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Ordination of women

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In general religious use, ordination is the process by which one is consecrated (set apart for the undivided administration of various religious rites). The ordination of women is a controversial issue in religions where either the office of ordination, or the role that an ordained person fulfils, is traditionally restricted to men, for various theological reasons.

In historical Christianity, such as Roman Catholicism, Orthodox and Anglicanism, ordination is distinguished from religious or consecrated life and is the means by which one is included in one of the priestly orders: bishop, priest, or deacon. In other Christian communities lacking a priesthood, ordination is understood more generally as the acceptance of one for pastoral work.

Orthodox Judaism does not permit women to become Rabbis, but female Rabbis have begun to appear in recent years among more liberal Jewish movements, especially the Reconstructionist, Renewal, Reform, and Humanistic denominations.

Muslims do not formally ordain religious leaders. The imam serves as a spiritual leader and religious authority. Most strands of Islam permit women to lead female-only congregations in prayer (one of the meanings of the word imam), but restrict their roles in mixed sex congregations. There is a recent movement to extend women's roles in spiritual leadership.

Within Buddhism, the legitimacy of ordaining women as bhikkhuni (nuns) has become a significant topic of discussion in recent years. It is widely accepted that Buddha created an order of bhikkhuni, but the tradition of freeorder has died out in some Buddhist traditions such as Theravada Buddhism, while remaining strong in others such as Chinese Buddhism.


Contents

[edit] Christianity

[edit] Roman Catholic Church

[edit] Doctrinal Position

The official position of the Roman Catholic Church, as expressed in the current canon law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is that: “Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination.”<ref>Codex Iruis Canonici canon 1024, c.f. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1577</ref> Insofar as priestly and episcopal ordination are concerned, the Church teaches that this requirement is a matter of divine law, and thus doctrinal.<ref>“The Catholic Church has never felt that priestly or episcopal ordination can be validly conferred on women,” Inter Insigniores, October 15, 1976, section 1</ref> The requirement that only males can receive ordination to the permanent diaconate has not yet been promulgated as doctrinal by the Church's magisterium.<ref>Canonical Implications of Ordaining Women to the Permanent Diaconate, Canon Law Society of America, 1995.</ref><ref>Commentary by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Declaration Inter Insigniores.</ref> In asserting this position, the Church cites her own doctrinal tradition, and scriptural texts.<ref>e.g., Paul VI, Address on the Role of Women in the Plan of Salvation (30 January 1997), Insegnamenti XV (1977), 111 et. al.</ref> In recent years, responding to questions about the matter, the Church has issued a number of documents repeating the same position.<ref>Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Inter Insigniores, October 15, 1976; Pope John Paul II: Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, May 22, 1994; Pope John Paul II: Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, August 15, 1988.</ref> In 1994, Pope John Paul II definitively declared the question closed in his letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, stating: “Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance…I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.”<ref>John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis , c.f. Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (30 December 1988), 31</ref>

In 1995, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a clarification explaining that Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, though "itself not infallible, witnesses to the infallibility of the teaching of a doctrine already possessed by the Church.... This doctrine belongs to the deposit of the faith of the Church. It should be emphasized that the definitive and infallible nature of this teaching of the Church did not arise with the publication of the Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis."<ref>Letter Concerning the CDF Reply Regarding Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, by then-Cardinal Ratzinger. [1]</ref> Instead, it was "founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium," and for these reasons it "requires definitive assent."<ref>The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Response of 25 October 1995 [2] ; c.f. Lumen Gentium 25:2.</ref>

The Church teaching on the ordination of only men holds that maleness was integral to the personhood of both Jesus and the men he called as apostles.<ref>Inter Insigniores section 5</ref> The Roman Catholic Church sees maleness and femaleness as two different ways of expressing common humanity.<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church 355, 383, 369-72, 1605, 2333.</ref> Contrary to the common phrase "gender roles", which implies that the phenomenon of the sexes is a mere surface phenomenon, an accident, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is an ontological (essential) difference between humanity expressed as male humanity and humanity expressed as female humanity.<ref>Gaudium et Spes 12,4</ref> While many functions are interchangeable between men and women, some are not, because maleness and femaleness are not interchangeable. Just as water is necessary for a valid baptism, and wheaten bread and grape wine are necessary for a valid Eucharist (not because of their superiority over other materials, but because they are what Jesus used or authorized), only men can be validly ordained, regardless of any issues of equality.<ref>For a similar analysis, see "Mulieris Dignitatem", 26-27</ref>

