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Ordination of women

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Religious disputes

   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 either the office of ordination, or the role that an
   ordained person fulfills, has traditionally been restricted to men
   because of cultural or theological prohibitions.

   In historical Christianity, such as Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy and
   Anglicanism, ordination is distinguished from religious or consecrated
   life and is the means by which one is included in one of the priestly
   orders: bishop, priest, or deacon. Roman Catholic and Orthodox
   priesthood is limited to men.

   In Protestant Christian denominations that do not have a priesthood,
   ordination is understood more generally as the acceptance of one for
   pastoral work. Most other Protestant denominations ordain women for
   pastoral ministries except some very conservative denominations such as
   the Southern Baptist Convention, Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and
   fundamentalist groups.

   Orthodox Judaism does not permit women to become rabbis (instead, the
   women in leadership positions are often Rebbetzin, wives of a rabbi),
   but female rabbis have begun to appear in recent years among more
   liberal Jewish movements, especially the Reconstructionist, Renewal,
   Reform, and Humanistic denominations.

   Muslims do not formally ordain religious leaders. The imam serves as a
   spiritual leader and religious authority. Most strands of Islam permit
   women to lead female-only congregations in prayer (one of the meanings
   of the word imam), but restrict their roles in mixed sex congregations.
   There is a recent movement to extend women's roles in spiritual
   leadership.

   Within Buddhism, the legitimacy of ordaining women as bhikkhuni (nuns)
   has become a significant topic of discussion in some areas in recent
   years. It is widely accepted that the Buddha created an order of
   bhikkhuni, but the tradition of ordaining women has died out in some
   Buddhist traditions such as Theravada Buddhism, while remaining strong
   in others such as Chinese Buddhism.

Christianity

Roman Catholic Church

Doctrinal Position

   The official position of the Roman Catholic Church, as expressed in the
   current canon law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is that:
   "Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination." Insofar
   as priestly and episcopal ordination are concerned, the Church teaches
   that this requirement is a matter of divine law, and thus doctrinal.
   The requirement that only males can receive ordination to the permanent
   diaconate has not been promulgated as doctrinal by the Church's
   magisterium, though it is clearly at least a requirement according to
   canon law. In asserting this position, the Church cites her own
   doctrinal tradition, and scriptural texts. In recent years, responding
   to questions about the matter, the Church has issued a number of
   documents repeating the same position. In 1994, Pope John Paul II
   declared the question closed in his letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis,
   stating: "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."

   In 1995, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued what it
   considered a clarification, explaining that Ordinatio Sacerdotalis,
   though "itself not infallible, witnesses to the infallibility of the
   teaching of a doctrine already possessed by the Church.... This
   doctrine belongs to the deposit of the faith of the Church. It should
   be emphasized that the definitive and infallible nature of this
   teaching of the Church did not arise with the publication of the Letter
   Ordinatio Sacerdotalis." Instead, it was "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," and for these reasons it "requires
   definitive assent."

   The Church teaching on the restriction of its ordination to men that
   masculinity was integral to the personhood of both Jesus and the men he
   called as apostles. The Roman Catholic Church sees maleness and
   femaleness as two different ways of expressing common humanity.
   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. 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.

   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, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, John
   Chrysostom, and Augustine all wrote that the ordination of women was
   impossible. The Synod of Laodicea prohibited ordaining women to the
   Presbyterate.

Deaconesses and Female Deacons

   The ordination of females to the diaconate is a matter of some
   controversy among Roman Catholic historians and theologians. At issue
   are two distinct but interrelated questions: whether some deaconesses
   in the early Church received true sacramental ordination, or whether
   all were merely so called for functional or honorific purposes; and,
   whether the prohibition against ordaining women to the diaconate is
   also a matter of unchangeable divine law, or potentially changeable
   ecclesiastical law. If some deaconesses did receive true sacramental
   ordination, then the current prohibition would be ecclesiastical rather
   than divine law. If not, then it could be either ecclesiastical or
   divine.

