You might be forgiven for thinking that the last thing that the Church needs right now is more confusion, more doubt and more argument over doctrine, but not everyone shares this view. In particular, four members of the Pope's commission to look into the question of women deacons have given a conference at Fordham University, designed to get us to think about this (in their view) pressing issue. Indeed, Professor Phyllis Zagano, a long standing advocate of women deacons, reveals: "It's up to the Church to make noise," while also warning that "to delay a positive answer" on whether women can serve as deacons "is a negative answer." The Fordham conference is no doubt the opening salvo of much more noise to come.
The Pope's commission on the question springs from a request made by a nun at a meeting back in 2016. The article cited above represents a fair summary of the question so far. But there are certain observations to be made.
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