Women's Diaconate, the Age of Confirmation and Bishop Barron

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The issue of the ordination of women to the diaconate has been much discussed since the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Francis. The pope himself set up a commission of theologians to look into the matter. From what I read, the findings of the commission have been given to the pope and we now await his decision.

Many bishops have expressed approval of the idea of women in the diaconate, most recently Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council of Culture, and Archbishop Paul Andre Durocher of Gatineau, Canada.

Cardinal Ravasi said in an interview in a German periodical, “I think a diaconate for women would be possible. But, of course, it has to be discussed.” He went on to say that it would be highly desirable to include more women in the Vatican administration “even at higher levels.”

In an interview in a Canadian Catholic paper, Archbishop Durocher stated that “if women were deacons, they would have the power to marry, to baptize. They would be part of the management team of the Church.” “It’s a first step,” he said. Women deacons would revitalize the Church. Even now, he said, the greater involvement of women would make the Church more egalitarian.

The Age of Confirmation.

The Diocese of Gallup, N.M., plans to restore the traditional order of Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, First Communion), according to Bishop S. Wall. Gallup will be the 13th diocese in the United States to celebrate Confirmation before First Communion.

 According to Bishop Wall, “Receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation long after the reception of Holy Communion tends to weaken the understanding of the bond and relationship that the sacraments have with one another. The sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation lead the faithful to the culmination of their initiation into the Christian life in Holy Communion.”

At the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, of which I was rector from 1984 to 2000, our then-bishop, William K. Weigand, allowed the practice of the traditional order of Confirmation-First Communion. The practice continues there, and the “experiment” has proven highly successful.

In my opinion, having First Communion before Confirmation is akin to having the wedding first and the engagement later.

Celebrating Confirmation at the age of 7 rather than the teenage years would leave a gap in the Church’s ministry to young people, and would require a considerable strengthening of youth ministry in which the bishop would be involved, perhaps culminating in a pilgrimage to a shrine such as Guadalupe in Mexico.

Bishop Barron.

I never cease to be in awe of the Word on Fire ministry of auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles. Last year, he gave two intellectually rigorous yet accessible talks to the staff of Google and Facebook on the need, sorely lacking today, of the necessity of learning to argue with agnostics and atheists in a rational, respectful, and productive manner. (These talks have been published recently in a short book, titled “Arguing Religion: A Bishop Speaks at Facebook and Google.”)

In a recent address at the University of St. Thomas in Rome, Bishop Barron observed that society, both inside the Church and out, has become increasingly polarized, especially in the U.S. He stated that arguments between people who disagree would be much more effective if disputants stopped caricaturing each other and making the worst possible interpretations of the others’ positions. This would prevent creating “straw men” in arguments. The solution is to give the strongest version you can find of your opponent’s arguments and thereby move the dialogue forward, he said.

Monsignor Mannion is pastor emeritus at Saint Vincent de Paul Parish.