This popped up last week, an essay by Deacon Douglas J. Cremer in the pages of America:
In a wide-ranging interview with Elise Ann Allen of Crux last year, Pope Leo XIV addressed the debate over women’s ordination to the diaconate. He said he did not plan to change the church’s teaching, but that a more fundamental question must first be asked: “Why would we talk about ordaining women to the diaconate if the diaconate itself is not yet properly understood and properly developed and promoted within the church?”
Since the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent order among the clergy in the Roman Catholic Church, it has been a ministry in search of a definitive purpose. In a commentary appended to the December 2025 report of the Vatican’s Study Commission on the Female Diaconate, Cardinal Guiseppe Petrocchi wrote that there is still a need for further study on “the diaconate in itself—that is, on its sacramental identity and its ecclesial mission—clarifying certain structural and pastoral aspects that are currently not fully defined.”
He noted that in many parts of the world the diaconate is “almost nonexistent,” while in other areas it serves functions “coinciding with roles proper to lay ministries or to altar servers in the liturgy.” For the cardinal, this confusion concerning the identity, function and status of deacons is a problem for further study and resolution. He sees deacons, of which I am one, as an unsettled ministry. I would agree. His comments, especially in the context of women as deacons, suggest that our presence is also somewhat unsettling to others.
What I would argue instead is that this confusion, this indeterminacy, is actually constitutive of the diaconate itself. It is historical and intentional, a necessary condition of fulfilling the many different roles deacons hold. And I believe that this unsettled condition is actually a beneficial force in the diaconate, especially at a time when the church is experiencing what Pope Francis called an “epochal change.” This uncertainty provides an opportunity to shift the conversation about the diaconate away from questions of identity, function and status toward a reflection on vocation, ministry and a commitment to service.
We deacons occupy a middle space between the laity and the clergy; we are married, like many of the laity, and ordained, like clergy. We occupy an undetermined position in that the diaconate is allowed, but not required, to be established in a diocese by the local bishop (“Lumen gentium,” No. 29; “Ad gentes,” No. 16). We occupy an unfixed role, moving between the nave, where we care for the people, and the sanctuary, where we proclaim the Gospel. We are a sign for all of the people of God, lay and ordained together, to give priority to these twin callings, to the intimate yet fluid connection between works and faith.
The result is a ministry that is unsettled, indeterminate, and yes, for some, confusing. As the theologian Rainer Bucher put it in 2021, the diaconate is actually an “undefined office.” Rather than seek to fix this by creating a more specific (and less confusing) job description, Bucher argued that this indeterminacy may actually benefit the people of God.
Among other things, Deacon Cremer goes on to discuss discerning women’s ordination to the diaconate — and what that could mean for the larger Church.
My take: we have a lot of work to do, and a lot of ground to cover. There are still dioceses that do not embrace the diaconate, pastors that want nothing to do with it, and people in the pews who do not see us as “real” clergy. Things are changing. But we’ve only been doing this for a little over 50 years.
I think Pope Leo’s remarks to Elise Allen were prudent and show a deeper understanding of the state of the diaconate than his predecessors. When I spoke at the LA Religious Ed Congress four years ago, I was asked my thoughts on ordaining women as deacons. I said I think we need to figure out the all-male diaconate first — and have more acceptance of it and appreciation for it, and a clearer understanding of who we are and what we do — before undertaking something that radical. (That answer was not warmly received. One woman said, “We can’t wait. We need change now!”)
Like I said: we have a lot of work to do.
