We will explore and refute the many reasons used to deny women entry to the ordained ministry of priest through the centuries. This will include the excuse the Vatican currently uses to deny women the right to answer the call of their God to the priesthood. We will briefly discuss the factual evidence that there were female priests in Christianity from 125 AD into the 9th century. There will be time for questions and discussion and some possibly surprising revelations. An outline and list of references will be provided. Over the past 50 years there has been a wealth of academic and archeologic research interest in these topics and well over 100 books have been written.

Instructor Peggy Clough is a retired Physical Therapist from UMMC. She was on faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and has lectured at five other universities. Over the past 10 years she has read and researched women’s roles in Christianity and the evidence that has been discovered supporting the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church. The timeline she authored entitled Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church: Facts and Discoveries has been published on the internet.

This study group for those 50 and above will meet on Mondays, 10-12, from September 17 through September 24.