While women continue to engage in ministry in increasing numbers, their presence
and activity is an unresolved issue in terms of ecclesial structure and meaning. In the
past the effects of the Second Vatican Council and the twentieth-century women’s
movement combined to open the door to women’s active engagement. The ongoing
foundation of women’s vocation to ministry lies, in the present as always, in the
significance of baptism; its theology and ritual are the same for women as for men. In
the face of current impasse, the dangerous memory of biblical women in ministry at
the origins of the church offers inspiration and hope for the future.