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Statement by "Femmes et Hommes en Église" - January 30, 2006 Christian Women and Men Launch the Debate on the Ordination of Catholic Women The 16th International and Ecumenical Conference organized by Femmes et Hommes en Église (FHE) and its Research and Resource Unit (Unité de recherches et documentation Genre en Christianisme) on Gender in Christianity was held January 20 and 21, 2006 in Paris. Over 150 people gathered around the theme of Women Priests, Challenges for Society and the Churches. In attendance were young people, priests, men and especially women from a variety of denominations and Christian organizations. This was the first extensive and open meeting in France on a topic of major importance to Roman Catholics and it will certainly have an impact on the relationship between civil society and religions. At governmental levels, in the European Council and European Parliament and indeed in some agencies connected to the United Nations, efforts are deployed so that religion can no longer prevent women from exercising their human rights. Jean Baubérot, honorary president of the École Pratique des Hautes Études dealt with that very topic on the Friday evening. He gave the historical perspective in a lecture entitled Laïcité, Femmes, Religions : La laïcité est-elle un gage d'égalité ? ( Secularism, Women, Religion: Does secularism guarantee equality ? ). The Conference sessions included a balance of lectures, personal testimonies and debate. The Roman edict forbidding discussion of the ordination of women has not put an end to interdisciplinary research in the many areas related to the subject such as understanding ministry, questioning clericalism and the role of the laity, sharing of power and equality, access to the sacred, approach to sexuality and rejection of male-centeredness. The issue of women priests is on the most current focal point because it has become a roadblock to the renewal so many Christian communities long for - such as the 45 member organizations of the Fédération des réseaux du Parvis, a network of reform-minded groups, who supported the conference and will provide the framework for publishing the conference proceedings. Dr Kari Borrensen of Oslo, Norway and Dr. Olivette Genest of Montreal, Canada reminded the audience that the arguments invoked by Rome cannot be considered definitive, not any more than they were for other Christian traditions such as the Anglicans and the Reform churches. This was evidenced in the presentation given by Elisabeth Parmentier, professor at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Strasbourg and Eglantine Jam.et-Moreau, professor of British Civilization at Paris X. Their contribution as well as the testimonies of several ordained women gave a tangible quality to this encouraging aspect of irreversible ecumenism. The diversity of the testimonies of Catholic women in the context of well-informed and thoughtful debate meant that the Conference reached its objective: break the silence, ask the deeper questions and put a variety of possible choices into perspective. We heard Geneviève Beney, first French woman ordained at Lyon in 2005, and Patricia Fresen, Dominican Sister, responsible for the formation of some one hundred candidates from several countries who are preparing for the diaconate and the priesthood within the Roman Catholic Womenpriests network. Marie Bouclin, coordinator of Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) gave a report on the many options put forward by organizations from over 20 countries who sent 500 representatives to their conference in Ottawa last July. Some groups, she said, support and prepare "alternative" ordinations, without worrying over the threat of excommunication, whereas others actively work for the conversion of church authorities and consciousness-raising within communities. Priority is given to the necessary critical work for those who fear that the premature ordination of women would only reinforce an ecclesiastical organization considered obsolete and at odds with the Gospel. Also cited was John Wijngaard's website, www.womenpriests.org which is entirely dedicated to the issue of the ordination of women in the Catholic church. It comes as a valuable resource to complement his most recent book which was translated into French by Suzanne Tunc. For France, there were two further valuable testimonies. One was from a pastoral assistant, currently working within a diocesan framework and who spoke with the permission of her bishop. The other was from Michèle Jeunet, a religious sister who is happy with her choice of vocation and who stated publicly, also with the permission of her superior and her community, that she wished to be a priest so she could more fully exercise her ministry as spiritual director. |
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