Ordination of women

In general religious use, ordination is the process by which a person is consecrated (set apart for the administration of various religious rites). The ordination of women is a controversial issue in religions where either the rite of ordination, or the role that an ordained person fulfills, has traditionally been restricted to men because of cultural or theological prohibitions.

History

In historical Christianity, such as Roman Catholicism, Orthodox and Anglican, ordination - distinguished from religious or consecrated life - is the means by which one is included in one of the priestly orders: bishop, priest, or deacon.

In Protestant Christian denominations that do not have a priesthood, ordination is understood more generally as the acceptance of one for pastoral work. Since the mid-nineteenth century, these denominations have allowed for female office-bearers and preachers. Today, about half of all American Protestant denominations ordain women and about 30% of all seminary students (and in some seminaries over half) are female.

Orthodox Judaism does not permit women to become rabbis (instead, the women in leadership positions are often Rebbetzin, wives of a rabbi), but female rabbis have begun to appear in recent decades among more liberal Jewish movements, especially the Reconstructionist, Renewal, Reform, and Humanistic denominations.

Muslims do not formally ordain religious leaders. The imam serves as a spiritual leader and religious authority. Most strands of Islam permit women to lead female-only congregations in prayer (one of the meanings of the word imam), but restrict their roles in mixed sex congregations. There is a recent movement to extend women's roles in spiritual leadership.

Within Buddhism, the legitimacy of ordaining women as bhikkhuni (nuns) has become a significant topic of discussion in some areas in recent years. It is widely accepted that the Buddha created an order of bhikkhuni, but the tradition of ordaining women has died out in some Buddhist traditions, such as Theravada Buddhism, while remaining strong in others, such as Chinese Buddhism.

Christianity

Roman Catholic Church

See also:Priesthood (Catholic Church)

Doctrinal Position and its Supporters

The official position of the Roman Catholic Church, as expressed in the current canon law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is that: "Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination." Insofar as priestly and episcopal ordination are concerned, the Church teaches that this requirement is a matter of divine law, and thus doctrinal. The requirement that only males can receive ordination to the permanent diaconate has not been promulgated as doctrinal by the Church's magisterium, though it is clearly at least a requirement according to canon law. In asserting this position, the Church cites her own doctrinal tradition, and scriptural texts. In 1976, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith discussed the issue of the ordination of women and issued a Declaration on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood which concluded that for various reasons, the Church "... does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination". The most important reasons stated were first, the Church's determination to remain faithful to its constant tradition, second, its fidelity to Christ's will, and third, the idea of male representation due to the "sacramental nature" of the priesthood. The Biblical Commission, an advisory commission that was asked to study the exclusion of women from the ministerial priesthood from a biblical perspective, had three opposing findings. They were, "that the New Testament does not settle in a clear way... whether woman can be ordained as priests, [that] scriptural grounds alone are not enough to exclude the possibility of ordaining woman, [and that] Christ's plan would not be transgressed by permitting the ordination of women." In recent years, responding to questions about the matter, the Church has issued a number of documents repeating the same position. In 1994, Pope John Paul II declared the question closed in his letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, stating: "Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance…I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."

In 1995, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a clarification, explaining that Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, though "itself not infallible, witnesses to the infallibility of the teaching of a doctrine already possessed by the Church.... This doctrine belongs to the deposit of the faith of the Church. It should be emphasized that the definitive and infallible nature of this teaching of the Church did not arise with the publication of the Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis." Instead, it was "founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium," and for these reasons it "requires definitive assent."

The Church teaching on the restriction of its ordination to men that masculinity was integral to the personhood of both Jesus and the men he called as apostles. The Roman Catholic Church sees maleness and femaleness as two different ways of expressing common humanity. Contrary to the common phrase "gender roles," which implies that the phenomenon of the sexes is a mere surface phenomenon, an accident, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is an ontological (essential) difference between humanity expressed as male humanity and humanity expressed as female humanity. While many functions are interchangeable between men and women, some are not, because maleness and femaleness are not interchangeable. Just as water is necessary for a valid baptism, and wheaten bread and grape wine are necessary for a valid Eucharist (not because of their superiority over other materials, but because they are what Jesus used or authorized), only men can be validly ordained, regardless of any issues of equality.

Pope John Paul II, in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, explained the Roman Catholic understanding that the priesthood is a special role specially set out by Jesus when he chose twelve men out of his group of male and female followers. John Paul notes that Jesus chose the Twelve (cf. Mk 3:13–14; Jn 6:70) after a night in prayer (cf. Lk 6:12) and that the Apostles themselves were careful in the choice of their successors. The priesthood is "specifically and intimately associated in the mission of the Incarnate Word himself (cf. Mt 10:1, 7–8; 28:16–20; Mk 3:13–16; 16:14–15)."

Pope Paul VI, quoted by Pope John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, wrote, "[The Church] holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God's plan for his Church."

Concerning the "constant practice of the Church," in antiquity the Church Fathers Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, John Chrysostom, and Augustine all wrote that the ordination of women was impossible. The Synod of Laodicea prohibited ordaining women to the Presbyterate.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued and published on May 29, 2008, in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, a decree signed by Cardinal William Levada, on the existing ban on women priests by asserting that women priests and the bishops who ordain them would be excommunicated "latae sententiae".

Deaconesses and Female Deacons

The ordination of females to the diaconate is a matter of some controversy among Roman Catholic historians and theologians. At issue are two distinct but interrelated questions: whether some deaconesses in the early Church received true sacramental ordination, or whether all were merely so called for functional or honorific purposes; and, whether the prohibition against ordaining women to the diaconate is also a matter of unchangeable divine law, or potentially changeable ecclesiastical law. If some deaconesses did receive true sacramental ordination, then the current prohibition would be ecclesiastical rather than divine law. If not, then it could be either ecclesiastical or divine.

