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Witnesses
Luke Hansen
August 4, 2021

“I dream of a Church that receives and empowers the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to each member. Ordaining women to the diaconate is one important way to recognize and strengthen the diaconal ministry that is already exercised by Catholic women everywhere. I’m excited to walk with others into a vision of a listening and participatory Church, opening up new pathways for encounter and dialogue between Church leaders and Catholic women.”

Luke Hansen, a former co-director of Discerning Deacons, has worked as a teacher, campus minister, journalist and prison chaplain. He has an MA in social philosophy from Loyola University Chicago, a Master of Divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He has studied the history of women as deacons and the restoration of the permanent diaconate at the Second Vatican Council. He has served as a contributing editor for the Jesuit journals America and La Civiltà Cattolica in Rome. He has reported from three Synods of Bishops in Rome, and he has won several awards from the Catholic Press Association for his writing.

Witness
“I’m not sure I’m really called to be a deacon, but even the chance to have a platform in front of a parish during mass would be a revelation for folks, especially people who experience gender discrimination. The Church would start to live out a truer version of universality.”
Katie Laskey
Contemplative Leaders in Action -  DC Cohort 2021-23 
Witness
“Women have been the caregivers and great support of most churches. Why? Because we deal with the personhood of the ordinary. The everyday matters of living. To me, that is what a deacon is. She extends the Church to the common community: visiting the sick and dying, helping parents with family problems, attending as a lector at Mass, burying the dead, and comforting families.” 
Kathleen Carlton Johnson
Hospice Chaplain
Endorser
“It is time for our Church to acknowledge the role of countless women serving the people of God in positions of ministry and leadership.”
Deacon Guillermo "Memo" Rodriguez
Facilitator of Diaconate Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

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This is the hub where we share relevant news, events and opportunities to participate in the work. 
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