The Practices of the Churches of God

From Women Priests: Yes or No?
By Emily C. Hewitt & Suzanne R. Hiatt, pp. 78-91,

Published by the Seabury Press, New York, 1973.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul concludes his argument that women should cover their heads in church by stating that “if anyone is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no other practice, nor do the churches of God” (1 Corinthians 11:16) . In Paul’s time, that was the end of the matter.

In our time, however, the churches of God recognize a great variety of practices concerning women, not only in the matter of their headgear, but in the matter of their ordination as well. We cannot simply say, “It’s not done and that should be that,” for in many of the churches of God women are eligible for every office along with men. Until recently, this could only be said of churches in the reform tradition, but in the past two decades churches that maintain the apostolic succession have begun ordaining women to the priesthood, too. Thus when we look to our sister churches, both Protestant and Catholic, for guidance

on the question of women priests, we are given a wide range of suggestions and possible solutions. In this chapter we will explore the ecumenical dimensions of the question of women in the priesthood.

Anglicanism as the Bridge

Anglicans tend to approach ecumenical dialogue with the attitude that, because our heritage is both Protestant and Catholic, we can fill a special role as mediator between the other churches. For the same reason, we tend to see ourselves as having a special relationship with the great Catholic churches that Protestant churches do not share. While our peculiar Anglican heritage should give us insight into the two worlds of Catholicism and Protestantism, we need to be cautious about overestimating our acceptability in either camp, and most especially in the Catholic. As one English theologian has remarked, bridges have more than one use.

“The bridge Church”: that is a tempting metaphor, but only partly true. It is also a dangerously flattering metaphor. It gives us the comfortable assurance that we Anglicans are the people of God, indispensable to the divine strategy of reunion. But a bridge is a very static thing. It does not live; it cannot move. It neither goes forward nor backward. To stand permanently on a bridge is perilously like sitting on a fence.(1)

From our bridge vantage point, Anglicans have been slow to notice that churches, on both banks, have been redefining the role of women. These changes have been evident at every level of Protestant and Catholic church life, especially regarding the ordained ministry; and they have occurred not only in the United States, but throughout the world.

Ordination of Women on the American Scene

The American church scene is probably the most diverse national church situation in the world. We have in this country over two hundred and thirty Christian denominations. We cannot survey the practices of all of them regarding the ordination of women, but it might be instructive to look at a few of the major denominations.

A growing number of churches are ordaining women to the full ministry on the same basis as men. The Southern Baptist Convention; the largest American Protestant denomination, has recently begun ordaining women. The American Baptist Convention ordains women as well. The United Methodist Church has admitted women to full ordination since 1956, as has the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. The United Church of Christ has a long history of full ordination for women, dating back to its parent churches in the nineteenth century. In 1970 both the Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church voted to extend full ordination to qualified women. In June of 1972 Reform Judaism ordained its first woman rabbi .(2)

In most of these denominations the last two years have seen a renewed interest in the place of women in the church at all levels. There are currently task forces on women and the church at work on the national denominational level in the United Methodist, United Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and the Lutheran Church in America. In every case these task forces were initiated at the request of churchwomen who felt that women should have more voice at every level of the church.

On the other hand, there are a number of major Christian bodies in the United States that do not fully ordain women. The largest American church, the Roman Catholic Church, does not permit women within the sanctuary rail, much less ordain them. The Episcopal Church ordains women deacons but not priests. The Missouri Synod Lutheran Church does not ordain women, and none of the many Orthodox denominations ordain women.

Yet even in the denominations that do not ordain women fully there is a rising tide of self-assertion among the women, as seen in the informal grass-roots organizations of women pressing for a larger role in the Missouri Synod, the Episcopal Church, and the Roman Catholic Church. The American churches that do ordain women have, with a few exceptions especially among black churches, only begun to do so in the last two decades and in the case of the Lutheran churches in the last two years.(3)

Ordination of Women on the World Scene

In 1958, forty-eight member churches of the World Council of Churches ( WCC ) ordained women fully. The World Council of Churches reported in 1970 that seventy-two of its member churches had opened full ordination to qualified women. Since that time one Anglican and two Lutheran Synods have opened the priesthood to women, and it is likely that other member churches of the WCC have done so or will soon do so as well.

