While I have great sympathy for the women opposed to the establishment of the permanent diaconate in Irish dioceses as another layer of male hierarchy in the Church (News from Britain and Ireland, 6 September), I believe they may be discouraging the very order within the Church that before too long may admit women. Before my retirement two years ago, I was a priest for 43 years in pastoral ministry, for the last nine years as director for the permanent diaconate in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. In my view, we have hardly yet begun to unpack the great gift that the Holy Spirit through Vatican II gave us in restoring the permanent diaconate to the Church. Primarily the deacon stands at the threshold of the Church as an evangeliser and servant of Christ to humanity. It is not for nothing th