Ethical Challenges Confronting the Roman Catholic Women's Ordination Movement in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

for more than thirty years, i have advocated the ordination of women to the priesthood in the roman catholic church. i attended the first conference on catholic women’s ordination in detroit in 1975. throughout the 1980s, i immersed myself in the emerging discourses of feminist theology and spirituality to better understand women’s ordination and related questions. in the 1990s, i became a women’s ordination activist, working with the southeast Pennsylvania Women’s ordination conference (sEPa-Woc), and serving as board member (1997–2002) and president (2000–2002) of the u.s. Women’s ordination conference (Woc). i was one of two keynote speakers at a sEPa-Woc–sponsored conference in Philadelphia in 2005 celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Woc.1 i continue to believe that the exclusion of roman catholic women from the priesthood is wrong. Even as the women’s ordination movement evolved, however, massive social changes were taking place around the world. these include the rise of latina, black feminist, asian american feminist, and queer identities, the eruption of the global south into world consciousness, and the shift of the center of the christian faith to africa, asia, and latin america. these and related historic developments—some would say dislocations—make a reconsideration of the movement for women’s ordination essential. an examination of actions and presentations by a group called roman catholic Womenpriests, including ordinations that they have performed in Europe and north america since 2002, will be a significant component of that reconsideration.