That events are moving faster than studies on this development can be seen by a brief look at the WCC’s dealing with the question in the last ten years. The Third Assembly of the WCC, meeting in New Delhi in 1961, commissioned a study on the ordination of women. This study, Concerning the Ordination o f Women, was submitted to a World Conference on Faith and Order which met in Montreal in 1963, and released in 1964. That group recommended further study. At the fourth Assembly of the WCC held at Uppsala, Sweden, in 1968, another consultation was mandated to continue the study. That consultation was held in Switzerland in September, 1970. However, between 1961 and 1970 more and more member churches of the WCC independently made the decision to ordain women.

The 1964 document, Concerning the Ordination o f Women, is a scholarly and deliberate treatment of the subject. It is prefaced by cautionary words that this is not a yes or no question and that “the basic attitude is . . . complicated, and many different points of view have to be considered, if one is to appreciate and understand the attitude of the different churches.” 4 The Report of the 1970 Consultation, however, urges change and experimentation. The 1970 Report, authored in part by the same theologian who wrote the section of the 1964 Report quoted above, notes this shift:

In the last few years the atmosphere has changed. A number of new elements have entered the picture. The most important are the following:

a) The number of churches which ordain women to the ministry has considerably increased . . . .

b) The question has become an issue of serious discussion in a larger number of traditions . . . this is particularly true for the Roman Catholic Church . . . .

c) . . . In an increasing number of churches the burden of proof is with those who are opposed to the ordination rather than with those who affirm its appropriateness and necessity.

d ) . . . it is more and more recognised that the ordination does not necessarily threaten the cohesion of the ecumenical fellowship. (5).

Another new element in the 1970 Consultation was the contribution of practicing ordained women and the first reports of the actual experience of churches with women ministers. Many of the members of the Consultation were women ministers ready to share their experience. The Report notes that “many churches ordain women who claim and give evidence of a call of the Holy Spirit. The ministry of these women is bearing fruit in the Church . . . .” (6) While some of the “pioneer” women ministers at the Consultation spoke of their loneliness and the hostility of some of their clerical colleagues, none regretted her decision to be ordained. Furthermore, it was noted that the “second generation” ministers seemed to have far fewer problems of this nature than the women who preceded them. In the words of a woman pastor of the Reformed Church of France:

Judging by the cases of two young women who have recently become pastors, who never knew the period prior to 1965 (the year that church began ordaining women] and who have thus started out on a path which has already been defined, I realise that they are certainly more at home in their ministry than we ourselves were just a few years ago, so I believe that as far as France is concerned the future for women seems very promising.(7)

A young woman priest from the Church of Sweden, pastor of a parish and chaplain in a prison, echoed the feeling that life was much easier for her and that she was much more readily accepted than the first women priests in that church just ten years ago.

Finally, the acceptance of women ministers varies within church families in different parts of the world. Thus Lutherans ordain women in most sections of Europe, but not in some areas of the United States. Reform churches have a wide variety of practice across the world, varying even from canton to canton in Switzerland. Anglicans have ordained women priests in Hong Kong but to date in no other Anglican church. Though ordination of women seems to be a matter of local option within church families, the 1970 Consultation also noted that the question seems most urgent in the United States and in the “third world” churches, the newly independent churches of Africa, Asia, and South America.(8)

Despite the pace of events on this question in the churches of the world in the past decade, there remain two large church families that do not ordain women to the priesthood anywhere in the world. These are of course the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches. Though at first glance they might seem isolated in their attitude toward women, we must remember that most of the world’s Christians are either Orthodox or Roman Catholic.

The attitude of these two churches seems especially important to Anglicans, since we consider ourselves to be, with them, part of the Holy Catholic Church. The Anglican attitude toward other churches seems to vary, but for a number of Episcopalians, especially among the clergy, our relationship with the Catholic churches is of paramount importance. As one irate priest wrote to the author of an article on the ordination of women, “Don’t you know that nobody cares what Protestants do?”

