International News and Actions

January 18, 2002
Press Release

The Catholic Internet Library on Women
Priests

The Catholic Internet Library on Women
Priests (www.womenpriests.org).

There will be a solemn and commentated reconstruction/dramatization of the ancient liturgical rite through which women were ordained as deacons in the Catholic Church. The function will take place on Saturday, 18 January 2003, 12.00 noon - 14.30 pm at St. James Piccadilly in the centre of London.

Background information

Discussion in the Roman Catholic Church on admitting women to Holy Orders has found a new focus. It revolves around a seemingly obsolete historical fact: did the tens of thousands of women ordained as deacons during the first millennium of the Christian era receive a true ordination or not?

One of the key arguments the Vatican handles against the ordination of women is the assertion that women were never admitted to Holy Orders. Historians point out they are wrong. For women did receive a valid 'sacramental' ordination to the diaconate, and the diaconate is part of Holy Orders.

According to Catholic doctrine: if women can be deacons, they can be priests, and bishops for that matter. According to Catholic terminology, 'sacraments' are signs through which Jesus Christ continues his presence in the Church. Most people are familiar with two sacraments: baptism and the eucharist. The Catholic Church recognises five more scaraments: confirmation, marriage, confession, the anointing of the sick and holy orders. Church Councils (Trent, 16th cent. and Vatican II, 20th cent.) taught the unity of the sacrament of holy orders, with three ministries: the diaconate, the priesthood and the episcopacy. For a fuller explanation, see http://www.womenpriests.org/traditio/deac_tab.htm.

The immediate relevance of the discussion is demonstrated by the fact that the two largest organizations for Catholic women in Germany with a combined membership of over one million, the Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund and the Katholische Frauengemeinschaft Deutschlands, officially requested the Vatican, in a letter dated the 3rd of March 2002, to readmit women to the ordained diaconate. On the 7th of May 2002 the Vatican rejected the request out of hand stating that the request rested on unacceptable 'socio-political points of view'. See: Letter of German Catholic Women http://www.womenpriests.org/church/kdfb_kfd.htm

In November 2002 the Vatican's own Theological Commission produced a secret report on the ancient rite of ordaining women as deacons, apparently with ambiguous conclusions. For information on the historical facts see: · the records of the women deacons in writing and on tombstones http://www.womenpriests.org/traditio/deac_rec.htm · the ordination rite as found in ancient manuscripts http://www.womenpriests.org/traditio/deac_gr1.htm · why theologians believe the rite was fully sacramental http://www.womenpriests.org/traditio/deac_ord.htm Please, give us your financial support! We provide full details of our needs on our website: http://www.womenpriests.org/support.htm We need donations, sponsorships and legacies.

Email Addresses

Please, note these email addresses:
· site administrator Graham Gillman: intouch@womenpriests.org
· web master John Wijngaards: johnwijngaards@ntlworld.com
· newsletter administrator Joanna Dixon: ht_hubert@pop3.poptel.org.uk