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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
“[W]e celebrated St. Phoebe Day with a mass to uplift the voices of women in the Church, invite the community to rethink women’s participation and raise awareness of the global synod…Many were deeply moved by our celebration together. A senior female parishioner shared that she had waited most of her adult life to hear the hope that was offered during mass. A man approached after the celebration to ask for a copy of the reflection shared. With tears in his eyes, he shared that he hoped to share it with his daughter who had left the Church.”
St. Francis Xavier College Church
St. Louis, MO
Witness
“As a parish, we know the blessing of the many ministries and gifts that women in our parish share with all of us. Celebrating mass this weekend to honor the witness of St. Phoebe focused attention on women’s gifts for leadership in our parish and the Church more broadly. We are proud to be a part of the conversation and discernment for women’s ordination to the diaconate.”
St. Bridget of Kildare Parish
Seattle, WA
Witness
“This is not only because Church teaching written by men sometimes misses the mark when it comes to women’s lived experience. It is not only because our Church’s management in many ways mirrors the patriarchal systems that have also harmed our secular society – mismanaging cases of abuse and failing to provide living wages or adequate parental leave policies to its employees. It is primarily because without women’s voices, we are missing out on entire elements of who God is.”
Kelly Sankowski
St. Phoebe Day Witness, St. Martin de Porres, Toledo, OH

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