Bridget Mary Meehan will speak on Roman Catholic Womenpriests Movement in Ireland on Aug.20,2010

Humbert Summer School
News Release

August 13, 2010

A gathering of “democratic republicans” will assemble next week to discuss a radical blueprint for reforming the relations of the Irish and American Catholic Churches with the Pope and the Vatican.

The gathering will bring together leading progressive Catholics from Ireland and the United States, including survivors of child clerical abuse, a senior attorney specialising in litigation against paedophile clerics, a psychiatrist dealing with paedophile priests and a woman Catholic bishop.

The assembly will open in Castlebar, Co Mayo, on Thursday August 19 under the banner of the Humbert Summer School dedicated to the republican ideals of General Jean Humbert, the French Revolutionary General, who landed in Killala Bay during the 1978 Rebellion to liberate Ireland from British rule.

The independent forum will provide a platform for reform-minded Catholics to express their outrage at the unaccountability of the Vatican and continuing clericalist control of church affairs.

“It will discuss ways of liberating the Irish and American Churches from the diktat of of the papacy and the Roman Curia, as well as iniating new forms of ministry such as married male clergy and women priests,” said Humbert School Director, John Cooney.

“It will be the biggest public focus for establishing structures for innovative people-based church governance since the publication last year of the damning Murphy Report into six decades of cover-ups in the archdiocese of Dublin from the reigns of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid to Cardinal Desmond Connell,” added Mr Cooney, the Religion Correspondent of the Irish Independent.

Announcing details yesterday (FRIDAY) of the four day School from August 19 to 22, Mr Cooney, said that the reform blueprint would be unveiled in the opening-keynote address by the veteran American journalist and author, Robert Blair Kaiser.

Mr Kaiser, who reported the Second Vatican Council, 1962-65, will talk on “Reforming the Catholic Church- No more thrones.”

Responding to Mr Kaiser’s scheme for decentralising local churches from the power of the Roman Curia while retaining communion with the papacy will be Michael Kelly, deputy editor of the Irish Catholic and Augustinian monk, Fr Iggy O’Donovan.

The case for the ordination of women priests will be put on Friday August 19 by Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan, who belongs to the fast-growing Women Priests Movement in America and Europe.

The Movements insists that its women bishops and priests have been validly ordained in line with the Catholic Church’s apostolic traditions and have ignored Vatican warnings that they incur automatic excommunication from Rome.

Irish survivors, Marie Collins and Andrew Madden, will receive their first public honours next Friday with the presentation of the Humbert School’s “Outstanding Courage Awards.”

Other prominent speakers will be One in Four Chief Executive Maeve Lewis, Californian Attorney Patrick Wall, who is currently investigating abuse claims in Germany, Boston survivor, Bernie McDaid, and Washington-based psychiatrist, Tom Drummond.

Taking part in debates will be religious affairs correspondents, Patsy McGarry of the Irish Times and Joe Little of RTE.

Speakers in debates on “A New Constitution for 20th Century Ireland” and “Can the European Union survive the euro crisis?” will include Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Dara Calleary, Labour Party Deputy leader and Finance spokesperson, Joan Burton, and Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan and MEP Jim Higgins.

The School’s annual peace address on Sunday August 22 will be given by Church of Ireland Bishop of Tuam, Achonry and Killala, Bishop Richard Henderson.

For details www.humbertschool.ie and for registration humbertschool@gmail.com

MEDIA CONTACT – JOHN COONEY
087 2418461

Women Challenge Gender Apartheid in the Catholic Church by Angela Bonavoglia

http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010summer/2010summer_Bonavoglia.php

If ever there were doubt about the relationship between the Catholic Church's spectacular failure to address the clerical child sex abuse crisis and the church's glaring system of gender apartheid, the Vatican put it to rest in July. Engendering a firestorm of criticism, their new canonical guidelines for handling and punishing the most "grave crimes" in church law revealed just how enraged the hierarchy is at women who dare to challenge them. Along with the crimes of sexually molesting children and developmentally disabled adults, and of using and distributing pornography, the Vatican listed: "the attempted sacred ordination of a woman."

In other words, the two greatest problems the Catholic hierarchy faces are women and children..."

