274 PART THREE: CONCLUSIONS ordination of women. The only explicit reference to female pastors is made by Brother BF, explaining the dynamics within the study group of local Catholic and Protestant pastors in the small community in Switzerland. He recalls: “At that time there was in the reformed church no uh, women pastors. There was a woman pastor coming from France and uh, aggregated to the pastoral body of the church, but she did not come.”566 My only memory of encountering an ordained woman in the scope of this research is from one of my visits to Taizé. As per usual, some of the brothers and visiting clergy positioned themselves throughout the church after the evening prayer so that anyone seeking pastoral council could approach them. On these occasions, one corner is reserved for Catholic clergy available to administer the sacrament of reconciliation, while the other brothers and clergy spread out throughout the rest of the building. On one such occasion, I noticed that the only woman pastor attracted much less attention than the brothers andmale pastors. My observations possibly indicate that, apparently, the ordination of women is not as big a theme as in some other contexts. However, the current study has not been able to address this particular ecumenical challenge. Would (some of) the monastics extend their recognition of valid ordination to women pastors? Is this implied in their somewhat diffuse definition of what can and cannot be regarded as Eucharist? It is impossible to begin to answer these questions based on the data collected in this study. Research in the specific field of this study – the Eucharist in ecumenical contexts – could benefit from further practical theological research. The practice of Eucharistic hospitality is widespread, but it would be interesting to discover how widespread and also to learn what its impulses and results are. Empirical research can provide more insight into these questions. As argued and demonstrated in this study, empirical research is also suited to articulate the (theological) meaning of such practices. The current explorative qualitative-empirical study could act as a starting point for follow up research in several directions: for Theological Action Research within the communities should they wish to evaluate their own operant and/or espoused theologies; for quantitative research into the scope and nature of Eucharistic hospitality in other (monastic) faith communities; and for further exploring the ‘effects’ of sharing the Eucharist for the ecumenical process on individual and collective levels in similar or other contexts. 566 BF-1,2d.
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