European Theologians: "The Vatican Cannot Stop the Ordination of Women"

Statement by ICETH – The Interreligious Conference of European Women Theologians concerning the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's Decree on the ordination of women

The Vatican cannot stop the ordination of women

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has on the 29th May 2008 issued a decree that "both the one who attempts to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the woman who attempts to receive a sacred order, incur an excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See". The decree, which comes to force immediately, is issued "in order to protect the nature and validity of the sacrament of order".

Apparently, the movement within the Roman-Catholic Church which since 2002 has ordained women as priests and bishops in Europe as well as the USA, has caused great anxiety in the Vatican. That the Hierarchy takes such drastic measures is an indication that this movement is seen as a serious threat.
Tha Vatican anathema is directed agains women who no longer submit to being excluded from holy orders by the male establishment of the church, but pursue their vocation to the priesthood in a time of acute shortage of priests in the Roman-Catholic Church. They do so in fidelity to the words of the Bible that say that the Spirit "blows wherever it pleases" (John 3:8), and gives its gifts "to each one, just as (s)he determines" (1 Cor 12:11), and that among those who are baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, there is "neither male nor female" (Gal 3:28).
In tying the gifts of the Spirit to the male sex, instead of baptism, the Vatican rejects not only the human rights of women, but also the word of the Bible. Thus, the women who have received the vocation to the priesthood cannot defer to a hierarchy that so has forfeited its authority. Accordingly, the ban will not have the desired effect. The movement for women's access to the interpretation of holy scriptures, as well as leading postions within religious communities, that is growing within all religious traditions, will not be stopped, even in the Roman-Catholic Church.