Holy Orders - Ordination of Women

Ordination of Women

The Roman Catholic Church does not ordain women to any of the orders and has officially declared that it does not have authority to ordain women as priests or bishops. "Ordaining" women as deaconesses is not a possibility in any sacramental sense of the diaconate, for a deaconess is not a female deacon but instead holds a position of lay service. As such, she does not receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. Many Anglican and Protestant churches ordain women, but in many cases, only to the office of deacon.

Various branches of the Orthodox churches, including the Greek Orthodox, currently set aside women as deaconesses. Some churches are internally divided on whether the Scriptures permit the ordination of women. When one considers the relative size of the churches (1.1 billion Roman Catholics, 300 million Orthodox, 590 million Anglicans and Protestants), it is a minority of Christian churches that ordain women. Protestants constitute about 27 percent of Christians worldwide, and most of their churches that do ordain women have only done so within the past century.

In some traditions women may be ordained to the same orders as men. In others women are restricted from certain offices. Women may be ordained bishop in the Old Catholic churches and in the Anglican/Episcopal churches in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cuba, Brazil, South Africa, Canada, US, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia. The Church of England is still arguing about it. Continuing Anglican churches of the world do not permit women to be ordained. In some Protestant denominations, women may serve as assistant pastors but not as pastors in charge of congregations. In some denominations, women can be ordained to be an elder or deacon. Some denominations allow for the ordination of women for certain religious orders. Within certain traditions, such as the Anglican and Lutheran, there is a diversity of theology and practice regarding ordination of women.

The Roman Catholic Church, in accordance with its understanding of the theological tradition on the issue, and the definitive clarification found in the encyclical letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994) written by Pope John Paul II, officially teaches that it has no authority to ordain women as priests and thus there is no possibility of female priests at any time in the future.