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Article: Women strongest advocates of own ordination. (Catholic women increasing pressure on a so-far unyielding church hierarchy)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- March 6, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Pressure by women seeking ordination has proved a key factor in persuading many Christian denominations to drop their traditional ban on female clergy during the past 30 years, according to a recent sociological study.
Agitation, including group protests and sit-ins, illegitimate celebrations of the Eucharist and unauthorized ordinations has influenced the likelihood of a "liberal outcome," said sociologists Mark Chaves of the University of Illinois at Chicago and James Cavendish of the University of South Florida in a paper on their research published in the December Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Aggressive action, they acknowledged, ...