Interviewer: If there were to be Masses where these female deacons were participating, should Catholics attend those?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider:
No, they cannot attend such Masses because this is against the divine structure of the Church. But you see, de facto, in practice, we already have in so many Catholic churches and Masses women who are dressing in a kind of liturgical vestment and actively participating in the liturgy, even preaching. I heard even in some places in Germany, they proclaim the Gospel. They also distribute Holy Communion. It is already present in many places, in almost all Western countries, where women distribute Holy Communion, even without liturgical vestments. This is a task of a deacon, and primarily the priest. In almost all Western countries, female acolytes are already vested in the same manner as male acolytes, with cassock and surplice. Almost everywhere in Western countries, we have female readers and lecturers. So, in some way, unfortunately, with the approval of the Vatican, a female diaconate has already started, beginning with female readers, then female acolytes, even in some papal Masses. When the Pope travels to other countries, you already see adult women, not only girls, vested in male liturgical vestments. In some countries, women already perform funerals.
De facto, they are already doing all that a deacon does. But the woman is a symbol of the Church, the Bride of Christ. Therefore, her proper place is in the nave, not in the sanctuary, the presbytery. The women represent the Bride, and until the Vatican Council, the Catholic Church always observed that women did not enter the sanctuary beyond the communion rails. All the Oriental Churches have preserved this tradition until today. The Catholic Church did as well, until the reforms after Vatican II. Only the Protestant Lutheran reforms made these changes, claiming that all are equal, that there is no special priesthood, and therefore women can go during worship services to the altar or sanctuary.
Today, in most Catholic churches of the West, a Protestant Lutheran style has been adopted.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider:
Dominus Vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Benedictio Dei omnipotentis Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti descendat super vos et maneat semper. Amen.