   It can be verified that the term deaconesses was employed in antiquity;
   the word, like "deacon," comes from the Greek word diakonos (διάκονος),
   meaning "one who serves." Deaconesses mainly assisted the priest in
   receiving women into the Church for baptism by full immersion (which is
   still practiced by the Eastern Catholic Churches and by some parishes
   in the Western or Latin rite as well), and did not perform any of the
   duties associated with male deacons. In this sense "deaconess" implied
   a title of honour and respect. Whether or not "deaconess" in some
   instances implied sacramental ordination is disputed.

   The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote in 1977 that the
   historical nature of deaconesses was "a question that must be taken up
   fully by direct study of the texts, without preconceived ideas." The
   position that deaconesses received true sacramental ordination (in
   certain times and places) is given by Roger Gryson, and the position
   that deaconesses never received true sacramental ordination is given by
   Aimé Georges Martimort. Both Gryson and Martimort argued from the same
   historical evidence, which is mixed. For example, the ecumenical First
   Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) stated that deaconesses: "do not receive
   any imposition of hands, so that they are in all respects to be
   numbered among the laity." However, 126 years later, the ecumenical
   Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) decreed: "A woman shall not receive the
   laying on of hands as a deaconess under forty years of age, and then
   only after searching examination." Martimort argues that the "laying on
   of hands" in the latter case referred only to a special blessing.
   Against this, "Gryson argues that the use of the verb cheirotonein and
   of the substantive cheirothesia clearly indicate that deaconesses were
   ordained by the laying on of hands."

   Until rather recently, the theologians and canonists who addressed the
   question almost unanimously considered the exclusion of women from
   ordination, including to the diaconate, as having a divine origin and
   therefore remaining absolute. Only in recent decades have any
   theologians or canonists entertained the theory that the prohibition of
   women from the ordained diaconate was a matter of merely
   ecclesiastical, rather than divine law. This renewed theological
   assessment was spurred on by the Second Vatican Council's revival of
   the permanent diaconate, which lifted the question from a purely
   theoretical matter to one with immensely practical consequences. Based
   on the theory that some deaconesses received the sacrament of Holy
   Orders, and based on the fact that some writers in the Middle Ages
   exhibited a certain hesitancy concerning the ordination of women
   stemming from knowledge that there had been deaconesses in antiquity,
   there have been modern-day proposals to ordain female permanent
   deacons, who would perform the same functions as male deacons.

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. 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. Likewise, sainthood is equally open to men and
   women, lay or ordained. For example, the Blessed Virgin Mary is
   venerated as the Queen of all Saints. Furthermore, there are female
   Doctors of the Church.

   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 Roman Catholic Church does not regard the priest as the only
   possible prayer leader, and prayer may be led by a woman. For example,
   outside the context of a Mass and in the absence of a priest or deacon,
   laypersons (both men and women) "are to be entrusted with the care of
   these [Sunday] celebrations." This includes leading the prayers,
   ministry of the word, and the giving of holy communion (previously
   consecrated by a priest). Also during these assemblies, in the absence
   of an ordained minister, a layperson may request God's blessing on the
   congregation, provided that the layperson does not use words proper to
   a priest or deacon, and omits rites that are too readily associated
   with the Mass.

   Women are also able to live the Consecrated Life as a nun or abbess,
   and throughout the history of the Church it has not been uncommon for
   an abbess to head a dual monastery, i.e. a community of men and women.

Positions dissenting against the official view

   Arguments for the Catholic ordination of women are manifold. One
   argument is based on equality. Some sacramental theologians have argued
   that ordaining men but not women creates two classes of baptism,
   contradicting Saint Paul's statement that all are equal in Christ. This
   argument does not give credence to the distinction between equal
   dignity and different services within the Church.

   Another argument is based on the theological position that there is a
   fundamental unity between the different levels (deacon, priest, and
   bishop) of the sacrament of Holy Orders, as taught by the Second
   Vatican Council. So, if history shows that the deaconesses known to
   have existed in the Early Church had actually received the sacrament of
   ordination, then because of the fundamental unity of Holy Orders, women
   can also be ordained as priests and bishops. (This same argument is
   sometimes used in reverse, against the historical possibility that
   deaconesses received sacramental ordination.)

   Whatever argument is used in favour of the priestly ordination of
   women, there is the problem of reconciling this position with Ordinatio
   Sacerdotalis. Based on the clarifications from the Congregation for the
   Doctrine of the Faith, the official point of view is that Ordinatio
   Sacerdotalis, without itself being ex cathedra, authoritatively and
   bindingly teaches that: (1) the Church cannot ordain women as priests
   due to divine law; and that (2) this doctrine has been set forth
   infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium.

