Has the Church never
ordained women?
“From the earliest centuries on, until our own time, the constant practice of the Church has been not to ordain women to the priesthood.” | 
| “Yes, women did perform some ministries in the Early Church, but such ministries of women had no relation to the sacramental priesthood.” |
But this happened because of a threefold prejudice that made the exclusion invalid.
|  Study the facts, please!
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 | In spite of cultural prejudice, the faithful remained aware throughout the centuries that men and women are equal in Christ. They knew, in their heart of hearts, that women could be priests. We call this latent tradition . Some examples of this latent tradition are:
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Last not least, for nine centuries the Church has actually admitted women to Holy Orders when she ordained them to be deacons. The rite of ordination, with the imposition of the right hand and invocation of the Holy Spirit, was the same for women and for men. Women too received a full
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 A full documentation on all the ancient Women Deacon Texts is now available in print!
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