55 Years of Struggle for Women's Ordination in the Catholic

A Pioneer looks back: individuals - documents - events – movements    by Ida Raming

55 years of struggle for women's ordination in the Roman Catholic Church - this lifelong effort by the theologian Ida Raming - together with her pioneering compatriots, some of whom have passed away - are described in this documentation. She is deeply convinced that a fundamental renewal of the church can only be achieved together with women who are no longer subject to discrimination - and not without them. Beginning with the Vatican Council (1962 - 1965), this endeavor has stretched across several phases of church history all the way into the present.

Numerous documents bearing witness to internal church developments, conflicts and international movements are related in a vivid, gripping manner from the perspective of the author. The international Women Priests Movement (RCWP/ARCWP), its inception and development, is also described in this context. This documentation offers an excellent aid in studying the epoch of church history dating from 1962.

Ida Raming, Dr. theol., who studied Catholic theology at th Universities of Munster and Freiburg im Breisgau, has fought for access for women to all church offices and services in the Roman-Catholic Church verbally and in writing since the beginning of the 2nd Vatican Council (1962 - 65). She has published numerous works on women and the church, church history and church reform.