It can be verified that the term deaconesses was employed in antiquity; the word, like "deacon," comes from the Greek word diakonos (Template:Polytonic), meaning "one who serves." Deaconesses mainly assisted the priest in receiving women into the Church for baptism by full immersion (which is still practiced by the Eastern Catholic Churches and by some parishes in the Western or Latin rite as well), and did not perform any of the duties associated with male deacons. In this sense "deaconess" implied a title of honour and respect. Whether or not "deaconess" in some instances implied sacramental ordination is disputed.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote in 1977 that the historical nature of deaconesses was "a question that must be taken up fully by direct study of the texts, without preconceived ideas." The position that deaconesses received true sacramental ordination (in certain times and places) is given by Roger Gryson, and the position that deaconesses never received true sacramental ordination is given by Aimé Georges Martimort. Both Gryson and Martimort argued from the same historical evidence, which is mixed. For example, the ecumenical First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) stated that deaconesses: "do not receive any imposition of hands, so that they are in all respects to be numbered among the laity." However, 126 years later, the ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) decreed: "A woman shall not receive the laying on of hands as a deaconess under forty years of age, and then only after searching examination." Martimort argues that the "laying on of hands" in the latter case referred only to a special blessing. Against this, "Gryson argues that the use of the verb cheirotonein and of the substantive cheirothesia clearly indicate that deaconesses were ordained by the laying on of hands."

Until rather recently, the theologians and canonists who addressed the question almost unanimously considered the exclusion of women from ordination, including to the diaconate, as having a divine origin and therefore remaining absolute. Only in recent decades have any theologians or canonists entertained the theory that the prohibition of women from the ordained diaconate was a matter of merely ecclesiastical, rather than divine law. This renewed theological assessment was spurred on by the Second Vatican Council's revival of the permanent diaconate, which lifted the question from a purely theoretical matter to one with immensely practical consequences. Based on the theory that some deaconesses received the sacrament of Holy Orders, and based on the fact that some writers in the Middle Ages exhibited a certain hesitancy concerning the ordination of women stemming from knowledge that there had been deaconesses in antiquity, there have been modern-day proposals to ordain female permanent deacons, who would perform the same functions as male deacons.

Ordination and Equality

The Roman Catholic Church states that the hierarchical structure that includes the ordained ministerial priesthood is ordered to benefit the holiness of the entire body of the faithful, and not to ensure the salvation of the ordained minister. There is no additional benefit in terms of automatic holiness that comes about through ordination. Ordination is not required for salvation, nor does it effect salvation in the one ordained. In other words, a priest can go to Hell just as easily as a layperson. Likewise, sainthood is equally open to men and women, lay or ordained. For example, the Blessed Virgin Mary is venerated as the Queen of all Saints. Furthermore, there are female Doctors of the Church.

Pope John Paul II wrote, in Mulieris Dignitatem: "In calling only men as his Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. In doing so, he exercised the same freedom with which, in all his behaviour, he emphasized the dignity and the vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions sanctioned by the legislation of the time."

In Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, John Paul wrote: "the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, received neither the mission proper to the Apostles nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the non-admission of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them. Rather, it is to be seen as the faithful observance of a plan to be ascribed to the wisdom of the Lord of the universe."

The Roman Catholic Church does not regard the priest as the only possible prayer leader, and prayer may be led by a woman. For example, outside the context of a Mass and in the absence of a priest or deacon, laypersons (both men and women) "are to be entrusted with the care of these [Sunday] celebrations." This includes leading the prayers, ministry of the word, and the giving of holy communion (previously consecrated by a priest). Also during these assemblies, in the absence of an ordained minister, a layperson may request God's blessing on the congregation, provided that the layperson does not use words proper to a priest or deacon, and omits rites that are too readily associated with the Mass.

Women are also able to live the Consecrated Life as a nun or abbess, and throughout the history of the Church it has not been uncommon for an abbess to head a dual monastery, i.e., a community of men and women. Women today exercise many roles in the church that they were previously not able to participate in. They can run catechetical programs in parishes, do spiritual direction, serve as lectors and Eucharistic ministers, and teach theology. Also, in 1994, the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship decided that women could assist at Mass as altar servers. Still many people see the Church's position on the ordination of women as a sign that women are not equal to men in the Catholic church.

Positions dissenting against the official view, and dissenters

Arguments for the Catholic ordination of women are manifold. One argument is based on equality. Some sacramental theologians have argued that ordaining men but not women creates two classes of baptism, contradicting Saint Paul's statement that all are equal in Christ. This argument does not give credence to the distinction between equal dignity and different services within the Church.

Another argument is based on the theological position that there is a fundamental unity between the different levels (deacon, priest, and bishop) of the sacrament of Holy Orders, as taught by the Second Vatican Council. So, if history shows that the deaconesses known to have existed in the Early Church had actually received the sacrament of ordination, then because of the fundamental unity of Holy Orders, women can also be ordained as priests and bishops. (This same argument is sometimes used in reverse, against the historical possibility that deaconesses received sacramental ordination.)

Whatever argument is used in favor of the priestly ordination of women, there is the problem of reconciling this position with Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (or ignoring it, if the arguer so wishes). Based on the statements from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the official point of view is that Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, without itself being ex cathedra, authoritatively and bindingly teaches that: (1) the Church cannot ordain women as priests due to divine law; and that (2) this doctrine has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium. A dissenting view is that, according to section 25 of the Second Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, the "ordinary and universal magisterium" is exercised by "the Pope in union with the bishops". In other words, according to the Congregation, it is an instance of the Pope 'publicising' what he and the other bishops, as the ordinary and universal magisterium' have already consistently taught through the ages.

