It is perhaps curious that two initiatives which appeared progressive at the time of Vatican II are now being looked at as divisive. I am referring to concelebration and the permanent diaconate.
Concelebration came into its own in that it focused the Mass on the community at prayer, rather than around the priest. Priests were expected to celebrate Mass daily and, when they gathered together, would end up bizarrely celebrating Mass separately on their own. Today concelebration is being questioned in that it emphasises the separation between those who are clergy and those who are not. And, of course, it adds to the exclusion of women.
In terms of the permanent diaconate, it was introduced to include people living "ordinary" lives in the ministry of the church. It is therefore interesting to read that the Bishop of Killaloe has responded to protests by women’s groups by not introducing the permanent diaconate in his diocese (The Tablet, 18 September).
There have been calls to extend the permanent diaconate to women. This seems to me to be an excellent proposal and one which need not meet with any difficulty. Conservatives among us may want to question whether theologically holy orders can be conferred on women. However, there is no theological reason why women could not undertake all the tasks currently undertaken by deacons e.g. preaching, administering baptism, conducting funerals. So let’s go ahead and "ordain" women to the permanent diaconate. And if the conservatives among us are uncomfortable about the word "ordain", let’s not lose any sleep over it.
It is time to start initiating some sensible reforms and not get too tied up in the minutiae of theology. It may be that in such a way the church can indeed begin to show itself as inclusive.
Chris Larkman, London, SW20
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