By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has appointed six men and
six women to a commission to study the issue of women deacons, particularly
their ministry in the early church.
In addition to the 12 members named Aug. 2, the pope tapped
Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, to serve as president of the commission.
The pope set up the commission at the request of the
International Union of Superiors General, the organization for the leaders of
women’s religious orders around the world. Meeting the group in May, Pope
Francis said that while his understanding was that the women described as
deacons in the New Testament were not ordained as male deacons are today,
“it would be useful for the church to clarify this question.”
The International Theological Commission, a body that
advises the doctrinal congregation, included the question of women deacons in a
study on the diaconate almost 20 years ago. While its report, issued in 2002,
did not offer recommendations for the future, it concluded that biblical
deaconesses were not the same as ordained male deacons.
In June, Pope Francis told reporters that he had asked
Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect of the doctrinal congregation, and Sister
Carmen Sammut, president of the superiors’ group, to suggest scholars to
include in the study group.
At least one of the members Pope Francis named to the
commission — U.S. scholar Phyllis Zagano — has written extensively on the
role of women deacons in the early church, arguing that they were ordained
ministers and that women can be ordained deacons today. Zagano is a senior
research associate in the religion department at Hofstra University in
Hempstead, New York.
Another U.S. scholar also is among the 12 commission members:
Augustinian Father Robert Dodaro, president of the Pontifical Augustinian
Institute in Rome and a professor of patristic theology specializing in the
works of St. Augustine.
The other members of the commission are:
— Spanish Sister Nuria Calduch-Benages, a member of the
Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family and member of the Pontifical Biblical
Commission.
— Francesca Cocchini, a professor of church history at
Rome’s Sapienza University.
— Italian Msgr. Piero Coda, a professor of systematic
theology and member of the International Theological Commission.
— Spanish Jesuit Father Santiago Madrigal Terrazas, professor
of ecclesiology at the Pontifical Comillas University in Madrid.
— Angeline Franciscan Sister Mary Melone, a theologian and rector
of Rome’s Pontifical Antonianum University.
— Father Karl-Heinz Menke, retired professor of dogmatic
theology at the University of Bonn and member of the International Theological
Commission.
— Rwandan Salesian Father Aimable Musoni, professor of
ecclesiology at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome.
— Jesuit Father Bernard Pottier, professor at the Institute
of Theological Studies in Brussels and member of the International Theological
Commission.
— Marianne Schlosser, professor of spiritual theology at
the University of Vienna and member of the International Theological Commission.
— Michelina Tenace, professor of fundamental theology at
Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University.
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Follow Wooden on Twitter: @Cindy_Wooden
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