Ida Raming was ordained last summer on a boat in the Danube River as angry protesters lined the banks.
She and six other women became priests of the Roman Catholic Church in an act of rebellion against the Church’s doctrine that only baptized males may serve as priests or deacons.
Raming, a resident of Germany, spoke Monday night in Harris Hall to about 150 Chicago-area residents and Northwestern students and staff. The lecture was part of Raming’s five-week U.S. tour to promote women’s rights within the Catholic Church.
The “Danube Seven,” as Raming called her group, were subsequently excommunicated from the Catholic Church, but she said she hopes their message will be heard by Church officials.
“We struggle for our dignity as human beings,” Raming said. “Over 40 years we have seen that argumentation does nothing to change the behavior of the Vatican against women. So we decided to act because we have not been heard.”
The Bible says nothing about prohibiting women from holding leadership positions in the Catholic Church, Raming said.
On the contrary, she said, the Bible holds examples of women taking active roles in the early church.
“In Romans, chapter 16, we read of Phoebe,” Raming said. “She was called a deaconess. This (position) was not to sweep the church or bake cookies.”
Not only is the Catholic Church’s law against women priests discriminatory, Raming said, it also leads to division and deterioration within the church itself.
“This doctrine places Catholic women in a kind of prison,” Raming said. “If women testify that they are called to the priesthood, they are dismissed with bursts of laughter or called liars. They are faced with a choice: to follow the doctrine, or to resist it.”
Maggie Meier, a literacy teacher from Chicago’s West Side, said she was convinced by Raming’s arguments.
“We’ve been presented with reason after reason for action,” Meier said. “Her ordination makes perfect sense to me, even though initially I was shocked.”
Raming said although it is difficult, it is possible to find bishops willing to disobey the Vatican and face excommunication by ordaining women. That’s how her group was ordained on the Danube, she said.
Raming concluded Monday by encouraging women who feel called to priesthood to persevere, and she urged their congregations to support them.
“To have the courage to speak and not to hide it, that is good for the renewal of the church,” Raming said.
Terry Anderson, an accountant from Mount Prospect, Ill., said she took hope from Raming’s example.
“Most of all I was encouraged,” Anderson said. “If she can do it, we all can do it. She’s a pretty brave lady.”
Raming will preside over a Eucharist liturgy tonight at 7 p.m. at the Chapel of the Unnamed Faithful in the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, 2121 Sheridan Road.
