Bishop Robinson's Reflections on U.S. speaking Tour

A reflection on all that happened… I recently completed a five-week tour of the U.S.A. in which I spoke at fifteen different venues around that country. It was exhausting, and it has taken me some time to recover, but I am now able to reflect on all that happened.In his letter asking me to cancel the tour, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, said, "It has been brought to my attention by some Bishops in the United States who are concerned that you have been invited by some organizations that are not in communion with the Catholic Church…". This is the exact opposite of my experience. The people who came to listen were mainly older people who had spent their lives as faithful and loyal Catholics, raising their children in that faith and supporting the church in every way they could. They still practise their faith. Yes, there were also victims present, and married priests and gay people and three Catholic women ordained as priests. Some of these were angry, some disillusioned and many were struggling hard to keep faith in the church. But even these disaffected people still cared and still wanted to see a better church. To dismiss the entire audience as "not in communion with the church" is a complete failure to understand the book I have written or the response it has evoked among many thousands of Catholics of every age. My overwhelming thought was that, if the church loses these people, it has lost its very soul.I met many wonderful and inspiring people who welcomed me and invited me into their homes. Most were from the organization called Voice of the Faithful, that started in Boston in 2002 in response to the revelations of sexual abuse there and wants to see a comprehensive response to those revelations. If this makes them "not in communion" with the church, then we all have a most serious problem!!I naively thought that the American church would be similar to the Australian church, but found myself continually having to revise my ideas and adapt to a very different world. This was the single greatest difficulty I had on the tour, especially when people tried to involve me in matters that I did not really understand. I was overwhelmed with evidence of incompetence and far worse, though the canon lawyer in me kept warning that I needed to hear all sides of the story first. I am still confused about the extent of incompetence and wrongdoing by bishops, but came away with the clear conviction that the American church has some massive problems before it. It is said that ex-Catholics constitute the second largest religion in the country, and this trend may well continue.I returned to find on my desk the letters from thirteen U.S. bishops asking me not to go. I am not saying that I was not aware of their existence, but in fact I saw them only on my return. They all quote the statement of the Australian bishops and it is clear that both this statement and the letters of the U.S. bishops were orchestrated by Cardinal Re.Bishop Robinson's "difficulties" with the statement from the Australian Bishops…I have had the opportunity to study the statement of the Australian bishops more carefully. I have several difficulties with this statement.a.. Firstly, it says that I question the teaching authority of the church and quotes John's gospel concerning the promise of Jesus to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles "in order to lead them into the fullness of the truth". In this the statement appears to confuse teaching authority with infallibility. I do not deny that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and I do not deny the teaching authority of the church, as even a cursory reading of my book would show. What I question is the teaching on infallibility and especially on "creeping infallibility", in which, even without the formal apparatus of infallibility, Catholics are told that they must believe many truths. The bishops appear to brush aside the very real problems associated with this phenomenon. b.. Secondly, it says that my questioning of authority is connected to my "uncertainty about the knowledge and authority of Christ himself." But surely the real question is not where my doubts concerning the knowledge of Jesus come from, but rather where the certainties of the bishops come from? I point out that the biblical evidence is conflicting and that "We are, after all, speaking about what went on within the mind of Jesus, an individual unlike any other who has ever walked on this earth, a person within whom the divine and the human were bound together in a singular manner." The bishops make no attempt to explain where their certainties come from. c.. Thirdly and most importantly, the statement makes no comment on my book as a response to sexual abuse, though this is its very raison d'etre. It implies, therefore, that one may not ask questions about church teachings or laws under any circumstances, not even in responding to abuse. My book starts from the opposite end, the fact of abuse, and says that, if we are to overcome it, we must seek out the deepest causes both of the abuse and of the inadequate response to abuse, and, in doing this, we must be free to follow the argument wherever it leads. If it causes us to question teaching or practice concerning creeping infallibility or sexual morality or obligatory celibacy, we must be free to do so. The bishops do not address these issues, or how we are to overcome abuse if we are not free to ask the questions that arise. I remain convinced that we have a long way to go and that, if we are ever to look to the future with a clear conscience, we must be free to ask the questions that spontaneously arise from the terrible fact of abuse and the inadequate response to it. Until that happens, we are trying to manage rather than truly confront the problem.

Update on Altar Girls Banned:Take Action

Update: Altar Girls Banned!

Thank you for taking action! In the past two days, dozens of WOC members have called and emailed St. Barnabas Parish in Mazomanie, Wisconsin. We have received excellent feedback and we know our voices are being heard.

To read the press release, "Women's Ordination Conference Decries Ban on Altar Girls in Wisconsin Diocese," scroll down this blog.

Please continue to take action!
CALL the parish and ask for Rev. John Del Priore and express your serious concerns about this decision!
His direct line is 608 370-3271. The phone number for the church is (608) 795-4321. Call today! Please also contact Erin Hanna, WOC assistant director, at (202) 675-10006 or via at ehanna@womensordination.org and let us know how the call went. We'd love to keep track of how many calls have been made.

Wisconsin Priest Bans Altar Girls:

Altar Girls Banned!

We have been informed that St. Barnabas Parish in Mazomanie, Wisc. will no longer allow girls to serve at liturgy. y Rev. John Del Priore, who was assigned to the parish on June 1, announced this policy last Tue. See article:
http://www.madison.com/toolbox/index.php?action=printme2&ref=tct&storyURL=%2Ftct%2Fnews%2F293316

The phone number for the church is (608) 795-4321.
Call as soon as possible.

This is another signal that the institutional church is treating girls and women as second-class citizen, and is out of touch with Jesus. We should ask ourselves: what would Jesus say and do?

As the Gospels reveal, Jesus had male and female disciples and shared the central message of Christianity with a woman, Mary of Magdala, the apostle to the apostles. Women served in priestly ministry for 1200 years. Roman Catholic Womenpriests are reclaiming our ancient heritage and celebrating liturgies where all are welcome including altar girls. We offer hope that a renewed church is already a reality on the ground in communties around the U.S., Canada and Europe. The people of God are enthusiastic and hopeful that a new day is dawning for the church. This represssive action is a sad testimony to an institutional church that continues to discriminate against women and is fearful of women's equality. Moving backwards to Trent will not save the church.
Bridget Mary Meehan

Support Sr. Louise Lears, a woman of integrity and courage

Women's Ordination Conference Statement on Penalties Imposed on Sister Louise Lears, SC by Archbishop Raymond Burke


Aisha Taylor, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference, issued the following statement about the penalties imposed by Archbishop Raymond Burke on Sister Louise Lears, SC on Thursday, June 26. After six months of proceedings, the decree was issued the day before Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Burke to head the highest court in the Catholic Church, as the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome.
The penalties callously doled out to Sister Louise Lears - a woman who has dedicated her entire life to serve the Church - is a prime example of the way women are often wrongly treated by the Catholic hierarchy, where dangerous secrecy runs rampant and preserving power in the hands a few ordained men reigns supreme. The Women's Ordination Conference supports Sister Louise in her life and ministry in the Church. We oppose these penalties as a way of dealing with differences and dissent. Such misuse of Church discipline will not intimidate women into accepting marginal status within the Church. Sister Louise remains steadfast in her faith and loyalty to the Church, and she has the support of millions of Catholics who seek only the gospel promise of equality. Archbishop Burke imposed two penalties on Sister Louise, 1) the penalty of interdict, which means that she cannot participate in public worship in a ministerial capacity and cannot receive the Sacraments and 2) the penalty of prohibition from reception of a mission anywhere in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, which means she can no longer serve in her positions as a member of the Pastoral Team at St. Cronan's Catholic Church and as the Coordinator of Religious Education. The decree announcing the penalties state that the reason for this action is due to Sister Louise's support of Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie McGrath, the two women who were ordained priests in a St. Louis synagogue on November 11, 2007. The Vatican's stance on ordination is based on arguments that have been refuted time and again. In 1976, the Vatican's own Pontifical Biblical Commission determined that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit women's ordination. Jesus included women as full and equal partners in his ministry, and the hierarchy would do well to follow suit. This is not the first time Archbishop Burke has used the Sacraments as weapons, stepping way beyond the line of his pastoral duties and out of sync with most of his brother bishops. In addition to these insensitive and unnecessary penalties, he has consistently worked to denigrate Catholics who use their conscience to inform their actions, as canon law requires. From the excommunications of Hudson and McGrath to his unwavering position on actions taken by Catholic politicians to his disputes with members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in St. Louis, Archbishop Burke has done nothing more than violate every aspect of the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. It is long overdue for the Vatican to respond to the church's need for an inclusive clergy, which embraces women - all of whom are created equal and can be called by God to serve God's people as priests in an accountable and inclusive Catholic Church. ### Founded in 1975, the Women's Ordination Conference is the oldest and largest national organization that works to ordain women as priests, deacons and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church. WOC represents the 63-70 percent of US Catholics that support the ordination of women as priests. WOC also promotes new perspectives on ordination that call for more accountability and less separation between the clergy and laity.

