From the Philadelphia Eleven
to the Danube Seven
Women's Ordination Takes an Historic New Stride
by Sally Bucklee
Seven women were ordained to the priesthood of
the Roman Catholic Church on June 29, 2002.
There are endless similarities to the Episcopal ordinations held in July 1974 and September 1975 but a
major difference is the lack of interest on the part of
the American press, although one of the seven was an
Austrian-American from Ohio. I had been tipped off to
anticipate the ordinations on
June 29, but found nothing
about it until Ginger Paul
sent a clipping from England in mid-summer.
And then in April I was invited to meet two of the priests as they began a
tour of the U.S., sponsored by Catholics Speak Out
and the Women's Ordination Conference (WOC). Dr.
Iris Mueller, a refugee from East Germany, believes
she is the first Roman Catholic woman to argue that
women should be ordained--and her professor allowed
"...the Code of Canon Law gives only nine offenses
for which excommunication can be imposed,
and being a woman who allows herself to be
ordained is not on that list."
as how were that to occur, a woman would become
today's Luther in the Roman Church. Surely nobody
wanted that! Forty years ago, she and Dr. Ida Raming,
from West Germany, petitioned the Second Vatican
Council (1962-65) to halt the exclusion of women from
the priesthood. A daunting feat!
Baptismal Parity
Armed with Galatians 3:27-28--"As many of you as
were baptized in Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.
There is no longer Jew or Greek--slave or free--male
and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" --
Mueller and Raming, then both in their 30s, argued the
fundamental precondition for the validity of an ordina-
tion is baptism, not male chromosomes. Thus Canon
1024, in stating that only a baptized male can be ordained, "established heresy" and was illegal. Not only
does the canon ignore the baptismal parity of women
who have received the same baptism and confirmation
as men, it is based on "a grave lack of respect for the
dignity of women" and their contributions to the faith
through the centuries.
The petition was ignored by the Second Vatican
Council yet the Council did approve a proclamation that
"every type of discrimination...based on sex...is to be
overcome and eradicated as contrary to God's intent."
Rebuffed but not beaten, Raming undertook a groundbreaking doctoral dissertation to document the long history of discrimination against women revealed in writings from the early years through the M i d d l e
Ages. The church's exclusion of women from the priesthood, she posited, was
based on a belief in the essential and ethical inferiority of women.
To this day, the Orthodox and Armenian churches insist women are unclean and prohibit them from receiv-
ing the eucharist while menstruating. (One wonders
just how this is policed!) Published in 1966, Raming's
dissertation exposed how the Church teaches that
woman are not created in God's image but are biologically and morally inferior to men, are the cause of sin,
have transgressed God's will and therefore, must be
subordinated, prohibited from office and ordination.
In 1970, we now know, a Czech woman was
secretly ordained to serve in the underground church
formed to keep the Catholic faith alive during communist rule. We also know from recent research that women
were ordained in the early centuries of the Christian
Church. And in 1976, as the Episcopal Church was
resolving the issue, Pope Paul VI found no biblical barrier to women's ordination; the U.S. Catholic Bishops
"Call to Action Conference" actually endorsed it.
The following year, Pope Paul VI issued Inter
Signiores, a Declaration Against the Ordination of
Women, which purported that scripture and tradition do
not permit women to "image" Jesus in the priesthood.
"The Papal No"
In the early 1990's, the U.S. Bishops' Pastoral on
Women's Concerns went through four drafts, each pro-
gressively more conservative with the final draft so
strongly negative toward women's ordination, it was
defeated. In 1994, the Pope issued Ordinatio
Sacerdotalist, quickly nicknamed the "Papal No." It
reiterated former teachings, claimed the Church had
no "authority" to ordain women and that this "defini-
tive" teaching was not open for further discussion.
Next year, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger responded to doubts about the "Papal No," by declaring the teaching on an all-male priesthood infallible and therefore unquestionable.
The subject was not to be discussed further--
and in official Anglican-Roman relationships it is not.
There are only two women on the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM)--an English laywoman and a Roman Catholic nun--plus 14 men, mostly bishops. Two
consultants to the Committee are ordained males; two
laywomen serve as administrative staff. Female clergy
from the Anglican/Episcopal Church are never present
when its bishops are received in the Vatican, although
bishops' wives may be.
Three Year Gestation
Given the hierarchically centralized structure of the
Roman Church--with no democratic process involving
laity, clergy and bishops--no change in the legal status
of women or the "Papal No" could be expected. Yet
that church was beginning to have an abundance of
women well prepared theologically and recognized as
such by their communities.
