{"id":189139,"date":"2025-12-13T04:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T04:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/189139\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T04:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T04:38:12","slug":"irelands-catholic-bishops-criticised-for-silence-on-vatican-extending-ban-on-women-deacons-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/189139\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s Catholic bishops criticised for silence on Vatican extending ban on women deacons \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s Catholic<\/a> bishops have been criticised by priests for remaining silent on the Vatican\u2019s<\/a> continued ban on women deacons announced last week<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The bishops did not address the issue during their winter meeting at Maynooth<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

A deacon can perform all the functions of a priest except hearing Confession or celebrating the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

Expressing its \u201cdeep disappointment\u201d, the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), which represents up to a half of Catholic clergy in Ireland, said it was \u201cespecially disappointed that no Irish bishop has publicly addressed this development\u201d.<\/p>\n

On December 4th a report by a Vatican Commission ruled out \u201cthe possibility of moving in the direction of admitting women to the diaconate understood as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders\u201d. <\/p>\n

The Vatican report noted how there was deadlock at the commission over an argument opposing women deacons as Jesus<\/a> was a man. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe masculinity of Christ, and therefore the masculinity of those who receive Holy Orders, is not accidental but is an integral part of sacramental identity,\u201d the commission said.<\/p>\n

The ACP said the ban on women deacons would \u201ccause significant harm\u201d to the synodal process and to \u201cthe credibility of the Church\u201d itself. <\/p>\n

It called on Ireland\u2019s Catholic bishops to \u201clisten attentively to the People of God and to show the courage and openness this moment requires\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLay Catholics overwhelmingly support the restoration of women to the diaconate, and many also favour broader opportunities for women in ordained ministry. Yet the Church\u2019s stated commitment to equality for women continues to be sidelined,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What next for top Irish Vatican clerics under Pope Leo XIV?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The We Are Church Ireland group has described as \u201cshocking\u201d that members of the commission \u201cbelieve that the masculinity of Christ is an integral part of sacramental identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

It pointed out that women around the world are already performing the work of ordained priests without ordination even as deacons. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are baptising, conducting funerals, blessing marriages, and conducting Eucharistic liturgies,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

Calling on Pope Leo<\/a> \u201cto promote the ordination of women\u201d, it said it was \u201ca scandal for our Church to treat women as inferior and subordinate to men\u201d.<\/p>\n

A 2022 survey of Irish Catholics, conducted in Ireland\u2019s 26 Catholic dioceses by the bishops, found that 96 per cent of people consulted favoured the ordination of women, whether as deacons or priests. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s Catholic bishops have been criticised by priests for remaining silent on the Vatican\u2019s continued ban on women…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12780,61,60,14500,26160,43,6318,6317],"class_list":["post-189139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-catholic-church","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jesus-christ","tag-maynooth","tag-news","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-vatican"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}