Catholics Urged to Study Deacon Role for Women

A draft of a pastoral letter recommends that the Roman Catholic church study admitting women to the office of deacon, an archbishop has said.

During an information-gathering trip to a Catholic women’s college here, Archbishop William Levada, head of the Portland, Ore., archdiocese, released portions of the pastoral letter being drafted by six of the nation’s approximately 300 Catholic bishops.

Pastoral letters express overall views of the Catholic Church on a given issue. Letters are addressed to U.S. church members and are said to be the strongest form of teaching from the body of bishops.

Statement of Caution

The study of admitting women as deacons has not yet been discussed in any church document, the archbishop said. A final version of the pastoral letter will not be completed until November, 1989.

Levada cautioned that “the letter is not based on a practical agenda. . . . This is a broad look at the way women have been perceived and the attitudes about women in the history of the church and the history of society.”

Sister Barbara Doherty, president of St. Mary-of-the-Woods College where Levada is visiting, said the statement is revolutionary because it allows for a dialogue to begin on what have been considered closed issues.