Pope John Paul II, in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, explained the Roman Catholic understanding that the priesthood is a special role specially set out by Jesus when he chose twelve men out of his group of male and female followers. John Paul notes that Jesus chose the Twelve (cf. Mk 3:13-14; Jn 6:70) after a night in prayer (cf. Lk 6:12) and that the Apostles themselves were careful in the choice of their successors. The priesthood is “specifically and intimately associated in the mission of the Incarnate Word himself (cf. Mt 10:1, 7-8; 28:16-20; Mk 3:13-16; 16:14-15).”

Pope Paul VI, quoted by Pope John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, wrote, “[The Church] holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God's plan for his Church.”

Concerning the “constant practice of the Church”, in antiquity the Church Fathers Irenaeus,<ref>Irenaeus, "Against Heresies" 1:13:2</ref> Tertullian,<ref>Tertullian, "Demurrer Against the Heretics" 41:4–5; "Baptism" 1; "The Veiling of Virgins" 9</ref> Hippolytus,<ref>Hippolytus, "The Apostolic Tradition" 11</ref> Epiphanius,<ref>Epiphanius, "Against Heresies" 78:13, 79:3</ref> John Chrysostom,<ref>John Chrysostom, "The Priesthood" 2:2</ref> and Augustine<ref>Augustine, "Heresies" 1:17</ref> all wrote that the ordination of women was impossible. The Synod of Laodicea prohibited ordaining women to the Presbyterate.<ref>Synod of Laodicea, canon 11 [3] </ref>

[edit] Deaconesses and Female Deacons

The ordination of females to the diaconate is a matter of some controversy among Roman Catholic historians and theologians. At issue are two distinct but interrelated questions: whether some deaconesses in the early Church received true sacramental ordination, or whether all were merely so called for functional or honorific purposes; and, whether the prohibition against ordaining women to the diaconate is also a matter of unchangeable divine law, or potentially changeable ecclesiastical law. If some deaconesses did receive true sacramental ordination, then the current prohibition would be ecclesiastical rather than divine law. If not, then it could be either ecclesiastical or divine.

It can be verified that the term deaconesses was employed in antiquity; the word, like "deacon", comes from the Greek word diakonos (διάκονος), meaning "one who serves". Deaconesses mainly assisted the priest in receiving women into the Church for baptism by full immersion (which is still practiced by the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches), and did not perform any of the duties associated with male deacons. In this sense "deaconess" implied a title of honour and respect. Whether or not "deaconess" in some instances implied sacramental ordination is disputed.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote in 1977 that the historical nature of deaconesses was “a question that must be taken up fully by direct study of the texts, without preconceived ideas.”<ref>Commentary by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Declaration Inter Insigniores [4] [5].</ref> The position that deaconesses received true sacramental ordination (in certain times and places) is given by Roger Gryson,<ref>The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, Collegeville, MN, Liturgical Press, 1976.</ref> and the position that deaconesses never received true sacramental ordination is given by Aimé Georges Martimort.<ref>Deaconesses: An Historical Study, translated by K. D. Whitehead, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1986.</ref> Both Gryson and Martimort argued from the same historical evidence, which is mixed. For example, the ecumenical First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) stated that deaconesses: "do not receive any imposition of hands, so that they are in all respects to be numbered among the laity."<ref>First Council of Nicaea, canon 19 [6] </ref> However, 126 years later, the ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) decreed: "A woman shall not receive the laying on of hands as a deaconess under forty years of age, and then only after searching examination."<ref>Council of Chalcedon, canon 15 [7]</ref> Martimort argues that the "laying on of hands" in the latter case referred only to a special blessing. Against this, “Gryson argues that the use of the verb cheirotonein and of the substantive cheirothesia clearly indicate that deaconesses were ordained by the laying on of hands.”<ref>The Canonical Implications of Ordaining Women to the Permanent Diaconate, Canon Law Society of America, 1995, p. 19.</ref>

