Let's bring back women deacons: the early church ordained women deacons, so what's stopping us now? Fear of the slippery slope toward women priests is a poor excuse, especially when so many women are equally trained and equally called. (sounding board).

THE HUSBAND AND WIFE SIT SIDE BY SIDE IN THE pew, anxiously awaiting the culmination of four years' preparation. A lot of hard work and dedication have gone into this. The commitment is serious and lifelong, but the benefits will be rich.

Soon, the bishop will lay on his hands in confirmation of the commitment they are making to the service of the church. But today the husband is the only one upon whom hands will be laid. His wife may stand beside him and assist him in donning alb and stole.

In Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, and many other dioceses in the country, wives of diaconal candidates sit side-by-side with their husbands through every step of the formation process--theology classes, homework, retreats, discussions, meetings, and discernment.

But when the big day comes, she gets a certificate--sometimes a flower--while he receives the sacrament of Holy Orders and a commission to preach, preside at some sacraments, and serve the bishop. He is vested in white, presented a stole, and sealed permanently within the arms of the church by the indelible mark of the sacrament. She is thanked for her support and encouraged to keep up the good work.

He is now the Reverend Mr. She's still just the Mrs.

This is not to say all women feel slighted at the ordination of their husbands or wish they were deacons themselves, but many do. Some dioceses do not require as much from the candidate's spouse. At minimum, a pledge of support is necessary. But according to the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for the Diaconate, about 90 percent of dioceses invite the candidate's spouse to partake in all or most of the formation process, like education, works of charity, and spiritual retreats.

This is to say nothing of the thousands of women not wed to a deacon who have completed rigorous theological training and ministerial formation in universities and seminaries only to receive a pat on the back while men with similar qualifications are received fully into the church as ordained ministers. Women are now more than 63 percent of students in Catholic lay ministry programs, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

When the late Cardinal John O'Connor was vicar for the military, he asked author Phyllis Zagano what the church could do to involve women as ministers in the military. "Ordain women as deacons," she responded. That inspired her to write a book on the subject, Holy Saturday (Crossroad), in which she gives a persuasive argument for women in the diaconate, calling on theology, sociology, and common sense.

Zagano points out that women who make a commitment to serve the church do not receive the same kind of commitment from the church in return, the way priests and deacons do. When a bishop ordains a priest or deacon, it is a public and permanent commitment from the universal church. Priests and deacons, through the sacrament of Holy Orders, are incorporated into the authority of the church. A woman has no such access.

WOMEN CAN LABOR FOR THE CHURCH, BOTH AS VOLUNTEERS and employees, but they are never given the same validation and authority. As employees, women can be fired at any time. They have no place in the church hierarchy, no authority in the magisterium. They have pastoral letters written about them, never by them, and a woman's access to a bishop's ear is always at his whim.

How many children do our religious sisters and lay women teach? How many ill and infirm do they attend to in hospitals and hospice? How many parishes would die but for the love of dedicated women?

French theologian Herve Legrand explains in Worship Magazine that an important aspect of ordination is rooted in the calling of the community. One is first called by the community to be the leader of the community, and by virtue of such is granted the office of conferring sacraments or consecrating the Eucharist, depending on the level of ordination. It is not the other way around--an ordained minister is not the leader of a community because he confers and consecrates.

Shouldn't the church recognize those whom the community calls? Are not women already some of the strongest leaders in the Catholic community?

WHAT'S MORE, THERE IS RICH HISTORICAL PRECEDENT FOR he ordination of women deacons. To ordain women to the diaconate now would merely restore an early tradition, just as it was restored for men by the documents of Vatican II. Zagano details the history of women deacons in her book, beginning with the most well-known female deacon, Phoebe of Cenchreae, who is mentioned in Romans 16:1-2. Another scripture passage, Timothy 3:11, discusses women as deacons, outlining the rules for conduct for both male deacons and female deacons.

Zagano explains that the word deaconess is a source of some contention from critics who believe that the office and ordination of a male deacon differed from that of the female deacon. Some say the title "deaconess" was simply a blessing or an honor, and that she was not equal to the male deacon and not ordained.

Dutch theologian John Wijngaards disagrees in a 1999 article in The Tablet. Citing ancient texts of ordination rituals, including the Apostolic Constitutions, he says, "A study of the documents shows that in the church in the East, centuries before it split with the West, both men and women were admitted to the diaconate through a precisely equivalent sacramental ordination."

Even the Canon Law Society of America says the ordination of women to the diaconate is both possible and "may even be desirable" for the American church. It notes that the Code of Canon Law that currently renders women ineligible for the priesthood should not therefore automatically bar them from the diaconate as well.

The only thing left holding the Vatican back is the fear of women priests and the concern that a female deacon is the first step down that unthinkable slippery slope. While it would be silly to ignore the fact that many who feel called to the diaconate would likewise answer a call to the priesthood, it is far more absurd to reject a legitimate call to service be cause of a fear that the words women priests should be breathed. The female priesthood is a separate issue entirely, and the Catholic Church should have the courage to judge it on its own merit.

The argument for women deacons must remain separate from the argument for (or against) women priests. Although they share some of the same precepts, the ministries are quite distinct, both historically and in the current context. While both receive the sacrament of Holy Orders, ordination to the diaconate is a different degree of ordination. And while priests are first ordained deacons, the permanent diaconate is not designed as preparation for the priesthood. It is a separate calling.

And yet the church continues to balk and scurry and slink while women walk out the door in scores because the church won't recognize their full humanity, their strength, their gifts, their call from the People of God.

AFTER FOUR YEARS OF FORMATION AND TRAINING, THE WIFE of a deacon in Los Angeles told the diocesan formation director: "I feel like you took me from my cocoon and made me a butterfly. But when the time for ordination came, you clipped my wings."

It is a wonderful thing to support your spouse. And it can be a wonderful thing to serve without recognition or authority or praise. And while there is nobility in giving of yourself with no expectation for return, there is nothing noble about the church never giving in return.

But even as I write this, I am torn between the distinction of official, public recognition and the unofficial, unglorious, private gratitude of one's peers. In other words, why should a woman care if the organization does not recognize her as long as she is recognized by her community of believers?

Perhaps the answer is that the church should care. The church should care that it is operating unjustly, under false pretense, and counter to its own theology of ordination. The church should care that it alienates its most loyal servants, without whom it could not survive.

Women are equally trained and equally called. There is historical precedent for the ordination of women to the diaconate.

It is time for the church to give back, to officially recognize the grace women embody and imbue.

It is time for the church to commit.

By TARA K. DIX, assistant editor of online products at Claretian Publications.