- Feb 5, 2002
- 166,685
- 56,301
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
COMMENTARY: Cardinal McElroy’s recent public stance in favor of women’s ordination cannot be sustained by the historic and theological evidence.
In a recently published interview in America magazine, Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego discussed the notion of “inclusion” as it relates to the Synod on Synodality.
Though he spoke on a range of issues, what was common to each of these is an ecclesiology thoroughly inconsistent with Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution on the Church. Reminiscent of what Pope Benedict XVI called the “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture,” the cardinal’s comments were at odds with the long-standing Catholic theological tradition. What particularly caught my attention was his support of admitting women to the diaconate.
Arguing for a possible change in Church teaching, he indicated that there was “a lot of evidence” that women were “doing the work of deacons and were ordained in various ceremonies.” Having studied this particular area of theology quite extensively, I was taken aback by the cardinal’s statement. While it certainly contained elements of truth, it was a broad generalization that, in its conclusion, cannot be sustained by the historic and theological evidence.
In 2020, I was one of 10 international scholars selected by Pope Francis to serve on the Papal Commission on Women and the Diaconate. This was preceded by an earlier 2016 commission on the same topic, though the focus was more historic, while the new commission would be more theological. Because that first commission did not reach a consensus, the Holy Father, at the request of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region, initiated a second commission.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
In a recently published interview in America magazine, Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego discussed the notion of “inclusion” as it relates to the Synod on Synodality.
Though he spoke on a range of issues, what was common to each of these is an ecclesiology thoroughly inconsistent with Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution on the Church. Reminiscent of what Pope Benedict XVI called the “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture,” the cardinal’s comments were at odds with the long-standing Catholic theological tradition. What particularly caught my attention was his support of admitting women to the diaconate.
Arguing for a possible change in Church teaching, he indicated that there was “a lot of evidence” that women were “doing the work of deacons and were ordained in various ceremonies.” Having studied this particular area of theology quite extensively, I was taken aback by the cardinal’s statement. While it certainly contained elements of truth, it was a broad generalization that, in its conclusion, cannot be sustained by the historic and theological evidence.
In 2020, I was one of 10 international scholars selected by Pope Francis to serve on the Papal Commission on Women and the Diaconate. This was preceded by an earlier 2016 commission on the same topic, though the focus was more historic, while the new commission would be more theological. Because that first commission did not reach a consensus, the Holy Father, at the request of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region, initiated a second commission.
Continued below.
Women and the Diaconate: A Theological Opinion
COMMENTARY: Cardinal McElroy’s recent public stance in favor of women’s ordination cannot be sustained by the historic and theological evidence.