Roman Catholics and the Ordination of Women

The Rt. Rev. C. Kilmer Myers asserts that “the overwhelming majority of Christians cannot tolerate the idea of the ordination of women to the priesthood. For Anglicans to ordain them would produce a painful ecumenical tension.” That the bishop is referring directly to the Roman Catholics can be seen by his next point, in which he warns us that “those Roman Catholics who speak in favor of the ordination of women to the priesthood do not represent the mainstream of their Church’s tradition.” The bishop seems unsure that this is so; however, he continues, “. . . the Roman Church is experiencing a crisis in identity which makes it difficult for that Church to be a guide for the rest of us. ” (9) Apparently the intolerance of the overwhelming majority of Christians is not as monolithic as he had earlier indicated.

Bishop Myers is not the only commentator who seems confused about the true dimensions of the issue of women priests on the ecumenical scene. When Anglican and Roman Catholic women began to meet and discuss the ordination of women several years ago, both groups were amazed to find that each had been told the most serious obstacle was ecumenical. The Anglican women had heard that Anglicans could not ordain women for fear of offending Rome. The Roman Catholic women had heard that Rome could not ordain women for fear of offending the Anglicans. As a result of this experience women in both churches are skeptical about the “ecumenical argument” against the ordination of women.

In both the Anglican and the Roman Catholic churches there have been great changes in the official position on the ordination of women in the past five years. Anglican changes date principally from the Lambeth Conference of 1968, but events in the Roman Catholic Church have been moving swiftly since the second session of the Second Vatican Council in 1963, when Cardinal Suenens of Belgium proposed that women be admitted as observers and was applauded by his brother bishops. (10)

Vatican II opened many doors in the Roman Catholic Church, and a new interest in the place of women in the church was one result of the deliberations. The Council made it possible for women to serve as lectors and, in some circumstances, to serve at mass. But events were adding to the impetus for change. In Latin America especially, nuns were assuming parochial duties due to a shortage of priests. In the aftermath of Vatican II a number of prominent Roman Catholic theologians “. . . publicly stated that they thought progress is possible on the question of the ordina tion of women." Among them were Bernard Haring, Jean Danielou, Georges Tavard, Gregory Baum, and Joseph Fichter.(11) But events were outstripping theological inquiry, and nuns in South America and altar girls in Holland were engaging in their own brand of aggiornamento.

That developments are still in progress in the Roman Catholic Church can be seen from recent questions raised about the ordination of women, not among the theologians, but among the bishops. The World Synod of Bishops meeting in Rome in October, 1971, was startled when the Canadian bishops “questioned the omission of ministries for women in the statement on priesthood.” Cardinal Flahiff of Montreal proposed that the Synod ask the Pope to establish a mixed commission to study the question of women priests. (12)

Archbishop Leo C. Byrne of St. Paul-Minneapolis, chairman of a committee of American bishops on the role of women in church and society, recently received a statement endorsed by eight organizations of Catholic women calling for the ordination of women. Archbishop Byrne agreed in April, 1972,, that his committee would make a full theological study of the issue.(13) As in Protestant churches, there are organized groups of women in the Roman Catholic Church who are insisting that the role of women in that institution be reexamined. Most notable among these is the St. Joan’s Alliance, an international organization that has been working quietly since 1911 to improve the status of women.

Another development in the American Roman Catholic Church that promises some movement on the question of the ordination of women is the opening up of seminary education to women. At least two seminaries are currently admitting women students. We have seen in the experience of the American Episcopal Church that having women educationally qualified for priesthood moves the debate to an existential level.

Despite all these developments, however, it is still true that Roman Catholicism is a good deal further than Anglicanism from having women priests. The “ecumenical argument” mentioned above still has to recommend it the fact that Rome has no women priests at present. Also, unlike Anglicans, the Roman Catholics have canon laws that specifically limit priesthood to men. The question of how Roman Catholics view churches that do admit women to the priesthood still needs to be probed.

