Female Ordination

• What is ordination?


  The appointment of a priest and onwards
• Significant events in women's ordination

  1944 - Florence Li Tim-Oi was ordained in China, in response to a shortage of men in the Church following a Japanese invasion

  1981 - Synod agreed that women should be ordained as deacons

  1994 - first 32 women were ordained as priests in the Church of England
• What is the Roman Catholic position on female ordination?

  They believe in apostolic succession so ministry can only be passed on from men to men. Jesus chose only men to be his disciples. Therefore, although some churches following the reformation ordain women, it does not follow the historical tradition of the Church as a whole
• What is the Protestant view on female ordination?

  Priesthood of all believers - all equal before God. At the time of the Protestant reformation, women were seen as in need of protection, either within families or by marriage, but for Protestants, the secular roles of wife and mother were regarded as equal in importance to those of the monastic life. As a result of this the is no need for a special priestly role in mediating between the two. Ordination as practised by the Catholic Church was not necessary for men, so the question of female ordination did not arise. Today there are varying views on the ministry of women but these focus on whether or not women may hold a position of leadership rather than on the catholic view of a specially holy priesthood.
• Arguments for female ordination

  - a priest's job is to serve the people of God. To love and support them. It is not about gender

  - 'neither male nor female. All are one in Christ Jesus'

  - Genesis: it states that we are all made in the likeness of God

  - women were prominent leaders amongst Jesus' disciples

  - in the early church Phoebe was recognised as a leader in the Church

  - biblical criticism has freed people to understand passages that speak against equality
• Arguments against female ordination

  - the Church through apostolic succession has agreed that men and not women should be ordained priests

  - Jesus surrounded himself with 12 disciples who he chose to lead the Church, these were all men

  - men and women are born with different skills. They both have equal value but have different roles