“There is a patriarchal spirit blowing”

She is known for her sometimes clear statements: former EKD Council Chairwoman Margot Kabmann. Now she has spoken out again and criticizes the dominance of men within the church.

Half a millennium after the start of the Reformation, a patriarchal spirit is still blowing through the Christian churches, and religions are dominated by men, said the Reformation ambassador of the Protestant Church in Germany this Saturday in Wittenberg.

"Men in huge robes still dominate the image of the church."

Qualities of both sexes needed

Male and female qualities are needed in the church, according to Kabmann.

"Only when men bake the cake for the church meeting and women leave the children with them for the afternoon has anything changed," the theologian said on the occasion of the Christian Women's Council's project presentation "Reformation is Everywhere – Women's Perspectives".

All baptized are priests, bishops and pope. Thus, he said, it is a sign of reformation that women are represented at all levels of church leadership.

However, not all Christian churches admit women to all ecclesiastical offices. "For many, this is and remains precisely the crucial question of gender justice and thus also of the equal dignity of women and men," Kabmann said.

Bishop Bode praises higher percentage of women in leadership positions

The Catholic Bishop of Osnabruck, Franz-Josef Bode, had recently pointed out the positive changes in the church because of women in leadership positions.

The number of diocesan pastoral office leaders is "a success in increasing the number of women in leadership positions," he said.

"I am pleased that at the federal level we now even have a 40 percent share of women in the leadership of a diocesan pastoral office." He hopes "that this will also encourage young women to take on responsibility and leadership roles in the church".