On the Side of the Synod

Elizabeth Young, 26 October 2023

The much-anticipated Synod on Synodality has been taking place in Rome throughout this month of October. Although the discussions have been private to allow for freedom and confidence in the Spirit, much has been happening both within the Synod hall and without.

One of the side events was a “Symposium on a Synodal Diaconate”, hosted by Discerning Deacons and the Women and Ministeriality Thematic Core Group of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) at the Aula of the Jesuit Curia near the Vatican on the 18th of October. Sixty-five people attended, including synod assembly delegates, religious sisters and theologians in Rome, Fordham students and the DD team. Participants heard, via Zoom, from Franciscan Catechist Sr. Laura Vicuña Pereira Manso from the Amazon region of Brazil and, in person, from Italian theologian Dr. Serena Noceti, professor at the Religious Sciences Institute in Florence. Laura shared her about her experience of her diaconal ministry, alongside disenfranchised people seeking justice, and Serena unpacked the theology around the diaconate, as it has been in the past with men and women, and is emerging since Vatican II. Follow these links to learn more about Laura’s ministry and some of Serena’s work on the diaconate and on synodality.

I was also asked to share a perspective, via Zoom, from Australia. I am able to share some of my talk below. The event was closed to the media, so on the day we were able to talk more fully and openly. I will publish more briefly however, in order to protect the privacy of my community on the peripheries.

“Hello everyone, it is lovely to be with you virtually from the other side of the world. Although so far away, we’ve certainly been keeping all the Synod participants in prayer.

After many years of discerning myself, and privileged to perform diaconal-type ministry in the Church, I asked myself what difference it would make to be an ordained Deacon. And I realised that one of the great benefits of the diaconal ministry is its authorised ability to provide liturgical and sacramental services to people in marginal situations or times in their lives. We see the needs all around us – such as remote communities, prisons and hospitals. People cry out for spiritual nourishment. For Jesus. And, as St Paul says, “how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?” [Rom 10:14] Ordained ministers are authorised and sent on behalf of Bishops to those in need. Deacons have a particular capacity to build bridges between the marginal or non-attendant people of God and the institutional Church.

In 2021, impressed by Discerning Deacons, I felt inspired to encourage this conversation in Australia around reinstituting women into the diaconate of the Catholic Church. With the blessing of my order, I started a blog called Liturgy on the Margins. It has two main aims:

‘PRESENT: To recognise, celebrate and promote diaconal ministry in Australia, especially as it is experienced through liturgy in marginal spaces and communities. and

FUTURE: To identify people and situations that yearn for such ministry, and potential leaders to carry out this ministry through formal Church endorsement.’

In the blog we simply share stories, and I have interviewed so many people about their experience of diaconal ministry. Some have been deacons with a permanent vocation, some priests, Sisters, chaplains, lay ministers, diaconal formators, and deacons in other Christian denominations. They speak from reality – real people in real situations. We focus on experience rather than opinion. The ministries in the blog have all been authorised in various ways by the Church, for example women sent to remote towns by Bishops as ‘pastoral workers’ to lead a parish community, including Sunday liturgies and performing baptisms and funerals.       

So far, we’ve learned that the diaconal call is very specific, and flourishes alongside many other lay and ordained ministries. However, in critical ways the diaconate as a permanent vocation enhances the faith life of Catholics in Australia, as well as the wider community.

We’ve found that proper authorisation of people in diaconal ministry situations is extremely important. For those receiving the ministry, it gives reassurance of qualification, training, supervision and lifelong commitment to God’s work. For those performing the ministry, it gives spiritual foundations, ethical responsibilities, standards of operating, lines of accountability and recognition of vocation. And for the institutional Church, it gives security in having ministries bound to the diocese and not ‘going rogue’. Authorised people are genuine, not provisional or contingent, or ‘filling in’ until the real minister shows up. Historically in our Catholic Church, authorisation for ordinary sacramental and liturgical faculties and the ministry of leadership is ordination. ‘Lay ecclesial ministry’ is much more a departure from tradition than ordained ministry. No other lay ministries (such as pastoral associate, catechist or Sister) have the same traditional, affective or operational qualities. I know this, as I have been all three. 