Until rather recently, the theologians and canonists who addressed the question almost unanimously considered the exclusion of women from ordination, including to the diaconate, as having a divine origin and therefore remaining absolute. Only in recent decades have any theologians or canonists entertained the theory that the prohibition of women from the ordained diaconate was a matter of merely ecclesiastical, rather than divine law.<ref>Commentary by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Declaration Inter Insigniores [8]</ref> This renewed theological assessment was spurred on by the Second Vatican Council's revival of the permanent diaconate, which lifted the question from a purely theoretical matter to one with immensely practical consequences.<ref>The Canonical Implications of Ordaining Women to the Permanent Diaconate, Canon Law Society of America, 1995.</ref> Based on the theory that some deaconesses received the sacrament of Holy Orders, and based on the fact that some writers in the Middle Ages exhibited a certain hesitancy concerning the ordination of women stemming from knowledge that there had been deaconesses in antiquity,<ref>Commentary by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Declaration Inter Insigniores [9] [10]</ref> there have been modern-day proposals to ordain female permanent deacons, who would perform the same functions as male deacons.<ref>The Canonical Implications of Ordaining Women to the Permanent Diaconate, Canon Law Society of America, 1995.</ref>

[edit] Ordination and Equality

The Roman Catholic Church states that the hierarchical structure that includes the ordained ministerial priesthood is ordered to benefit the holiness of the entire body of the faithful, and not to ensure the salvation of the ordained minister.<ref>"Catechism of the Catholic Church" 1120</ref> There is no additional benefit in terms of automatic holiness that comes about through ordination. Ordination is not required for salvation, nor does it effect salvation in the one ordained. In other words, a priest can go to Hell just as easily as a layperson. Likewise, sainthood is equally open to men and women, lay or ordained. For example, the most celebrated saint is the Blessed Virgin Mary. Furthermore, there are female Doctors of the Church.

Pope John Paul II wrote, in Mulieris Dignitatem: “In calling only men as his Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. In doing so, he exercised the same freedom with which, in all his behaviour, he emphasized the dignity and the vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions sanctioned by the legislation of the time.”

In Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, John Paul wrote: “the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, received neither the mission proper to the Apostles nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the non-admission of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them. Rather, it is to be seen as the faithful observance of a plan to be ascribed to the wisdom of the Lord of the universe.”

The Roman Catholic Church does not regard the priest as the only possible prayer leader, and prayer may be led by a woman. For example, outside the context of a Mass and in the absence of a priest or deacon, laypersons (both men and women) "are to be entrusted with the care of these [Sunday] celebrations."<ref>The Congregation for Divine Worship: Directory for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest chapter 2, paragraph 30. [11]</ref> This includes leading the prayers, ministry of the word, and the giving of holy communion (previously consecrated by a priest).<ref>The Congregation for Divine Worship: Directory for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest chapter 2, paragraph 30. [12]</ref> Also during these assemblies, in the absence of an ordained minister, a layperson may request God's blessing on the congregation, provided that the layperson does not use words proper to a priest or deacon, and omits rites that are too readily associated with the Mass.<ref> The Congregation for Divine Worship: Directory for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest chapter 3, paragraph 39. [13]</ref>

Women are also able to live the Consecrated Life as a nun or abbess.

[edit] Dissenting Position

Arguments for the ordination of women are manifold.<ref>See this website [14].</ref> One argument is based on equality. Some sacramental theologians have argued that ordaining men but not women creates two classes of baptism, contradicting Saint Paul's statement that all are equal in Christ.<ref>See [15].</ref> This argument does not give credence to the distinction between equal dignity and different services within the Church.