The first thing to be said is that since November, 1971, how Rome might react is no longer a theoretical question. The Anglican Church does have women priests, few and far away in Hong Kong to be sure, but in principle the line has been crossed. It has not come to our attention that the Roman Catholic Church is considering breaking off the scheduled talks on ministry as a result of the action of the Anglican Bishop of Hong Kong. Indeed, it would appear that the bishop is receiving more objections from within the Anglican Communion than from other churches.*

It has been our impression that Roman Catholics are watching developments within the Anglican Church on the question of women priests with interest rather than shock or dismay. Dr. Robert Wright, a member of the AnglicanRoman Catholic Consultation currently discussing ministry in the two churches, makes the same observation. He adds that “it seems unlikely that uniformity will be demanded on . . . canonical impediments to ordination. There will be agreement on fundamental theology, not on the parity of canon law.” (14)

Roman Catholic/Presbyterian/Reform Discussions on Women

While Anglicans have been standing on the bridge, American Roman Catholics have been engaged in consultation with members of the Presbyterian and Reformed churches on the subject of women in the church. The statement of this consultation, issued in October, 1971, is of interest, for it shows once more how open some Roman Catholics are on the question of the ordination of women to the priesthood.

The Consultation recommended to its parent bodies, “That qualified women be given full and equal participation in policy-making and decision-making, and voice in places of power, in the Churches on local, regional, national, and world levels.” It further recommended: “(a) That seminary education in all the Churches be opened to qualified women; (b) that qualified women be admitted to ordination; (c) that in those Churches where the ordination of women presents theological difficulties and no theological study of the matter has been made, a theological committee be established immediately to investigate the problem and make recommendations.” It also recommended that the parent bodies set up an ecumenical commission to implement the other recommendations and invite other denominations to join in the effort. (15)

That our continued movement toward priestly ordination for women might present difficulties with the Roman Catholic Church is a possibility. But we have no concrete evidence that this step would present a serious roadblock to reunion. The concluding statement of the Roman Catholic/Presbyterian/Reformed Consultation should give us hope that our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters will understand what we are doing. In discussing possible action for those churches that do not yet ordain women priests, the Consultation concludes

The least that should be done is to test [the desire of women for ordination] . . . in accord with I Thess. 5:19, 21. The will of the Holy Spirit may be at stake here, as well as the personal rights of women members of these Churches . . . . To hesitate to take up the question in the most serious, competent and formal manner would suggest indifference to the will of the Holy Spirit, the personal rights of women, and the needs of the Church in its mission to the world.(16)

The Orthodox Position on the Ordination of Women

Nicolae Chitescu, an Orthodox theologian writing about the ordination of women for the 1964 WCC Report, begins his essay by setting forth the perspective from which his church approaches the question. He reminds us: “In the Orthodox Church the opinions of theologians do not count. The only thing that matters is the traditional regulations established by the Church as a whole in its canons and in its practice.” (17)

If tradition is not to be changed, then there are many other issues besides the ordination of women on which our differences with Orthodoxy appear irreconcilable. Furthermore, if Dr. Chitescu’s paper on the subject is any guide, we have already gone too far down the road of female ordination to be acceptable to Orthodoxy. Dr. Chitescu makes the point that though Orthodoxy had deaconesses until well into the twelfth century, they were not considered ordained, but merely had a “blessing” from the bishop to help him in his work. (18) Having admitted women to the diaconate on the same basis as men in a number of Anglican jurisdictions, we might expect that the Orthodox would have already stopped speaking to us. The fact that Anglicans are still in dialogue with them suggests that the ordination of women is not so serious an obstacle as had been imagined.

We have a great deal to learn from each other and a great deal to share, but our dialogues with the Orthodox must be carried on in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Just as we respect their conservation of their tradition, they must respect our reformulation of ours. As Dr. Robert Wright puts it, “. . . we must learn from them in many other matters, but their doctrinal method is just not one that is either western or Anglican.” (19)

The Nature of Ecumenism

The Greek word from which “ecumenical” is derived means “the inhabited world.” When we look at the current ecumenical movement in the churches in light of that root, we can extract several principles to keep in mind in our conversations with other Christians.