   Since the encyclical Humani Generis, it is well known that the Roman
   Pontiff can, by his own authority, settle a theological question via a
   fallible papal teaching that is nonetheless sufficiently authoritative
   to end all debate on the matter, at least under Church law. This is
   clearly what has occurred with Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in regard to
   point (1). Thus, theological debate on whether women can be ordained as
   priests is no longer permitted for Catholics, and the arguments in
   favour of ordaining women to the priesthood in this section are
   properly termed a "dissenting position." However, several noted
   dogmatic theologians have questioned how this same debate-ending
   authority can apply to point (2), which is a matter not of faith or
   morals, but a factual matter relative to teachings promulgated by all
   the bishops of the Catholic Church over her two thousand year history.
   These dogmatic theologians find it especially problematic that,
   concerning this point, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis gives no indication of
   what historical facts are sufficient to ensure infallibility by the
   ordinary and universal Magisterium, nor any indication of how those
   historical facts were verified. Because of these issues it is argued
   that, if it were indeed possible for the Church to ordain women to the
   priesthood, this would not contradict the Church's dogma regarding
   infallible teachings.

   Some supporters of women's ordination have claimed that there have been
   ordained priests and bishops in antiquity. The official Church position
   on this is that "a few heretical sects in the first centuries,
   especially Gnostic ones, entrusted the exercise of the priestly
   ministry to women: this innovation was immediately noted and condemned
   by the Fathers who considered it as unacceptable in the Church." In
   response to that position, some supporters of women's ordination take
   the position that those sects weren't heretical, but, rather, orthodox.

   Some arguable evidence that not all ordinations in the Catholic
   tradition have been those of males exists. For example, the Pope
   Gelasius I apparently condemned the practice of women officiating at
   altars; inscriptions near Tropea in Calabria refer to "presbytera,"
   which could be interpreted as a woman priest or as a wife of a male
   priest . Furthermore, a sarcophagus from Dalmatia is inscribed with the
   date 425 and records that a grave in the Salona burial-ground was
   bought from presbytera Flavia Vitalia: selling burial plots was at one
   time a duty of presbyters . There have been some 15 records so far
   found of women being ordained in antiquity by Christians; while the
   Vatican insists those are ordinations by heretical groups, the Women's
   Ordination Conference contends that those were orthodox Christian
   groups. There is also the church of Santa Praxedis, where Theodora
   Episcopa—Bishop Theodora, with the word for "bishop" in feminine
   form—appears in an image with two female saints and Mary. That church's
   pastor alleges that the church was built in honour of Pope Pascal I's
   mother by her son, who graced her with the title "Episcopa" due to her
   being the mother of a Pope. However, Theodora wears a coif in the
   image, suggesting that she is an unmarried woman.

   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 the late
   Bishop Felix Maria Davídek in the 1970s, to serve as priests in the
   underground Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia. Javorová ceased to
   practice as a priest.

   There is at least one organization that calls itself "Roman Catholic"
   that ordains women at the present time, Roman Catholic Womenpriests
   even though several independent Catholic jurisidctions have been
   ordaining women in the United States since approximately the late
   1990s. There are several others calling for the Roman Catholic Church
   to ordain women, such as Circles , Brothers and Sisters in Christ ,
   Catholic Women's Ordination , and Corpus , along with others. While
   there have been excommunications connected to Roman Catholic
   Womenpriests, that has not deterred that organization from continuing
   to ordain women. Official Roman Catholic Church sources claim that the
   Roman Catholic Womenpriests organization has freely decided to separate
   from the Roman Catholic Church. However, the RC Womenpriests
   organization sources say they still associate with the Roman Catholic
   Church and are working to change it.

Eastern Orthodox

   The Eastern Orthodox churches follows a similar line of reasoning as
   the Roman Catholic Church with respect to ordination of priests.

