Preliminary communication

Openness of the Church Towards the Mission of Women

Rebeka Jadranka Anić orcid.org/0000-0002-9228-6530 ; Franjevački institut za kulturu mira, Split, Hrvatska

Abstract

Openness of the Church towards the mission of women is analysed in the article on the basis Cannon Law - 1917 & 1983; encyclicals; apostolic letters and speeches by Popes in the 20th Century; documents from the Second Vatican Council; statements by some bishops and from various synods; as well as articles relating to the mission of women in the Catholic press in Croatia.
The analysis of the perception of women and their missions in keeping with CIC/1917, ClC/1983 indicates a slow, incomplete and socially demanded opening of the Church towards the mission of women.
In teachings prior to the Second Vatican Council the mission of women was founded on the nature of women derived from the biological determinant of women for motherhood. The mission of women founded on the woman - person emerges with Pope John XXIII and in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. During the post-council period, once again nature takes over in debates about the mission of women even though in a somewhat modified form: there is not emphasis on the area of activities appropriate to the nature of women but instead accentuating that women can conduct all activities in a manner that is specific to their nature.
The leadership of the Church did not support that attitude about women and their mission only at the level of the general Church but also at the level of particular Churches. The article notes examples in Germany and the Church in Croatia. While on the one hand the Church in Germany deals with the facts of the position of women in society and the church and is seeking new, modern methods of speaking about women and their mission in the Church in Croatia continues to traditionally interpret the mission of women based on their nature and in keeping with the principle of complementariness.
In conclusion the article points out that a contemporary attitude by the Church towards the mission of women - based on Cannon Law, 1983 and the teachings of the Popes, could be defined as: women can conduct all ministries except those reserved for the clergy (Cannon Law), but they need to do this in a womanly manner (Church teaching). The article also presents the thesis that Church teaching finds it hard to abandon the definition of the mission of women based on their nature because of the security that model offers to family-social structures. The author believes it is necessary to undergo an analysis of the consequences that the mission of women has for the Church in Croatia, which is ruled by the principle of complementariness.

Keywords

woman; female nature; Cannon Law; Popes; Second Vatican Council

Hrčak ID:

28972

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/28972

Publication date:

12.2.2003.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 2.498 *