Another argument is based on the theological position that there is a fundamental unity between the different levels (deacon, priest, and bishop) of the sacrament of Holy Orders, as taught by the Second Vatican Council.<ref>Lumen Gentium, 28.</ref> So, if history were to show that the deaconesses known to have existed in the Early Church had actually received the sacrament of ordination, then because of the fundamental unity of Holy Orders, women could also be ordained as priests and bishops.<ref>See [16].</ref> (This same argument is sometimes used in reverse, against the historical possibility that deaconesses received sacramental ordination.)<ref>Theologische Bedenken gegen die Diakonatsweihe von Frauen (= Theological objections to the diaconal ordination of women), by Hans Jorissen, in Diakonat: Ein Amt für Frauen in der kirche - Ein frauengerechtes Amt? (= Diaconate: a ministry for women in the Church - one suited to women?), 1997, pp. 86-97, as described in [17].</ref>

Whatever argument is used in favor of the priestly ordination of women, there is the problem of reconciling this position with Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. Based on the clarifications from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it is known that Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, without itself being ex cathedra,<ref>"This language comes very close to that of a solemn definition, but we are assured by Cardinal Ratzinger that it was not the intention of John Paul II to speak ex cathedra", from Creative Fidelity: Weighing and Interpreting the Documents of the Magisterium, by Francis A. Sullivan, p. 22.</ref> authoritatively and bindingly teaches that: (1) the Church cannot ordain women as priests due to divine law; and that (2) this doctrine has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium.

Since the encyclical Humani Generis, it is well known that the Roman Pontiff can settle a theological question via a fallible papal teaching that is nonetheless sufficiently authoritative to end all debate on the matter.<ref>ibid., p. 22.</ref> This is clearly what has occured with Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in regard to point (1).<ref>"The language used by Pope John Paul II in his recent apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis would clearly fulfill, or even surpass, the conditions mentioned by Pius XII", ibid., p. 22</ref> Thus, theological debate on whether women can be ordained as priests is no longer permitted for Catholics, and the arguments in favor of ordaining women to the priesthood in this section are properly termed a "dissenting position". However, several noted dogmatic theologians have questioned how this same debate-ending authority can apply to point (2), which is a matter not of faith or morals, but a factual matter relative to teachings promulgated by all the bishops of the Catholic Church over her two thousand year history.<ref>See this website [18].</ref> These dogmatic theologians find it especially problematic that, concerning this point, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis gives no indication of what historical facts are sufficient to ensure infallibility by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, nor any indication of how those historical facts were verified. Because of these issues it is argued that, if it were indeed possible for the Church to ordain women to the priesthood, this would not contradict the Church's dogma regarding infallible teachings.

Some supporters of women's ordination have claimed that there have been ordained priests and bishops in antiquity. <ref>http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/most/getwork.cfm?worknum=141 article by Fr. William Most from Catholic Culture, retrieved on August 21, 2006</ref> The official Church position on this is that “a few heretical sects in the first centuries, especially Gnostic ones, entrusted the exercise of the priestly ministry to women: this innovation was immediately noted and condemned by the Fathers who considered it as unacceptable in the Church.”<ref>Inter Insigniores, section 1</ref>

Setting aside these theological considerations, advocates for the ordination of women have pointed to vocations declining in Europe and North America and have made the utilitarian argument that women must be ordained in order to have enough priests to administer the Sacraments in those areas. Supporting this argument, they made public the story of a Czech woman Ludmila Javorová, who in the 1990s came forward to say that she and four or five other women had been ordained by the late Bishop Felix Maria Davídek in the 1970s, to serve as priests in the underground Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia. Javorová ceased to practice as a priest. <ref>National Catholic Reporter, 2001, "Secret No More - Discovering a female Catholic priest behind the Iron Curtain" by Arthur Jones, NCR Staff retrieved from http://www.beliefnet.com/story/79/story_7967.html on August 21, 2006</ref> <ref>Ertel, Werner and Motylewicz, Georg, 1995 “Yes, I am a Catholic woman priest!”, Kirche Intern vol. 9 (1995) no 11, pp. 18-19, retrieved in English translation from http://www.womenpriests.org/called/javo_rep.asp on August 21, 2006</ref> <ref>Catholic Weekly News, May 29, 1996 'CZECH CARDINAL SPEAKS OF "CLANDESTINE PRIESTS"' retrieved from http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=586 on August 21, 2006</ref>

[edit] Eastern Orthodox

The Eastern Orthodox churches follows a similar line of reasoning as the Roman Catholic Church with respect to ordination of priests.

