First 9 girls ordained as pastors in Poland’s largest Protestant church

The primary 9 feminine pastors have been ordained in Poland’s largest and oldest Protestant church denomination, the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession. Final yr, the church determined to permit girls to develop into pastors following a long time of debate and gradual progress in direction of gender equality.

“The service of ladies deacons in parishes confirmed that they’re no completely different from males,” mentioned the bishop of the church, Jerzy Samiec. “The church has concluded that God’s calling pays no heed to gender.”

The 9 new pastors – Karina Chwastek, Małgorzata Gaś, Beata Janota, Katarzyna Kowalska, Wiktoria Matloch, Halina Radacz, Katarzyna Rudkowska, Izabela Sikora and Marta Zachraj-Mikołajczyk – have been ordained on Saturday on the Holy Trinity Church in Warsaw.

“Up to now girls have been wanted to arrange tables for conferences of parishioners; they cooked, served, and cleaned. They’re nonetheless doing these items, however not solely that,” one of many new pastors, Małgorzata Gaś, instructed Gazeta Wyborcza.

It was unprecedented for girls to be members of parish and diocese councils and synods, Gaś identified. “We’ve got lots of well-educated and competent feminine believers, who now not give approach to males,” she added.

Though round 90% of individuals residing in Poland – probably the most spiritual international locations in Europe – are Roman Catholics, many extra Christian denominations in addition to different minority religions even have a presence within the nation.

The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, which has its roots within the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, right this moment has round 60,000 members in 133 parishes with virtually 200 clergy. It was as soon as a lot bigger, with round half one million devoted in interwar Poland, earlier than the upheaval, destruction and border adjustments brought on by the Second World Conflict.

Round three quarters of the church’s members are situated within the province of Silesia, which is a part of a historic area that has for lengthy intervals been underneath German rule. Notable Polish Lutherans embody Jerzy Buzek, a former prime minister and extra just lately president of the European Parliament, and the ski jumper Adam Małysz.

Dialogue over the ordination of feminine monks within the Augsburg church has been happening for many years, notes Gazeta Wyborcza. In 1963, feminine theology graduates have been permitted to tackle instructional and pastoral roles, in addition to to steer some providers.

In 1999, girls have been allowed to be ordained as deacons, that means they may conduct baptisms, marriages and funerals. However they have been nonetheless unable to steer congregations as pastors.

In 2008, the church’s Synodal Fee of Theology and Confession concluded that there have been no theological obstacles to ordaining girls as pastors. In 2016, most members of the synod voted in favour of permitting this, however not sufficient to achieve the required two-thirds threshold.

Most important picture credit score: Luteranie.pl