In his recent article on the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Romania (9 November), Richard Seebohm mentioned, almost in passing, that the Old Catholic Church ordained women. Theological laggards that we are, we had never heard of these 'Old Catholics'. Who are they and how did they come to ordain women, surely in the teeth of fierce opposition? We turned to the internet to discover that Old Catholics are a breakaway 'sect', who in the 19th century found the papal infallibility dogma of Vatican 1 completely unacceptable (they called it an 'innovation').

At the Romanian Assembly Monika Heitz, of the Old Catholic Church in Austria, said that the ordination of women to the priesthood in the OC Church (taking place at Pentecost 1996) went very smoothly; 'it did not provoke reactions as stormy as had been feared.' She put that down to the decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women (1988-1998). Readers with access to the internet can read all about the history of this Church, which although not very big (some estimates put 40,000 worshippers in Europe) has some astonishing liberal attitudes, such as married priests and mass delivered in the vernacular. When they broke away in the 19th century they were hailed by the world's liberal press. But they are persona non grata in Rome of course.

Old Catholic website

Labels: old catholic, women