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Hi, Warren —
These web resources from the Vatican website should help.
From the Catechism of the
Catholic Church:
VI. Who can receive this Sacrament?
Note: The Catechism was prefaced
with the Apostolic Constitution Fidei
Depositum; In Section 3
3. The Doctrinal Value of the
Text
The Catechism of the Catholic
Church, which I approved 25 June
last and the publication of which
I today order by virtue of my
Apostolic Authority, is a statement
of the Church's faith and of catholic
doctrine, attested to or illumined
by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic
Tradition and the Church's Magisterium.
I declare
it to be a sure norm for teaching
the faith and thus a valid and
legitimate instrument for ecclesial
communion. May it serve the
renewal to which the Holy Spirit
ceaselessly calls the Church of
God, the Body of Christ, on her
pilgrimage to the undiminished
light of the Kingdom! |
The CTU may be taking the word deaconess out of historical and cultural
context or confusing the meaning
of the word ordain.
They may be referring to the Council
of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. If you go down to the end of this
document to Canon 15 it states:
| No woman under forty years of
age is to be ordained a deacon,
and then only after close scrutiny.
If after receiving ordination
and spending some time in the
ministry she despises God's grace
and gets married, such a person
is to be anathematized along with
her spouse. |
The word ordain here, does not mean
to bring into Holy Orders. Ordain can also
mean:
to establish, install, choose
or appoint.
Back in the 400's women deaconesses
were ordained helpers
or assistants to the priests,
like female altar servers or women
involved in other Church ministries
today.
One of my colleagues, Eric, replied to a similar question. In
Eric's answer, where he says,
They
were not ordained in his reply,
he is referring to Holy Orders.
These postings from our colleagues
at Catholic Answers should slam
the door on THIS heresy at the
Union:
Here are some other related
questions and answers:
Q: Have there ever been female
deacons?
A: There were women in the early
Church, such as Phoebe, who assisted
the clergy. Phoebe aided the local
church in Cenchreae and was called
a deaconess by Paul
(Romans 16:1). Such women, in certain
ages of the early Church, assisted
in the baptism of women, which
was necessary because baptism
often was performed without benefit
of clothing.
Although the Catholic Encyclopedia
recounts that there is some historical
evidence that deaconesses were
charged with their ministry in
a manner resembling the ordination
of deacons, it is certain that
there was a fundamental difference
in the rites. The First Council
of Nicaea (A.D. 325) made it clear
that deaconesses did
not receive sacramental ordination.
If there was a special liturgical
rite for deaconesses, it likely
resembled the modern non-sacramental
installation ceremonies that charge
extraordinary ministers of Holy
Communion with their responsibilities. |
Q. Why would women in the early
Church be called deaconesses if
they did not receive the same
sacrament the deacons did?
A: The term diakonos simply
means servant in Greek,
and it was some time before it
became an exclusive term for the
ordained office. In the meantime,
women who served in church were
sometimes called diakonai,
without implying that they were
ordained. In ancient times the
difference between male and female
deacons was understood and unquestioned.
In modern times this imprecise
language has led to some confusion
on the part of people who do not
understand that women cannot validly
receive the sacrament of holy
orders.
Analogously, in medieval times,
the blessing given church bells
was popularly called the
baptism of the bells, although
no one really believed that the
bells were given the sacrament
of Baptism. Only after the Protestant
Reformation did controversialists
begin to misunderstand the blessing,
although they did not misunderstand
the practice of christening ships.
Now that there is widespread misunderstanding
of the nature of Holy Orders,
the Church is especially careful
and precise in its sacramental
language and no longer refers
to female assistants to the clergy
as deaconesses. |
Pray for the Professor. He is part
of the false or Judas magisterium.
He has NO authority to teach Catholic
doctrine or Theology in the Church
at all.
Your Cardinal or bishop should be
made aware of what he is teaching.
Hope this helps,
Mike
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