Canon Law: Women Prohibited from Ministries of Acolyte and Lector -- This Calls Into Question the Equal Dignity of the Baptised
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French women denounce exclusion as Eucharistic ministers: “It calls into question the equal dignity of the baptised” By: Mada Jurado | Novena News | January 10, 2020
Can. 910
§1. The ordinary minister of holy communion is a bishop, presbyter, or deacon. <Canon law systemically discriminates against women here because it sets ordination as a pre-requisite for being an ordinary minister of communion. Since women cannot be ordained, they cannot be ordinary ministers of holy communion.>
§2. The extraordinary minister of holy communion is an acolyte or another member of the Christian faithful designated according to the norm of can. 230, §3. <Here the Church systemically discriminates against women through canon law. Why? Only laymen can be admitted to the ministry of lector or acolyte. See Canon 230, §1 below.>
Can. 230
§1. Lay men who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte. <emphasis is our’s to highlight that only men — and not women — are permitted to be admitted to ministry of lector and acolyte (acolyte is altar server, minister of communion)
Nevertheless, the conferral of these ministries does not grant them the right to obtain support or remuneration from the Church.
§2. Lay persons can fulfill the function of lector in liturgical actions by temporary designation. All lay persons can also perform the functions of commentator or cantor, or other functions, according to the norm of law. <Women can be lectors only on a temporary basis when it is not convenient for the bishop, priest, or deacon OR lay men admitted to the ministries of lector/acolyate are available. See below .. ‘When the need of the Church warrants it and ministers are lacking… then and only then are women are a temporary option.>
§3. When the need of the Church warrants it and ministers are lacking, lay persons, even if they are not lectors or acolytes, can also supply certain of their duties, namely, to exercise the ministry of the word, to preside over liturgical prayers, to confer baptism, and to distribute Holy Communion, according to the prescripts of the law. <‘When the need of the Church warrants it and ministers are lacking… then and only then are women are a temporary option for distribution of Holy Communion. A priest is not compelled to allow women to perform this service.>
Note: At the Synod on the Amazon (2019), Synod Fathers reflected on whether women be included in the ministries of the lectorate and the acolyte, reserved only for males by the motu proprio Ministeria quaedam by Paul VI (1972) and by can. 230§1 of the Code of Canon Law (1983).
Story in context:
French women denounce exclusion as Eucharistic ministers: “It calls into question the equal dignity of the baptised” By: Mada Jurado | Novena News | January 10, 2020
