Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP
(presiding bishop at ordination- homily)
Homily: “Roman Catholic Women Priests: A Holy Shakeup Rocking the Catholic Church: The Ordinations of Adele Jones and Dorothy Shugrue as priests and Donna Rougeux as deacon –First Christian Church, Falls Church, VA.
By Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP
With Mary, in the Magnificat, we rejoice. This is the day God has made, let us rejoice and be glad as we witness the historic ordination of 3 Catholic women in the DC area.
Roman Catholic Women priests are a “holy shakeup” rocking the church. Nothing can stop the movement of the Spirit toward human rights, justice and equality that is occurring now in our world and in our church. The full equality of women is the voice of God in our time. Today Adele Jones, from Texas and Dorothy Shugrue, from Connecticut are making history as they answer God’s call to serve the people of God as priests in the Association of Roman Catholic Woman Priests.
Donna Rougeux, from Kentucky is making history as she answers God’s call to serve the people of God as a deacon.
The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is a branch of the worldwide movement that is living Jesus’ example of Gospel inclusivity where all are welcome in God’s embrace.
We are reclaiming our early church tradition of ordained women in a renewed priestly ministry in the Roman Catholic Church.
We are not leaving the church, we are leading the church in prophetic obedience to the Spirit.
In the first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, God calls us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and to work for justice. We are to “bring Good News to those who are poor, to heal broken hearts and to proclaim release to those held captive and liberation to those in prison.” This means that commitment to justice and to the poor reflects the heart of our liberating God’s transforming action in the world.
As theologian Elizabeth Johnson reminds us in Quest for the Living God: “The God of life is bent with passionate care over those who suffer injustice. We “know God” better in solidarity with the poor as disciples recognized Christ in the breaking of the bread.”
As part of an international initiative, the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests claims equality as a human right. Our vision is justice for all, justice for the poor, justice for women, and justice for women in the church including ordination.
Like the Elders, an eminent group of global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela, we challenge the harmful teachings and practices which justify discrimination against women. Like the Elders and other human rights organizations, church reform groups such as the Women’s Ordination Conference, Call to Action, the Federation of Christian Ministries and CORPUS, we call on leaders of all religions to work for the ideal of equality that the world's major faiths share.
Sexism, like racism, is a sin. Like Rosa Parks, whose refusal to sit in the back of the bus helped to ignite the civil rights movement, the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is disobeying an unjust law that discriminates against women. Since our first women bishops were ordained by a male bishop with apostolic succession, we ordain women validly in our church. We use equal rites to achieve equal rights. Women priests are visible reminders that women are equal images of God and therefore worthy to preside at the altar.
According to the Pew Survey one in ten Americans are former Catholics. One of the reasons that 39 percent of former Catholics left the Church is the unjust treatment of women.
Roman Catholic Women Priests welcome all to receive the Eucharist at our liturgies, families, single parents, the divorced and remarried, gays and lesbians, bisexual and transgender, and all those who find themselves on the fringes of the institutional church for whatever reason. We minister wherever we find a need for God's compassion especially to those who are underserved by our institutional church. Our priests work with the poor, homeless, elderly, and addicted, in peace and justice ministry, house churches, hospitals, hospices and schools.
In 2002, 7 women were ordained priests on the Danube. In 2006, 12 women were ordained in Pittsburgh in the first U.S ordination. Now there are approximately 120 worldwide. Women Priests are in 27 states, 9 countries, in Europe, the U.S, Canada, and Latin America.
In 2011 the good news is that male priests and bishops, as well as theologians have expressed their support of female priests. They are following in the footsteps of Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois whose prophetic call for a dialogue on women priests is being affirmed in more and more places today in our church.
A award-winning documentary, Pink Smoke Over the Vatican , shares the stories of some of these women who have found a way to serve God’s people as women priests including Janice Sevre-Duszynska who was ordained in Lexington, Kentucky in 2008.
Fr. Roy Bourgeois participated in that ordination. He celebrated Eucharist and gave a prophetic homily- heard around the world- in support of women priests. This resulted in his excommunication and Vatican attempts to pressure Maryknoll to dismiss him from the Order. Now over 200 priests have signed a letter of public support for Fr. Roy.
Here are a few examples of top church leaders and priest groups who have recently joined the wave of enthusiasm for female priests:--- Bishop William Morris, from Australia, was forced to resign by the Vatican for wanting to discuss married priests and women priests as a possible response to the shortage of priests. However, the National Council of Priests of Australia released a statement in support of Bishop Morris. http://www.catholicnetwork.us/calls-for-reform/priests-support-bishop-sacked-by-vatican/---400 Austrian priests issued a "Call to Disobedience" to promote priesthood for women and married men.
http://www.ncronline.org/news/global/300-austrian-clerics-call-women-priests
---Over 250 German speaking theologians called for an end to mandatory celibacy and for women's ordination in the Roman Catholic Church..http://thegreatone22.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/
---Bishop Willie Walsh, Fr Enda McDonagh, and the Jesuit theologian Fr Gerry O'Hanlon, among others, have advocated the idea of an Irish synod involving clergy and laity including discussion of the role of women in ministry in the church. http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/stifled-by-weight-of-romes-pomp-power-and-stubborn-patriarchy-2835994.html
----A male priest co-celebrated the ordination liturgy of Marta Soto, the first woman priest ordained in Latin America. Two male priests co-presided with Janice Sevre-Duszynska at peace and justice liturgies.
http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2011/03/making-history-again-first-woman.html
You will notice in our liturgy today that we use female images of God. While God is beyond all names and images, it is important to incorporate feminine images of God in order to offer a fuller understanding of God that is rooted in our Judeo-Christian tradition. As theologian Elizabeth Johnson notes: “only if the full reality of historical women of all races and classes enters into our symbol of the divine, only then will the idolatrous fixation on one image of God be broken, will women be empowered at their deeper core and will religious and civic communities be converted toward healing justice in the concrete.” (Quest for the Living God, p.110)
The Old Testament introduces a female figure of God. She is called Sophia in Greek, Wisdom in English. The New Testament identifies the crucified Christ with the Wisdom of God.… “In first Corinthians, we read: “ We are preaching a Messiah nailed to a cross…to those who have been called, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God.” ( 1 Cor. 1:22-24) Therefore, St. Paul makes the connection between the crucified Jesus of Nazareth and Holy Wisdom , Christ -Sophia.
This is the day our God has made, a day of hope for the Catholic Church, as three women answer God’s call to serve God’s people as deacon and priests. Blessings on you, Donna, Adele, and Dorothy faith-filled women of courage as you live Gospel justice and equality now.
So, as our hearts burn within us, we pray: “May Christ-Sophia dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ-Sophia’s love, and with all of God’s holy ones, experience this love that surpasses all understanding, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. To God--whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine--” to God be glory in the Church and in Christ-Sophia through all generations, world without end! Amen”.
( Eph3:17-19)
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, D.Min., a Sister for Christian Community, was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 31, 2006. Dr. Meehan is currently Dean of the Doctor of Ministry Program for Global Ministries University, and is the author of 19 books, including “Living Gospel Equality Now: Loving in the Heart of God,”,"The Healing Power of Prayer" and "Praying with Women of the Bible.", "Praying with Visionary Women". She presides at liturgies in Mary, Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community in Sarasota, Florida and celebrates liturgies with groups in N.Va. She was ordained a bishop on April 19, 2009. Dr. Meehan can be reached at sofiabmm@aol.com
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