Catholic Network for Women's Equality (CNWE) calls on Pope Benedict to lift excommunication against all Roman Catholic Women Priests or Bishops

The Catholic Network for Women’s Equality (CNWE) calls on Pope Benedict to lift in a gesture of reconciliation toward women in the Church the decree of automatic excommunication issued on May 29, 2008 against all Roman Catholic Women priests or bishops. We are aware that the Congregation for Bishops, instructed by the Pope, removed the excommunication of four dissenting bishops on Jan. 21, 2009 for the same reason of promoting Church unity.
Rescinding the decree of automatic excommunication would be an act not of charity but of justice. By showing this leadership, the Pope would be taking a great step forward in promoting the full dignity of women. The current practice of saying there is no discrimination against women, and that women cannot be ordained ‘because this is Christ's will’ tragically shifts blame for injustice onto Christ, presenting him as one of the worst discriminators against women in history. It is not Christ who bars women from sacred ministry, it is Canon Law. Grave injustice is done not only to women but to the entire Body of Christ every single time an authentic vocation is discriminated against on the basis of one's sex. This is contrary to St. Paul ’s teaching that “In Christ there is no longer Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” It is also a gross violation of women’s human rights, as Vatican ll declares: Any kind of social or cultural discrimination in basic personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, colour, social conditions, language or religion, must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God's design. Gaudium et Spes, art. 29, 2
The National Work Group of CNWE,
Michele Birch Conery, Marie Evans Bouclin, Therese Koturbash, Paula MacQuarrie, Jocelyn Rait.