We Are Church Ireland have announced that the online poll they organised on the issue of the diaconate shows 84% of respondents in favour of the diaconate being open to both women and men.

WACI’s message reads:

The Deacon Survey has been completed.

Our thanks to the ACI and ACP for including this survey on their websites.

There was a huge majority (84% to 13%) in favour of the diaconate being open to both men and women.

There was widespread awareness of both the protest by the women in County Clare and the fact that women deacons were common during the first 1000 years of the Christian church.

There was some confusion over the question about relying on the laity (49%) rather than introducing the permanent diaconate (30%) with a lot of Don’t Knows (21%)

Summary of Results:

Q 1 Are you aware of a protest by women in County Clare which has led to Bishop Kieran O’Reilly deferring the introduction of the Male-Only permanent diaconate?
      YES   84%
      NO     16%

Q 2 Are you aware that women deacons were common in the first 1000 years of the Christian church?
      YES  79%
      NO   21%

Q 3 Would you like the diaconate to be open to both men and women                
      YES  84%
      NO   13%
      Don’t Know 3%

Q 4 Should we rely on the laity rather than introducing a permanent diaconate?
      YES 49%
      NO 30%
      Don’t Know 21%

Q 5 Which diocese do you live in?
       Dublin 43.5%
       Down & Connor 5.1%
       Cork & Ross 4.4%
       Tuam 4.2%
       Killaloe 4.0%
       Armagh 2.7%
       Galway 2.2%
       Kildare & Leighlin 2.2%
       Other 31.7%

Q 6 Are you
        Female 53%
        Male 47%

Total number of responses was 448.