Vatican - A September 17 notification from the Vatican Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Clergy, and for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has quashed plans in some countries to implement courses aimed at ordaining women as deacons. Supporters of the idea have claimed that there were deaconesses in the early Church, but research indicates that they were never ordained, and were used only for the immersion baptism of adult women converts-circumstances which no longer pertain.

John Paul II, in the 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, reiterated that the Church has "no authority to confer priestly ordination on women." This strong statement, however, made no mention of the diaconate, which has led to some feminist supporters of women priests viewing the diaconate as a stepping-stone to the priesthood.

The recent notification effectively scotches these developments when it states that "it is not licit" to initiate programs "geared either directly or indirectly to the diaconal ordination of women."

The congregations anticipate that false hopes "without a solid doctrinal foundation" would be created which could lead to "pastoral confusion." It reminds women that their authentic place in the Church provides many other opportunities for service and collaboration.

A former Lutheran pastor and now a Catholic convert, Ms. Jennifer Ferrara of Reading, PA, has changed her previous advocacy of women priests. With words of wisdom she says, "If the Church were to give in to that, it would give in to the chaos in our culture surrounding the issue."

The countries involved in the projected courses are thought to be Austria and Germany. There is also a fairly strong women's movement for ordination in the U.S.A. The Vatican's Notification has been circulated to bishops worldwide

(Files from N.C. Reg. and Zenit).