Which letter would you send to the pope?

by Joshua J. McElwee

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jmcelwee@ncronline.org

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About two weeks back, Phyllis Zagano, one of our NCRonline columnists, published a public letter to Pope Benedict XVI.

You may remember it. The headline read: Your Holiness, it is time for women deacons.

Zagano, who is a professor and a senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University, urged the pope to "make a decision" about whether women deacons will be allowed to serve the church.

Now, another professor has also written a public letter to the pope.

Daniel G. Van Slyke's headline? Your Holiness, It Is Time for a Theologian Who Is Not Clamoring for Women Deacons to Write an Open Letter to You.

Van Slyke, who is an associate professor at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, writes:

Be assured, Your Holiness, that I am not the only Catholic with no interest in women deacons. Millions of women have lived their Catholic faith and have made inestimable contributions to the Church without any desire to prance about the sanctuary in clerical garb. For the most part, they are too busy with service to their families and with works of charity to organize petitions, attend rallies, and write open letters expressing their lack of desire for female ordination.

If you had a choice, which letter would you sign on to?

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