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The central players in England's decision are the 1,300 women deacons who will now be eligible for the priesthood. A far larger audience, however, watched the drama unfold and braced for the repercussions. The great churches of Eastern Orthodoxy were silently dismayed. The Vatican looked on with alarm, having vowed that Catholicism would never accept women for ordination. The decision in London sealed the fate of a 22-year effort to undo King Henry's legacy and reunite the Anglican and Catholic churches. "The problem of the admission of women to the ministerial priesthood," declared a Vatican spokesman, "touches the very nature of the sacrament of priestly orders. This decision by the Anglican Communion constitutes a new and grave obstacle to the entire process of reconciliation."
Just as interested are the American Catholic bishops gathering in Washington. For nine years they have tried to produce a coherent document on women to straddle the demands of conservatives in Rome and of feminists in the U.S. At issue is everything from whether women can serve as priests or deacons to whether sexism is "sin." Among the characterizations of the bishops' efforts: "almost laughable" (from the angry left), "an embarrassment" (from the angry right). The document has been diluted so thoroughly that reformers hope that the hierarchy will throw it out and start all over again.
The women's reformation continues to shake up the Protestant churches as well. Fierce conflicts have occurred in the 15 million-member Southern Baptist Convention. Since local congregations have power to ordain, there is a sprinkling of women pastors and lay deacons. But the rising Fundamentalists who run national agencies passed a 1984 resolution against the practice and do all they can to discourage it. Even in the more progressive Presbyterian, Methodist and United churches, leaders worry about the implicit "patriarchy" that excludes women from the powerful pulpits and relegates them to small parishes or associate positions.
Then there are the issues that go beyond ordination, ones that touch the faith of women and men who arrive in church on Sunday morning and find controversy where they least expect it. Words to prayers and hymns they have cherished since childhood are gradually changing. Denominations that once would not tolerate divorced ministers now find themselves debating whether to accept avowed lesbian ones. Feminist theologians are searching for new ways of conceiving God himself -- or herself -- as Mother, Wisdom, Sophia, Goddess.
The women's movement, especially within Catholicism, is often linked to other emotional positions, including acceptance of birth control, abortion and homosexuality. It is by no means only men who view these developments with alarm. The movement's goal, warns traditionalist Donna Steichen, author of Ungodly Rage, is nothing less than "the overthrow of Christianity. It's not about advancing women in positions in the church. It's about a complete change in theology. Are we talking about a church founded by the Son of God made man? Or are we talking about simply a social gathering that we can rebuild as we wish?"