"So threatening was the Danube event that one month after, Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, publicly denounced and excommunicated all seven women. That is a sanction he has never issued— even now, in the new canonical guidelines — against a single cleric who raped or sodomized a child or a single bishop who aided and abetted such crimes..."

"Benedict's actions have not stemmed the tide. Nearly 100 women have been ordained or are in training to be ordained through the Roman Catholic Women Priests movement, vividly documented in Jules Hart's just-released film, Pink Smoke Over the Vatican. The new canonical guidelines call for excommunication of the ordained woman and the priest who ordains her, which is redundant, since the Vatican did that in 2007. But it also authorizes speedy recourse to the ultimate punishment for a priest: laicization, or the end of his priesthood."

"That laicization threat shows just how dangerous the hierarchy sees the passionate, public expressions of support from high-profile Catholic priests, like beloved peace activist Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of the School of Americas Watch. Under threat of excommunication for co-presiding at one of the ordinations, Bourgeois remains an outspoken advocate, insisting that "there will never be justice in the Catholic Church until women can be ordained."...

Without women priests, Catholics miss out on ministry/Article in NCR Online

http://ncronline.org/blogs/small-c-catholic/without-women-priests-catholics-miss-out-ministry

by Bill Tammeus on Aug. 11, 2010 NCR Online

For decades now I’ve watched Catholics debate whether to ordain women as priests, an issue that flared again recently when the Vatican named “attempted women’s ordination” among “grave crimes.”...

But sometimes I wonder if Catholics know what they’re missing by not having female priests. Yes, Catholics get a sense of ministry by women through the often remarkable work of women religious. But even that is different from authorizing women to engage in the full range of ministry, including administering the sacraments...

But Catherine’s real skill was being a feminine ministerial presence in the midst of pain. When my 31-year-old nephew died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a passenger on the first plane to hit the World Trade Center, she dropped whatever else was on her agenda and came to our house to mourn with us -- several times.

She didn’t come with clear and headstrong theological answers for us, though of course she was willing to struggle with our questions. Rather, she brought her presence, an absorbing warmth and understanding that I’ve never felt from a male member of the clergy. To survive in ministry as a female, she knew she needed both head and heart, and she had managed not to abandon her nurturing heart as she lived her life on a playing field dominated by men...

"I wish all Christians could experience this kind of ministry."

* * *

Bill Tammeus, a Presbyterian elder and former award-winning faith columnist for The Kansas City Star, writes the daily "Faith Matters" blog for The Star’s website and a monthly column for The Presbyterian Outlook. His latest book, co-authored with Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn, is They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust. His e-mail address is wtammeus@kc.rr.com.

Janice Sevre-Duszynska: Witnesses for Justice and Peace (Resistance for a Nuclear-Free Future)

Janice Sevre-Duszynska,RCWP above in stole and in the middle in of social justice advocates at Maryille College and the Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It is the front page story in Streetvibes, Cincinnati's activist newspaper advocating justice and building community. The title of the conference was Resistance for a Nuclear-Free Future. We also commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Plowshares Movement, The Nuclear Resister and Nukewatch.
http://streetvibes.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/a-joyous-hammer-strikes-again-at-y-12/

Excommunicate me, please by Sheila O'Brien/Chicago Tribune/Aug. 4, 2010

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-08-04/news/ct-oped-0804-excommunicate-20100804_1_excommunication-bishops-hierarchy

Excommunicate me, please

August 04, 2010|By Sheila O'Brien

"Would someone in Rome formally excommunicate me, please? I want to be excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church because walking away will break my heart.

My grandparents left Ireland with nothing but their vibrant faith. They and my parents brought my siblings and me to a baptismal font and promised to guide us to Christ. And, they did that by word and deed. They taught us to love the Gospel and challenged us to live that Gospel at all costs. I love the Mass, Catholic social teaching, the scores of nuns who built the church around the world, the dedicated priests and people who love God with all their hearts and bring that love to the world. It is my life, the center of every experience, the filter for reality.

But, the headlines continue — more pedophilia, more stonewalling by the bishops, more "norms" from Rome protecting perpetrators. Now, it is a "crime" of the church to attempt to ordain people like Mother Teresa or St. Teresa of Avila — women. And, the hierarchy, who have arguably hidden crimes and criminals, who will not open the books so we can see where our money has gone and who always claim the moral high ground, have grouped ordaining women with pedophilia.