National Catholic Reporter: Womenpriests carry on despite Vatican

Women priests carry on despite Vatican National Catholic Reporter
ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/1271 - 39k -

(Our rcwp updated figures are actually 30 priests, 12 deacons, 15 candidates and 1 bishop in U.S. with 8 ordinations from coast to coast in 2008).

Women priests carry on despite Vatican
By DENNIS CODAY
"Despite a recent decree that reiterates the official Vatican stance that women cannot be ordained and that those who attempt it are automatically excommunicated, women continue to step forward for ordination.
Three women are to be ordained to the priesthood and one woman as a deacon July 20 in Boston. Presiding at event will be Bishop Dana Reynolds, who is the first U.S. bishop for the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement.
At a ceremony in Boston’s Church of the Covenant, Reynolds will ordain Gloria Ray Carpeneto, Judy Lee and Gabriella Velardi-Ward to the priesthood and MaryAnn McCarthy Schoettly to the deaconate."...

Archbishop Burke punished nun for attending Roman Catholic Womenpriests' Ordinations in St. Louis

Burke leaving St. Louis
By Tim Townsend
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/28/2008
JUNE 27, 2008 - Archbishop Raymond L. Burke is leaving the St. Louis Archdiocese

PUNISHING A NUN

The other was the ordination of two women as "Roman Catholic Womenpriests" at a synagogue in St. Louis. The two women were declared excommunicated by Burke. In one of his last acts as archbishop, Burke imposed the penalty of interdict on Sister Louise Lears, a nun in the order of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, who works at St. Cronan's parish in St. Louis and who attended the women's ordinations last fall. The interdict prohibits Lears from receiving the sacraments and forced St. Cronan's to remove her from her ministry at the church.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/34E7BE86250B0B0B862574760010B1E6?OpenDocument

Vatican appoints Archbishop Burke to lead Vatican supreme court

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/3EDD8BB47C77FF2E8625747500426166?OpenDocument

St. Louis Archbishop Burke leaving for new role in Rome
ST. LOUIS -- Archbishop Raymond Burke today was appointed today to lead the Vatican's supreme court.

Archbishop Burke wants Ad pulled from newspaper that welcomes Catholics to inclusive liturgies in St. Louis

Archbishop Burke is really ticked off again at Elsie McGrath and Ree Hudson, Roman Catholic Womenpriests because they will not pull their Ad in the St. Louis paper inviting Catholics to celebrate inclusive liturgies.

Archbishop Burke Orders St. Louis Womenpriests To Yank Newspaper Ad

Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 03:44:27 PM

"The archbishop is enraged about a display advertisement that the women have been running in the Post-Dispatch, according to a June 10 letter from Burke to the Womenpriests. The ad, publicizing their services at Thérèse of Divine Peace Inclusive Community, runs every other week in the “Catholic” section of the newspaper’s Saturday-edition worship directory"

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/stlog/2008/06/catholic_women_priests_burke_st_louis.php

Supporter of Roman Catholic Womenpriests shares letter to Editor of National Catholic Reporter

Attention: Letters to the Editor,

Your lead story in the December 7 issue, “Women Find a Way” was inspiring to me, as it brought back many of the impressions I still treasure “in my heart’ as a participant in the historic ordination of womenpriests (Pittsburgh, 2006). When all of the arguments about validity, canon law, historic precedence, ‘simulation of sacrament’ and male modeling of Christ are set aside, what is left for those of us who witnessed this ordination (and the many that have followed and will continue) is a profound sense of wonder at the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst. It seems to me, that in the Roman Catholic tradition there has always been that struggle between the mystic and law bound, the sacred and the powers that rise up to defend and define it. And so it was that on that ship in Pittsburgh. For all present, the ordinands and the people supporting them, we realized that the time had come to reclaim the legacy of all baptized people to the call of priesthood, at whatever the temporal cost, including excommunication and loss of jobs and status.

NCR would do well to follow the stories of those witnesses who have felt the power of this experience, a life changing and transformative moment for each of us as well as our church. During the ordination, as I knelt down on the floor of the boat carrying us down the river, one thought came to mind, that after this moment had passed, none of us could return to the way things were. I was reminded of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry, when He announced that the Scriptures ‘had been fulfilled’, right there, in the synagogue on a ‘typical’ Saturday morning in ancient Palestine. The hearers of that message for the most part rejected it, to the point of trying to kill the prophetic voice calling them to change. But some accepted the Spirit readily, and a church was born. The struggle played out into the next generation, when the barrier of Gentile and Jew had to be met head on. Paul took up that challenge, ‘moved by the Spirit’ to take the gospel message to all, in communities which welcomed women as deacons, apostles, and sacramental leaders of house churches. Sadly, those doors quickly closed to women, until a Roman Catholic bishop in apostolic tradition, called three women priests to lead their people as bishops, saying, ‘not for them, but for the church’ and its mission.

The Womenpriests movement, in my understanding is about reclaiming an inclusive church, as it was in the beginning, even as the fight goes on with those who want to keep the status quo. This false comfort zone of tradition, which excludes women and protects hierarchy, puts our church at risk of losing its credibility. The people in the pews are loudly signaling to the Vatican that they want women priests and married men to lead them in sacraments. Whether we are active participants in these ordinations, or those hearing the story and saying, ‘a last’, we feel that a journey has begun to return us full circle to the heart of the early, pre-Roman church where presiders and the people they serve recognize that they are called together to ‘be Christ’ on this earth, in humility, service and prophetic mission. The legal conundrums holding the tattered arguments about apostles being male, and ‘imaging Christ’ as men, fall away when confronted with the realization that in our lifetime, here and now, we are called to make this change. The conflict of law and spirit, power and prophetic calling, plays itself out once more in the struggle to recognize the true vocation of these womenpriests. Going back to 2006, something within me shook when I heard the women candidates shout, “I am ready!” It was the same for us praying with them, and for those who would hear this story and tell it. We are all ready.

Respectfully submitted by Lorraine Nagy

Letter of Judy Lee to Bishop Dewane, Diocese of Venice, Florida

Judy Lee in center presiding at Church in the Park where a community of volunteers hosts a dinner for those in need in Ft. Myers, Florida. Judy will be ordained a priest in Boston in July 2008. The letter below is her response to a letter by Bishop Frank Dewane that stated: "The opportunity is taken to inform you once again that, should you proceed with this action of attempting ordination, that you will in fact separte yourself from the Catholic Church, by your own free choice."

June 23, 2008

Dear Bishop Dewane:

Thank you for sharing the official position of the church regarding "automatic excommunication" personally with me in your letter of 6/17/2008. I learned about this in The New York Times and from other sources on May 30, 2008. It is always good to be individualized. Now I extend the same respect and courtesy to you and respond to your letter.

I have been called by the Holy Spirit to priestly service and can not deny the call. Therefore I continue in my intention to receive Holy Orders on June 20th in Massachusetts. I do not think the traditions of the Church that developed after the early years when women clearly served as Deacons, Presbyters, and Bishops, supercede the call of the Spirit. "The harvest is many and the laborers few," and women are being called to the harvest. God is calling. We are answering, “Yes!” With my sisters and brother priests in the Roman Catholic Women Priests I reject the penalty of excommunication. We are loyal members of the church who stand in the prophetic tradition of holy disobedience to an unjust law that discriminates against women and men who are married or openly and honestly gay.

Your own background as Under Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 2001-2006 and serving on the Pontifical Council Cor Unum from 1995-2001 sets you apart as one who is dedicated to justice and peace and charity throughout the world. You also follow the peace and justice leadership of Bishop John Nevins who championed the needs of the migrant farm workers in this Diocese. Therefore the church's contradictory and punitive behavior toward women and others called by God to serve and to enact justice must be difficult for you. My lifelong dedication in Christian service as a social worker, social work educator, theoretician, author and activist has also been to peace and justice. I too have championed the cause of the migrant worker with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers here in Southwest Florida. I also served at St. Peter Claver Catholic Mission in Fort Myers some years ago until its internal and clerical troubles nearly tore it apart. I still work voluntarily on my own with impoverished families from that church. For several years I also offered pro bono professional services with the elderly and others through the Visitation Ministry of Our Lady of Light Catholic Community. Now you are saying that they can not serve me the Eucharist - that I have no seat at the Table.

I continue to serve the poorest here in Lee County. As I noted in my earlier letter I am considered the Pastor of the Friday Night Church in the Park. This is an ecumenical service effort with over fifty volunteers by now, many of them Catholic. In a recent survey of seventy regular attendees of our feeding and worship services we learned that most of our people are homeless and have no source of income in this economy. Many are Roman Catholics. Most are American citizens, many are veterans of our wars, and some are here as migrant workers. We serve children, families, men, women and the elderly. All are suffering spiritually as well as economically, medically and socially. We are having some success in ending homelessness and poverty one individual or family at a time. With God's grace I will continue to serve as their priest. I invite you to join us in worship on any Friday night and experience the beautiful faith of the poorest of the poor in this Diocese. God has called. The people have welcomed me and call me forth to serve. I do not need permission, but in recognizing your wisdom and passion for justice I would love to serve the poor with you here in Fort Myers.

