Volume 57, Issue 1, June 2017
Cettina Militello
Pages 19-34
Donne e ministeri nella Chiesa antica
The comments in this Note are not exhaustive, but intentionally offer a path (1. Feminine Typologies; 2. Testimonials relating to ministry; 3. Rites of Ordination (?); 4. The sacramental bond) wherein theological interpretation has a privileged place, deeply inscribed in the present commentary in regard to women’s problems and expectations in today’s Church. Although nothing certain and irrefutable emerges from the documentary evidence, in regard to women’s ministry, the situation of the Church has changed, as has the situation of women. The true sacramental bond concerns the theological understanding of ordained ministry. If this bond is reconnected to its original and constitutive character of service (diakonia), perhaps some of the reasons for excluding women will crumble. For there are women in the Church who continue to live and work within and for the Church.