First, if we are to be truly ecumenical, we cannot choose those Christian bodies with which we feel more comfortable, and ignore the others. We cannot say that Protestants (or Catholics) don’t count, for if Christians are to be reunited in their common faith in Christ no group that professes that faith can be ignored. Hence, if we are to be truly ecumenical we must talk and listen to those churches that do ordain women as well as to those who do not. Recent trends in ecumenical discussions are away from the idea of a “superchurch,” an administratively reunited Christendom, and toward the idea of living together and alongside each other in spite of our differences. This approach does not gloss over the varying practices in the churches of God, but rejoices in the manifold ways in which God reveals himself to his people.

Secondly, if we are to be ecumenical we must first of all be true to ourselves, for our perception of the will of God for us is as valid as that of any other group of Christians. If we are called to follow the will of the Spirit as we hear it, we should not be concerned that other Christian groups are at different points in their understanding of that call. The ordination of women should be settled for us by what we feel the Holy Spirit calls us to do, not by what some other group might think about it. Anglicans watch with interest the debate over clerical celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church, but we view it as that church’s problem despite whatever ecumenical ramifications it might have for us. We do not suggest to the Roman Catholics that if they want to continue to talk to Anglicans they had better allow their clergy to marry. For the same reason they do not suggest that we not ordain women priests.

Finally, we should see ecumenism as going somewhere. We should keep in mind that the object of all this talk is to make it possible for Christians to work together in implementing God’s plan for the world. When we-allow ourselves to become sidetracked on whether or not we can live with each other’s practices, whatever those might be, we are in danger of losing sight of the ecumenical goal.

Notes

* For a full chronology of Hong Kong’s nearly thirty-year straggle to ordain women priests, see Appendix A.

1. R. W. Howard, Should Women Be Priests? Three Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1949), p. 42.

2. This information is compiled from the Yearbook of American Churches: Information on All Faiths in the U.S.A. (New York: Council Press, 1971), pp. 177-188 and from Women in the Church (A Statement by the Worship and Mission Section of the Roman Catholic/Presbyterian-Reformed Consultation, Richmond, Virginia, October 30, 1971), Appendix, passim. The latter document is an accurate and up-to-date account of the status of women in nine American churches and in the proposals for the Church of Christ Uniting (COCU) and may be obtained for $2.00 per copy from the Rev. Raymond V. Kearns, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 918, New York, NY 10027.

3. It is interesting to note that even in denominations where ordination is open to women there has nobeen great rush of women into the clergy. the he 91 women who graduated from from United Presbyterian semi naries between 1960 and 1970, only 32 have been ordained (Report of the Task Force on Women to the 183rd General Assembly, 1971). Less than 3 percent of United Church of Christ ministers are women. The two Lutheran synods that voted in 1970 to ordain women have ordained only three women at this writing. These statistics are explained in part by the fact that some churches, especially Lutheran churches, will not ordain a person who does not have a church-related job, or “call.” Qualified women have found difficulty in locating parishes that will call them

4. Lukas Vischer, “The Ordination of Women,” Concerning the Ordination of Women, p. 4.

5. What Is Ordination Coming To? (Report of a Consultation on the Ordination of Women held in Cartigny, Geneva, Switzerland, 21st-26th September 1970), ed. Brigalia Bam (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1970), p. 59.

6. Ibid., p. 72.

7. Ibid., p. 51.

8. Ibid., p. 1.

9. Myers, “Should Women Be Ordained? No,” pp. 8-9.

10. Daly, The Church and the Second Sex, p. 87.

11. Ibid., pp. 103-104.

12. “Woman’s Right to Full Participation Upheld by Bishops’ Synod,” Genesis III: Philadelphia Task Force on Women in Religion, vol. I, no. 5 (January-February, 1972) , p. 1.

13. “Women: ‘Equality Depends on Study,”’ The National Catholic Reporter, vol. 8, no. 25 (April 21, 1972), p. 17.

14. Wright, “Yes, Ordain Women,” p. 3.

15. Women in the Church, pp. vii-x.

16. Ibid, pp. ix-x.

17. Nicolae Chitescu, “The Ordination of Women: A Comment on the Attitude of the Orthodox Church,” Concerning the Ordination of Women, p. 57.

18. Ibid., passim.

19. Wright, p. 2.

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