In a rare move, lay woman named as co-director of (Atlanta) diaconate formation

The Deacon's Bench ^ | January 17, 2013 | Deacon Greg Kandra

[NYer]

From the Georgia Bulletin in Atlanta:

New formation leaders are overseeing the growing permanent diaconate in the Atlanta Archdiocese. And in a rare appointment, a woman now shares the responsibility for shaping the future deacons.

Penny Simmons, a retired bank executive and spiritual director in the deacon formation program, is one of the few women across the country to lead a formation program.

Simmons will team with Deacon Jose Espinosa to share the duties of the permanent diaconate formation.

The way Simmons sees it, deacons are going to minister to women and men, so why not have a woman in leadership in the formation process.

“It is a ministry to be able to form men who will be brought into ordained ministry,” she said.

The associate co-directors will be responsible for academic, pastoral and continuing formation of deacon candidates and deacons.

Permanent deacons are increasingly serving Catholics in the northern half of Georgia. Since 2010, 41 men have been ordained, with another dozen planned for Feb. 2. There are 153 active deacons in the archdiocese. Deacon Dennis Dorner is the overall director of the permanent diaconate.

The two new directors succeed Deacon Steve Swope, who stepped down after five years as the associate director of formation for the permanent diaconate. He wanted to spend more time with his family.

[NYer]

Ping!

[Tax-chick]

The way Simmons sees it, deacons are going to minister to women and men, so why not have a woman in leadership in the formation process.

The utility of this reasoning escapes me. However, if she's competent for the job, that's the important thing.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Eventually demographic reality catches up with even the most cherished dogma.

I have already been in Parishes where a nun was acting as pastor in all administrative roles, and one where we often had lay ministers distribute consecrated hosts in lieu of a Mass due to a shortage of priests.

The average priest around here is over 70, and there are not a lot of replacement candidates lining up. I think this story is the tip of the iceberg for what we’ll see in the future.

[jtal]

bad idea - if you’re wondering why you’ve neer endured a parish with a female “lay pastoral leader”.

[NYer]

I have already been in Parishes where a nun was acting as pastor in all administrative roles, and one where we often had lay ministers distribute consecrated hosts in lieu of a Mass due to a shortage of priests.

The average priest around here is over 70, and there are not a lot of replacement candidates lining up. I think this story is the tip of the iceberg for what we’ll see in the future.

That is the situation here in the RC Diocese of Albany as well as Rochester. As you pointed out, the majority of priests are seniors. Over the past decade, the bishop has closed many parishes and merged others. In nearby Columbia County, 4 of their 5 pastors are retiring in the next 14 months and there is no one to replace them. The solution provided by the bishop is to send a priest during the week to say the mass at one church and consecrate enough hosts for their weekend, priestless services. My pastor, a 34 year old Maronite Catholic monastic missionary, has been given Latin Rite faculties by the RC bishop, in order to assist with these weekday masses. He is a deeply spiritual man and has left such a strong impression on the communities he visits, that they occasionally travel up to Watervliet to attend Sunday liturgy at our parish.

It is easy to fault the bishops but I learned over the past few years that the issue is much greater. Some of these bishops were street priests, called to minister to the poor. They had no aspirations, much less training in running a diocese. They were appointed by Archbishop Jean Jadot. For the history on this read: Still Proud Of Bishops He Gave U.S.. It's an eye opener!

Pray for vocations! My pastor is on retreat this week. When he called me at the rectory the other day, he commented on the inspirational talk he just heard on the priesthood and Christ. Remember, no priest - no Eucharist!

[LadyDoc]

my sympathy to you: most of the females who do this are feminist heretics. read “goodbye Good Men”, about how feminist nuns etc. drove out more conservative seminarians because they wouldn’t cooperate with the agenda.

And where is your parish that you can’t drive to the next parish for mass instead of having “lay ministers”?

[SuziQ]

If she is going to help the WIVES of the Deacons during the formation program, she could be of some real use. People don’t seem to understand that if the wives of the Deacons are not completely in agreement with his decision, and don’t fully understand what is required, that Deacon will have real difficulty performing his duties. But if there were a potential problem, having a woman helping with formation would be very useful in spotting it.