Ordaining women

THE issue of women being ordained or acting as ministers of religion has been a contentious one for centuries. While, nowadays, most of the mainstream religions accept women ministers, the issue is not without controversy.

There are a number of groups within Roman Catholicism pressing for ordination of women, while some members left the Anglican Communion in protest at its introduction.

 

The Roman Catholic Church is quite certain on its stance on the matter. Pope John Paul II stated that the Church has no authority whatsoever to ordain women and this teaching is embodied in Canon Law. A decree was issued stating that any attempt to ordain women to the priesthood would result in the automatic excommunication of the women involved, together with the ordaining priest.

The first regular ordination of women in the Anglican Communion took place in Hong Kong in 1971, followed by Canada in 1976 and the United States the following year. The Catholic Church was so alarmed  by this trend that in 1975, Pope Paul VI wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury Donal Coogan giving his reasons why the ordination of women was invalid.

Among the Anglican Churches in Western Europe it was the Church of Ireland which led the way. In 1990, following a long debate which started in the 1970s, the General Synod approved the ordination of women, not just to the priesthood but also to the episcopate. In June of that year in St Anne’s Cathedral Belfast, Irene Templeton and Kathleen Young were ordained by the Bishop of Conor, Dr Samuel Poyntz.

The Church of England did not move as quickly. Even though the Lambeth Conference had recommended in 1968 that women be involved as much as possible that was only pending a decision on the issue of female ordination.

That same year the General Synod voted to admit women to the deaconate. This meant that they could officiate at baptisms, marriages and funerals but could not administer any of the other sacraments. The debate on their full ordination raged all through the 1980s and ’90s. It threatened to seriously divide the Church. Many traditionalist priests and bishops had threatened to resign over the matter and it was feared that as many as 1,000 clergy would leave. Indeed some did leave and join the Roman Catholic Church where they continued as priests, even though many of them were married. Many high profile lay-people also left the Church. One government minister accused the Church of England of promoting political correctness at the expense of clear teachings of Scripture. When the matter was finally debated at Synod, there were about 1,400 female deacons waiting for ordination.

In 1992 the Synod voted to allow the ordination of women – but only by a margin of two votes and after a debate which lasted nearly six hours. By the year 2000, there were about 1700 Church of England priests and in 2010 more women were ordained than men. Now the debate centres on consecrating women bishops and even though other Anglican Churches have female bishops, the Church of England is divided on the issue.

The vote to allow women to be ordained as priests of the Church of England was passed on November 11, 1992 – 20 years ago this week.