Background information on the beginnings of
Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Despite Pope John Paul II's ban on women's ordination
Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger of Linz, Austria began thinking about a training
program for women for ordained ministries in the Roman Catholic Church. She
took the initiative and developed a voluminous program.
The program is not an alternative to a full theological
study. Rather it is a "training on the job". A theological education is a
pre-condition for participation in the program. The program begins with the
conviction that the ordination of women to the priesthood will be possible
in the Catholic Church some day.
A group of women discussed the first draft thoroughly.
Then a refined version was brought to a plenary session of We Are Church Austria.
This initiative is seen as a service to the church, and dioceses are invited
to participate.
When the program was recently announced about 40 women
declared their interest in the training course. Five groups, four in Austria
and one in Germany, were formed. The course is designed for a period of about
three years and is part-time since most of the women hold full-time jobs and
have family responsibilities. Most classes are held in Vienna on weekends,
but some applicants may have to follow parts of the course by correspondence.
The graduates might then be ordained as deacons, a first step towards the
priesthood.
So far the Austrian bishops have been silent regarding
the program but several priests and theologians have volunteered to help with
the course. Project organizers plan to follow church rules and not advise
women to "shop around" for a bishop who is ready to violate the church's canon
law by ordaining them despite the Vatican ban.
Registered Sunday Mass attendance among Austria's Roman
Catholics, who nominally comprise 77 per cent of the total population, dropped
during 1998, according to a church communique, and was accompanied by a fall
in baptisms, marriages, confirmations and funerals. In 1997 ordinations to
the priesthood also fell by a third to just 49 nationwide.
Planners of the program are moving ahead on the assumption
that some day it will be possible to ordain women - first as deacons, then
as priests - and that those who feel a vocation for the priesthood should
not be found unprepared. They hope this initiative will be some encouragement
to all women who share a voation to the priesthood, as well as, to their supporters.
For further updates, read the following articles printed in NewWomen, NewChurch, WOC's quarterly publication:
For more information, visit www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org
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