Abstract

Josef Kreiml:
The deacon. How to estimate the claim for a deaconry of women?
(FKTh 2015-2, p. 134–141)

The II. Vatican Council renewed the theology of the Office (bishop, priest, deacon) based on the spirit of the early church tradition. Missionary challenges were decisive for the restoration of the deaconry as an own and enduring hierarchical level. The deacon is the ministerial representative of the diakonia of Christ. In the early church, the status of the deaconesses was distinguished from that of the male deacons. Today, the introduction of the deaconesses’ ordination would be possible at the utmost as a benediction, but not as a sacrament. The call for ordination of deaconesses ist not a suitable approach to realise the legitimate request to give women more space and public position in the church. This can be done better and more effective in the context of the laity apostolate. In the specific offices concerning ecclesiastical and human laws, women exert important services for the church.