A former key U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference staffer has been told
he is not allowed to speak publicly in the Philadelphia archdiocese
because he co-authored a book investigating the possibility of ordaining
women as deacons.
William Ditewig, a theologian and deacon who previously served as the
head of the bishops’ secretariat for the diaconate, has been told his
public presence in the archdiocese would cause “doctrinal confusion.”
Ditewig, who has authored 10 books on the permanent diaconate and lay ministry, told NCR
he had no intention of discussing the question of women deacons during
his talk, which was to be an update on the state of the diaconate.
Ditewig served in the role at the bishops’ conference from 2002-2007.
He had been scheduled to give an address to the archdiocese’s deacons,
wives, and deacon candidates in March 2013 before being told of its
cancellation in September.
Notice of the cancellation, which was made available to NCR
Monday, came from the archdiocese’s speaker approval commission, a group
of six priests and one lay female theologian tasked with reviewing
speakers for archdiocesan events.
Their cancellation came without consultation with the deacon.
Ditewig, the commission alleged in a short letter explaining the
matter, “has publications … in which he argues for women deacons based
on a reading of historical data that is not in accord with the data of
Tradition considered globally.”
“The Archdiocesan Speaker Approval Commission recommends that Deacon
William T. Ditewig not be approved to speak in the Archdiocese,” it
states.
Currently a professor of theology at Jesuit-run Santa Clara University, Ditewig co-authored Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future
last year with fellow Santa Clara theology professor Gary Macy and
Hofstra University theology professor Phyllis Zagano, who is also an NCR columnist.
Ditewig said in an interview that the three authors decided to
undertake the study in order to “refine the question” of the ordination
of women in the Catholic church, which previously has focused primarily
on the ordination of women to the priesthood.
The authors, Ditewig said, felt compelled to research the matter
based on Vatican statements and actions related to the ordination of
deacons.
In his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II declared that the church “has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women.”
“When the Holy See says it does not have the authority to ordain
women to the priesthood, that’s a very specific thing,” said Ditewig.
“It leaves the diaconate out of it because the diaconate is not part of
the priesthood.”
“Our position -- as scholars, as academics -- was that we needed to
refine the question,” said Ditewig. “The question of ordaining women
generically was too broad. And the question of the ordination of women
as deacons was a specific question that needed to be addressed on its
own merit, and distinct from any discussion about the ordination of
women to the priesthood.”
Members of the Philadelphia archdiocese’s speaker approval commission
did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the matter.
Kenneth Gavin, the archdiocese’s associate director of
communications, said in an interview that the commission is tasked with
reviewing speakers to ensure they “are going to be presenting material
in a manner that is clearly and fully in line with the magisterium of
the church.”
“The speaker approval commission is really very aware of Deacon
Ditewig’s national reputation and his service to the [bishops’
conference] and the diaconate within the church,” said Gavin. “But they
felt that for this particular workshop because of some of the things
that are out there that he speculated on … he might not be the best
fit.”
The issue of the ordination of women to the diaconate has received
increasing spotlight in recent weeks. One visible Catholic archbishop,
Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George, has been quoted as saying the
possibility of ordination of women to the diaconate is still an “open
question.”
Asked about George’s position on the question of women deacons, Gavin
said that since the matter is still considered unanswered Ditewig’s
presence for the deacon event wasn’t appropriate.
“This wouldn’t be the best setting for an open question or something
that is a matter of debate theologically at this point in time and how
the diaconate is structured within the church itself,” said Gavin. “It
wasn’t the setting for discussion on theological debate-like topics.
This was ongoing formation. It’s educational for the deacons and their
wives.”
Ditewig told NCR: “I was invited to come and just give an
update on the state of the diaconate, which I have done quite a bit of
work on. I had no intention to do anything in regard to the ordination
of women as deacons. That was not the point of the talk.”
Although the speaker commission did not mention the women deacons
book in its statement on the cancellation by name, it vaguely references
Ditewig’s “publications and blog postings.”
“While the Magisterium had not made a definitive pronouncement” on
some of Ditewig’s positions, the commission states, “an argument can be
made that the ordinary universal magisterium has moved against the
positions of Deacon Ditewig.”
“Approving him as a speaker would introduce the possibility of
doctrinal confusion rather than helpful instruction so the Commission
holds that it is more prudent to give him a negative recommendation,”
the commission alleges.
The members of the Philadelphia archdiocese’s speaker approval
commission, said Gavin, are appointed by the archbishop. None of the
current members, he said, were appointed by Archbishop Charles Chaput,
who was installed as Philadelphia’s ninth archbishop in September 2011.
Speakers for archdiocesan events, said Gavin, are supposed to be
reviewed by the speaker commission before an invitation is extended to
them, which did not occur in Ditewig’s case.
Asked if the commission would seek to consult with proposed speakers
regarding their theological positions before making a ruling, Gavin said
that the commission “would not have interaction with suggested
speakers.”
“They form their recommendations based on the public writings,
speeches, and curriculum vitae of proposed speakers keeping the nature
of the workshop or conference in mind,” he said.
The U.S. bishops’ secretariat for the diaconate was tasked with
carrying out the work of the U.S. bishops’ committee on the diaconate.
The committee and its secretariat were merged with five other committees
and secretariats in 2007 to form the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated
Life and Vocations.
Prior to the merger, the committee on the diaconate completed an
extensive training document on the U.S. diaconate in 2005, titled “The National Directory for the Formation, Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States.”