Since the encyclical Humani Generis, it is well known that the Roman Pontiff can, by his own authority, settle a theological question via a fallible papal teaching that is nonetheless sufficiently authoritative to end all debate on the matter, at least under Church law. This is clearly what has occurred with Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in regard to point (1). (Although, in fact, the position taken by Pius XII in Humani Generis was overturned by Vatican II.) Thus, theological debate on whether women can be ordained as priests is no longer seen by the Church as permitted for Catholics, and the arguments in favor of ordaining women to the priesthood in this section are termed a "dissenting position." However, several noted dogmatic theologians have questioned how this same alleged debate-ending authority can apply to point (2), which is a matter not of faith or morals, but a factual matter relative to teachings promulgated by all the bishops of the Catholic Church over her two thousand year history. These dogmatic theologians find it especially problematic that, concerning this point, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis gives no indication of what historical facts are sufficient to ensure infallibility by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, nor any indication of how those historical facts were verified. Because of these issues it is argued that, if it is indeed possible for the Church to ordain women to the priesthood, this would not contradict the Church's dogma regarding infallible teachings.

Some supporters of women's ordination have asserted that there have been ordained priests and bishops in antiquity. The official Church position on this is that "a few heretical sects in the first centuries, especially Gnostic ones, entrusted the exercise of the priestly ministry to women: this innovation was immediately noted and condemned by the Fathers who considered it as unacceptable in the Church." In response to that position, some supporters of women's ordination take the position that those sects weren't heretical, but, rather, orthodox.

Some arguable evidence that not all ordinations in the Catholic tradition have been those of males exists. For example, the Pope Gelasius I apparently condemned the practice of women officiating at altars; inscriptions near Tropea in Calabria refer to "presbytera," which could be interpreted as a woman priest or as a wife of a male priest . Furthermore, a sarcophagus from Dalmatia is inscribed with the date 425 and records that a grave in the Salona burial-ground was bought from presbytera Flavia Vitalia: selling burial plots was at one time a duty of presbyters . There have been some 15 records so far found of women being ordained in antiquity by Christians; while the Vatican insists those are ordinations by heretical groups, the Women's Ordination Conference contends that those were orthodox Christian groups.

There is also the church of Santa Praxedis, where Theodora Episcopa —Bishop Theodora, with the word for "bishop" in feminine form — appears in an image with two female saints and Mary. That church's pastor alleges that the church was built in honor of Pope Pascal I's mother by her son, who graced her with the title "Episcopa" due to her being the mother of a Pope. However, Theodora wears a coif in the image, suggesting that she is an unmarried woman.

Setting aside these theological considerations, advocates for the ordination of women have pointed to vocations declining in Europe and North America and have made the utilitarian argument that women must be ordained in order to have enough priests to administer the Sacraments in those areas. Supporting this argument, they made public the story of a Czech woman Ludmila Javorová, who, in the 1990s, said that she and four or five other women had been ordained by the late Bishop Felix Maria Davídek in the 1970s, as priests in the underground Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia. Javorová ceased to practice as a priest at some point.

There is at least one organization that calls itself "Roman Catholic" that ordains women at the present time, Roman Catholic Womenpriests ; also, several independent Catholic jurisidctions have been ordaining women in the United States since approximately the late 1990s. There are several others calling for the Roman Catholic Church itself to ordain women, such as Circles, Brothers and Sisters in Christ Catholic Women's Ordination , and Corpus , along with others. While there have been excommunications (from the Roman Catholic Church) connected to Roman Catholic Womenpriests, that has not deterred that organization from continuing to ordain women. This has led to a dispute about membership of Roman Catholic Womenpriests in the Church. Official Roman Catholic Church sources claim that the Roman Catholic Womenpriests organization has freely decided to separate from the Roman Catholic Church. However, the RC Womenpriests organization sources say they still associate with the Roman Catholic Church and are working to change it. It should be noted that the Catholic Church does not believe these women to be validly ordained. That is to say, the Church believes that these women have not been successfully ordained priests, and are merely simulating orders. Roman Catholic Womenpriests considers the ordinations to be valid and successful, however.

Eastern Orthodox

The Eastern Orthodox churches follows a similar line of reasoning as the Roman Catholic Church with respect to ordination of priests.

Regarding deaconesses, Professor Evangelos Theodorou argued that female deacons were actually ordained in antiquity . Bishop Kallistos Ware wrote:

The order of deaconesses seems definitely to have been considered an "ordained" ministry during early centuries in at any rate the Christian East. ... Some Orthodox writers regard deaconesses as having been a "lay" ministry. There are strong reasons for rejecting this view. In the Byzantine rite the liturgical office for the laying-on of hands for the deaconess is exactly parallel to that for the deacon; and so on the principle lex orandi, lex credendi — the Church's worshipping practice is a sure indication of its faith — it follows that the deaconesses receives, as does the deacon, a genuine sacramental ordination: not just a Template:Polytonic but a Template:Polytonic.

On October 8, 2004, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece voted to permit the ordination of senior nuns to the diaconate.

There is a strong monastic tradition, pursued by both men and women in the Orthodox churches, where monks and nuns lead identical spiritual lives. Unlike Roman Catholic religious life, which has myriad traditions, both contemplative and active (see Benedictine monks, Franciscan friars, Jesuits), that of Eastern Orthodoxy has remained exclusively ascetic and monastic.

Anglican Communion

The majority of Anglican provinces ordain women as both deacons and priests. Only a few provinces, however, have consecrated women as bishops (although the number of provinces where women bishops are canonically possible is much greater). The Episcopal Church in the United States ordains women as both priests and bishops. The situation regarding women's ordination in the Anglican communion (and churches in full communion) as of April 2008 can be seen in the following table:

Bishops (consecrated)	Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia; Australia; Canada; United States, Cuba
Bishops (none yet consecrated)	Bangladesh, Brazil, Central America, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, North India, Philippines, Scotland, Southern Africa, Sudan
Priests	Burundi, England, Hong Kong, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Korea, Rwanda, South India, Uganda, Wales, West Indies, Church of the Province of West Africa
Deacons	Southern Cone, Congo, Pakistan
No ordination of women	Central Africa, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Melanesia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South East Asia, Tanzania

Some provinces within the Anglican Communion, such as the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (TEC), the Anglican Church of New Zealand, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church of Cuba, and, from May 2008, the Anglican Church of Australia, ordain women as deacons, priests and bishops.

Some Anglican provinces, including the Church of England, ordain women as deacons and priests but not as bishops. A number of other Anglican provinces, as noted in the table above, have removed canonical bars to women bishops — but have not yet consecrated any.