I remain, your sister in Christ,



Dr. Judith A. Lee, RCWP

Roman Catholic Womanpriest Suzanne Avison Thiel's Letter is published in the Oregonian

Photo of Suzanne Avison Thiel with her husband and sons standing beside her.

http://www.oregonlive.com/letters/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1214011514309940.xml&coll=7

Affirm Women as Priests

Monday, June 23, 2008

The Oregonian

"Women claim ordination, are expelled from church" (June 17), updated us on the latest developments in the Roman Catholic Church.This is a time of transition in the church, a time of renewal but also a time of justified anger not only for all the sex abuse that has gone on (right here in our hometown) but anger because the all-male clergy has now pronounced excommunication for women daring to be ordained to the priesthood.Isn't it ironic that there is no automatic excommunication of priests who have committed crimes of violence against our children? The refusal of the church to treat women as equals, basing it on the tradition of the church, is disgusting.The continued refusal of the church to treat half the human race as equals makes women in society vulnerable to violence in all its forms.It is time that the Catholic Church affirms that a woman is holy (as holy as a man), a full human being who can image Christ in the priesthood.

SUZANNE AVISON THIEL Southwest Portland

Homily:Bishop Tom Gumbleton

"I think of how, within the last two weeks, there's a new decree from Rome condemning women who have in any way participated in ordination of women, Instead of listening to what's happening in the world around us, and instead of accepting the fact that there's nowhere in the gospels that says women can't be ordained; instead of listening to women and why they want to enter into roles of servant leadership in the church, we condemn them, excommunicate them. I think that's wrong, very wrong, if you take into consideration the way Jesus was... "
This quote is from a homily given at St. Hilary Parish in Redford, Mi.
Visit NCRcafe.org for free downloads of Bishop Gumbleton's homilies.
Note: Bishop Gumbleton's brother Jerry and sister-in-law Marion attend Mary, Mother of Jesus House Church in Sarasota, Florida.

"When Popes go too far" by Anthony Stevens-Arroyo

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2008/06/when_popes_go_too_far.html

A time of Optimism and Justified Anger: "Women in my church have no voice." Joan Houk's Letter to Editor in Pittsburgh Gazette

Joan Houk is second from the right in this picture of the ordinations that took place in St. Louis on Nov. 10, 2007

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08170/890614-110.stm
Thank you to Ann Rodgers for her article on May 31, Vatican moves against ordination of women. As a Roman Catholic Womanpriest, I have received many phone calls and e-mails of concern and support. This is a time of transition in the Catholic Church, a time of optimism, but also of justified anger.

Anger because women in the Middle East are stoned for violating Islamic law; brides in India are burned for dowry; girls in Africa are genitally mutilated; women in war-torn countries are impregnated by enemy soldiers; and females in China are aborted simply because they are female. Around the world wives are beaten by their husbands; female children are sexually abused by their fathers, uncles, brothers; women of all ages are raped and murdered. Single mothers are abandoned by the fathers of their children; hard-working women are unfairly paid; many females are denied education; and women in my Church have no voice.

Anger because the all male clergy have pronounced excommunication for women daring to be ordained to the priesthood, but there is no excommunication of Catholics committing crimes of violence against women. The refusal of the Church to treat women as equals makes women in society vulnerable to violence in all its forms. The Church must affirm that a woman is holy, is a full human being made in the image of God, and can image Christ in the priesthood. To affirm this, in justice, the all male clergy must ordain women.

Joan Houk
McCandless

Article in Oregonian about Roman Catholic Womanpriest: Toni Tortorilla

Toni Tortorilla is in the middle, Suzanne Thiel is on the right and Ruth Broeski is on the left.

http://www.oregonlive.com/living/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/living/1213656902208370.xml&coll=7#continue

Women claim ordination, are expelled from church
Tuesday, June 17, 2008

"I believe in the supremacy of conscience, and my conscience has led me all along to be an ordained Roman Catholic priest," Tortorilla said last week. She, too, rejects the excommunication decree and says she will continue to serve her growing community. Archaeological and historical evidence, she says, supports the view that women have been priests and bishops in the Catholic Church.
"The Holy Spirit's call to be a priest is very strong and very persistent," she said. "It supercedes the Vatican's determination not to ordain women."

Roman Catholic Women Ordain Two Women in Portland, Oregon

Ordination June 7, 2008

This is Portland's second ordination at the Zion United Church of Christ, Gresham, Oregon (suburb of Portland). Pastor Dennis Alger and congregation have been very welcoming so gracious and supportive in allowing RCWP to hold a second ordination at their church at no cost....This June 7th ordination is the first public ceremony presided by new American womenbishop, Dana Reynolds from Carmel, California180 people attended---of all ages---well received---joyous enthusiastic loud participatory singing of the litany of saints---obvious acceptance from the people---tears and applause and many many smiles... reception put on by CTA of Oregon membersPicture shows newly ordained priest, Ruth Broeski of Portland and deacon Sandra DeMaster from McMinnville, Oregon and RCWP priests,Suzanne Thiel from Portland and Juanita Cordero from Los Gatos, California.

Women Should Be Allowed Into Priesthood

June 14, 2008 The Olympian

Women should be allowed into priesthood
The Olympian reported that three more men have alleged they were sexually abused by a priest at Saint Martin’s High School in the 1950s. This is the second lawsuit filed this year against the priest, who died in 1980.
What is not reported and probably never will be are the names of the church leaders in charge of supervising this alleged sexual predator and allowed him the freedom to keep on abusing. If we go with history, no bishops or abbots have yet to be charged for their cover-up activity.
The same day this report aired, the Vatican announced that, “anyone trying to ordain a woman and any woman who attempts to receive such ordination is automatically excommunicated.”
Isn’t this another form of sexual abuse? It’s sad that the church does not excommunicate clergy guilty of sexual abuse nor will they discipline church leaders guilty of allowing the abuse to continue and yet they will jump on any woman who feels called to ordination!
The vast majority of Catholic theologians are in agreement that there is not a defensible theological argument against ordaining women. When Pope John Paul II asked his Pontifical Biblical Commission to outline the scriptural arguments against women’s ordination, the scripture scholars told him to look elsewhere for reasons because they are not in the Bible.
Sexual abuse of minor boys will always elicit strong reaction but the ongoing sexual abuse of women by our Church is too often ignored or accepted as normal behavior.
Tom Hill, Olympia

Voice of the Faithful/N.J. Responds to the R C Church's Decree that Automatically Excommunicates Women Ordained to the Priesthood

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Theresa Padovano (973) 539-8732


VOTFNJ Responds to the Roman Catholic Church’s Decree that Automatically Excommunicates Women Ordained to the Priesthood

In response to the Decree of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) against Women's Ordination, we the members of Voice of the Faithful New Jersey support the following statement issued by CORPUS – National Association for an Inclusive Ministry.

Priesthood serves the People of God by bringing healing and hope through sacramental celebration and pastoral care. It is God’s People who must discern their leaders and it is the bishops of the Church who are called to validate this in the normal course of events. When that validation is withheld for reasons which have nothing substantial to do with ministry, then the baptized community must call bishops to respect biblical norms and Gospel imperatives. The life of a community and of the Eucharist cannot be held hostage to Church policies which undermine them. A baptized community has a human and evangelical right to community, pastoral care and Eucharistic celebration.
For these reasons, CORPUS stands in solidarity with those ordained women who followed their calling and were selected for priesthood when bishops rejected them. When rejection is based on weak theological reasons and on a refusal to dialogue with or hear these women, then the community must act against what is sees as an injustice, indeed discrimination, and behavior which Christ could not endorse.
To excommunicate all these women, “latae sententiae”, automatically, without a hearing and due process, is the mark of a frightened and absolutist leadership. No democracy or humane government in the world employs its harshest penalty automatically against its citizens, without due process, redress, appeal, open courtrooms, judicial restraint and equity. It astonishes us that a Church we love can act in so desperate and destructive a manner. We, therefore, in the conviction that the future church will find this action shameful and unworthy, stand in solidarity with our sisters who seek to serve God’s People and are treated as criminals. They are branded as sinners to be excluded from the very sacramental life of the Church which their ordination was intended to make more abundantly available. Irony is too weak a word to describe this; tragedy is a more accurate description.

