In an indication that patience is wearing thin among many women in the Catholic Church, several Catholic women’s associations and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) have vocally demanded that women be granted access to ordained ministries.
“The human rights issue of gender justice also applies to vocations,” ZdK Vice-President Birgit Mock told the central event of “Deaconess Day” in Frankfurt am Main on Saturday.
“I hope to live to see women ordained,” said Mock, 53. “It is ultimately less a problem of understanding the issue, it is a question of decision-making power and will.”
The Bible affirmed that men and women were “created in the image of God”, she said, adding that from this, “equal dignity, equal rights and equal access can be derived”. Courageous steps were needed to make this happen. “Let’s not wait any longer. Let’s stand up for it,” said Mock, speaking in the diocesan education centre “Haus am Dom”.
The Catholic German Women’s Federation (KDFB) has celebrated Deaconess Day annually since 1998 on April 29, the feast day of St Catherine of Siena, to campaign for the female diaconate.
The deputy federal chairwoman of the German Association of Catholic Women (kfd), Agnes Wuckelt, demanded an “admission of guilt” by the Catholic Church towards “women who feel that they have a calling”. She said there would be no let-up in calls for the introduction of the female diaconate. “We have a loud voice. And no one will silence it anymore,” said Wuckelt.
Deaconess Day began with a service in Frankfurt Cathedral and a call that the sacramental diaconate for women was overdue. At the end of the service, many participants stood up and shouted “We won’t wait!”
At a panel discussion in the “Haus am Dom”, the former chairwoman of the German Conference of Religious’ Superiors (DOK), Sister Katharina Kluitmann, said: “A theology that is not gender-just and doesn’t take the charisms of about half of Christian people seriously is breaking something”.
Originally reported by KNA Germany.
