Calendar Sent to Bishops Shows Ancient Traditions of Catholic Women’s Ordination
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 26, 2005
CONTACT: Joy Barnes, Women’s Ordination Conference, 703-352-1006
Calendar Sent to Bishops Shows Ancient Traditions of Catholic Women’s Ordination
Women activists are reminding U.S. Catholic bishops that the evidence of women’s leadership in the Church is older than evidence of the papacy. The 285 U.S. bishops received a 2005 calendar of archaeological photographs of women ordained as priests, deacons, and bishops in the first Christian centuries. The calendars were sent to the bishops by the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) and the Minnesota St. Joan’s Community with the support of Women’s Ordination Worldwide.
"Some of these bishops are going to be cardinals someday and we want to make them aware of the fact that in the past, women have had leadership positions in the Church," said Verna Mikesh, President of Minnesota St. Joan’s Community.
The Vatican denies that the Church has any tradition of ordaining women, and claims, therefore, that the Church cannot ordain women in the present. However, Catholic theologian and archeologist Dorothy Irvin demonstrates that such assertions have been made without looking at the available material. She presents scholarly material in the easy-to-read, but unusual form of annual calendars.
Her calendars show large color photos of mosaics, inscriptions, and catacomb frescoes of women from the second to the ninth centuries with the emblems and liturgical vestments of bishops and priests, celebrating the Eucharist and carrying out other liturgical roles. A commentary, including historical, biblical, and archaeological information, accompanies each photograph.
Irvin holds a pontifical doctorate in Catholic theology from Tuebingen University in Germany, the same theology department where Pope Benedict XVI once taught. Irvin combines a theological background and specialization in Scripture with many years of archaeological field experience and research.
Irvin believes that these archaeological records from the early Church support New Testament scholarship which indicates that Jesus went out of his way to encourage women disciples and include them among his followers. Women played a significant role in the development of the concepts of ministry and of ordination in the New Testament period. These concepts existed in an unbroken tradition for many centuries. (The recent renewal of the deaconate for women in the Greek Orthodox Church attests to a custom which in fact never entirely died out.)
“In Early Christianity, women played a critical role in spreading Jesus’ message. Today, women are called to do the same through ordination,” stated Joy Barnes, WOC Executive Director. “Dr. Irvin’s calendars help justify modern ordination by showing our historical roots when women were ordained.”
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Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference works for equality in all dimensions of life and ministry in the Catholic Church, including women’s ordination to a renewed priestly ministry. For more resources on women’s ordination visit www.womensordination.org.