In addition, we offer the following points:
1. The Papal Commission on the ordination of women found no biblical justification for the exclusion of women from Holy Orders.
2. The National Review Board set up by the bishops in Dallas in 2002, made clear that the “clerical culture” of the Roman Catholic Church was a root cause of the sex abuse phenomenon. The ordination of women and of a married priesthood would help reform that culture.
3. History informs us that ordained women ministered to their faith communities in the early Church and throughout the first millennium.
4. As the faithful we have a responsibility in Church law to express our needs to our pastors. The Holy Spirit has spoken to women among us. They have courageously responded.
We know from our historical experience that silence implies consent. Catholic theology and tradition teach that an unjust law must be resisted and that a dubious law need not be obeyed.
We believe the elements above are in accord with all the goals of VOTF.

- END -

Support from Florida Rabbi and British Lord and Lady for Roman Catholic Womenpriests

Many months ago, I was introduced to a movement called Roman Catholic Womenpriests. I invited one of them, Bridget Mary Meehan, to speak to our congregation on a Friday night after Services. This week word reached me that all of the Womenpriests had been excommunicated by the Vatican. I wrote Bridget Mary and commented that a little thing like excommunication surely would not stop her and those like her. Her response basically was, of course not! Originally, I likened the Womenpriest movement to the early days of Reform Judaism. Like them, we were opposed by the 'authorities', namely the Orthodox, who, through the European model of connections between religion and the state, brought government pressure against the Reformers. Clearly, because Reform Judaism was transplanted to America, with its concepts of religious freedom and the separation of church-state, Reform has flourished and now is a world-wide presence. Hopefully, the dream of Womenpriests to 'reform' the Church will also grow and gain in strength in this free land of ours.

Rabbi Larry Mahrer

Temple Beth El

Bradenton, Florida

From the Telegraph in the U.K., 6.11.2008.
* * *
Lord Patten: Let women and married men become Roman Catholic priests

By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:42PM BST 12/06/2008

Thousands of leading Roman Catholics including Lord Patten and Baroness Williams are calling on the Church to allow women and married men into the priesthood.

Papacy Is A 'Gift" That Needs Repair

Published on National Catholic Reporter (http://ncronline3.org/drupal)
Papacy is a 'gift' but needs repair, leading ecumenist says

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Miami

The papacy is a “gift” of the Catholic church to other Christians, a leading Catholic ecumenist said this morning, but it needs “repair” before those other Christians are likely to accept it.

Specifically, Margaret O’Gara of the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto called for a papacy that’s “less centralized, less authoritarian, and more respectful of the diversity of local churches.”

Worldwide Network Challenges Pope on Excommunication and Sexism in the Church

Worldwide network challenges Pope on excommunications and sexism in the church
Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) expresses profound dismay at the recent decree by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which automatically excommunicates anyone involved in the
ordination of women priests. With this decree, the Vatican attempts to reinforce its ban on the
discussion of women’s ordination among faithful Catholics who are gravely concerned for the future of
pastoral ministry.
In its obstinate refusal to test women's priestly vocations, the Vatican fails in its duty to ensure the
faithful receive the sacramental pastoral care to which they are entitled. The conviction of the Church
has always been that genuine vocations come from God. Though no one has the right to be ordained,
the Vatican persists in its flagrant discrimination against women by refusing even to consider their call
to priesthood. The fact that many responsible women, together with their communities, discern
vocations to ordained ministry is a sign from the Holy Spirit. Vatican actions which block such a sign
show nothing but contempt for the sensus fidelium and demonstrate that the hierarchy is tragically out
of touch with the people it is called to serve.
In baptism, women and men share equally in the priesthood of Christ. Baptism implies a fundamental
openness to all sacraments, including Holy Orders. The history of the Church documents the
ordination of women. Jennifer Stark, coordinator of WOW, commented, ‘This is a global issue. In
many countries around the world, the exclusion of women from ordained ministry, and thus from the
decision-making structures of a worldwide church, has profound effects for their position and well
being, and that of their children. It signals that they are lesser beings in the eyes of God.’
WOW calls on all to act against the unjust laws that exclude women from the sacrament of Holy
Orders. We ask Pope Benedict XVI to follow Christ’s gospel imperative by liberating the church from
the sin of sexism. We urge bishops throughout the world to recognize and act on their episcopal
responsibility to their people. We further urge them to use their voice to challenge the legitimacy of
this decree and the ban on discussion of women’s ordination.
________________________________________________________________________
Women’s Ordination Worldwide was established during the First European Women’s Synod in Gmunden,
Austria in 1996. It is a network of national and international organisations working for the inclusion of women in
all ordained ministries. WOW has hosted two international conferences (Dublin 2001 and Ottawa 2005) and
plans to hold a third conference in California in 2010.
_________________________________________________________________________
10 June 2008

European Theologians: "The Vatican Cannot Stop the Ordination of Women"

Statement by ICETH – The Interreligious Conference of European Women Theologians concerning the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's Decree on the ordination of women

The Vatican cannot stop the ordination of women

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has on the 29th May 2008 issued a decree that "both the one who attempts to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the woman who attempts to receive a sacred order, incur an excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See". The decree, which comes to force immediately, is issued "in order to protect the nature and validity of the sacrament of order".

Apparently, the movement within the Roman-Catholic Church which since 2002 has ordained women as priests and bishops in Europe as well as the USA, has caused great anxiety in the Vatican. That the Hierarchy takes such drastic measures is an indication that this movement is seen as a serious threat.
Tha Vatican anathema is directed agains women who no longer submit to being excluded from holy orders by the male establishment of the church, but pursue their vocation to the priesthood in a time of acute shortage of priests in the Roman-Catholic Church. They do so in fidelity to the words of the Bible that say that the Spirit "blows wherever it pleases" (John 3:8), and gives its gifts "to each one, just as (s)he determines" (1 Cor 12:11), and that among those who are baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, there is "neither male nor female" (Gal 3:28).
In tying the gifts of the Spirit to the male sex, instead of baptism, the Vatican rejects not only the human rights of women, but also the word of the Bible. Thus, the women who have received the vocation to the priesthood cannot defer to a hierarchy that so has forfeited its authority. Accordingly, the ban will not have the desired effect. The movement for women's access to the interpretation of holy scriptures, as well as leading postions within religious communities, that is growing within all religious traditions, will not be stopped, even in the Roman-Catholic Church.

Female Priest Marie Evans Bouclin called to pastor Christ the Servant Catholic Community

Female priest reflects on first year of service
Evans Bouclin was ordained on May 27, 2007, in Toronto
Posted By BY CLAIRE PILON, FOR THE SUDBURY STAR
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1068853

"When I asked to be ordained, I was expecting to serve small faith communities like the ones that call me as their priest here in Sudbury," said Marie Evans Bouclin.
Instead, she was given a church to minister. "I was asked to pastor the community of Christ the Servant in Cobourg and I was not expecting that kind of public ministry," Evans Bouclin said.
"I plan to continue my ministry in Cobourg, working with the full-time pastor to build and develop the community, and I will also be journeying with women and men who are preparing for priestly ministry."

More Links to articles on Roman Catholic Womenpriests Reaction to Vatican Excommunication

West Bend woman reacts to Vatican excommunication
By Tom Heinen
Tuesday, Jun 3 2008, 12:57 PM
Alice Iaquinta of West Bend, who underwent unsanctioned ordination ceremonies last year in Toronto (diaconate) and Minneapolis (priesthood), has not been deterred by a Vatican decree last week

"The whole notion of excommunication is quite outdated,” she said. “And it has to be received. And that’s what the Roman Catholic Womenpriests’ position is, that we simply don’t accept this excommunication because nothing can separate us from our faith, from our God, from our spirituality or from our call.
http://blogs.jsonline.com/faith/archive/2008/06/03/west-bend-woman-reacts-to-vatican-excommunication.aspx

Roman Catholic Womenpriests Follow Joan of Arc in Response to Vatican Excommunication

Roman Catholic Womenpriests Follow Example of Joan of Arc In Response to Vatican Excommunication)

St. Joan of Arc followed her conscience and refused to obey the hierarchical authorities of her time. On May 30, 1431 at the age of nineteen, Joan was burned at the stake."On being asked whether she did not believe that she was subject to the church which is on earth, namely, our Holy Father, the Pope, cardinals, archbishops, bishops and prelates of the church, she replied: "Yes, but Our Lord must be served first." She was canonized a saint 450 years later in 1920. St. Joan's courage to stand up to church authorities and follow her conscience makes her a role model for all those who follow their consciences and live their vocations in spite of rejection and hostile treatment by the hierarchy.

On May 29th, 2008, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared under the heading: "Regarding the crime of attempting sacred ordination of a woman" that "Remaining firm on what has been established by canon 1378 of the Canon Law, both he who has attempted to confer holy orders on a woman, and the woman who has attempted to receive the said sacrament, incurs in latae sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See."

According to Vatican officials, this penalty does not permit hearings , appeals or any form of due process.

