NKP_Vet,
Fr. Longenecker wrote: “In the early church the order of deaconesses was clearly separated from that of the order of deacons. It was not the case that the early church had female deacons. The early church had a separate order of deaconesses. This important distinction is quietly ignored by those who use the example of the early church as an argument for having female deacons.”
My questions:
1. What does history tell us was the specific roles of the separate orders of men and women deacons?
2. What are (would?) be the primary difference(s) between what a male deacon is permitted (required) to do that a female religious, either sister or nun is not? Based upon women becoming Sisters/Nuns instead of deacons.
Thanks, G-F
There is an excellent article on Deaconesses in the Catholic Encyclopedia (www.newadvent.org) that addresses the questions that you have asked - and more.
...but what I''d heard or read, is that in the early Church deaconesses were particularly assigned to the preparation of women and children for baptism, and for doing the baptism itself. In some cultures and at some times, I think, it was not proper for a male to visit a woman in her home (for religious instruction), nor for the woman to go someplace outside of her home for instruction by a man or men; nor for a woman to be baptized by a man, since they baptized people naked!
Hence all those ministries directed toward women converts and catechumens, were done principally by deaconesses.
I can't document that. It's just an impression I'd glommed onto.