Nine women submit applications for seminary training in Germany
Freiburg: Young female theologians demand admission to the seminary
The church only ordains men. Why women still applied to Baden.
Nine female theology students have submitted their applications to the Freiburg Seminary. They feel called to become priests and want to support people as pastors in both happy and difficult times, as one of the women told the "Badische Zeitung." Their applications to become priests are a call for an open church.
According to canon law and with reference to the following of Jesus' male disciples, only men may become priests. The ban on women has been heavily criticized for decades. No change is in sight. In the Protestant, Anglican, and Old Catholic Churches, women can become pastors and bishops.
Rector cannot offer any hope of admission
The 22- to 30-year-old Freiburg theologians belong to the initiative "My God does not discriminate – my church does." They said their application, with nine individual letters of motivation, was an act of empowerment, an escape from powerlessness. Five applied anonymously because they feared negative professional consequences.
The Rector of the seminary, Auxiliary Bishop Christian Würtz, told the Catholic News Agency that the application was a good sign "of the commitment and seriousness with which the women engage with their vocation and their path in the Church." He wanted to talk with them, the bishop said. However, he could not offer any hope of admission to the seminary because the Church's worldwide rules preclude this for women.
In Germany, fewer and fewer men want to become priests. On May 11, Freiburg Archbishop Stephan Burger ordained two new priests for 2025.
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