On May 30th, 2008, Roman Catholic Womenpriests issued a statement rejecting the Vatican excommunication. It stated: "in obedience to Jesus, we are disobeying an unjust law."
Like St. Joan, Roman Catholic Womenpriests are practicing prophetic disobedience to an unjust law that discriminates against women. Like St. Joan, Roman Catholic Womenpriests have received the harshest punishment ( luckily, burning at the stake is no longer an option for church officials!) from the Vatican, a "latae sententiae", a punishment that makes the ordination of women a crime and means that ordained women are forbidden from receiving sacraments in the institutional church, leading liturgical worship, or holding eccelsiastical office.

The Vatican has not excommunicated any pedophile priest or bishop who covered up these crimes. In fact, some prelates, like Cardinal Law and Cardinal Levada are rewarded with prestigious jobs in Rome. Cardinal Levada, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who signed the edict of excommunication, was bishop of the Portland diocese, the first U.S. diocese to declare bankruptcy. He received a subpoena to testify in the sex abuse scandal before he left San Francisco for his present appointment in Rome. In an article dated July 10, 2004 in the San Francisco Chronicle, Don Lattin writes: "Levada, who served as the archbishop of Portland from 1986 to 1995, oversaw church disciplinary proceedings against two Oregon priests accused of child molestation, including one who was put back in regular parish ministry in 1994, following a brief period of "rehabilitation," the attorneys say. On Tuesday, the Portland Archdiocese -- which has spent more than $53 million to settle more than 130 claims of priest abuse -- became the first Catholic diocese in the nation to file for bankruptcy. "

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/07/10/BAG9F7JBS61.DTL

The real scandal here is that the Vatican issued an automatic excommunication against women priests, treating us as criminals while failing to discipline the bishops who have been at the center of the worst scandal in U.S. church history.

Catholics in survey after survey indicate their support for women priests. The church's prohibition has not been received by the faithful, the "sensus fidelium" , and therefore is not authoritative. It has no binding power. It is an unjust law that must be resisted. As St. Augustine taught an unjust law is no law at all. The Vatican's edict of excommunication against the ordination of women is a desperate action by fearful men who are resisting the movement of the Holy Spirit issuing in a new era of partnership and equality, rooted in Jesus' example in the Gospels.

The Vatican says that it is the eternal will of Christ that women cannot be ordained. Yet, this attitude of "blame it on Jesus"contradicts the Vatican's own scholarship. The Pontifical Biblical Commission concluded in 1976 that they found no evidence in Scripture to prohibit women from being ordained. "Seventeen members present at the plenary session of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, voted on various aspects of the report...They agreed unanimously that the New Testament by itself does not seem able to settle in a clear way and once and for all whether women can be ordained priests. "The members voted 12-5 that scriptural grounds alone are not enough to exclude the possibility of ordaining women. Biblical Commission Report "It does not seem that the New Testament by itself alone will permit us to settle in a clear way and once and for all the problem of the possible accession of women to the presbyterate," the Pontifical Biblical Commission says. http://members.aol.com/mfgardner/bcr_prst.htm

Jesus treated women and men as disciples and partners in the Gospel . Luke 8 lists Mary of Magdala, Suzanna, Joanna and many more women as disciples of Jesus. How many sermons have you heard on the many women who were Jesus's disciples? The Risen Christ appeared first to Mary of Magdala, apostle to the apostles, and called her to "go and tell" the male and female disciples the Good News. The institutional church should follow the example of Christ who entrusted the central message of Christianity to a woman. Scholars, like Ute Eisen,Doorothy Irvin and Gary Macy report that there is overwhelming evidence that women served in ordained ministry in the early Christian community. In his book, The Hidden History of Women's Ordination, Macy concludes that women were ordained for the first twelve hundred years of church history.

Out of deep love for the Catholic community, Roman Catholic Womenpriests (rcwp) are stepping up and serving a church that is in spiritual need of sacramental ministry. Our communities are growing in North America. In 2008, we will have 8 ordinations in Minnesota, California, Oregon, British Columbia, Boston, Kentucky, and Illinois. We have 50 members in our rcwp community in the U.S., 9 in Canada and many applicants. As bishops close parishes because of the priest shortage and the pedophile scandal, Roman Catholic Womenpriests give hope to thousands of Catholics who are seeking a spiritual home especially those who no longer feel welome in their own church such as the divorced and remarried, gays and lesbians, and women who feel left out and ignored. In response to Christ's call to serve God's people in priestly minstry, womenpriests are going forward with courage and love in our hearts to wherever there is a need. Perhaps, like St.Joan, one day, the institutional church will recognize us as holy women and men who led the church into a new era of Gospel equality and compassionate service in an inclusive church. The gift we bring to our beloved church is the great gift of a renewed priestly ministry in a vibrant, renewed church. "This is the day, God has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it." Viva Joan of Arc! Viva Roman Catholic Womenpriests!

Bridget Mary Meehan
Roman Catholic Womanpriest
Ordained in U.S. in Pittsburgh 2006
sofiabmm@aol.com

DignityUSA Stands in Solidarity with Women Priests

DignityUSA Stands in Solidarity with Women Priests
by William Henderson June 04, 2008
eaders of Boston-based DignityUSA, the organization of GLBT Catholics, as well as their families and allies, expressed outrage this week at the Vatican’s order of immediate excommunication of women ordained to the priesthood, as well as the bishops who ordained them.“Roman Catholic women who have been ordained minister with a number of DignityUSA’s local Chapters,” said DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke. “By all accounts, their ministry is effective and affirmed by those they serve. The Vatican’s move to excommunicate them is nothing more than an attempt to exert control. DignityUSA rejects this order, and welcomes these women to continue their ministry with our community, in the same way we have affirmed and welcomed the ongoing ministry of gay men and married priests whose ministry is no longer recognized by Church officials.”Duddy-Burke expressed solidarity with ordained women, those preparing for ordination, their families, and all who have priestly vocations that the Vatican and other Church officials refuse to acknowledge. “All around the world, Catholics are hurting because there are not enough priests to say Mass and provide the Sacraments on a regular basis,” she said. “We believe this problem could be easily solved. God calls a wide variety of people to priesthood, and Church officials must acknowledge that.

CORPUS/Married Priests' Organization Call Vatican excommunication of Roman Catholic Womenpriests a "Tragedy"

PRESS RELEASE
CORPUS, National Association for an Inclusive Ministry
Contact: Anthony Padovano (973)539-8732
Russ Ditzel (908) 638-4640
Website: http://www.corpus.org/

Priesthood serves the People of God by bringing healing and hope through sacramental celebration and pastoral care. It is God’s People who must discern their leaders and it is the bishops of the Church who are called to validate this in the normal course of events. When that validation is withheld for reasons which have nothing substantial to do with ministry, then the baptized community must call bishops to respect biblical norms and Gospel imperatives. The life of a community and of the Eucharist cannot be held hostage to Church policies which undermine them. A baptized community has a human and evangelical right to community, pastoral care and Eucharistic celebration.
For these reasons, CORPUS stands in solidarity with those ordained women who followed their calling and were selected for priesthood when bishops rejected them. When rejection is based on weak theological reasons and on a refusal to dialogue with or hear these women, then the community must act against what is sees as an injustice, indeed discrimination, and behavior which Christ could not endorse.
To excommunicate all these women, “latae sententiae”, automatically, without a hearing and due process, is the mark of a frightened and absolutist leadership. No democracy or humane government in the world employs its harshest penalty automatically against its citizens, without due process, redress, appeal, open courtrooms, judicial restraint and equity. It astonishes us that a Church we love can act in so desperate and destructive a manner. We, therefore, in the conviction that the future church will find this action shameful and unworthy, stand in solidarity with our sisters who seek to serve God’s People and are treated as criminals. They are branded as sinners to be excluded from the very sacramental life of the Church which their ordination was intended to make more abundantly available. Irony is too weak a word to describe this; tragedy is a more accurate description.

God goes to Rome: A story by a Roman Catholic Womanpriest-Eileen DiFranco

Pope Benedict XVI was sitting at his sixteenth century desk in his private office at his private residence, Castel Gandolfo. It was late and the eighty-one-year old Vicar of Christ was fatigued from a very long day of work. He had just slipped out of his red Pravda shoes and tiredly removed the weighty pectoral cross from around his neck when he sensed another presence in the room. Looking towards the heavy drapes that covered the windows, he saw a small, wizened woman with pince nez glasses wearing a long faded cotton dress. Benedict, completely surprised, looked up and inquired, “Are you new here, Sister.”

The woman stepped sprightly from the shadows and walked right up to his desk, placing her hands, palms down, on his desk. Benedict looked from the hands to the deeply lined face with the sparkling bright green eyes and said patiently, as if to a small child, “Can I help you, Sister?”

“Joseph,” she returned with equal patience in perfect German, “I am not your sister or anyone’s sister. “In fact,” she said settling herself comfortably into the chair on the other side of his desk, and crossing her thin legs, and looking at him over the top of her glasses in a most business like fashion, “I am the Lord, thy God.”

