Madam, - Fr Sean Fagan's letter of July 10th strikes a particular chord with me. I too feel that certain changes in the church are both necessary and inevitable.
However, when I saw the recent invitations from local bishops for volunteers to train for the permanent diaconate I was disturbed rather than encouraged.
I feel that a lay ministry, whether or not it is called the "permanent diaconate" is the way to go. But why, oh why does Father Church continue to treat the female of the species as a lesser being? In my vocation as a married man I could never ever contemplate volunteering my services for the permanent diaconate when I know that my wife is excluded from this same ministry.
As it happens, my wife has studied theology and thus would be far more useful to the Church than I ever could. I believe the church in Ireland needs the laity now more than ever but by volunteering for such a ministry I would be contributing to the unjust male dominance of the Catholic Church.
Male celibate vocations are on the decline. Our good priests are overworked and soon there will not be enough priests to meet the demands of parish work. I would be more than happy to attend a eucharistic service presided over by a woman, or to have a marriage or funeral service conducted by one.
When my time comes to shuffle off this mortal coil I will feel truly blessed if a female hospital chaplain offers to give me the last rites. Our religious sisters are a greatly underused asset.
Come on boys, wake up! Women have far more to offer the church than cleaning and flower-arranging. When the church learns to treat women as equals (and I'm not necessarily saying women priests, though I don't object to the idea), then I am quite sure we will see a real and positive change in the Catholic Church.
Until then we are only fooling ourselves. - Yours, etc,
GEAROID O'BRIEN,
Beech Park,
Athlone,
Co Westmeath.