Nomen est omen -- Rahner Calls For Women Priests

From Rahner to Rahner

(Tübingen) The German theologian Johanna Rahner considers “women priests" in the Catholic Church as "possible", which when translated means that "priestesses" are desired.  Rahner took over the chair of Dogmatic Theology, History of Economic Thought and Ecumenical Theology at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, which Hans Küng held until 1996. The inaugural lecture takes place on Thursday.

Nomen est omen: Johanna Rahner is related to the theologian Karl Rahner (1904-1984), who is supposed to have put his stamp on the so-called conciliar spirit. The theologian who was  welcomed by the Central Committee German Catholics, was previously Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Kassel. In addition to "priestesses" Rahner calls for a “renewed dogmatic theology” in the issue of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit. 

Church a "Chaste Whore" - Priestesses as an Act of Equality

 Rahner said, "I want to open the classical dogma to the outside. We can simply assimilate  people to the rules, but the rules need to be understood humanly."  In this context, the theologian said also:  “... When the Church shuns the world, it is esoteric.”  Her understanding of the Catholic Church  brought Johanna Rahner at one point  to see the Church as a "chaste whore."

"The apostles themselves may have been male,”  but this in no way prevents the Church today,  according to Johanna Rahner, from introducing "priestesses". "Male Apostles are therefore a weak argument against women's ordination,” said the theologian.

Blessing of Homo-pairs and Recognition of a “Second Marriage"

At the same time Rahner called for the blessing of homosexual couples in and through the Church and called for the admission of divorced remarried to the sacraments and the recognition of the second marriage. "When the Guilty Will recognized the sins against his first marriage, a second marriage is possible,” said Rahner in a quote from Die Zeit.

"Enlightened" Theologian “Prefers Half-empty Churches"

Citing Pope Francis, Rahner sees herself in the tradition of "enlightened Christianity" of the West, for which also always has a “but” for every “Amen”. For without doubt there is no faith. Rahner also sees the emptying churches in Germany in a positive light: “I’d rather have half-empty churches with enlightened Catholics, than full Churches [in Africa and Latin America], exploiting the plight of the people."

"Heritage of the Reformation is a Common Heritage"

  Rahner also criticized the Protestants, that they can not define themselves as before, “without  referring to  Catholicism". At the same time she calls for a rapprochement between Protestants and Catholics, because: "The Heritage of the Reformation is a common heritage. (...) We should emphasize what is common. "

Institutional Equality for Women as a Way to Ordained Ministries

In 2011 Rahner held a presentation at the plenary session of ZdK. (Central German Catholics) In it she explained why the "use of an institutional equality of women perhaps could for the particular importance of the ordained ministry of women is not be negligible for the actual question  - precisely those questions of women in management positions, about  women in finance and decision-making powers , about  women in science and teaching, etc. "Rahner thus presented  the ZdK a strategy plan, which states, in other words: The demand for "institutional equality” of women in the Church is only a forerunner of the “actual" objective, to grasp the ordained ministries for women. The way there, said Rahner, should not be too long and patience should "not be overused, because time is short." So far we have "wasted almost 35 years with the lack of implementation of the preconditions. It is indeed high time,”  said the theological to the  ZdK General Assembly.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons / church newspaper (screenshot and assembly)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches…

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