Regarging deaconesses, Professor Evangelos Theodorou argued that female deacons were actually ordained in antiquity [19]. Bishop Kallistos Ware wrote:<ref>"Man, Woman and the Priesthood of Christ", in Women and the Priesthood, ed. T. Hopko (New York, 1982, reprinted 1999), 16, as quoted in Women Deacons in the Early Church, by John Wijngaards, ISBN 0-8245-2393-8.</ref>

The order of deaconesses seems definitely to have been considered an "ordained" ministry during early centures in at any rate the Christian East. ... Some Orthodox writers regard deaconesses as having been a "lay" ministry. There are strong reasons for rejecting this view. In the Byzantine rite the liturgical office for the laying-on of hands for the deaconess is exactly parallel to that for the deacon; and so on the principle lex orandi, lex credendi — the Church's worshipping practice is a sure indication of its faith — it follows that the deaconesses receives, as does the deacon, a genuine sacramental ordination: not just a χειροθεσια but a χειροτονια.

On October 8, 2004, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece voted [20] to restore the female diaconate.

There is a strong monastic tradition, pursued by both men and women in the Orthodox churches, where monks and nuns lead identical spiritual lives. Unlike Roman Catholic religious life, which has myriad traditions, both contemplative and active (see Benedictine monks, Franciscan friars, Jesuits), that of Eastern Orthodoxy has remained exclusively ascetic and monastic.

[edit] Anglican Communion

The majority of Anglican provinces ordain women as both deacons and priests; however, only a few provinces have consecrated women as Bishops (although the number of provinces where women bishops are canonically possible is much greater). The breakdown within the Anglican communion (and United Churches in full communion) as of February 2004 can be seen in the following table:

Bishops (consecrated) Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia; Canada; United States
Bishops (none yet consecrated) Bangladesh, Brazil, Central America, England, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, North India, Philippines, Scotland, Southern Africa, Sudan
Priests Australia, Burundi, Hong Kong, Kenya, Korea, Rwanda, South India, Uganda, Wales, West Indies
Deacons Indian Ocean, Southern Cone, Congo, Pakistan
No ordination of women Central Africa, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Melanesia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South East Asia, Tanzania, Malawi

Some provinces within the Anglican Communion, such as the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA), the Anglican Church of New Zealand, and the Anglican Church of Canada, ordain women as deacons, priests and bishops. Several other provinces (such as the Church of Ireland, and the Scottish Episcopal Church) have removed canonical bars to women bishops—but have not yet consecrated any.

Other provinces ordain women as deacons and priests but not as bishops—this was the stance of the Church of England for some years and remains that of the Anglican Church of Australia. Some provinces ordain women to the diaconate only. Other provinces, including several African churches, ordain only men.

The first woman ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion was Florence Li Tim-Oi, who was ordained on 25 January 1944 by the bishop of Hong Kong. It was thirty years before the practice became widespread.

In 1974 eleven women were ordained to the priesthood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by three retired ECUSA bishops. These ordinations were ruled "irregular" because they had been done without the authorisation of ECUSA's General Convention. Two years later, General Convention authorised the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate. The first woman bishop in the Communion was Barbara Clementine Harris, who was ordained bishop suffragan of Massachusetts in 1989. The first woman to head a diocese was Penny Jamieson of the diocese of Dunedin in the Anglican Church of New Zealand. The first female primate (or senior bishop of a national church) is Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA at its 2006 General Convention, and began her nine year term as Presiding Bishop and Primate on November 1, 2006.

The Church of England authorised the ordination of woman priests in 1992 and began ordaining them in 1994. This was the premise of the television programme The Vicar of Dibley. On 11 July 2005 the General Synod of the Church of England, in York, voted to "set in train" the process of removing the legal obstacles preventing women from becoming bishops; debate on formal legislation was scheduled for February 2006 but the first ordinations were not expected for several years after that.

Ordination of women has been a controversial issue throughout the Communion. The Continuing Anglican Movement was started in 1977 after women began to be ordained in ECUSA.

