Ordination of women
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 the office is traditionally restricted to men, for various theological reasons.
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 has died out in some Buddhist traditions such as
Theravada Buddhism, while remaining strong in others such as
Chinese Buddhism.
Orthodox
Judaism does not permit women to become
Rabbis, but female Rabbis have begun to appear in recent years among more liberal Jewish movements.
In traditional Christianity, such as
Roman Catholicism,
Orthodox, and
Anglicanism, ordination is distinguished from consecration (see:
monk,
nun), 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.
Roman Catholic Church
Doctrinal Position
The official position of the
Roman Catholic Church is that: "Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination."
[Codex Iruis Canonici canon 1024, c.f. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1577] In asserting this position, the Church cites her own doctrinal tradition, and scriptural texts.
[e.g., Paul VI, Address on the Role of Women in the Plan of Salvation (30 January 1997), Insegnamenti XV (1977), 111 et. al.] In recent years, responding to questions about the matter, the Church has issued a number of documents repeating the same position.
[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.] In 1994
Pope John Paul II definitively declared the question closed in his letter
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.
[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. , John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis , c.f. Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (30 December 1988), 31] Again, in 1995, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that this teaching was
infallible, and therefore could not be doubted by Catholics.
[this teaching requires definitive assent, since, 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. The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Response of 25 October 1995, c.f. Lumen Gentium 25:2.] However, some theologians argued that the CDF does not have the authority to declare a teaching infallible and that the teaching on women's ordination does not meet the conditions for an infallible statement.
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.
[Inter Insigniores section 5] The
Roman Catholic Church sees maleness and femaleness as two different ways of expressing common humanity.
[Catechism of the Catholic Church 355, 383, 369-72, 1605, 2333.] 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.
[Gaudium et Spes 12,4] 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.
[For a similar analysis, see "Mulieris Dignitatem", 26-27]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,
[Irenaeus, "Against Heresies" 1:13:2] Tertullian,
[Tertullian, "Demurrer Against the Heretics" 41:4â€"5; "Baptism" 1; "The Veiling of Virgins" 9] Hippolytus,
[Hippolytus, "The Apostolic Tradition" 11] Epiphanius,
[Epiphanius, "Against Heresies" 78:13, 79:3] John Chrysostom,
[John Chrysostom, "The Priesthood" 2:2] and Augustine
[Augustine, "Heresies" 1:17] all wrote that the ordination of women was impossible. The Council of Nicaea rejected the argument that women could or had been ordained to the Deaconate.
[Council of Nicaea, canon 19] The Council of Laodicea made the same affirmation concerning the Presbyterate.
[Council of Laodicea, canon 11)]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.
["Catechism of the Catholic Church" 1120] 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.
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 official Roman Catholic view is that the priest is not the only
prayer leader possible. Prayer leaders may be women (a woman can and often does lead at a public recitation of the
Rosary, for example). Women are also able to live the
Consecrated Life as a
nun or
abbess.
Dissenting Position
Arguments for the ordination of women are manifold, but are based mainly on demanding equality. Some sacramental theologians have argued that ordaining men only creates two classes of
baptism, contradicting
Saint Paul's statement that all are equal in
Christ. This argument does not allow for the distinction between equal dignity and different services within the Church.
Some supporters of women's ordination have claimed that there have been ordained
priests and
bishops in antiquity, based on only scant evidence [
1]. What can be verified is that the Church had
deaconesses in the past; the word, like "deacon", comes from the Greek word
diakonos (διάκονος), meaning "one who serves". A deaconess however should not be considered as a female deacon because deaconesses were not ordained clergy and mainly assisted the priest in receiving women into the Church for baptism by full immersion (which is still practiced by the Catholic Church's
Eastern Rite).
[ First Council of Nicea, canon 19]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 Bishop
Felix Maria DavÃdek in the 1970s, to serve as priests in the underground Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia. Bishop Davidek had died in 1988, and Bishop
Jan Blaha declared that such ordinations could not have been valid. Javorová ceased to practice as a priest.[
2][
3][[
4]
Eastern Orthodox
The
Eastern Orthodox churches follows a similar line of reasoning as the Roman Catholic Church with respect to ordination of priests and deacons.