   Regarding deaconesses, Professor Evangelos Theodorou argued that female
   deacons were actually ordained in antiquity . Bishop Kallistos Ware
   wrote:

     The order of deaconesses seems definitely to have been considered an
     "ordained" ministry during early centuries in at any rate the
     Christian East. ... Some Orthodox writers regard deaconesses as
     having been a "lay" ministry. There are strong reasons for rejecting
     this view. In the Byzantine rite the liturgical office for the
     laying-on of hands for the deaconess is exactly parallel to that for
     the deacon; and so on the principle lex orandi, lex credendi—the
     Church's worshipping practice is a sure indication of its faith—it
     follows that the deaconesses receives, as does the deacon, a genuine
     sacramental ordination: not just a χειροθεσια but a χειροτονια.

   On October 8, 2004, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece
   voted to restore the female diaconate.

   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 Anglican hierarchy disagrees with the Roman Catholic hierarchy on
   whether women can be ordained as priests. 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). U.S. Episcopal churches ordain women as both priests and
   bishops. 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,
   Ireland, Japan, Mexico, North India, Philippines, Scotland, Southern
   Africa, Sudan
   Priests Australia, Burundi, England, Hong Kong, Kenya, Korea, 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,
   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 has been the stance of the Church of England for some years and
   also 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 authorization
   of ECUSA's General Convention. Two years later, General Convention
   authorized 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) is Katharine
   Jefferts Schori, who was elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal
   Church USA at its 2006 General Convention, and began her nine year term
   as Presiding Bishop and Primate on November 1, 2006.

   The Church of England authorized 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. The nearly simultaneous
   publication by the Vatican of the Encyclical Veritatis Splendor, which
   argued that truth was immutable however unpalatable, was a coincidence
   which was not lost on many traditionalist Anglicans, who converted to
   Catholicism in droves. 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 the process is
   currently underway but is not progressing swiftly due to problems in
   providing appropriate mechanisms for the protection of those who cannot
   accept this development—it is unlikely that there will be women-bishops
   in the Church of England for several years.

   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 which do not, or which ordain women only to the diaconate
   (such as the Diocese of Sydney in the Anglican Church of Australia, and
   the dioceses of Quincy, Illinois and Fort Worth, Texas, in the USA).
   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.

Protestant 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 or ministers) 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 centers
   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 specific churches' ordination practices

     * Baptist Churches
          + The Baptist Churches in Germany and Switzerland (Bund
            Evangelisch-Freikirchlicher Gemeinden, Bund Schweizer
            Baptistengemeinden) ordain women.
          + The Southern Baptist Convention does not ordain women.
          + Baptist groups in the United States that do ordain women
            include American Baptist Churches USA, North American Baptist
            Conference, Alliance of Baptists, Cooperative Baptist
            Fellowship (CBF) and Progressive National Baptist Convention.
     * The Christian Community

   Women have been ordained since its inception in 1922 in Switzerland,
   and can also hold leadership positions.
     * Christian Connection Church

   An early relative of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the
   United Church of Christ, this body 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 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

   Though Mormon women are not directly given the Priesthood, they
   indirectly play a role in their husbands' priesthood. Men must be
   married in order to serve as a bishop, and their wives play a crucial
   role in their calling. Women can hold any position in the church that
   does not require the priesthood.
     * The Church of Scotland

   Women 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
   Elliot in 2004. See main article: Ordination of women in the Church of
   Scotland.
     * The Cumberland Presbyterian Church

   In 1888 Louisa Woosley was licensed to preach. She was ordained in
   1889. She wrote Shall Woman Preach.
     * 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.
     * The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), which is the second
       largest Lutheran body in the United States, does not ordain women.
     * The Independent Old Catholic Church of America (IOCCA), ordains
       women.
     * The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia reversed its earlier
       (1975) decision to ordain women as pastors. Since 1993, under the
       leadership of Archbishop Janis Vanags, it no longer does so.
     * The Lutheran, United and Reformed Churches in Germany ( EKD) ordain
       women and have women as bishops.
     * The Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Germany does not
       ordain women.
     * The Lutheran state Churches in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and
       Iceland ordain women and these Lutheran churches in Europe have
       women as bishops already. However, while the Church of Sweden was
       the first Lutheran church to ordain female pastors in 1958, there
       is still considerable debate in this church as to the legitimacy of
       the ordination of women into the pastoral office. In fact, in 2003
       the Missionsprovinsen (Mission Province) was formed within the
       Church of Sweden to support those who oppose the ordination of
       women and other developments seen as theologically problematic.
     * The Moravian Church
     * Many Old Catholic Churches within the Utrecht Union in Germany,
       Switzerland, Austria and Netherlands ordain women, but two churches
       have left the union because they do not do so. Other Old Catholic
       Churches do not ordain women, but accept this in other Old Catholic
       Churches of the Union. These are not to be confused with the Roman
       Catholic Church, which does not ordain women (see above).
     * The Pentecostal church in Germany allows ordination of women.
     * The Presbyterian Church