Joseph leaned back in his chair, his jaw dropping, pinching himself to see if he were dead. He had always wondered what God might look like. He recalled seeing the American movie, “The Emperor Jones” where God was a black man. He could get that. But God as a woman? He reached for the button on his desk that summoned the Swiss guards. The lady was a lunatic.

A strong hand, smaller and more elderly than his own, grabbed his hand. “Joseph, I am not a lunatic. I am God.” Seeing his surprise at HER divine image, God returned, “ You humans have such predictable images of God: kings, crowns, scepters, royal gold, law and order, high and mighty – all fru fru. God will be Who God will be. Remember Exodus? Your biblical scholars and even your artists think they have the Lord, thy God nailed down. But, you know, the Hebrew tenses so often get lost in translation. You must agree that the future tense puts a different spin on things, yes?” Her green eyes sparkled behind the glasses. “I am like the definition in the catechism. I am, I was, and I will be - but on my own terms, not yours or anyone else’s, which is why I look like this to you. And by the way, you, Joseph, should consider yourself fortunate. Moses only saw my hindquarters and Elijah heard only a whisper. But the modern world needs to work with new metaphors, so you get the full monty. For behold, I create all things new, in case you forgot.” The large, overstuffed chair in which she sat seemed to envelope her small frame. But as she said the word, “forgot,” the chair jolted forward a couple of inches. Benedict could only sit, transfixed.

“You and I need to have what modern people call, ‘conversations’, Joseph. I know you are a good listener. In fact, we need to have a couple of them.” God drummed her fingers on Benedict’s desk and looked pointedly at the accoutrements in the pope’s castle keep. “If I recall, my child, whom you purport to emulate, was born as a poor Jewish baby to an unwed mother in a smelly barn and lived as one of the most wretched of the earth with one coat and no place to put his head. I’ve asked many times and many ways, through my servants Clare and Francis of Assisi, and Dorothy Day, through the Quakers and the Shakers, through the Dalai Lama and the people of the Simple Way, how do you account for all this?” God’s mouth rather snapped shut as SHE waited patiently for his answer. Benedict could only put his hand over his mouth.

Suddenly, God looked under Benedict’s desk at the red Pravda shoes. “I know this is a non sequitor, but can I try on your shoes?” Benedict could only nod. God slid her tiny feet into the red shoes. “It’s a perfect fit,” she announced. “Can I have them?” Before Benedict could answer, she padded out of the pope’s office. “I’ll be back,” she said over her shoulder.

When Benedict awoke the next morning, he was still sitting at his desk with his head down. His back ached and his head hurt. People of a certain age should not sleep at their desks all night. When the good sister who cooked for him brought his morning coffee, she was surprised to find a rumpled pontiff, a little worse for wear.

“Are you feeling well, Holy Father?” she asked, her voice raised slightly in concern.

“Sister, is there a very elderly sister among you, a tiny woman who wears a cotton skirt, with gray hair pulled back in a bun, who wears no head covering and has sparkling green eyes?” Benedict felt silly even asking.

“No, Holy Father, it is only our order who serves you and we are all veiled and wear only black.” She looked at him inquisitively.

“No matter, Sister,” he said, waving his hand in dismissal. Sister bowed and walked out of the room.

Benedict reached under his desk with his toe and tried to slip into his favorite red shoes. “Now how far did I kick them under my desk,” he said aloud as he bent over and stuck his head under the desk. The sister returned to gather up his breakfast found him kneeling on the floor with the top half of his body under the desk.

“Holy Father,” she said rushing towards him, now completely alarmed, “Do you need help?”

“Only in finding my shoes,” came the muffled reply.

Benedict gingerly climbed back into his chair, his pontifical beanie hanging down around his ear and sipped his coffee, shoeless and clueless. What exactly happened to him last night?

Before he could answer himself, SHE was back, striding into his office wearing his red shoes, which seemed to have some sort of glow about them. His head hurt and he couldn’t think straight despite the strong black coffee. What was that movie he had seen when he was a boy? She saw his eyes looking at his shoes. “Dorothy,” she said. “The Wizard of Oz.”

“You do like them on me, Joseph? I have really taken a shine to them.” She raised her long skirt a bit and showed him each tiny foot.

“I see, Sister,” he replied pushing his beanie back up on his head, “But how…?”

God stopped him in mid-sentence and rather thundered. “Joseph, I am not a sister or your sister. I am the Lord God Almighty. Get over your fear of powerful women.” She walked over to his desk, each foot creating a pool of red as it touched the oriental carpet. SHE looked down at Benedict’s desk and read the correspondence on his desk, a letter signed by Cardinal Levada, the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, excommunicating women priests and the bishops who ordain them.

“Joseph,” she asked plaintively, “Don’t you all have better things to do? My people are starving in Myanmar and dying in China, the entire church is falling down around your papal ears and all you are worried about is who can look like me! You say you have no power to change the practice of the church? Of course you do. You’re the pope! Two thousand years is but a day in MY eyes.”

SHE waved the letter in front of his face, “You are such a smart man. Why are you doing this dumb thing?” She threw the letter on the floor, and stamped on it with her red shoes, leaving a red imprint. “Do you really think that anyone can image the Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth?” God’s eyes seemed to flash and then deepen into unfathomable pools into which Joseph found himself sinking. He could not move. For the first time in his life, Joseph felt thrashed by a woman. When he saw God’s look, he quickly checked his thoughts.

“You also have an incredibly bad taste in your appointments. Do you have some sort of vetting process when you do this, like businesses do? Or do you just use your gut like my son George in America does? Do you know that I had a talk with Bishop Burke in St. Louis after he excommunicated Elsie, Rosemarie, and Marek along with his entire parish council? I directed him to stop persecuting ME. It was a divine experience, right from the Book of Acts. I knocked him out, he’s that hard headed. And still he chose not to listen to ME! And then you, Joseph, promoted him! How do you think your silliness makes ME look? People judge ME, the Lord thy God by your actions. If you don’t make any sense, then somehow people think I don’t make any sense. Have you ever thought about that?” Benedict sunk deeper and deeper into his chair.

“And this Levada fellow, “ she continued, “He was about to be subpoenaed by an American court. You rescued him so he didn’t have to face his terrible mistakes. You did the same thing with that Law fellow from Boston. You protect men instead of allowing them to learn from their bad mistakes. My people aren’t all that stupid that they can’t deal with your buddies’ errors. Didn’t I tell you that all of you have fallen short of MY glory? The people know and understand that. They would have forgiven you. It’s the hypocrisy that gets them, not dumb human mistakes. When will you ever learn? You are not ME! And then you have the temerity, the temerity, Joseph, to think that you can separate people from MY love! Just how, Joseph, do you practice pastoral care? In your head without your heart?”

God was so angry that SHE reached over the desk and grabbed the pope’s pectoral cross from his desk, put it around her neck, and strode out of his office in his red Pravda shoes. Benedict heard her exclaim as she went out of sight, “Do not tempt the Lord, thy God.”

Benedict must have fallen asleep again. When he awakened, his physician was standing over him. “Your Eminence, you Eminence, are you all right?”

Lifting up his head, Benedict looked at his doctor with bleary eyes. “Am I all right, Doctor? I can’t honestly say. Let’s just say that I have had the shock of my life. Actually, there were a couple of shocks. Please let me sleep off whatever happened to me.” As he climbed into bed with the doctor trying to take his pulse, all Benedict could think of were the deep green pools of God’s eyes. Benedict snored through the doctor’s exam.

The pontiff swam effortlessly in the deep green pools of God’s eyes. The water, suffused with light, was clear, straight through to the bottom. Although he was under the water, he had no need for oxygen. As he swam, Benedict felt God removing the burdens of his adult life. His age disappeared and since his clothes fell away, he could see that his body looked as it did when he entered the seminary at age 13. Books dropped from his hands and ideas felt out of his head. He saw them all float away and sink towards what he thought was the bottom. Part of him wanted to swim after them but a voice said to him, “You are a new creation. You have no further need of these things.”

He floated to the surface and a gentle wave carried him towards the shore. A large contingent of women stood on the beach dancing and singing. He wanted to laugh, sing and dance with them in his new found freedom. As he emerged from the shallows, he only caught the last verse sung by a large woman who wore a sash across her chest that read, “Queen Latifa.” “God’s gonna trouble the wah- a- wa-ter!”

The women stopped singing when they saw the young man standing in the shallows. The queen stepped forward. “We are the women who supported Jesus when HE walked through the streets of Jerusalem on his way to Golgotha. We are intimately acquainted with grief, inflicted upon us all by transgressors of the law of love. We are women who have had issues of blood, despised, rejected, used and misused by men. We have been raped and murdered. We have been forced to have children against our will, even when it killed us. We have been forced to marry against our will. We have been forced to enter convents against our will. We have been forced to think thoughts that are not our own, thoughts that have destroyed our minds and our souls. We have been held to have no account in the world of men who choose not to believe us. We have been burdened with the sins of men who could not bear their own sins. We have been told to ‘offer it up’ to men who laugh at us or ignore us or cast stones at us. We understand the theology of the cross for it has been our constant companion. Our blood cries out for justice, and the arm of our God will give you strength for you are the one who will make an offering of your life as you know it for this sin. You will learn the true meaning of the cross. You will learn what it means to give up everything, everything for God. You will become like us, despised and rejected.”