Already, in situations of need, bishops, parishes and Catholic agencies seek creative solutions. Often they call upon someone who is faithful, spiritually mature, valued by the community and willing to learn. For some, this is a temporary responsibility. However, for others, it is a deeper calling that they are willing to pursue further. Many who are currently precluded from ordained diaconal ministry have very similar stories to those who have been given the sacramental grace of diaconal ordination. 

Concurrently with the Liturgy on the Margins blog, we started a group called Australian Catholics Exploring the Diaconate. Together with clergy, we promote the diaconate as a whole. We have held two webinars for the Feast of St Phoebe and just over a month ago, a retreat. 

In Australia, there has been quite a bit of discussion on completing the restoration of the diaconate for men and women, including in the consultation for Australia’s Plenary Council and this Synod on Synodality. There is also the infrastructure. As I mentioned, lay people have already been given ‘ad hoc’ faculties in certain circumstances to fulfil what would be called diaconal ministries. These are accepted by people in need of such ministry. There are diaconal formation programs and openness from formators. And while I am sure it would not be smooth sailing, is anything that is really worth doing? 

Here I will segue into a little of my own story. This is not because I have a tale of woe, but rather a tale of privilege and opportunity. I don’t share because I ask to do more in the Church, but so that others can follow me, so that there is a recognised pathway to the blessing of ministry. 

I grew up on a farm in rural South Australia and had excellent models of church leadership. They helped me value Jesus, my faith and the Church, and I naturally wanted to give back with my life what I had received. I felt a call to ordained ministry from the age of seven.

Now I can only minister myself because I stand on the shoulders of inspiring and encouraging role models. I was given many opportunities and became a reader when very young and an altar server at age 9. I studied theology from age 21, and entered the Sisters of Mercy in 2008. Eventually I completed 6 full-time years of Bachelor and Masters, focusing on liturgy. I was also privileged to do the Ministry Formation Program in the Adelaide Archdiocese along with those discerning to be deacons as a permanent vocation. 

Being a Sister has opened many doors, and I am truly grateful to my Order. In particular, it has given me experience and love of people on the margins, those in most need of God’s mercy. We are all in need of that, and minister to each other. Sisters also have ongoing formation, discernment and supervision. Our public Profession of vows, while it doesn’t convey any liturgical faculties, gives credibility, a place in the Church and connection with historical tradition. 

The Holy Spirit has kept working in my life and directed me firmly away from other potential ministries, and surprisingly moved me towards what looks like diaconal ministry. What people seem to appreciate from me in particular is liturgical leadership. That space opens up something special, and connects the world of everyday suffering and celebration with the official, public worship of the Church. This is a precious gift we have to share with those in marginal spaces and times. 

In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis says, “the worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care… Our preferential option for the poor must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious care.” [#200]”

After this, I shared a bit about my community and why my Bishop has sent me here. It is a remote town with a majority of Aboriginal residents. My Bishop is the parish priest, but as an instituted Catechist and Parish Life Coordinator, he has “authorised me to be the public face of the Church here, to simply live among the people and accompany them through thick and thin. To learn from the wisdom of the Aboriginal and remote dwellers, encourage the gifts of all the people of God, participate in anything going on, seek service and justice, administer the parish and celebrate the Sunday and other liturgies [including baptisms and funerals] that help us in our spiritual journeys.” 

In the biographical information that the participants received, it also mentioned that I assist the Bishop with a number of diocesan roles: Director for Catholic Mission; secretary of the Diocesan Pastoral Council; secretary of the Diocesan Ecology, Peace and Justice Commission; lay liturgical formator; local coordinator for the Plenary Council/Synod and diocesan St Vincent de Paul Spiritual Advisor. Furthermore, I am privileged to be employed to write school prayer rituals, scriptural reflections and to teach theology to religious women in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

I hope that these real-life stories will assist the Synod’s discernment about the future of the diaconate in the Catholic Church.

Prayer Network