Women’s Ordination Workshop
... Dr. Dorothy Irvin
Monday, August 27th, 2001		“All the faithful, both clerical and lay, should be accorded a lawful freedom of inquiry, freedom of thought and freedom of expression”
-Gaudium et Spes, no 62

Over, not just a few, but decades of centuries cultural, spiritual, and traditional interpretations of the church have changed and diminished women’s role in the church as we know it today. In my lifetime the ordination of women in the church has been a topic doomed to extinction. I was raised in a period of total adoration of priests and nuns. These adorations centered on a hierarchy of parish priests from the top down to my uncle an ordained redemptorist, who administered to migrant workers and a great uncle who was a chaplain in WWI working with missionaries along an Oregon train route in the 20’s. We were taught to respect the male role of priests. Nun’s roles were second class to priests. This was a known fact, never questioned or contested.

During the late 60’s after Vatican I theologians changed interpretations and many began to believe differently. In our hearts we knew socially there was not a difference in the spiritual and mental abilities of men and women. The discrimination was challenged and Rome was pressured to change. In 1983, Vatican II lightly adjusted but still not totally embraced to the call for ordination of women.

Dr. Dorothy Irvin
But today, in the 21st century, with the help of Dr. Dorothy Irvin, I have more clearly defined the depth and truth of this opposition. It hasn’t been in the “sliver” of my lifetime, it has been over 21 centuries. It’s proven in scripture that Jesus acknowledges women’s roles as preachers of his word. Through centuries of interpretation and misconstrued beliefs women have been dominated out of significant roles in the church. Through in depth research and archeological discoveries, the recognition of the church's duty to admit to what is seen as proof is clearer than ever. But still the question of whether or not women should be allowed to receive Holy Orders still remains in debate with Rome.

Dr. Dorothy Irvin held a workshop Monday night, August 27th, on Women’s Ordination in the Catholic Church. She attended the Women's Ordination Worldwide(Wow) Conference in Dublin this June, 2001. For a more detailed biography on her please visit an Interview with Dorothy Irvin. There you will find the background that initiates a conscious effort to inform what is needed to establish accurate evidence that women existed as participants in appointed roles in the church. Dorothy’s lecture had two-fold meaning for me. Not only did she outline the ecclesiology of the church, but also enlightened the truth that solid evidence exists for the woman’s role as church ministers. Through her lecture we were made more aware and inspired to believe these interpretative sources to be true.

The lecture outlined the journey of women in the timeline of the 3rd through the 9th centuries. Dorothy explained the three levels of Holy Orders that women participated in. They were deacons, priests and bishops. She walked us through linguistic definitions. Deacon is derived from the Greek word diakonos = table servant. Priest is from the Greek word presbúteros = “elder” person. In Latin the name is presbiterus. The third level bishop = epi-skopor = over seers. They were the lecturers , teachers, porters, readers, exorcist. Many are roles that no longer exist. These three holy titles took shape over 300 years. The question Dorothy had for us was ,”Do these words have a feminine form?” Yes, before the Roman law there were deaconesses such as St. Phoebe. When taking the feminine form, prebiterus, for example, would change to prebitera.

Through more slides, Dorothy demonstrated how we can identify women as deacons, priests and bishops. One beautiful fresco, the Priscilla Catacomb Fresco, denotes women around a table sharing the eucharist. The tinted background in a red represents Pompeii. The way one identifies them as women are the bun-like hairdos, the feminine physique: shoulders, arms, face. The hairdos were identified when compared with paintings of the empire’s wife This particular slide was found in Rome in an Epiphical catacomb dating between 75-125 AD. Many of these tombs were robbed, but the frescos remain. One can identify the women as celebrating the eucharist and not a meal because there is only one chalice
for wine and one or two plates for bread. Some women have their arms stretched out ceremonially. A customary symbol in the picture are the seven baskets often found in pictures referencing the basket story from St. Matthew. This particular celebration was probably an all night vigil. This fresco clearly exemplifies that women were holding higher office. Ironically, this fresco was duplicated from the wall below to the chapel upstairs but, the duplicate instead with men around the table and one woman, Priscilla.

In another slide we see a bishop with women in front of him wearing the white altar cloth known as an amice. The bishop is wearing a gold cloth around his neck like the shepherds. These women appear also to be preaching the word. The following slide showed women around 313 AD building a building. At this time Christianity became legal. Women began to come out of their homes. But by the 8-9th century the Romans would again ban women from priesthood. A most fascinating slide shows four holy women . Three have halos around their heads indicating they are no longer alive. Clued by the blue veil, we know it is Mary who was active in preaching the word of Jesus. One woman has a square around her head indicating she is still alive at the time. She is Theodora , bishop of St. Francis, who happens to be the mother of the Pope! Many mothers of saints were preachers such as St. Augustine’s mother St. Monica.

As she was studying in Germany, Dorothy told us a story of how she went to coffee everyday and passed a picture. Dorothy became aware through mosaics, frescos, and other forms that the proof was right in front of her. Dorothy learned about archeological sources through meeting "Against Nature and Against God" author Joan Morris. For example, the picture she passed was a triptych depicting three women and chalices obviously celebrating eucharist.

As the centuries past , Roman law was instilled, and artwork detailed the suppression of women. A slide of a column shows a man pulling a woman’s shepherd crowsear or staff from her arms. The decline begins. Women were subjected to being denied their rights that were originally allowed before Roman law. Not ordaining women was a practice against women because of the belief that they were inferior, needing to be punished for sinning and being ritually unclean.

Through an open discussion at the end of the slide lecture people combed over questions dealing with proof of women roles; what evidence was available backing up their belief in the rights of women; what scripture, if any, indicates women shouldn’t be allowed into the priesthood? Dorothy brought clarity to every question asked. Dorothy is, without any doubt, a tremendous source for all of us at St. Joan’s. She handed out reference websites and books to explore. Looking at one website engulfed a whole evening of reading for me. There is too much to include in this report, but, I implore you to click on to the three links at the bottom of this article to thoroughly examine the issues and better understand the dimensions. The key to Dorothy’s crusade is for the education of people to help put this mosaic back together again.

Peg LaSota is interested in the biographies of parishioners... any suggestions?? She also loves studying piano, recorder, Spanish, and of course...singing in the choir!
I believe this lecture should be repeated and could even be a lengthier course offered at SJA. Without ANY doubt, I walked away with a greater understanding and newfound curiosity as to the future of women as priests in my lifetime.

The websites given below details the history of the evolution of the church culturally, spiritually, and traditionally.

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