Raming and Mueller, now in their 70s, had a
sense of time running out for them. How to create a
prophetic protest; directly challenge Canon 1024, and
force the Vatican to defend itself solely on the basis that
baptized women are not fit matter for ordination?
As in ECUSA, ordaining unquestionably well-
qualified women was the only answer. Planning began
in 1998. A declaration was crafted to explain why they
were proceeding. It held Jesus up as their role model--
not blindly obedient, and in trouble with the officials and
the law more than once. Jesus' relationships with and
treatment of women disproved any notion woman is a
second-class gender. The women traversed Germany
speaking to those in the reform movement. They were
heartened to find 90 percent of every audience support-
ing them. They searched for women with a call to ordi-
nation and bishops to ordain them.
The Danube Ordinations
As in steamy Philadelphia 28 years earlier, it was sunny
on June 29, 2002 in Passau, Germany. A small group of
reporters, invited to witness the ordinations, were instructed to show up in a parking lot at 8:30 am on the
29th. Only then did they learn that the ordinations would
take place aboard the MS Passau, thus fudging the
issue of whether they occurred in Germany or Austria.
Pressure on the ordinands to withdraw had been incredible. Several pulled out.
Despite precautions, the day had ugly moments.
One conservative Austrian, who publishes a small newspaper,
repeatedly challenged the women and bishops.
Finally he blurted out to one ordinand, "You have nice
breasts and I would like to see you sunbathe naked!"
Security guards moved in.
Yet the event was exhilerating for the ordinands--four Germans, two Austrians and an Ohio woman with US-Austrian citizenship--plus 200 attendees, including Roman Catholic, Old Catholic and Lutheran
clergy both male and female and many laity from across
Europe and North America. At the awesome moment
of the laying on of hands, the ship shuddered and turned
around to return to Passau--was this a sign of a turnabout for the Roman Church? Was the Barque of Peter being moved to a new course? asked Maureen
Fiedler, a Sister of Loretto and host of Interfaith Voices,
a public radio show.
"...a beacon of hope and light for our church
in this dark and troubling time."
Each of the bishops who agreed to ordain the
"Danube Seven" has had his differences with the
Vatican. Neither is on Rome's list of recognized bishops, but each has a firm claim to apostolic succession
and according to the Vatican's theology of ordination, it
takes only valid ministers and proper sacramental action to make valid sacraments.
In the recent publicity about pedophile priests,
the sacraments performed by them are considered valid.
The well-known Bishop Marcel Lafevre, declared schismatic and excommunicated for refusing to accept liturgical reforms, was later welcomed back into full communion and those he had ordained are treated as valid
priests.
Rapid repercussions
On July 10, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger threatened the
women with excommunication unless they publicly recognized their ordinations were "null and void; they repented and asked pardon for the scandal they are causing believers in the Roman Catholic Church."
However, the Code of Canon Law gives only nine offenses
for which excommunication can be imposed, and being
a woman who allows herself to be ordained is not on
that list! The Vatican position also contradicts, first, the
church's own Vatican II teaching, concerning discrimination based on sex and Galatians 3:27-28, the biblical
basis for baptismal parity.
The Vatican carried out its excommunications
on July 22. Ratzinger's "action degrades the spiritual
value of more than half of the members of our faith and
demonstrates that Vatican teachings on 'unity of the
faith and communion with the church' are built upon
the oppression of women," the Women's Ordination
Conference protested. "It is time that we, as church,
ponder the seemingly unrelated problems of clergy
sexual abuse, the growing priest shortage, and the glaring absence of women in decision-making, ecclesiastical and procedural roles in the church, for they are all
evidence of an unhealthy and sexist institution that seeks
to serve itself rather than the People of God."
WOC viewed "the ordination of these brave
and gifted women as a beacon of hope and light for our
church at this very dark and troubling time" and called
on the Vatican to "withdraw the excommunication order, recognize the true priesthood of these seven courageous women, and open priestly ministry to all of God's
faithful so that our church can be rebuilt with a foundation of justice and equality established by the life and
teachings of Jesus Christ."
But I could not help but wonder how these two
quiet women in pantsuits--no black suits, clergy shirts
or Roman collars for them--were going to create a
revolution. As in 1975-76, the altars of the world are
closed to them, although Raming was setting out to speak
at Harvard Divinity School, Drew University and many
other prominent theological centers. Women who feel
called by God to the priesthood face a situation of "grave
conflict of conscience," she told me. "On one hand they
face the position of church leadership. On the other hand,
God is calling them to priestly service in the Church. It
is Christ's love that drives us."
For more information, check out:
www.virtuelle-dioezese
(scroll through the German for the English text)
press@womensodination.org
grassroots@womens ordination.org