The ordination of women has been a controversial issue throughout the Anglican Communion. However, by 2008, twenty-seven of the thirty eight provinces of the Anglican Communion ordain women as priests and sixteen have removed all bars to women serving as bishops.

Within provinces which permit the ordination of women, there are some individual dioceses which do not, or which ordain women only to the diaconate (such as the Diocese of Sydney in the Anglican Church of Australia, and the dioceses of Quincy, San Joaquin and Fort Worth in the United States.

The first woman ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion was Florence Li Tim-Oi, who was ordained on 25 January 1944 by the bishop of Hong Kong. It was thirty years before the practice became widespread, beginning controversially in 1974, when eleven women were ordained to the priesthood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by three retired Episcopal Church bishops. Four more women were ordained in 1975 in Washington D.C. These ordinations were ruled "irregular" because they had been done without the authorization of ECUSA's General Convention. Two years later, General Convention authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate. The Church of England authorized the ordination of woman priests in 1992 and began ordaining them in 1994. This was the premise of the television programme The Vicar of Dibley. The nearly simultaneous publication by the Vatican of the Encyclical Veritatis Splendor, which argued that truth was immutable however unpalatable, was a coincidence which was not lost on many traditionalist Anglicans, who converted to Catholicism. These converts included women, such as Ann Widdecombe MP.

The first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion was Barbara Clementine Harris, who was ordained bishop suffragan of Massachusetts in February 1989. Later in the same year, Penelope Jamieson of the Anglican Church in New Zealand became the first female diocesan bishop when she was elected Bishop of Dunedin. The first female primate (or senior bishop of a national church) is Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church (USA) at its 2006 General Convention, and began her nine year term as Presiding Bishop and Primate on 3 November 2006. By April 2008 the Episcopal Church had elected 15 women as bishops.

On 11 July 2005 the General Synod of the Church of England, in York, voted to "set in train" the process of removing the legal obstacles preventing women from becoming bishops. Debate on the legislation was scheduled for February 2006. The process is currently underway but is not progressing quickly due to problems in providing appropriate mechanisms for the protection of those who cannot accept this development.

The Anglican Church of Australia, though the Church's Appellate Tribunal, ruled on 28 September 2007 that there is nothing in the Church’s Constitution that would prevent the consecration of a woman priest as a diocesan bishop in a diocese which by ordinance has adopted the Law of the Church of England Clarification Canon 1992, which paved the way for the ordination of women as priests. Following the agreement at the April 2008 Bishops' Conference of the "Women in the Episcopate" protocol for the provision of pastoral care to those who cannot in conscience accept the ministry of a woman bishop, the first nominations of women as bishops was widely anticipated, and on 11 April 2008 the Archbishop of Perth, the Most Revd Roger Herft, announced the nomination of the Venerable Kay Goldsworthy, Archdeacon of Perth and Registrar, as a bishop in the Diocese of Perth. She will be the first woman ordained as a bishop in Australia: her episcopal ordination is scheduled for 22 May, the Feast of Corpus Christi (Thanksgiving for the Holy Communion) in St George's Cathedral, Perth. Then on 24 April 2008 the Archbishop of Melbourne, the Most Revd Philip Frier, announced[16] the nomination of the Revd Canon Barbara Darling, Vicar of St James' Anglican Church, Dandenong, as an Assistant Bishop of Melbourne. Her episcopal ordination is scheduled for 31 May 2008, the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth, in St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne.

On 2 April 2008, the Governing Body of the Church in Wales considered, but did not pass, a Bill to enable women to be ordained as bishops. Though the Bill was passed by the House of Laity (52 to 19) and the House of Bishops (unanimously), it failed by three votes (27 to 18) to secure the required minimum two-thirds majority in the House of Clerics. The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Dr Barry Morgan, expects the issue to be debated again in 2011.

Most Anglican provinces have taken steps to provide pastoral care and support for those who cannot in conscience accept the ministry of women as bishops. The Church of England, for example, has instituted "flying bishops" to cater to parishes who do not wish to be under the supervision of bishops who have participated in the ordination of women.

There have been a number of breakaway groups established by conservative Anglicans who see the ordination of women as representative of a trend away from traditional or orthodox doctrine. The Continuing Anglican Movement was started in 1977 after women began to be ordained in the USA.

Protestant churches

A key theological doctrine for most Protestants is the priesthood of all believers. The notion of a priesthood reserved to a select few is seen as an Old Testament concept, inappropriate for Christians. Prayer belongs equally to all believing women and men.

However, most (although not all) Protestant denominations still ordain church leaders, who have the task of equipping all believers in their Christian service (Ephesians 4:11–13). These leaders (variously styled elders, pastors or ministers) are seen to have a distinct role in teaching, pastoral leadership and the administration of sacraments. Traditionally these roles were male preserves, but over the last century, an increasing number of denominations have begun ordaining women.

The debate over women's eligibility for such offices normally centers around interpretation of certain Biblical passages relating to teaching and leadership roles. This is because Protestant churches usually view the Bible as the primary authority in church debates, even over established traditions (the doctrine of sola scriptura). Thus the Church is free to change her stance, if the change is deemed in accordance with the Bible. The main passages in this debate include Galatians 3.28, 1st Corinthians 11.2–16, 14.34–35 and 1st Timothy 2.11–14. Increasingly, supporters of women in ministry also make appeals to evidence from the New Testament that is taken to suggest that women did exercise ministries in the apostolic Church (e.g., Acts 21:9,18:18; Romans 16:3–4,16:1–2, Romans 16:7; 1st Corinthians 16:19, and Philippians 4:2–3).

Examples of specific churches' ordination practices

• the Apostolic Johannite Church has offered ordination to women as deacons, priests and bishops since its foundation.
• Baptist Churches

• The Baptist Churches in Germany and Switzerland (Bund Evangelisch-Freikirchlicher Gemeinden, Bund Schweizer Baptistengemeinden) ordain women.
• The Southern Baptist Convention does not support the ordination of women; however, some churches that are members of the SBC have ordained women.
• Baptist groups in the United States that do ordain women include American Baptist Churches USA, North American Baptist Conference, Alliance of Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) and Progressive National Baptist Convention.