Within provinces which permit the ordination of women, there are some dioceses, such as the dioceses of Quincy, Illinois and Fort Worth, Texas, in the USA, which do not, or which ordain women only to the diaconate (such as the Diocese of Sydney in the Anglican Church of Australia). The Church of England has instituted "flying bishops" to cater to parishes who do not wish to be under the supervision of bishops who have participated in the ordination of women.

[edit] Protestant churches

A key theological doctrine for most Protestants is the 'priesthood of all believers'. The notion of a priesthood reserved to a select few is seen as an Old Testament concept, inappropriate for Christians. Prayer belongs equally to all believing women and men.

However, most (although not all) Protestant denominations still ordain church leaders, who have the task of equipping all believers in their Christian service (Ephesians 4:11-13). These leaders (variously styled elders, pastors or ministers) are seen to have a distinct role in teaching, pastoral leadership and the administration of sacraments. Traditionally these roles were male preserves, but over the last century, an increasing number of denominations have begun ordaining women.

The debate over women's eligibility for such offices normally centres around interpretation of certain Biblical passages relating to teaching and leadership roles. This is because Protestant churches usually view the Bible as the primary authority in church debates, even over established traditions (the doctrine of sola scriptura). Thus the Church is free to change her stance, if the change is deemed in accordance with the Bible. The main passages in this debate include Galatians 3.28, 1st Corinthians 11.2-16, 14.34-35 and 1st Timothy 2.11-14. Increasingly, supporters of women in ministry also make appeals to evidence from the New Testament that is taken to suggest that women did exercise ministries in the apostolic Church (e.g. Acts 21:9,18:18; Romans 16:3-4,16:1-2, Romans 16:7; 1st Corinthians 16:19, and Philippians 4:2-3).

[edit] Examples of other churches' practices

An early relative of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, this body ordained women as early as 1810. Among them were Nancy Gove Cram, who worked as a missionary with the Oneida Indians by 1812, and Abigail Roberts (a lay preacher and missionary), who helped establish many churches in New Jersey. Others included Ann Rexford, Sarah Hedges and Sally Thompson.

Women were commissioned as deacons from 1935, and allowed to preach from 1949. In 1963 Mary Levison petitioned the General Assembly for ordination. Woman elders were introduced in 1966 and women ministers in 1968. The first female Moderator of the General Assembly was Dr Alison Elliot in 2004. See main article: Ordination of women in the Church of Scotland.

In 1888 Louisa Woosley licensed to preach. She was ordained in 1889. Wrote Shall Woman Preach.

The church bodies that formed the ELCA in 1988 began ordaining women in 1970 when the Lutheran Church in America ordained the Rev Elizabeth Platz. The ordination of women is now non-controversial within the ELCA.

  • The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS), which is the second largest Lutheran body in the United States, does not ordain women.
  • The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia is remarkable in that it reversed its earlier (1975) decision to ordain women as pastors. Since 1993, under the leadership of Archbishop Janis Vanags, it no longer does so.
  • The state Lutheran and Reformed Churches in Germany (EKD) ordain women and have women as bishops.
  • The Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Germany does not ordain women.
  • The Lutheran state Churches in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland ordain women and these Lutheran churches in Europe have women as bishops already. However, while the Church of Sweden was the first Lutheran church to ordain female pastors in 1958, there is still considerable debate in this church as to the legitimacy of the ordination of women into the pastoral office. In fact, in 2003 the Missionsprovinsen (Mission Province) was formed within the Church of Sweden to support those who oppose the ordination of women and other developments seen as theologically problematic.
  • The Moravian Church <ref>Women in ordained ministry [22]</ref>
  • Many Old Catholic Churches within the Utrecht Union in Germany, Switzerland and Netherlands ordain women, but two churches have left the union because they do not do so. Other Old Catholic Churches do not ordain women, but accept this in other Old Catholic Churches of the Union. These are not to be confused with the Roman Catholic Church, which does not ordain women (see above).
  • The Pentecostalism church in Germany allowed ordination of women.<ref>"Dienst der Frau-Frauenordination eingeführt", 2004 [[23]] </ref>
  • The Presbyterian Church

