page_title: Marathakavalli David
section_title: The issue of Women's Ordination in the Church
hierarchical_section_title: Marathakavalli David / The issue of Women's Ordination in the Church
caption_attribution_description: Church
context_page_description: Marathakavalli David was the first Woman Priest in Kerala hailing from the South Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India who was ordained in 1989.
  Marathakavalli trod her path in difficult streams as the Ordination of women was still being debated in her Church Society. When the issue of Ordination of women came up in the Church of South India Synod in 1970, it was vehemently opposed leading a decade of debate and protracted legal recourse initiated by the opponents but eventually the persistence of the Church of South India Synod led to a majority vote in 1982 favouring the Ordination of women in the Church of South India. While Elizabeth Paul became the first ordained woman Priest in India in 1987, Marathakavalli David became the first woman Priest in Kerala in 1989.
  Since her school days, Marathakavalli nursed an ambition to become a Priest and was influenced by the lives of Florence Nightingale and William Carey who strove to serve mankind braving all odds. She also acknowledges the inspiration from one of the pioneer missionaries, Rev. Harris.
context_section_description: It was during the 1970 Church of South India Synod that P. Solomon, then Moderator opened the process for the Ordination of women as Priests which finally got a two-thirds majority after nearly 12 years in 1982 during the period of I. Jesudason, then Moderator.  After successive ordinations that followed beginning with Elizabeth Paul in 1987 and others, Marathakavalli was ordained in the year 1989 by I. Jesudason, then Bishop - in - South Kerala (headquartered in Trivandrum).  The year 1989 was eventful as the Church of South India Synod was led by Moderator Victor Premasagar who all along took the scriptural stance, also echoed by I. Jesudason, that there was nothing standing in the way of women's ordination.  Premasagar, an Old Testament Scholar and a member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India comprising the Old Testament and New Testament Scholars hailing from the Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Charismatic was regarded for his Scholarship and some of his Catholic counterparts who were members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission that met in 1976 concluded with a majority of 12 in favour and 5 against that the scripture did not bar the Ordination of women.  However, Cardinal Ratzinger subsequently ensured that a circulars were issued to the effect that anyone raising the issue of women's ordination (see Catholic Church doctrine on the ordination of women) in the Catholic Church was liable for blasphemy and summarily excommunicated with no grounds.
caption: CSI-Mateer Memorial CSI Church, Trivandrum where Marathagavalli was ordained in 1989.[5]
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