• The Charismatic Church of God ordains women as Missionaries, Evangelists, and Pastors.
• Christian Connection Church. An early relative of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, this body ordained women as early as 1810. Among them were Nancy Gove Cram, who worked as a missionary with the Oneida Indians by 1812, and Abigail Roberts (a lay preacher and missionary), who helped establish many churches in New Jersey. Others included Ann Rexford, Sarah Hedges and Sally Thompson.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not ordain women.
• The Church of Scotland

• Women were commissioned as deacons from 1935, and allowed to preach from 1949.
• In 1963 Mary Levison petitioned the General Assembly for ordination.
• Woman elders were introduced in 1966 and women ministers in 1968.
• The first female Moderator of the General Assembly was Dr Alison Elliot in 2004.

Main article: Ordination of women in the Church of Scotland

• The Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In 1888 Louisa Woosley was licensed to preach. She was ordained in 1889. She wrote Shall Woman Preach.
• Community of Christ. A revelation was approved at the church's 1984 World Conference which called for the ordination of women, and granted women access to all the offices of the priesthood. Although this caused many congregations to break off from the main body of the church, forming dissident congregations and in some cases new denominations, women have been ordained in many nations since then. Currently the Council of Twelve Apostles has four female members. In addition, in 2007, Becky L. Savage became the first female member of the church's First Presidency. Following the legislative action of the 1984 World Conference, the church changed the name of one of it's priesthood offices from evangelist-patriarch to evangelist, and it's associated sacrament, the patriarchal blessing, to the evangelist's blessing.
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America E:CA is the largest Lutheran body in the USA. The church bodies that formed the ELCA in 1988 began ordaining women in 1970 when the Lutheran Church in America ordained the Rev Elizabeth Platz. The ordination of women is now non-controversial within the ELCA.
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia reversed its earlier (1975) decision to ordain women as pastors. Since 1993, under the leadership of Archbishop Janis Vanags, it no longer does so.
• The Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Germany does not ordain women.
• The Independent Old Catholic Church of America (IOCCA), ordains women.
• The Lutheran, United and Reformed Churches in Germany (EKD) ordain women and have women as bishops.
• The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), which is the second largest Lutheran body in the United States, does not ordain women.
• The Lutheran state Churches in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland ordain women and these Lutheran churches in Europe have women as bishops already. However, while the Church of Sweden was the first Lutheran church to ordain female pastors in 1958, there is still considerable debate in this church as to the legitimacy of the ordination of women into the pastoral office. In fact, in 2003 the Missionsprovinsen (Mission Province) was formed within the Church of Sweden to support those who oppose the ordination of women and other developments seen as theologically problematic.
• The Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church (GCEPC) has ordained women since its inception in the year 2000. Ordination of women is not a controversial issue in the LEPC/GCEPC. Women are ordained/consecrated at all levels including deacon,priest, and bishop in the LEPC/GCEPC.
• The Moravian Church
• Many Old Catholic Churches within the Utrecht Union in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Netherlands ordain women, but two churches have left the union because they do not do so. Other Old Catholic Churches do not ordain women, but accept this in other Old Catholic Churches of the Union. These are not to be confused with the Roman Catholic Church which does not ordain women (see above).
• The Pentecostal church in Germany allows ordination of women.
• The Presbyterian Church (USA). In 1893, Edith Livingston Peake was appointed Presbyterian Evangelist by First United Presbyterian of San Francisco. Between 1907 and 1920 five more women became ministers. The Presbyterian Church (USA) began ordaining women as elders in 1930, and as ministers of Word and sacrament in 1956. By 2001, the numbers of men and women holding office were almost equal.
• The Presbyterian Church in America does not ordain women. In 1997, the PCA even broke its fraternal relationship with The Christian Reformed Church over this issue.
• The Orthodox Presbyterian Churches do not ordain women.
• The Reformed Churches in Switzerland and in the Netherlands ordain women.
• The Salvation Army ordains women.
• The Seventh-day Adventist Church officially does not ordain women. Recent votes at the worldwide General Conference Sessions turned down a proposal to allow ordination of women. There was a strong polarization between nations, with Western countries generally voting in support and other countries generally voting against. A further proposal to allow local choice was also turned down. In practice, there are numerous women working as ministers and in leadership positions. The most influential co-founder of the church, Ellen G. White, was a woman.
• The United Church of Canada. Divided during the 1930s by this issue inherited from the churches it brought together, the United Church ordained its first woman minister, Lydia Gruchy, in 1936.
• The United Church of Christ. Antoinette Brown was ordained as a minister by a Congregationalist Church in 1853, though this was not recognized by her denomination. She later became a Unitarian. Women's ordination is now non-controversial in the United Church of Christ.
• The United Methodist Church does ordain women. In 1880, Anna Howard Shaw was ordained by the Methodist Protestant Church; Ella Niswonger was ordained in 1889 by the United Brethren Church. Both denominations later merged into the United Methodist Church. In 1956, the Methodist Church in America granted ordination and full clergy rights to women. Since that time, women have been ordained full elders (pastors) in the denomination, and 21 have been elevated to the episcopacy. The first woman elected and consecrated Bishop within the United Methodist Church (and, indeed, the first woman elected bishop of any mainline Christian church) was Marjorie Matthews in 1980. Leontine T. Kelly, in 1984, was the first African-American woman elevated to the episcopacy in any mainline denomination. In Germany Rosemarie Wenner is since 2005 leading bishop in the United Methodist Church.
• The United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom ordains women.
• The Unitarian Universalist Association. The Unitarian Universalist Association has a long history of welcoming women to the ministry, reaching back to 1963 and its predecessor, the Universalist Church. In 1999, it became the first major religion in the US with women outnumbering men in the clergy.
• The Universalist Church. Olympia Brown became the first woman to be ordained as a minister in 1863, as an ordained Universalist minister.

