More Recommended Reading:
Taking Back God: American Women Rising Up for Religious Equality
by Leora Tenenbaum
In this book, Leora Tanenbaum tells the stories of religious Christian, Jewish and Muslim women who are "declaring that they expext to be treated as equals in their religious spheres." This book refers to Roman Catholic Womenpriests as Catholic reformers in an interesting chapter entitled "Catholic Women vs. the Vatican."
The Hidden History of Women’s Ordination:
Female Clergy in the Medieval West
by Gary Macy (Oxford University Press, Inc. 2008)
This is a must read!--- One of the most comprehensive and scholarly surveys of the history of womens ordinations in the Roman Catholic Church---a very thorough study with over 130 pages of notes and cited bibliography.
Called: Women Hear the Voice of the Divine
by Gretchen Kloten Minney (Wonder Why Publications, 2010)
Called - Women Hear the Voice of the Divine provides a brief background and history of ordination within the Catholic Church and tells the stories of the brave women who have been called to priesthood and who have followed the voice of that calling.
Living Gospel Equality Now
by Bridget Mary Meehan
Come By Here
by Judith A.B. Lee
This moving book gives voice to the poor and illuminates ministry with people who are facing poverty, homelessness, systemic oppression, and a host of life's challenges. Interwoven are the poignant stories of the people and the author's reflections on the Church in the Park and the Church in the House ministry. Asserting that Good News for the poor must include being poor no more, it tells a story of hope in the midst of profound struggle. It begins and ends with the theology of the poor as informed by the Gospels, the people themselve, and relevant theologies. It is church emerging fully alive from the ashes of dying institutional churches that fail to make church with the poor and outcast even while they may provide alms and food for them. You will not put down this inspiring account of ministry, faith and love.
A Church of Her Own: What Happens When A Woman Takes the Pulpit
by Sarah Sentilles (Harcourt, Inc. 2008)
What happens when a woman gets ordained? This book deals with stories of several women in different Protestant denominations and the resistances that they have to deal with as they meet the daily challenges of being ordained ministers. There are several interesting chapters dealing with: Clothing, Sex, Inclusive Language, the Body etc. It also features Victoria Rue (RCWP womenpriest) and her journey to ordination. This book while not nearly as scholarly as Macy’s is a quick read and offers some humor regarding some of the challenges that face ordained women.
A History of Women and Ordination: Volume 2:
The Priestly Office of Women: God's Gift to a Renewed Church
by Ida Raming
Women Officeholders in Early Christianity: Epigraphical and Literary Studies
by Ute E. Eisen, Linda M. Maloney, and Gary Macy
Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History
by Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek
Women In Christianity
by Hans Kung and John S. Bowden |
The tremendous growth of the permanent order of deacon in the Church carries with it lingering questions about women deacons. The Church s evident need for more women in ministry demands careful exploration and evaluation of the historical roots, contemporary ecclesial realities, and creative future possibilities for including women in the diaconate. In these three essays, originally written for this volume, Professors Macy, Ditewig and Zagano evaluate the question of women deacons from the historical, contemporary, and future perspectives in conversation with one another and with the whole Church. The result is essential reading for anyone interested in the nature and exercise of diaconate in the contemporary Catholic Church.