As the queen finished speaking, Benedict felt his old self coming together again and he began to cry. He never did get a chance to dance. A short woman with a South African accent walked up to him and gently wiped his face with a towel she removed from around her shoulders. A tall woman with short dark hair gave him a bear hug and kissed him on both cheeks. Then the tiny woman with the green eyes placed her hand on his chest. “I have put a seal upon your heart, Joseph. I love you and you are mine.”

Joseph felt a burning sensation in his chest as if he had just drunk a glass of schnapps and woke up.

To be continued.

Eileen DiFranco

Excommunication of Roman Catholic Womenpriests described as "medicinal punishment"

Vatican City, Jun 3, 2008 / 01:33 pm (CNA).- (Catholic News Agency)
"The secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Angelo Amato, said this week only men can be ordained to the priesthood because "the Catholic Church is not authorized to change the will of her founder, Jesus Christ."."In an interview with the Vatican daily, L'Osservatore Romano, regarding the recent decree by the CDF on the "ordination" of women, Archbishop Amato explained, that the Church's teaching on this matter is founded upon the "free and sovereign will of Jesus Christ, who only called men to be apostles.".""Excommunication is a medicinal punishment that invites the person to repentance, conversion and reparation of the scandal, as the act in question was a public one," Archbishop Amato explained."
In one week, this is the third official from the Vatican who has issued an explanation of the excommunication of Roman Catholic Womenpriests. This is really a new spin!
Medicinal punishment! As one person, commented, is this the Vatican's version of "Holy Cod Liver Oil?!!"

WE ARE CHURCH: International organizations response to Vatican decree of excommunication of Roman Catholic Womenpriests

Subject: We Are Church on the Decree of the CDF against Women's Ordination
International Movement We are Church
Movimiento internacional Somos-Iglesia
Movimento Internacional Nós somos Igreja
Movimento Internazionale Noi siamo Chiesa
Mouvement international Nous sommes Eglise
Internationale Bewegung Wir sind Kirche

Press release Juni 4, 2008

We are Church! Jesus Christ did not ordain men or women to the ministerial priesthood but to care for and nurture each other as brothers and sisters.

We Are Church statement on the Decree of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) against Women's Ordination

Please contact:
- Raquel Mallavibarrena/Chair (Spain) +34-649332654 rmallavi@mat.ucm.es
- Christian Weisner/ Media contact (Germany) +49-172-518 40 82 media@we-are-church.org
- Hans Peter Hurka (Austria) +43-1-3154200 hans_peter.hurka@gmx.atDiese
- Kaare Rübner Jorgensen (Denmark) ruebnerjo@webspeed.dk
- Vittorio Bellavite (Italy) +39-02-70602370 vi.bel@IOL.IT
- Maria Joao Sande Lemos (Portugal) +351.21 396 71 69 mjoaosandel@gmail.com
- Valerie J Stroud (UK) +44-1634-715278 valeriejstroud@we-are-church.org
- Anthony Padovano (United States) +1-973-539-8732 tpadovan@optonline.net


"As long as the attitude of our church leadership hardens in this way, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Christian church overall, lose credibility and the ability to evangelise effectively", says the International Movement We Are Church about the latest Decree of the Holy Office on women's ordination. In the month of May, dedicated to the foremost woman in Christianity, it is shameful that the Vatican can employ such weak and inadequate reasoning to deny women the opportunity to minister to the People of God.

The whole Catholic reform movement has called consistently for the removal of the Can. 1024 from the Roman Catholic Church law (Codex Iuris Canonici CIC) and the repeal of the excommunication of women who have received the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Although decided in December 2007, the Decree has only just been published. It condemns both the women who "attempt" to receive Holy Orders and the Bishops who "attempt" to confer the Sacrament. Disgracefully, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith maintain they are promulgating the wishes and will of Jesus Christ.

However, nothing survives to demonstrate that Jesus expressed such wishes or particularly favoured men. Jesus sent both women and men out to announce his teachings and to remember His example and teaching in celebrating the Eucharist together. One of the tragedies in the Roman Catholic Church today is that more and more of its members are deprived of this central Sacrament of the Christian life because there are not enough Pastors to assist and lead them.

In the early church there were female Apostles (Mary of Magdala, Thekla, Nino), female Presbyters (eg Ammion, Epikto, Laeta) and even Bishops (Theodora and another unnamed woman) and other female office holders. There is evidence up to the 9th Century of inscriptions on tombs, churches and in literary texts. (See the dissertation by Ute E. Eisen" "Amtstraegerinnen im fruehen Christentum" "Female ministers /officeholders in early Christianity", Goettingen/Germany 1996)

Academic study and archaeological research over the last two centuries has shown the error in the arguments put forward by the Roman Catholic hierarchy to exclude women from Holy Orders. History shows that the Church does change its mind over its doctrine and thus Can. 1024, "Only a baptised man can validly receive sacred ordination" can be seen as sexist, discriminatory and thus worthy of amendment.

In 1994, Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic letter "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis" stressed that only men could be validly ordained. The ban he placed on further investigation and discussion has had no effect. On the contrary, the question of the ordination of women is increasingly raised. Statements by the hierarchy that women cannot receive Holy Orders which they say are "absolutely necessary and irreplaceable in the life and mission of the Church" no longer convince anyone but the most gullible of believers.


>>> Wording of the Decree in Latin: http://www.radiovaticana.org/ted/Articolo.asp?c=208819

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Background information

The International Movement We Are Church - a grassroots church reform movement of lay persons, priests, and persons in religious orders - was started in Austria and Germany in 1995 and then spread out in Europe and all continents. We Are Church is represented in more than twenty countries and is in touch with other reform movements all over the world. Its goal is to keep continue the process of reform in the Roman Catholic Church, a process which has been opened with Vatican II Council (1962-1965) and came to a standstill in recent years. Website: http://www.we-are-church.org

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Letters to Pope Benedict in support of Roman Catholic Womenpriests

Dear Holy Father,
Do you like and respect women? Do you think women are essential in the Roman Catholic church? If so, why are you ex-communicating women who seek to be ordained priests and bishops? I am sure you can quote canon law to support your edicts but our lives are not lived by canon law. Women have as many gifts and callings as men do, we are truly equal in everyone's eyes except the Roman Catholic church..
The pedophilia scandal rocked the church, it has still not recovered. Male priests who committed criminal as well as immoral horrific acts against children are priests, some in good standing with the Roman church.. Bishops who had full knowledge of these abuses, some fatal abuses were not sanctioned but given positions in the Vatican. The District Attorney in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for one, would like to spit on these men.
What am I to tell my daughters and granddaughters, my sons? My youngest son and his wife and three children became Lutherans because of the scandalous behavior of male priests. My son loved his church, loved the sacraments, a good catholic. You are losing people like him. He is also a fervent believer in woman priests. He feels safe in the Lutheran church, his wife accepted as a full member.
The Korean War generation is the last generation that will blindly follow pronouncements that are handed down from the Vatican officials. That's it! Once they are gone, the doors may close and be sealed. I know you don't believe that but I assure you, that is what will come of the Roman Catholic church unless they become Christlike and accept the gifts of women as full participants.
Many evenings when I enter slumber, I make an examination of conscience and ask for forgiveness for what I have done and what I have failed to do. I wonder if I have offended anyone, slighted anyone and ask for grace and forgiveness.
You are making a grave mistake by ex-communicating these brave women.
With hope and shalom,
Roseanne Harkin
Atlantic Beach, Florida

Holy Father,One of the most transformative and inevitable social movements of our lifetime is the full recognition and affirmation of women: first as human beings, second as true images reflecting God's very Being, and finally as persons graced by Christ to make His Kingdom a living and life-giving reality. There is a growing realization among the faithful that the Roman Catholic Womenpriest Movement is such a transformative and inevitable movement and indeed may very well be a special gift of the Holy Spirit to our Church in these times.When the social, moral and financial forces of the world broke apartheid in South Africa, Bishop Desmond Tutu was asked how he felt about voting for the first time in his life. "It is for me very personal....I am a full person." A person who cannot act fully is not a full person. He followed his conscience and with courage and grace liberated his people and changed much of the world; such is what the Church is asking of these women.Christ gave us the perfect example of dealing with women. Against the customs of His time, He welcomed them, even outcast sinners, into His Kingdom; how much more would He have honored courageous women who would not only risk but give their very lives by challenging those limiting societal custom of His day with the liberating spiritual ones of the Kingdom. The Roman Catholic Womenpriests are co convinced of their priestly calling and their responsibility to follow their conscience that they are willing to suffer the ecclesiastic version of abortion, excommunication. Holy Father, is there so much love and commitment in the world that we can afford, as a Church, to be contemptuous of some portion of it6?It is, of course, the responsibility of the whole Church, the magisterium included, to discern the direction of the Holy Spirit in the present and coming of the Kingdom. In some parts of the world the faithful have already given their approval of this issue, and there has always been the universal recognition that "the harvest is great, but the laborers are few." It is the sacred duty of the whole Church and especially the magisterium to see that Christ's threefold command to Peter, "Feed my Sheep" be acknowledged and carried out for the love of Christ and His people; to do otherwise would indeed be a grave betrayal. Let us pray, then, that in at least some areas of great need the Spirit will lead us to decide how these faithful women can realize their vocation as priests, be made full persons, and let His Kingdom come.
Respectfully,
Your brother in Christ,
William J. Weiskopf