In 1893 Edith Livingston Peake was appointed Presbyterian Evangelist by First United Presbyterian of San Francisco.[citation needed] Between 1907 and 1920 five more women became ministers.[citation needed] The Presbyterian Church (USA) began ordaining elders in the 1960s, and ministers of Word and sacrament in the late twentieth century. By 2001, the numbers of men and women holding office were almost equal.<ref>Holper, J. Frederick, 2001 "What Presbyterians Believe about ordination", Presbyterians Today, May 2001, retrieved from http://www.pcusa.org/today/archive/believe/wpb0105.htm on August 21, 2006 </ref>

The Unitarian Universalist Association has a long history of welcoming women to the ministry, reaching back to 1963 and its predecessor, the Universalist Church. In 1999 it became the first major religion in the US with women outnumbering men in the clergy.

Divided during the 1930s by this issue inherited from the churches it brought together, the United Church ordained its first woman minister, Lydia Gruchy, in 1936.<ref> [24] </ref>

Antoinette Brown was ordained as a minister by a Congregationalist Church in 1853, though this was not recognized by her denomination.<ref>[25]</ref> She later became a Unitarian.

In 1880, Anna Howard Shaw was ordained by the Methodist Protestant Church; Ella Niswonger was ordained in 1889 by the United Brethren Church. Both denominations later merged into the United Methodist Church. In 1956, the Methodist Church in America granted ordination and full clergy rights to women. Since that time, women have been ordained full elders (pastors) in the denomination, and 21 have been elevated to the episcopacy. The first woman elected and consecrated Bishop within the United Methodist Church (and, indeed, the first woman elected bishop of any mainline Christian church) was Marjorie Matthews in 1980. Leontine T. Kelly, in 1984, was the first African-American woman elevated to the episcopacy in any mainline denomination. In Germany Rosemarie Wenner is since 2005 leading bishop in the United Methodist Church.

Olympia Brown became the first woman to achieve full ministerial standing recognized by a US denomination, as an ordained Universalist minister. She later became a Unitarian.

[edit] Judaism

See also Role of women in Judaism

Jewish tradition and law does not presume that women have more or less of an aptitude or moral standing required of rabbis. However, it has been the longstanding practice that only men become rabbis. This practice continues to this day within the Orthodox and Hasidic communities but has been revised within non-Orthodox organizations. Reform Judaism created its first woman rabbi in 1972, Reconstructionist Judaism in 1974, and Conservative Judaism in 1985, and women in these movements are now routinely granted semicha on an equal basis with men.

The issue of allowing women to become rabbis is not under active debate within the Orthodox community, though there is widespread agreement that women may often be consulted on matters of Jewish religious law. There are reports that a small number of Orthodox yeshivas have unofficially granted semicha to women, but the prevailing consensus among Orthodox leaders (as well as a small number of Conservative Jewish communities) is that it is not appropriate for women to become rabbis.

The idea that women could eventually be ordained as rabbis sparks widespread opposition among the Orthodox rabbinate. Norman Lamm, one of the leaders of Modern Orthodoxy and Rosh Yeshiva of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, totally opposes giving semicha to women. "It shakes the boundaries of tradition, and I would never allow it." (Helmreich, 1997) Writing in an article in the Jewish Observer, Moshe Y'chiail Friedman states that Orthodox Judaism prohibits women from being given semicha and serving as rabbis. He holds that the trend towards this goal is driven by sociology, and not halakha.

[edit] Islam

From introduction to article Women as imams. See entire article, and Women in Islam, for more detail.

Although Muslims do not formally ordain religious leaders, the imam serves as a spiritual leader and religious authority. There is a current controversy among Muslims on the circumstances in which women may act as imams — that is, lead a congregation in salat (prayer). Three of the four Sunni schools, as well as many Shia, agree that a woman may lead a congregation consisting of women alone in prayer, although the Maliki school does not allow this. According to all currently existing traditional schools of Islam, a woman cannot lead a mixed gender congregation in salat (prayer). Some schools make exceptions for Tarawih (optional Ramadan prayers) or for a congregation consisting only of close relatives. Certain medieval scholars — including Al-Tabari (838–932), Abu Thawr (764–854), Al-Muzani (791–878), and Ibn Arabi (1165–1240) — considered the practice permissible at least for optional (nafila) prayers; however, their views are not accepted by any major surviving group.