The official view is that this issue would be most properly addressed by an
ecumenical council.
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.
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, 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, Korea, Melanesia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South East Asia, Tanzania |
|---|
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) will be
Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA at its 2006 General Convention.
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
Diocese of Sydney in Australia and
Diocese of Quincy,
Illinois in the USA, which do not. 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.
Other 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, ministers etc) 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).
Examples of other churches' practices
Christian Connection Church (An early relative of the
Christian church (Disciples of Christ) and the
United Church of Christ) 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.
*
The United Church of ChristAntoinette Brown was ordained as a minister by a Congregationalist Church in 1853, though this was not recognized by her denomination[
5]. She later became a
Unitarian.
*'''The
Universalist ChurchOlympia 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.
*'''The
Unitarian Universalist AssociationThe
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.
*
The United Methodist Church in AmericaIn 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 several have been promoted to the
episcopacy.
*
The Church of ScotlandWomen 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 Eliot in 2004.See main article:
Ordination of women in the Church of Scotland.
*
The United Church of CanadaDivided 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. [
6]
*
The Cumberland Presbyterian ChurchIn 1888
Louisa Woosley licensed to preach. She was ordained in 1889. Wrote
Shall Woman Preach.
*
The Presbyterian ChurchIn 1893
Edith Livingston Peake was appointed Presbyterian Evangelist by First United Presbyterian of San Francisco. Between 1907 and 1920 five more women became ministers.
*The
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)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. However, the
Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, the next largest
Lutheran body in the
United States does not ordain women.
*
The Lutheran and Reformed Churches in
Germany (
EKD) ordain women and have women as bishops.
*
The Lutheran Churches in
Denmark,
Sweden,
Finland,
Norway and
Iceland ordain women and these Lutheran churches in Europe have women as bishops already.
*
The Reformed Churches in
Switzerland and in the
Netherlands ordain women.
See also Role of women in JudaismJewish 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.
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 â€" 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 â€" including
Al-Tabari (838â€"932),
Abu Thawr (764â€"854),
Al-Muzani (791â€"878), and
Ibn Arabi (1165â€"1240) â€" 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.
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.
Thailand
See also Buddhism in ThailandIn
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 from inside the religious hierarchy, the sangha remains fiercely opposed to the ordination of women.
*
Christian views of women*
List of women priests*
Feminist theology*
Role of women in Judaism*
Women as imams*
Stained-glass ceiling*
Episcopa Theodora*
Women as theological figuresGeneral
*
Women as Clergy: When some faith groups started to ordain women - including many Christian and Jewish Faith Groups. -- 'For' ordination of women.
Christian
Evangelical -- For*
Christians for Biblical Equality - Egalitarian Evangelical perspective on gender issues
Evangelical -- Against*
Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood - Complementarian Evangelical perspective on gender issues
*(See also Presbyterian churches -- Against, below)
Presbyterian churches -- For*
Women Elders - From a Presbyterian Church (USA) sitePresbyterian churches -- Against*
"Report of the Committee on Hermeneutics of Women in Ordained Office" submitted to the 54th GA of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (1987) (.html)*
"Report on Women in Office" submitted to the 55th GA of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (1988) (.html)*
Position Paper Approved by the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (.pdf)*
Rev. Rich Lusk, "Ministry, Women, and Liturgy," May 2000 (.pdf)*
Rev. James B. Jordan, "Liturgical Man, Liturgical Woman (Part 1)," Rite Reasons No. 86, May 2004 (.htm)*
Rev. James B. Jordan, "Liturgical Man, Liturgical Woman (Part 2)," Rite Reasons No. 87, June 2004 (.htm)Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic -- For*
Womenpriests.org Website advocating the ordination of women to the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic -- Against*
Forward in Faith - Anglo-Catholic Anglicans in Opposition to Women in the Priesthood
Buddhist
*
ordination of women - Buddhism
*
challenge to Thai Sangha's ban on women - Christian Science monitor
