Discerning Deacons is a project that was started earlier this year (2021) in the United States. Its website proclaims: ‘We engage Catholics in the active discernment of our Church about women and the diaconate.‘
The Discerning Deacons team has really inspired this blog around Liturgy on the Margins, particularly as it shares stories of people in ministry. The website hosts educational, conversational and discernment opportunities to participate in the study of the universal Church into women in the diaconate. I first connected with with the team in its precursor activities, particularly their online Feast of St Phoebe 2020. The celebration this year was even more powerful and moving, with testimonies of women working on the margins, coming from all different backgrounds. The ‘Pray‘ section of the website is well worth checking out, as is the succinct and useful ‘Learn‘ section. Finally, the team has brought together the words of many bishops who have endorsed the discernment of women deacons.
Currently, a delegation from Discerning Deacons is traveling to Rome for the October launch of the 2023 Synod on Synodality. They plan to further this conversation with Church leaders at the Vatican. To prepare, Discerning Deacons is sharing a novena prayer from Sep 28 – Oct 6, including the Angelus, so that people may join them and spiritually strengthen this endeavour.
Visit their site: https://discerningdeacons.org/
Liturgy on the Margins 