Thanks to the Internet, CTA learned of the Vatican's recent rejection of women deacons before U.S. press coverage, and fired off a quick response. While releasing on March 10 a 48-page set of norms for the formation of male deacons, Vatican officials asserted that women could never be ordained deacons, because Christ was a man. They said that the so-called deaconesses of the early Church were not ordained, only blessed.

CTA President Linda Pieczynski said the Vatican ban was "in the face of clear evidence in the New Testament," and showed "how bankrupt is the Vatican position on women's ordination and women's role in the Church." Pieczynski and the CTA position were widely quoted in U.S. press coverage of the story.

The CTA release also quoted Sister Chris Schenk of the new CTA-FutureChurch project on Women in Church Leadership (story, page 4). Schenk said the Vatican talks about women's equality but doesn't act accordingly. "In the U.S. 82 percent of 26,000 parish ministers are women," said Schenk. "Many perform functions similar to those of deacons. None of them had any say in this decision which affects them directly."