Patricia Fresen (born 7 December 1940) is a South African writer, a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

theologian, and a former

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

Life

Her parents were from Germany and Ireland. After school, Fresen became a member of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

. Fresen studied theology,

pedagogic Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and Developmental psychology, psychological development of le ...

and languages and subsequently became a teacher. Fresen was then sent to Rome to study theology. She later worked in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

in a Catholic seminary as teacher in

Homiletics In religious studies, homiletics ( grc, ὁμιλητικός ''homilētikós'', from ''homilos'', "assembled crowd, throng") is the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific art of public preaching. One who practices or ...

Systematic theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topi ...

and

Spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

. She then taught at St Augustine's College in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. Bishop Romulo Antonio Braschi conducted an ordination ceremony for Fresen in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 2003. The

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from Heresy in Christianity, heresy and is ...

had previously decreed that the "attempted ordination of women" by Romulo Braschi was null and void and, as a result, imposed the penalty of excommunication on him and those who received ordination from him for reasons including the "attempted ordination" as well as participating in schism. Together with German writers and theologians

Gisela Forster Gisela Forster (born 27 March 1946 in Munich) is a German writer, teacher, and Catholic theologian. Life Forster was born in Munich to parents from Bavaria and Hungary. After school at the Elsa-Brändström-Gymnasium in Munich-Passing, Forster s ...

and

Ida Raming Ida Raming (born August 10, 1932 in Fürstenau, Germany) is a German author, teacher and theologian. Life After school Raming studied Catholic theology, German and pedagogy at the University of Münster and the University of Freiburg. She fini ...

, Fresen is head of the international organization "Roman Catholic Womenpriests International", which promotes the ordination of women as Catholic priests; ordination of women is currently not allowed within the Catholic Church.

References

External links

Womenordination:Patricia Fresen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fresen, Patricia South African non-fiction writers South African women writers South African writers South African educators South African clergy People excommunicated by the Catholic Church Dominican nuns 1940 births Living people 20th-century Roman Catholic nuns