Women as bishops

Some Protestant and Anglican churches have allowed women to become bishops:

• 1980: United Methodist Church
• 1989: Anglican Church of New Zealand
• 1989: Episcopal Church in the U.S.
• 1992: Maria Jepsen Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany
• 1996: Lutheran Church in Sweden
• 1997: Anglican Church of Canada
• 1998: Moravian Church in America
• 1998: Presbyterian Church in Guatemala
• 1999: Czechoslovak Hussite Church
• 2000: African Methodist Episcopal Church
• 2003: Nancy K. Drew The Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church (GCEPC)USA
• Unknown: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark
• Unknown: Protestant Churches in German Lutheran, Reformed and United churches (EKD)
• Unknown: Protestant Church of the Netherlands
• Unknown: Lutheran State Church in Norway
• Unknown: Lutheran State Church in Denmark

Judaism

See also Role of women in Judaism

Jewish tradition and law does not presume that women have more or less of an aptitude or moral standing required of rabbis. However, it had been the longstanding practice that only men become rabbis. This practice continues to this day within the Orthodox and Hasidic communities but has been revised within non-Orthodox organizations. Reform Judaism created its first woman rabbi in 1972, Reconstructionist Judaism in 1974, and Conservative Judaism in 1985, and women in these movements are routinely granted semicha on an equal basis with men.

The issue of allowing women to become rabbis is not under active debate within the Orthodox community, though there is widespread agreement that women may often be consulted on matters of Jewish religious law. There are reports that a small number of Orthodox yeshivas have unofficially granted semicha to women, but the prevailing consensus among Orthodox leaders (as well as a small number of Conservative Jewish communities) is that it is not appropriate for women to become rabbis.

The idea that women could eventually be ordained as rabbis sparks widespread opposition among the Orthodox rabbinate. Norman Lamm, one of the leaders of Modern Orthodoxy and Rosh Yeshiva of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, totally opposes giving semicha to women. "It shakes the boundaries of tradition, and I would never allow it." (Helmreich, 1997) Writing in an article in the Jewish Observer, Moshe Y'chiail Friedman states that Orthodox Judaism prohibits women from being given semicha and serving as rabbis. He holds that the trend towards this goal is driven by sociology, and not halakha.

Some beginning dates for ordination of women

A partial list with the approximate dates of either the approval of female ordination in principle or the ordination of their first women clergy by Christian and Jewish faith groups appears below:

