Earlier this summer I participated in the preaching institute held at the Aquinas Institute of Theology (a Roman Catholic graduate school affiliated with the Dominicans). Most of the other participants were Roman Catholic priests or nuns (though we had a few UCC folks in attendance).
What struck me about the group was the overwhelming sense among participants that women have throughout history been denied their appropriate place as preachers and ministers by the church (whether that church is Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist or any other that denies women the right of ordination).
You might assume that because these nuns and priests were professionals within the Roman Catholic Church that they would be in full agreement with the Vatican’s position that only men can be ordained to ministry. That was not the feeling I got from this group (though I didn’t formally poll anyone about their attitudes regarding ordination).
At the very least, those who were there seemed to share an opinion that human interpretations of Scripture should not be used to deny women their rightful place as preachers. This has been my experience with many Roman Catholics that I have worked and studied with.
The role of women in the church has always been a difficult one. Women thrived in the early Christian world and throughout history there have been notable women preachers and ministers in many religious traditions.
This week four women were ordained as priests and five as deacons in Canada in a protest against Roman Catholic policy, reports Religion News Service:
According to official Catholic teaching, male-only priesthood dates to Jesus' selection of men as his apostles.
It's time that changed, said Sister Patricia Bergan, a member of the women's religious community the Sisters of St. Francis and an administrator at St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Syracuse, N.Y.
When Bergan, Cathy Gregory, and Meme Woolever, all of Syracuse, heard about the event, they decided to drive to the eastern Ontario town to see if they could participate.
The Woman’s Ordination Conference, which sponsored the ordination of these women, “is a US based Catholic organization working locally and nationally in collaboration with the worldwide movement for women's ordination.” There are resources on their web site for those interested in learning about the debate in Roman Catholic circles concerning the ordination of women.
The United Church of Christ first ordained a woman, Antoinette Brown, to ministry in 1853. That early date is something to celebrate but even in our denomination no woman has ever served as General Minister and President (the top position in the UCC) and women clergy still struggle for acceptance in some UCC congregations.
All of our churches have a long way to go until we fully recognize the gifts God has given us. The diversity of humanity – one of the greatest of those gifts – is so often used as a flash point for division that Christians often forget we are “all one in Jesus Christ.” The movement to ordain women to ministry helps move us towards that ideal.