I am writing to express my dismay at your recent action to excommunicate the women who have been ordained as priests and the bishops who have ordained them. I have spent many years struggling with my faith as a Catholic because of its dmarginalization of women as "less than." For me, "less than' has become the best way I can identify the feeling the Church has given me by defining me by my anatomy, while saying man are created in the image of God. When convenient, "man" is defined as all humans; but when misogyny raises its head, "man" becomes males and women become something less than the "image of God." i believe we are all created in the "image of God' and as such shold be eligible, if called by God, to receive the sacraments of holy orders. We are a sacramental church; we should recognize that each of us should be eligilbe to receive any of those sacraments. Therefore, I wish to express to you my support for the Roman Catholic women priests. Jesus treated women as disciples and equals. For 1000 years of its history, the church ordained women. So RCWP is reclaiming our sacred tradition.In 1976, The Vatican's own scholars,The Pontifical Biblical Commission concluded that there is no reason to prohibit women's ordination. The needs of the church are great. We need gender balance in the priesthood to heal the church and transform it to live according to Jesus' example. He chose Mary of Magdala according to all four Gospels to the first witness of the resurrection, so women should be partners and equals in the church. Why are pedophiles and bishops who cover up this grave scandal and criminal behavior members in good standing and women priests are excommunicated? I actually do not understand how Cardinal Law can continue to be allowed to serve when good women and men are being excommunicated for trying to bring women into full communion withthe Body of Christ. They are following in footsteps of Joan of Arc who followed her conscience and was later canonized by the church!!!
Sincerely,
Margaret

Vatican's Text on Excommunication of Womenpriests Causes Confusion, Raises Canonical and Theological Issues

http://www.pr.com/press-release/87980



The Text of the Vatican's Excommunication of Womenpriests Causes Confusion and Raises Questions



According to the Vatican text issued byArchbishop Levada of the CDF, no one in our Roman Catholic Womenpriest Community is excommunicated :



1) Since it's not retroactive.


2) And since it's only those who are ordained by male bishops in the future who will be included. And that doesn't need to be anyone if only female bishops ordain from now on.

3) Since RCWP has now ordained a married man and since the church has been regularly incardinating Lutheran, Anglican and Episcopalian married men for the last few years, (usually because they are opposed to their orignial denomination's acceptance of women's ordination to the episcopacy and acceptance of homosexual priests and bishops,) the Vatican is now, it would seem, in a theological conundrum. If they excommunicate only women but not men, who are ordained in RCWP, then the blatant sexism is indisputable. If they excommunicate men who are ordained in RCWP, then how do they justify accepting the four to five hundred married men from other Christian denominations who are functioning all over the US as Roman Catholic priests in parishes?
Bridget Mary (This list of points come from members of RCWP)

Homily: Alice Iaquinta: Roman Catholic Womanpriest

(Alice Iaquinta is third from left in picture of priests around the altar)

Homily for 9th Sunday of ordinary time: 1 June, 2008
Rev. Alice Iaquinta (Alice is second from right)
Jesus Our Shepherd parish

On May 30, 1431, a nineteen year old French girl was accused of heresy and sorcery, condemned and put to death by burning at the stake.

489 years later, on May 30, 1920, the same young woman, Joan of Arc, was canonized by the very church that had taken her life……which had taken her life because she followed her inner call, because she led her people to fight for their freedom, a direction the Catholic church hierarchy did not want her to go at the time, because she refused to recant and, if you can believe this, because she wore “men’s” clothing.

On Friday, May 30, 2008, Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, (the position the current pope used to hold,) signed a decree “Regarding the crime of attempting sacred ordination of a woman, to protect the nature and validity of the sacrament of holy orders,” that “both he who has attempted to confer holy orders on a woman, and the woman who has attempted to receive the said sacrament, incurs in Latae Sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See. …….The current decree will come into immediate force from the moment of publication in the ‘Osservatore Romano’ and is absolute and universal.”

Latae Sententiae excommunication……..I wish that meant that ordained Catholic women were going to be treated to fancy coffees, but it doesn’t.

How far have we come in the 577 years since 1431?

Joan was executed for answering her call;
today women are excommunicated for answering theirs.
I guess that is some progress.

The Rev. Joseph Fox, professor of canon law at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. said in an interview yesterday, Saturday, May 31, 2008, “This is a law that didn’t exist before, ….it won’t apply to cases that happened before it was published.” Maybe that means this decree won’t apply to me?

Anyone who incurs this automatic excommunication can only be received back into the Church by the Apostolic See, (the pope) according to the Decree.

Dominican Father Augustine Di Nola, undersecretary of the doctrinal congregation said Saturday in an interview that the “decree makes clear the fact that the people directly involved in an attempted ordination of a woman excommunicate themselves automatically; it is not a penalty imposed by the local bishop or the universal church. Since the excommunication is not imposed, there is no possibility of appeal, he said. “The only recourse is repentance.” That is the same as asking Joan to recant.

This is very hard to understand. The excommunication is not imposed by the local bishop or the universal church, so no woman can appeal it?

Hmmm.

So, in addition to the forbidding of any discussion of the question of ordaining women for the last three decades, and the persistent claiming that the church has no power to ordain women, we are now additionally told that the church does not excommunicate women who are ordained. The women do it to themselves.

It’s a bit like the description of girls “who got themselves pregnant,” back when I was young. Some of you might remember that turn of phrase. (As an old English teacher, I am always suspicious of passive voice constructions that obfuscate the real actor.)

“One terse reaction to this decree was the following, written in a comment to The National Catholic Reporter article.

Amazing! To my knowledge NONE of the priests who sexually abused children were excommunicated. Neither were the bishops who transferred them from parish to parish KNOWING that they were child molesters. But we women are more dangerous than that apparently.”


The official response from the Roman Catholic Womenpriests organization said,
“RC Womenpriests are loyal members of the church who stand in the prophetic tradition of holy disobedience to an unjust law that discriminates against women. We hold up heroic women in the church’s tradition like Hildegard of Bingen, Joan of Arc and St. Theodore Guerin who obeyed God, followed their consciences and withstood hierarchical oppression including interdict, excommunication and death. In obedience to Jesus, we are disobeying an unjust law………All people have a moral obligation to disobey an unjust law. St. Augustine taught that an unjust law is no law at all…….Canon 849 states that baptism is the gateway to the sacraments…..[maleness is not mentioned]…….Recent scholarship affirms that women were ordained in the first thousand years of the church’s history……We are reclaiming this important tradition in order to bring equality and balance and reconciliation and renewal to the church we love, and to all the holy people of God who have been hurt, marginalized and ostracized in the name of Jesus Christ…..”

I think that would include Joan of Arc.

When I was ordained a deacon, I was instructed, as is everyone ordained a deacon, “Believe what your read,
Teach what you believe, and
practice what you teach.”

That is, Think, Speak, Act.

This is exactly what we hear in our scripture readings today.

The first reading tells us to be committed totally to God, to believe heart and soul.

The Psalm tells us to take refuge in God and we prayed to be saved from shame, that is public disgrace.

St. Paul told the Romans and us, that it is not the law that produces righteousness, (right relationships,) but faith. And that faith comes from God as pure gift. We don’t deserve it, we can’t earn it, we can only say yes or no to it. And if we say yes to it, that faith will take us to places that we wouldn’t necessarily choose. That faith will require us to live out our commitment, our yes, regardless of the hardships, the attacks, the besieging and the buffeting by the “storms.” Those “storms” might be illnesses, disasters, misfortunes, or even the threats of excommunication. We are not promised that the storms won’t occur. We are told that faith, that gracious gift from God, is what will get us through, what will preserve us, despite the storm.
.
The Gospel of Matthew tells us to conform to the will of God and the result will be a life of righteousness, a life of concretized external responses to God’s call that is more than just an inner response or commitment. It will be walking the talk. It will be the action of our lives that marks us, as if tattooed, as believers.

In the end, it is God who calls. It is God who graces us with faith. It is God who ordains. In the end, it is God who will judge if we answered the call, if we accepted the gift of grace, and if we lived out that faith concretely in our lives,…………… God, not a canon law.

Amen.