The Discussion around the forthcoming ordination of women priests

WE ARE CHURCH, Germany. 18 June 2002

Translation by John Wijngaards
More than 2.3 million men and women, in the German-language area alone, have spoken out in favour of the admission of women to the priestly ministry, including the opening of the permanent diaconate for women. All this in the context of “What God’s People Really want” (Kirchenvolksbegehren = KVB) in 1995.

71% of practising Roman Catholics in Germany are in favour of the ordination of women, as established by the American Sociologists Prof. Andrew Greeley and Prof. Michael Hout in a study of 1996.

The KVB has, in principle, welcomed the ordination of women from Austria and Bavaria which was announced in February 2002, even though there are different views on how the way to the ministry of women should be directed.

The women have undergone a three-years’ course of studies and want to be ordained on 29 June 2002.

In many interviews with the media, the German KVB has clarified its mixed/balanced position in this question, and has stressed in this that the real scandal lies in the refusal to ordain women, even though it cannot be justified through scripture or tradition.

We quote from the KNA Agency, 5 March 2002:

“It is a scandal that in the Roman Catholic Church, on the way to the priesthood, women still have to travel an illegal path”, declared Annegret Laakmann of the We-Are-Church Movement. The women hope to find “communities in which they can administer the sacraments”. “Meanwhile all arguments against their ordination have been rebuffed”, according to Annegret Laakmann.

From an interview with DPA, 10 February 2002:

Catholic We-Are-Church movement: Women Priests would be an enrichment. …. “It is only a traditional practice in the Roman Catholic Church that women are excluded from ministry at the altar”, said Christian Weisner, spkoesman for We-Are-Church in Hannover, in a discussion with the German Press Agency (DPA). According to scripture, it is not at all excluded that women should lead a community and preside over a service. Weisner stated that women in the priestly ministry “would enrich leadership in the community and would create a new quality of pastoral care that the Catholic Church urgently needs.” The women do not intend to take over unoccupied posts. Weisner warned: “If the situation continues that ‘the old men’ in Rome lay down what is allowed and what is not allowed in the Church, women will no longer feel at home in this Church.” Weisner maintains that many women would like to become priests, even though there are widely diverging views regarding the way to go. Meanwhile the number of women completing a full theological study is rising to impressive heights. “Women feel hurt on account of the inflexible attitude of Rome”. Yet, there is hope, because in history, much that was proclaimed to be dogma in Rome, did not survive . . . .

A tip on what to read: Priesteramt der Frau Geschenk Gottes für eine erneuerte Kirche by Ida Raming, Lit Verlag Münster 2002. ISBN 3-8258-5579-1; about Euro 20. English review here!

Seven good grounds to support women priests and women deacons in the Roman Catholic Church:

1. . . . to make visible that both men and women are image of God;
2. . . . to ensure that a Church of brothers and sisters does not lose the treasure of experience carried by women;
3. . . . to render the Church ‘whole’ through the participation of women in leadership and decisionmaking functions;
4. . . . to honour the fact that Jesus committed the most important tasks to women;
5. . . . to respect the wish of many women, and men, who would nlike to have a woman as their pastoral leader;
6. . . . to recognise that a relevant Church in the third millennium can only thrive with women;
7. . . . to enable women to find themselves in being image of God, in language and worship, and to enable them to grow in this.

For more information contact:
Christian Weisner, member of the national team, tel. 0049-511-800010, info@wir-sind-kirche.de
Annegret Laakmann, spokesperson, tel. 0049-2364-5588, laakmann@ic-mari.de.