I DREAM

OF THINGS THAT NEVER WERE AND ASK WHY NOT.

    Said Ted Kennedy eulogysing Robert, his slain brother.

Women Deacons in the Catholic Church? Why Not? The answer to why not, aside from canon law
codifications lies in the culture but that may all change- and soon one can only hope. Sometimes tradition, even bad tradition can create culture that people
believe is a reality that must be preserved no matter how off the culture is. When you finally understand how off the culture is you are ready to root out the evil.

In Germany in the middle of the 20th century there was a culture of Anti-Semitism. It wasn't a
good culture, and it had profoundly evil manifestation. When aspects of culture are bad or rooted in untruth they can have profoundly evil manifestation.

There is profound sexism in the conservative catholic culture. Cardinal Dolan just appointed a woman spokesperson to try to combat the perception that it isn't but it is. Profoundly sexist. You really have
to be a woman to see how. It is way more sexist than Jesus ever is or would be-he who created male and female. If you don't approve birth control and want a woman raising five or six kids then you have to suppress her ambition to do anything that takes time away from that. So you make it impossible for her to do other things advancing in her professionalism.

   Men's egos have a problem with women in authority. They have to take them down a peg. Especially the more competent ones-those are the most threatening. Hence the virulent anti-hillary hatred. Women are supposed to raise children or be in uniformed convents. --as if there were anything unholy about a colorful change of clothes. (is it just cheaper to have everyone in all grey black and navy blue one wonders. )  The single professional childless woman is viewed suspiciously- must be a witch, or murdered her infants in vitro or be gay. or something.

   Now a prominent European Cardinal has finally said that it is not taboo to talk about women deacons. I didn't know it ever was taboo- we have a First Amendment here. The fact it was ever taboo says
a lot about the sexism of the culture. He is apparently the European equivalent of Dolan so this carries weight even with Dominicans.

    Is there anything intrinsically male about giving money to people in need, tending to the sick, or even performing a baptism-which is what deacons do? Of course not.

Women as deacons makes a lot of sense in terms of meeting needs of the sheep - or have we met them all already now? Are there no more sick people, people needing money and everyone is baptized now whose parents want them to be? Wouldn't it make about a thousand percent more sense to formally educate scripturally women deacons who lead women's bible studies or even (gasp) bible studies where everyone is welcome, men included and greeting people Sunday morning than the untrained scripturally vaguely illiterate widow who is jealously mean to anyone younger with a better figure and more expensive shoes who shows up? Deacon at least has qualifications. There is Formation involved. It vets out people who just want to be noseybodies in everyone's business for their personal power trip or filling a sense of loneliness. It requires people be trained and qualified for mission. Trust me, church will be a much happier place.

The culture has to first wake up and change before you will see it on a wide scale because people have to embrace the idea with their wallets. You have to send women to seminary to train them to be Deacons. And you have to pay for it and raise scholarships just like you do for Seminarians. Where your heart is your treasure lies. And if you have no heart for women in church leadership, shame on you. You are a sexist idiot. Everyone needs to grasp how much Jesus detested sexist idiots. There is
not a Pharisee alive today to tell how Jesus promoted the cause of women against their disdain, judgment and lack of love. Think about it. Then watch the movie The Trial of Joan of Arc.