   In 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 Presbyterian Church (USA) began
   ordaining elders in the 1960s, and ministers of Word and sacrament in
   the late twentieth century. By 2001, the numbers of men and women
   holding office were almost equal.
     * The Reformed Churches in Switzerland and in the Netherlands ordain
       women.
     * The Salvation Army ordains women.
     * The United Church of Canada

   Divided 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.
     * The United Church of Christ

   Antoinette Brown was ordained as a minister by a Congregationalist
   Church in 1853, though this was not recognized by her denomination. She
   later became a Unitarian. Women's ordination is now non-controversial
   in the United Church of Christ.
     * The United Methodist Church does ordain women.

   In 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 21 have been elevated to
   the episcopacy. The first woman elected and consecrated Bishop within
   the United Methodist Church (and, indeed, the first woman elected
   bishop of any mainline Christian church) was Marjorie Matthews in 1980.
   Leontine T. Kelly, in 1984, was the first African-American woman
   elevated to the episcopacy in any mainline denomination. In Germany
   Rosemarie Wenner is since 2005 leading bishop in the United Methodist
   Church.
     * The United Reformed Church in Great Britain ordains women.
     * The Unitarian Universalist Association

   The 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 Universalist Church

   Olympia Brown became the first woman to be ordained as a minister in
   1863, as an ordained Universalist minister. She later became a
   Unitarian.
     * The Seventh-day Adventist Church officially does not ordain women.
       Recent votes at the worldwide General Conference Sessions turned
       down a proposal to allow ordination of women. There was a strong
       polarization between nations, with Western countries generally
       voting in support and other countries generally voting against. A
       further proposal to allow local choice was also turned down. In
       practice, there are numerous women working as ministers and in
       leadership positions. The most influential co-founder of the
       church, Ellen G. White, was a woman.

Women as bishops

   Some Protestant churches have allowed women to become bishops:
     * 1980: United Methodist Church
     * 1989: Episcopal Church in the U.S.
     * 1992: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany
     * 1996: Lutheran Church in Sweden
     * 1997: Anglican Church of Canada
     * 1998: Moravian Church in America
     * 1998: Presbyterian Church in Guatemala
     * 1999: Czechoslovak Hussite Church
     * Unknown: Anglican Church of New Zealand
     * Unknown: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark
     * Unknown: Protestant Churches in German Lutheran, Reformed and
       United churches (EKD)
     * Unknown: Protestant Church of the Netherlands
     * Unknown:Lutheran State Church in Norway
     * Unknown:Lutheran State Church in Denmark

Judaism

   Jewish 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.

