Mags GarganArchbishop-elect of Cashel & Emly says he is “not in a position to change” the rules
One of Ireland’s most senior bishops has said that he would ordain female deacons, if the Pope allowed him to.
Dr Kieran O’Reilly, Archbishop-elect of Cashel & Emly, controversially backed away from his plan to introduce the permanent diaconate in Killaloe diocese after some parishioners objected that women could not be ordained.
He was appointed Archbishop of Cashel & Emly by Pope Francis last month. He said that it was his aim to involve as many people in the Church as possible, but he was “not in a position to change” the rule that only permits only men to be ordained as permanent deacons.
The permanent diaconate, which was re-established as part of the reforms of Vatican II, has been introduced in 13 other Irish dioceses without controversy.
“I would invite women to become deacons if I had the power to do that, but I don’t,” he said.
Dr O’Reilly told The Clare Champion that he had “parked this issue” in order to “allow people to look again and so we all could look and see the future.
“I want to listen to see the best way and work with people who want to make the Church alive and well in the future,” he said.
The archbishop-elect said that he accepted that “people are entitled to express their views and opinions”, and he remained on “good terms” with the parishioners who took part in the protest campaign.
Bishop O’Reilly also said that while he aimed to promote the role of women, “they are already fantastically present in the Church” and his concern was that other groups were disappearing from churches, “like men between 35 and 55, we hardly see them there”.
A 2002 study by the International Theological Commission concluded that the role of women deacons in the early Church could not be considered equivalent to that of ordained male deacons. It also concluded that the permanent diaconate belongs to the sacrament of orders – which the Church says is limited to men only.