• Early 1800s: A fundamental belief of the [Society of Friends-http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker.htm] (Quakers) has always been the existence of an element of God's spirit in every human soul. Thus all persons are considered to have inherent and equal worth, independent of their gender. This led naturally to an opposition to sexism, and an acceptance of female ministers. In 1660, Margaret Fell (1614–1702) published a famous pamphlet to justify equal roles for men and women in the denomination. It was titled: "Women's Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures, All Such as Speak by the Spirit and Power of the Lord Jesus And How Women Were the First That Preached the Tidings of the Resurrection of Jesus, and Were Sent by Christ's Own Command Before He Ascended to the Father (John 20:17). In the U.S., in contrast with almost every other organized religion, the Society of Friends (Quakers) has allowed women to serve as ministers since the early 1800s.
• 1853: Antoinette Brown was ordained by the Congregationalist Church. However, her ordination was not recognized by the denomination. She quit the church and later became a Unitarian. The Congregationalists later merged with others to create the United Church of Christ.
• 1861: Mary A. Will was the first woman ordained in the Wesleyan Methodist Connection by the Illinois Conference. The Wesleyan Methodist Connection eventually became The Wesleyan Church.
• 1863: Olympia Brown was ordained by the Universalist denomination in 1863, in spite of a last-moment case of cold feet by her seminary which feared adverse publicity. After a decade and a half of service as a full-time minister, she became a part-time minister in order to devote more time to the fight for women's rights and universal suffrage. In 1961, the Universalists and Unitarians joined to form the [Unitarian Universalist Association-http://www.religioustolerance.org/u-u.htm] (UUA). The UUA became the first large denomination to have a majority of female ministers. In 1999, female ministers outnumbered their male counterpart 431 to 422.
• 1865: Salvation Army is founded and has always ordained both men and women. However, there were initially rules that prohibited a woman from marrying a man who had a lower rank.
• 1879 Church of Christ, Scientist founded by a woman, Mary Baker Eddy.
• 1880: Anna Howard Shaw was the first woman ordained in the Methodist Protestant Church, which later merged with other denominations to form the United Methodist Church.
• 1888: Fidelia Gillette may have been the first ordained woman in Canada. She served the Universalist congregation in Bloomfield, Ontario, during 1888 and 1889. She was presumably ordained in 1888 or earlier.
• 1889: The Nolin Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church ordained Louisa Woosley.
• 1889: Ella Niswonger was the first woman ordained in the United Brethren church, which later merged with other denominations to form the United Methodist Church.
• 1892: Anna Hanscombe is believed to be the first woman ordained by the parent bodies which formed the Church of the Nazarene in 1919.
• 1909: The Church of God (Cleveland TN) began ordaining women in 1909.
• 1911: Ann Allebach was the first Mennonite woman to be ordained. This occurred at the First Mennonite Church of Philadelphia.
• 1914: Assemblies of God was founded and ordained its first woman clergy
• 1917: The Congregationalist Church (England and Wales) ordained their first woman, Constance Coltman (nee Todd) at the King's WEigh House, London. Its successor is the United Reformed Church (a union of the Congregational Church in England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England in 1972. Since then two more denominations have joined the union: The Reformed Churches of Christ (1982) and the Congregational Church of Scotland (2000). All of these denominations ordained women at the time of Union and continue to do so without any barrier. The first woman to be appointed General Sectretary of the United Reformed Church was Roberta Rominger in 2008.
• 1920's: Some Baptist denominations start ordaining women.
• 1922: The Jewish Reform movement's Central Conference of American Rabbis stated that "Woman cannot justly be denied the privilege of ordination." However, Reform Judaism takes a few more decades to actually ordain women.
• 1922: The Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren granted women the right to be licensed into the ministry, but not to be ordained with the same status as men.
• 1930: A predecessor church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) ordained its first female as an elder
• 1935: Regina Jonas was ordained privately by a German rabbi.
• 1936: United Church of Canada starts ordaining women.
• 1944: Anglican communion, Hong Kong. Florence Li Tim Oi was ordained on an emergency basis.
• 1947: Czechoslovak Hussite Church starts ordaining women.
• 1948: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark starts ordaining women.
• 1949: Old Catholic Church (in the U.S.) starts ordaining women.
• 1956: A predecessor church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) ordained its first woman minister.
• 1956: Maud K. Jensen was the first woman to receive full clergy rights and conference membership in the Methodist Church.
• 1958: Women ministers in the Church of the Brethren were given full ordination with the same status as men.
• 1960: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden starts ordaining women.
• 1967: Presbyterian Church in Canada starts ordaining women.
• 1971: Anglican communion, Hong Kong. Joyce Bennett and Jane Hwang were the first regularly ordained priests.
• 1972: Reform Judaism starts ordaining women.
• 1972: Swedenborgian Church starts ordaining women.
• 1972: Sally Priesand became the first woman rabbi to be ordained by a theological seminary. She was ordained in the Reform tradition.
• 1970's: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• 1974: Methodist Church in the United Kingdom starts ordaining women.
• 1974: Sandy Eisenberg Sasso became the first woman rabbi to be ordained within the Jewish Reconstructionist movement.
• 1976: Episcopal Church (11 women were ordained in Philadelphia before church laws were changed to permit ordination)
• 1976: Anglican Church in Canada ordained six female priests.
• 1976: The Rev. Pamela McGee was the first female ordained to the Lutheran ministry in Canada.
• 1977: Anglican Church of New Zealand ordained five female priests.
• 1979: The Reformed Church in America. Women had been admitted to the offices of deacon and elder in 1972.
• 1983: An Anglican woman was ordained in Kenya
• 1983: Three Anglican women were ordained in Uganda.
• 1984: Community of Christ (known at the time as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) authorized the ordination of women. This is the second largest Latter Day Saint denomination.
• 1985: According to the New York Times for 1985-FEB-14: "After years of debate, the worldwide governing body of Conservative Judaism has decided to admit women as rabbis. The group, the Rabbinical Assembly, plans to announce its decision at a news conference...at the Jewish Theological Seminary..." Amy Eilberg became the first female rabbi.
• 1985: The first women deacons were ordained by the Scottish Episcopal Church.
• 1988: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland starts ordaining women.
• 1988: Episcopal Church chooses Barbara Harris as first female bishop.
• 1990: Anglican women are ordained in Ireland.
• 1992: The Church of England itself starts ordaining women.
• 1992: Anglican Church of South Africa starts ordaining women.
• 1994: The first women priests were ordained by the Scottish Episcopal Church.
• 1995: Seventh-day Adventists. Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church in Takoma Park, MD ordained three women in violation of the denomination's rules.
• 1995: The Christian Reformed Church voted to allow women ministers, elders, and evangelists. In 1998-NOV, the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) suspended the CRC's membership because of this decision.
• 1998: General Assembly of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Anglican Church in Japan) starts ordaining women.
• 1998: Guatemalan Presbyterian Synod starts ordaining women.
• 1998: Old Catholic Church in the Netherlands starts ordaining women.
• 1998: Some Orthodox Jewish congregations started to employ female "congregational interns." Although these 'interns' do not lead worship services, they perform some tasks usually reserved for rabbis, such as preaching, teaching, and consulting on Jewish legal matters.
• 1999: Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (ordination as either clergy or elders)
• 2000: The Baptist Union of Scotland voted to allow their churches to either allow or prohibit the ordination of women.
• 2000: The Mombasa diocese of the Anglican Church of Kenya.
• 2000: The Church of Pakistan ordained its first women deacons. It is a united church which dates back to the 1970 local merger of Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and other Protestants.
• 2005 The Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church,(LEPC)(GCEPC) in the USA elects Nancy Kinard Drew first female Presiding Bishop.
• 2006: The Episcopal Church elects Katharine Jefferts Schori first woman Presiding Bishop, or Primate.

Islam

Main articles: Women as imams and Women in Islam

Although Muslims do not formally ordain religious leaders, the imam serves as a spiritual leader and religious authority. There is a current controversy among Muslims on the circumstances in which women may act as imams — that is, lead a congregation in salat (prayer). Three of the four Sunni schools, as well as many Shia, agree that a woman may lead a congregation consisting of women alone in prayer, although the Maliki school does not allow this. According to all currently existing traditional schools of Islam, a woman cannot lead a mixed gender congregation in salat (prayer). Some schools make exceptions for Tarawih (optional Ramadan prayers) or for a congregation consisting only of close relatives. Certain medieval scholars — including Al-Tabari (838–932), Abu Thawr (764–854), Al-Muzani (791–878), and Ibn Arabi (1165–1240) — considered the practice permissible at least for optional (nafila) prayers; however, their views are not accepted by any major surviving group.

Some Muslims in recent years have reactivated the debate, arguing that the spirit of the Qur'an and the letter of a disputed hadith indicate that women should be able to lead mixed congregations as well as single-sex ones, and that the prohibition of this developed as a result of sexism in the medieval environment, not as a part of true Islam.

Buddhism

Main article: Women in Buddhism

The ordination of women is currently and historically practiced in some Buddhist regions, such East Asia and Taiwan, and not in others, such as India and Sri Lanka.

The tradition of the ordained monastic community (sangha) began with Buddha, who established orders of Bhikkhu (monks) and later, after an initial reluctance, of Bhikkuni (nuns). The stories, sayings and deeds of some of the distinguished Bhikkhuni of early Buddhism are recorded in many places in the Pali Canon, most notably in the Therigatha. However, not only did the Buddha lay down more rules of discipline for the bhikkhuni (311 compared to the bhikkhu's 227), he also made it more difficult for them to be ordained.