Some beginning dates for ordination of women

   Formal discrimination against women in positions of authority has been
   gradually eliminated in Western societies except in many conservative
   religious institutions. A partial list with the approximate dates of
   either the approval of female ordination in principle or the ordination
   of their first women clergy by Christian and Jewish faith groups
   appears below:
     * Early 1800s: A fundamental belief of the [Society of Friends-
       http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker.htm] (Quakers) has always
       been the existence of an element of God's spirit in every human
       soul. Thus all persons are considered to have inherent and equal
       worth, independent of their gender. This led naturally to an
       opposition to sexism, and an acceptance of female ministers. In
       1660, Margaret Fell (1614–1702) published a famous pamphlet to
       justify equal roles for men and women in the denomination. It was
       titled: "Women's Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the
       Scriptures, All Such as Speak by the Spirit and Power of the Lord
       Jesus And How Women Were the First That Preached the Tidings of the
       Resurrection of Jesus, and Were Sent by Christ's Own Command Before
       He Ascended to the Father (John 20:17). In the U.S., in contrast
       with almost every other organized religion, the Society of Friends
       (Quakers) has allowed women to serve as ministers since the early
       1800s.
     * 1853: Antoinette Brown was ordained by the Congregationalist
       Church. However, her ordination was not recognized by the
       denomination. She quit the church and later became a Unitarian. The
       Congregationalists later merged with others to create the United
       Church of Christ.
     * 1863: Olympia Brown was ordained by the Universalist denomination
       in 1863, in spite of a last-moment case of cold feet by her
       seminary which feared adverse publicity. She later became a
       Unitarian. After a decade and a half of service as a full-time
       minister, she became a part-time minister in order to devote more
       time to the fight for women's rights and universal suffrage. In
       1961, the Universalists and Unitarians joined to form the
       [Unitarian Universalist Association-
       http://www.religioustolerance.org/u-u.htm] (UUA). The UUA became
       the first large denomination to have a majority of female
       ministers. In 1999-APR, female ministers outnumbered their male
       counterpart 431 to 422.
     * 1865: Salvation Army is founded and has always ordained both men
       and women. However, there were initially rules that prohibited a
       woman from marrying a man who had a lower rank.
     * 1880: Anna Howard Shaw was the first woman ordained in the
       Methodist Protestant Church, which later merged with other
       denominations to form the United Methodist Church.
     * 1888: Fidelia Gillette may have been the first ordained woman in
       Canada. She served the Universalist congregation in Bloomfield,
       Ontario, during 1888 and 1889. She was presumably ordained in 1888
       or earlier.
     * 1889: The Nolin Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
       ordained Louisa Woosley.
     * 1889: Ella Niswonger was the first woman ordained in the United
       Brethren church, which later merged with other denominations to
       form the United Methodist Church.
     * 1892: Anna Hanscombe is believed to be the first woman ordained by
       the parent bodies which formed the Church of the Nazarene in 1919.
     * 1909: The Church of God (Cleveland TN) began ordaining women in
       1909.
     * 1911: Ann Allebach was the first Mennonite woman to be ordained.
       This occurred at the First Mennonite Church of Philadelphia.
     * 1914: Assemblies of God was founded and ordained its first woman
       clergy
     * 1917: The Congregationalist Church (England and Wales) ordained
       their first woman. Its successor is the United Reformed Church.
       They now consider it sufficient grounds for refusing ministry
       training if a potential candidate is not in favour of the
       ordination of women.
     * 1920's: Some Baptist denominations.
     * 1920's: United Reformed Church in the UK
     * 1922: The Jewish Reform movement's Central Conference of American
       Rabbis stated that "Woman cannot justly be denied the privilege of
       ordination."
     * 1922: The Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren granted
       women the right to be licensed into the ministry, but not to be
       ordained with the same status as men.
     * 1930: A predecessor church of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
       ordained its first female as an elder
     * 1935: Regina Jonas was ordained privately by a German rabbi.
     * 1936: United Church of Canada.
     * 1942 or 1943?: Anglican communion, Hong Kong. Florence Li Tim Oi
       was ordained on an emergency basis.
     * 1947: Czechoslovak Hussite Church
     * 1948: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark
     * 1949: Old Catholic Church (in the U.S.)
     * 1956: A predecessor church of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
       ordained its first woman minister.
     * 1956: Maud K. Jensen was the first woman to receive full clergy
       rights and conference membership in the Methodist Church.
     * 1958: Women ministers in the Church of the Brethren were given full
       ordination with the same status as men.
     * 1960: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden
     * 1967: Presbyterian Church in Canada
     * 1971: Anglican communion, Hong Kong. Joyce Bennett and Jane Hwang
       were the first regularly ordained priests.
     * 1972: Reform Judaism
     * 1972: Swedenborgian Church
     * 1972: Sally Priesand became the first woman rabbi to be ordained by
       a theological seminary. She was ordained in the Reform tradition.
     * 1970's: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
     * 1974: Methodist Church in the UK
     * 1974: Sandy Eisenberg Sasso became the first woman rabbi to be
       ordained within the Jewish Reconstructionist movement.
     * 1976: Episcopal Church (11 women were ordained in Philadelphia
       before church laws were changed to permit ordination)
     * 1976: Anglican Church in Canada ordained six female priests.
     * 1976: The Rev. Pamela McGee was the first female ordained to the
       Lutheran ministry in Canada.
     * 1977: Anglican Church of New Zealand ordained five female priests.
     * 1979: The Reformed Church in America. Women had been admitted to
       the offices of deacon and elder in 1972.
     * 1983: An Anglican woman was ordained in Kenya
     * 1983: Three Anglican women were ordained in Uganda.
     * 1984: The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
       authorized the ordination of women. This is the second largest
       Mormon denomination; it is now called The Community of Christ.
     * 1985: According to the New York Times for 1985-FEB-14: "After years
       of debate, the worldwide governing body of Conservative Judaism has
       decided to admit women as rabbis. The group, the Rabbinical
       Assembly, plans to announce its decision at a news conference...at
       the Jewish Theological Seminary..." Amy Eilberg became the first
       female rabbi.
     * 1985: The first women deacons were ordained by the Scottish
       Episcopal Church.
     * 1988: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
     * 1990: Anglican women are ordained in Ireland.
     * 1992: Church of England
     * 1992: Anglican Church of South Africa
     * 1994: The first women priests were ordained by the Scottish
       Episcopal Church.
     * 1995: Seventh-day Adventists. Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church in
       Takoma Park VA ordained three women in violation of the
       denomination's rules.
     * 1995: The Christian Reformed Church voted to allow women ministers,
       elders, and evangelists. In 1998-NOV, the North American
       Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) suspended the CRC's
       membership because of this decision.
     * 1998: General Assembly of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Anglican Church in
       Japan)
     * 1998: Guatemalan Presbyterian Synod
     * 1998: Old Catholic Church in the Netherlands
     * 1998: Some Orthodox Jewish congregations started to employ female
       "congregational interns" "Although these 'interns' do not lead
       worship services, they perform some tasks usually reserved for
       rabbis, such as preaching, teaching, and consulting on Jewish legal
       matters."
     * 1999: Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (ordination as
       either clergy or elders)
     * 2000: The Baptist Union of Scotland voted to allow their churches
       to either allow or prohibit the ordination of women.
     * 2000: The Mombasa diocese of the Anglican Church of Kenya.
     * 2000: The Church of Pakistan ordained its first women deacons. It
       is a united church which dates back to the 1970 local merger of
       Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and other
       Protestants.