Some Muslims in recent years have reactivated the debate, arguing that the spirit of the Qur'an and the letter of a disputed hadith indicate that women should be able to lead mixed congregations as well as single-sex ones, and that the prohibition of this developed as a result of sexism in the medieval environment, not as a part of true Islam.

[edit] Buddhism

The ordination of women is currently and historically practiced in some Buddhist regions, such East Asia and Taiwan, and not in others, such as India and Sri Lanka.

The tradition of the ordained monastic community (sangha) began with Buddha, who established orders of Bhikkhu (monks) and later, after an initial reluctance, of Bhikkuni (nuns). The stories, sayings and deeds of some of the distinguished Bhikkhuni of early Buddhism are recorded in many places in the Pali Canon, most notably in the Therigatha. However, not only did the Buddha lay down more rules of discipline for the bhikkhuni (311 compared to the bhikkhu's 227), he also made it more difficult for them to be ordained.

The tradition flourished for centuries throughout South and East Asia, but appears to have died out in the Theravada traditions of India and Sri Lanka in the 11th century C.E. However, the Mahayana tradition, particularly in Taiwan and Hong Kong, has retained the practice, where nuns are called 'Bhikṣuṇī' (the Sanskrit equivalent of the Pali 'Bhikkhuni'). Nuns are also found in Korea and Vietnam.

There have been some attempts in recent years to revive the tradition of women in the sangha within Theravada Buddhism in Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, with many women ordained in Sri Lanka since the late 1990s.

[edit] Thailand

See also Buddhism in Thailand

In 1928, the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, responding to the attempted ordination of two women, issued an edict that monks must not ordain women. The two women were reportedly arrested and jailed briefly. In a more recent challenge to the Thai sangha's ban on women, Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, previously a professor of Buddhist philosophy known as Dr Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, was controversially ordained as a nun in Sri Lanka in 2003. Despite some support inside the religious hierarchy, the sangha remains fiercely opposed to the ordination of women.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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[edit] Further reading

  • Canon Law Society of America. The Canonical Implications of Ordaining Women to the Permanent Diaconate, 1995. ISBN 0-943616-71-9.
  • Davies, J. G. "Deacons, Deaconesses, and Minor Orders in the Patristic Period", Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 1963, v. 14, p. 1-23.
  • Elsen, Ute E. Women Officeholders in Early Christianity: Epigraphical and Literary Studies, Liturgical Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8146-5950-0.
  • Gryson, Roger. The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, Liturgical Press, 1976. ISBN 081460899X. Translation of: Le ministère des femmes dans l'Église ancienne, J. Duculot, 1972.
  • LaPorte, Jean. The Role of Women in Early Christianity, Edwin Mellen Press, 1982. ISBN 0-88946-549-5.
  • Madigan, Kevin, and Carolyn Osiek. Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8018-7932-9.
  • Martimort, Aimé Georges, Deaconesses: An Historical Study, Ignatius Press, 1986, ISBN 0898701147. Translation of: Les Diaconesses: Essai Historique, Edizioni Liturgiche, 1982.
  • Miller, Patricia Cox. Women in Early Christianity: Translations from Greek Texts, Catholic University of America Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8132-1417-3.
  • Wijngaards, John. Women Deacons in the Early Church: Historical Texts and Contemporary Debates, Herder & Herder, 2002, 2006. ISBN 0-8245-2393-8.

[edit] External links

[edit] General

[edit] Christian

Evangelical -- For

Evangelical -- Against

Presbyterian churches -- For

Presbyterian churches -- Against

Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic -- For

Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic -- Against

  • Forward in Faith - Anglo-Catholic Anglicans in Opposition to Women in the Priesthood

Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic -- Balanced

  • [26] - Zenit article on Deaconesses.

Eastern Orthodox -- For

[edit] Buddhist

fr:Ordination des femmes dans l'Église catholique romaine pl:Kapłaństwo kobiet fi:Naispappeus

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