The Illegal Pastor - The Life of Greti Caprez-Roffler 1906-1994

On September 13, 1931, the mountain village of Furna in the Grisons did something that no other community in Switzerland had dared to do before: It elects a woman as pastor. It was a scandal that made headlines as far away as Germany, and even the famous theologian Karl Barth got involved. Greti Caprez-Roffler is 25 years old, a newly qualified theologian and mother. She moves to the mountain village with her baby, her husband stays in Zurich as an engineer. The authorities confiscate the church assets, but the pastor continues to work, for "God's reward". After her death, the granddaughter sets out to trace the footsteps of Switzerland's first female parish priest. She comes across the extraordinary story of emancipation of a woman who introduced ski pants for girls in the village and taught her sons to knit. She inspired her husband to study theology and shared the job of pastor with him long before the term existed. Who claimed for herself what was unthinkable for many at the time: to pursue her vocation and be a mother, to live a happy love and a fulfilled sexuality. A woman with a great hunger for life, who challenged her contemporaries again and again with her firm will and her direct, decisive manner. Author: Christina Caprez 392 pages, half cloth, hardcover, 29 photos and documents.