Islam

          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—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—including Al-Tabari
   (838–932), Abu Thawr (764–854), Al-Muzani (791–878), and Ibn Arabi
   (1165–1240)—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.

Buddhism

   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.
   The International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha:
   Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages, taking place in Germany, on
   July 18–20, 2007, is a turning point in reviving the Bhikkhuni lineage.

Thailand

   In 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 inside the religious hierarchy, the
   sangha remains fiercely opposed to the ordination of women.

Tibetan Tradition

   The 2007 International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha,
   with the support of H. H. XIVth Dalai Lama, is expected to reinstate
   the Gelongma (skt. Bikshuni, tib. Gelongma) lineage, having been lost,
   in India and Tibet, for centuries. It is currently only possible for
   women to take Rabjungma ('entering') and Getshülma ('novice')
   ordinations in Tibetan tradition. Gelongma ordination requires the
   presence of ten fully ordained people keeping the exact same vows
   (men's and women's vows differ slightly). Because 10 Gelongmas are
   required in order to ordain a new Gelongma, the effort to reinstate the
   Gelongma tradition has taken a long time.

   It is permissible for a Tibetan nun to receive Bikshuni ordination from
   another living tradition, e.g. in Vietnam. Based on this, Western nuns
   ordained in Tibetan tradition, like Venerable Thubten Chodron, took
   full ordination in another tradition, in order to revive 'Gelongma'
   ordination. The same socio-cultural reasons that make it difficult for
   women to be nuns will still present challenges to the first Tibetan
   Gelongmas.

Tenrikyo

   Tenrikyo was founded by a woman.

Shinto

   While the priesthood was traditionally male in Shinto, ordination of
   women as Shinto priests has arisen after the abolition of State Shinto
   in the aftermath of WWII.

Neopaganism

   Several Neopagan traditions have a liberal attitude towards the idea of
   clergy, and of females serving as clergy. Whether ordination is
   necessary to serve as clergy may differ from tradition to tradition.
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