Open Letter to Cardinal G. L. Müller
Dr. theol. Ida Raming
(Germany)
To the Prefect of the CDF December 2015
Card. Gerhard
Ludwig Mueller
Palazzo del
Sant'Uffizio
00120 Città del Vaticano
Rev. Cardinal,
Out of concern for negative developments in our RC Church which are
deeply contrary to the Spirit of Jesus, I want to appeal to you as chief of the
CDF.
First, please, allow me to introduce myself to you: I am a Roman Catholic theologian with a doctorate in theology,
and was promoted as a member of the faculty of the University of
Muenster (Westphalia) in 1970. I'm also an active witness of the Vatican Council
II (having submitted a
petition to the Council in 1963,
together with Dr. Iris Mueller, who died in
2011).
In my dissertation, (published in 1973, second edition 2002; English
translation: 1976, 2004), I
carefully researched the position of women in the tradition of the RC Church, especially the reasons for the
exclusion of women from diaconate and priesthood.
My teacher (+ 1988) was a
well-known specialist in the history of Canon Law and of Canon Law itself.
Since entering the field of theology, I have attentively
observed the development concerning this issue and have
published numerous articles and several books on it.
Through my
research, I've gotten a deep insight into
the long history of discrimination against women in the Catholic tradition. I
found not only biblical texts discriminating against women,
but also texts of Church Fathers and Church teachers (e.g.
Augustine, Thomas Aquinas). They emphasize
that women are both genetically and
morally inferior to men. Therefore, they claim that women are restricted
to a state of
subjection (status subiectionis). Consequently,
women are denied not only the dignity of being created in the image of God (at
the very least, this is deeply questioned) but also the possibility of being validly
ordained (cf the argumentation of Thomas Aquinas and other canonists,
concerning the state of subjection of women and the ordination of women).
These texts were
collected as sources into the Corpus Iuris Canonici and laid the foundation of
the so-called impossibility of women's ordination, as CIC/1917 c. 968 § 1
declares: „Sacram ordinationem valide recipit solus vir baptizatus“-
„Only a baptised man can validly receive
sacred ordination“). This law was taken over into the CIC/1983
c. 1024 without any change, despite the protest of women's movements and
critical scientific research.
The result is:
The exclusion of women
from ordination to priesthood is based on a severe, long lasting discrimination
against women which can be proven by many sources
from church history and church tradition. This history remains closed to honest
reappraisal by church-leaders even in our own times, and therefore the discrimination
remains in place to the present day.
Of course, today
the responsible church-leaders avoid referring to the so-called inferiority of
women as reason for their non-ordination, – the present social situation and
ideals in democratic states are such that this argument would be dismissed out
of hand.
But behind the
argumentation of the Church leadership concerning the “non-ordination“ of women, you can still find
the ongoing discrimination against women, – it is simply disguised.
·
Referring
to the exclusion of women from ordination, Church Leaders (including the CDF)
declare that Jesus was totally free in
choosing only twelve males as apostles.
This
argumentation does not take into account that the position of women during
Jesus' lifetime was totally inferior (excluded from teaching in public and from
witnessing in the court). Thus women were not able to act as apostles, who were
sent by Jesus to teach and give publicly witness. By the same token, Jesus could not choose a
slave (legally incapacitated) into the group of
the Twelve – by way of striving for the liberation of slaves!
It is evident: Church
doctrine without taking into account
social-cultural and historic developments inevitably leads to false conclusions
and false doctrine!
·
In
order to support the exclusion of women from priestly ministry, Church leaders
also refer to the “otherhood“, the “other, or gender-specific, role of women“.
But who defines
the so-called “otherhood“, or “other role” of women? It is only the Church leadership – in
relation to whom women are in a state of
subordination!
Indeed, it is
revealing and striking that Church leaders are always stressing that the
exclusion of women from ordained priestly ministry does not imply any
discrimination or disadvantage to women! That is, of course, an effort by the leading Church-pastors to assuage
women, to disguise the injustice against them. However, the truth is that only the ones who are oppressed by
the injustice – the women – are able to express what they feel as discrimination
against them, not the decision-makers (= Church leaders)!
In my opinion, the doctrine of the Church in "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis" (John Paul II., 1994) is mistaken when it claims “that the church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination
on women“. Indeed, I wish to
emphasize that the church (church leadership) does have “the
authority to confer priestly ordination on women”!
They can surely rely on the following texts of
the Bible:
1 Cor 12:11: „All
these gifts are the work of one and the
same Spirit, and he/she gives them to each one, just as he/she determines.“
That means: God
is freely calling women to priestly ministry, no-one can limit God to calling
only men to priesthood!
Gal 3:26-28: „So in Christ Jesus you are all
children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into
Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor
Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all
one in Christ Jesus...“
These words of
scripture are awaiting acknowledgement and realization in the RC Church.
Because of church leaders’ persistance
in their patriarchal behavior and spirit, the realization of these words
of the Bible is prevented – to the detriment of our church.
But in spite of
this, it is my hope and belief that God's living spirit will introduce the
church “into all truth“ (cf. John: 16,13), even concerning the position
of women – in the face of the resistance of church leaders!
In this hope for
the Spirit of Truth I send you greetings,
Ida Raming
Ida Raming
1 comment:
Thank you, Ida and Bridget.My heart aches for a friend and colleague who forced out of her position as Pastoral Associate in Shelby Two. MI
Fritz J. Bohlmann was our Scripture Scholar Facilitator at St. John Vianney Parish. A group of 12 of us wrote and signed a letter of protest. She wrote us a letter describing a systematic harassment she endured, culminating in a cut in pay by one third. She resigned because of the hostile work environment. Our letter was sent to Alan Vigneron and Michael Byrne and Tim Mazur on December 23, 2015. We want her reinstated at full salary with a raise, in 2016. Today is January 2, 2015, and we have yet to receive a response.
Sincerely,
Mercy Michalski MAT
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