She Was an Early Church Deacon. Catholic Women Now Want to Reclaim Her Example.
Yonat Shimron of Religion News Service reports that Catholic women gathered this week at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City to celebrate the feast day for St. Phoebe, a female deacon mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible. The participants are largely members of a group called Discerning Deacons, which works to create diaconate opportunities for women in the church. One of the attendees, Lisa Amman, said, “Phoebe represents hope and evidence that women have been in service to the church since the beginning. This isn’t new. It makes me feel that it can happen in the future.”