illuminate the ways the Holy Spirit has been enlivening this question! 

I was moved to hear that there is consensus in the Orthodox world among theologians and bishops that there were ordained women deaconnesses (with the same ordination as male counterparts). Many of the theological questions that often get raised in the Roman Catholic context (Were they really ordained? And did they really serve at the altar?) have already gotten worked out. And at the same time, in the Roman Catholic context, our practice of ministry today includes more paths and opportunities for women to be in ministry – whether it is through altar serving, as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, or in a wide range of lay ministries. 

It was inspiring to be in dialogue – the conversation was rich and we just began to scratch the surface of what we can learn from one another. Here’s a link to one of the resources we shared – The State of the Question: Can Women Be Restored to the Ordained Diaconate? Here’s a link to St. Phoebe Center’s Proposed Guidelines for the Revival of the Ordained Female Diaconate in the Orthodox Church Today. And here’s the link to a recent study by Dr. Phyllis Zagano, Survey of Vatican Studies on the Diaconate of Women. 

I’ve long been inspired by the St. Phoebe Center – which stewards a treasure trove of historic, ecclesial, theological work about the tradition of women deaconnesses. You are welcome to view the recording of Tuesday’s collaborative panel discussion at this link.

Finally, next week we are looking forward to gathering for our Discerning Deacons Spring Assembly! Join us Tuesday, March 18 or Thursday, March 20 as we gather together all those who have been growing the conversation about women and the diaconate through St. Phoebe celebrations and synodal dialogues. We will reflect together on how we continue to steward this question faithfully, led by the Spirit to help form a more diaconal, synodal Church. Click here to register – and see you next week!