Much has recently been written about the possibility of the Church sacramentally ordaining women to the diaconate. Research indicates that in the early Church, especially in the East, women “deaconesses” engaged in service to women in situations where modesty needed protecting, or gender segregation called for women to minister to women. Such ministry might have occurred during the baptism of adult women, in their catechesis, or in the carrying of the Eucharist to women confined to their homes.
There is no evidence, however, that women ever participated in the eucharistic liturgy. Historic deaconesses are women who met a pastoral need during an epoch when the sexes were more sequestered. Their ministry was not equivalent to what the deacon in the Roman Church practices during the eucharistic liturgy.
Women are welcome to hold leadership positions in the Church. There are many who already do. They serve as spiritual directors, have positions of authority in retreat houses, campus ministries, Catholic charities, and so forth. Women affect the psychic health of the Church through their roles as seminary and university therapists, counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
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