When the diaconate as a permanent vocation was restored to men during Vatican II, the bishops were aware of many laymen engaged in diaconal charity and service following the horrors of World War II. They wrote, "It is only right to strengthen them by the imposition of hands which has come down from the Apostles, and to bind them more closely to the altar, that they may carry out their ministry more effectively because of the sacramental grace of the diaconate."
Are women any less deserving of the grace Jesus would offer them as they organize peace walks through violent streets, visit the incarcerated, offer a pastoral presence at immigration detention centers, serve rural Indigenous communities or pray at the bedside of those who are ill and dying?
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