The tradition flourished for centuries throughout South and East Asia, but appears to have died out in the Theravada traditions of India and Sri Lanka in the 11th century C.E. However, the Mahayana tradition, particularly in Taiwan and Hong Kong, has retained the practice, where nuns are called 'Bhikṣuṇī' (the Sanskrit equivalent of the Pali 'Bhikkhuni'). Nuns are also found in Korea and Vietnam.

There have been some attempts in recent years to revive the tradition of women in the sangha within Theravada Buddhism in Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, with many women ordained in Sri Lanka since the late 1990s. The International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha: Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages, taking place in Germany, on July 18–20, 2007, is a turning point in reviving the Bhikkhuni lineage.

Thailand

See also Buddhism in Thailand

In 1928, the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, responding to the attempted ordination of two women, issued an edict that monks must not ordain women. The two women were reportedly arrested and jailed briefly. In a more recent challenge to the Thai sangha's ban on women, Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, previously a professor of Buddhist philosophy known as Dr Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, was controversially ordained as a nun in Sri Lanka in 2003. Despite some support inside the religious hierarchy, the sangha remains fiercely opposed to the ordination of women.

Tenrikyo

Tenrikyo was founded by a woman, Oyasama.

Shinto

While the priesthood was traditionally male in Shinto, ordination of women as Shinto priests has arisen after the abolition of State Shinto in the aftermath of WWII.

See also

• Christian views of women
• Deaconess
• Episcopa Theodora
• Feminist theology
• List of women priests
• Mariavite Church
• Women as theological figures

Further reading

• Canon Law Society of America. The Canonical Implications of Ordaining Women to the Permanent Diaconate, 1995. ISBN 0–943616–71–9.
• Davies, J. G. "Deacons, Deaconesses, and Minor Orders in the Patristic Period," Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 1963, v. 14, p. 1–23.
• Elsen, Ute E. Women Officeholders in Early Christianity: Epigraphical and Literary Studies, Liturgical Press, 2000. ISBN 0–8146–5950–0.
• Grudem, Wayne. Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of Over 100 Disputed Questions, Multnomah Press, 2004. 1-57673-840-X.
• Gryson, Roger. The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, Liturgical Press, 1976. ISBN 0–8146–0899-X. Translation of: Le ministère des femmes dans l'Église ancienne, J. Duculot, 1972.
• LaPorte, Jean. The Role of Women in Early Christianity, Edwin Mellen Press, 1982. ISBN 0–88946–549–5.
• Madigan, Kevin, and Carolyn Osiek. Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. ISBN 0–8018–7932–9.
• Martimort, Aimé Georges, Deaconesses: An Historical Study, Ignatius Press, 1986, ISBN 0–89870–114–7. Translation of: Les Diaconesses: Essai Historique, Edizioni Liturgiche, 1982.
• Miller, Patricia Cox. Women in Early Christianity: Translations from Greek Texts, Catholic University of America Press, 2005. ISBN 0–8132–1417–3.
• Wijngaards, John. Women Deacons in the Early Church: Historical Texts and Contemporary Debates, Herder & Herder, 2002, 2006. ISBN 0–8245–2393–8.
• Zagano, Phyllis. Holy Saturday: An Argument for the Restoration of the Female Diaconate in the Catholic Church, Herder & Herder, 2000. ISBN 978–0824518325.
• Zagano, Phyllis. "Catholic Women Deacons: Present Tense," Worship 77:5 (September 2003) 386–408.

External links

General

• Women as Clergy: When some faith groups started to ordain women — including many Christian and Jewish Faith Groups. — 'For' ordination of women.
• episcopa — women bishops Photo blog about women bishops in Christian churches.

Christian

Evangelical — For

• Christians for Biblical Equality — Egalitarian Evangelical perspective on gender issues

Evangelical — Against

• Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood — Complementarian Evangelical perspective on gender issues
• Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of Over 100 Disputed Questions pdf by Wayne Grudem of CBMW
• (See also Presbyterian churches — Against, below)

Presbyterian churches — For

• Women Elders — From a Presbyterian Church (USA) site
• Celebrating the anniversary of the recognition of women's call to ordained ministry

Presbyterian churches — Against

• "Report of the Committee on Hermeneutics of Women in Ordained Office" submitted to the 54th GA of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (1987) (.html)
• "Report on Women in Office" submitted to the 55th GA of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (1988) (.html)
• Position Paper Approved by the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (.pdf)
• Rev. Rich Lusk, "Ministry, Women, and Liturgy," May 2000 (.pdf)
• Rev. James B. Jordan, "Liturgical Man, Liturgical Woman (Part 1)," Rite Reasons No. 86, May 2004 (.htm)
• Rev. James B. Jordan, "Liturgical Man, Liturgical Woman (Part 2)," Rite Reasons No. 87, June 2004 (.htm)

Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic — For

• Womenpriests.org Website advocating the ordination of women to the Roman Catholic priesthood.
• Phyllis Zagano, "Grant Her Your Spirit" — America, Vol. 192 No. 4, February 7, 2005.

Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic — Against

• Forward in Faith — Anglo-Catholic Anglicans in Opposition to Women in the Priesthood
• Priestesses in the Church? — Article on the ordination of women by C. S. Lewis

Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic — Balanced

• article on Deaconesses from Zenit News Agency.

Eastern Orthodox — For

• Valerie A. Karras, "Women in the Eastern Church" — St. Nina Quarterly, v. 1, n. 1.
• Teva Regule, "An Interview with Bishop Kallistos Ware" — St. Nina Quarterly, v. 1, n. 3.
• Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald, "Orthodox Women and Pastoral Praxis" — St. Nina Quarterly, v. 3, n. 2.

Buddhist

• Ordination of women — Buddhism
• Challenge to Thai Sangha's ban on women — Christian Science monitor
• "1st International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha: Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages," Hamburg 2007