Questions about inclusive language and whether or not women should be ordained emerged as key issues at the Harare assembly. The ordination issue divides Orthodox churches, which like the Roman Catholic Church do not ordain women, from many churches of the Protestant and Anglican traditions, which ordain women as ministers and, in some cases, as bishops. In one plenary session, Vsevolod Chaplin of the Russian Orthodox Church described the call for inclusive language as "blasphemous". As long as other WCC churches advocate an agenda calling for all churches to ordain women and accept inclusive language, he said, "eucharistic unity is a dream that will never come true". |
© 1999 world council of churches | remarks to webeditor