Our heads swirl. How can we stay in a church whose leaders protect pedophiles? Yet, how can we leave and relinquish our church to those very leaders?..."


Sheila O'Brien is a wife, mother, daughter, sister, a product of 22 years of Catholic education and active in her parish. She is a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court, Chicago.

Judge Sheila O'Brien's earnest plea for excommunication reflects the pain at the heart of many Catholics. Indeed, how can the Vatican protect pedophiles and excommunicate women priests?
Since this news, Roman Catholic Womenpriests have heard from many people, especially women, who are fed up with the church's discrimination against women. The good news is that some qualified women are discerning a vocation to the priesthood!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
703-505-0004
sofiabmm@aol.com





__._,_.___

Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community Ordains Female Pastoral Assistant to the Roman Catholic Priesthood

left Pastor Jane Via and Pastoral Assistant
Nancy Corran

Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community

“A new way to be Roman Catholic”

•Making Catholicism relevant •Restoring women’s ordination •Living the change we envision

**NEWS RELEASE**

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Phillip Faker

July 31, 2010 619-987-9288 or philf@cox.net

Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community Ordains

Female Pastoral Assistant to the Roman Catholic Priesthood

San Diego, CA – Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community (MMACC) joyfully announced today the ordination of community member and new Assistant Pastor Nancy Corran. The ordination ceremony was held on Saturday, July 31 at 7:00 p.m. at Gethsemane Lutheran Church and was attended by over 150 community members and guests.

MMACC is a Roman Catholic parish trying to lead the way in bringing reform and much needed changes to the Church. Led by Pastor Rev. Dr. Jane Via and Associate Pastor Rev. Rod Stephens, the community strives to be an inclusive Catholic community whose mission is to: reach out to those who feel marginalized by the traditional Roman Catholic Church; live Gospel values, especially those of compassion, peace, and social justice, as taught and exemplified by Jesus the Christ; commit to the full equality of women and men in a transformed Roman Catholic Church and world; and create a new model of church community as a discipleship of equals through radical inclusivity in language, worship and ministry.

Currently, the Vatican does not permit women to be priests or allow its local catholic communities to ordain priests (male or female). The Vatican has recently declared the ordination of women to be an offense in the same category as pedophilia. However, in the early Church, women served as priests and deacons and were selected from among their respective local church communities. Local communities were involved in the selection of their clergy at least until the 11th century and women were ordained as deacons until the 12th century. There has not been an ordination by a Roman Catholic community for at least a millennium.

MMACC has not gone unnoticed by the Vatican. In its public statements on excommunication, the Vatican has implied excommunication of all members of MMACC and any Roman Catholics who assist in the ordination of women.

“I believe that we live in a time of radical cultural transition. The Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community is our effort to renew and transform the Church from within in a positive, constructive manner and with a compelling vision of the future church,” said Rev. Dr. Jane Via. “Today, in prophetic obedience to the earliest traditions of the Catholic church, we celebrated the ordination of and the extraordinary gifts of Nancy Corran. Nancy’s education, talent for ministry, and amazing faith led our community to call her to serve as priest as we work toward a larger structure of accountability in a Church that has integrity. Our community is blessed to have her as a member of our pastoral team and we are excited to share our faith journey with her.”

A San Diego native, Nancy holds a Diploma in Theology from Oxford, and a Master of Divinity from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California which is part of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She also completed post master’s studies in theology and Biblical languages in Switzerland. While raised primarily in the Presbyterian Church, Nancy had been drawn to many aspects of the Catholic tradition as a young adult. Ultimately, she decided against conversion to the Roman Catholic Church because of its hierarchy, patriarchy and refusal to ordain women. Searching for a more inclusive vision of church, Nancy joined the Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community in 2005. Given her vast experience in spiritual, academic, and religious formation, Nancy was asked to serve as Pastoral Assistant. She was formally called to ordination by the community this year. Her current responsibilities there include adult education, serving as presider and homilist, religious education for the children, and many other tasks supportive of parish life.

For more information about Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community, please visit our website www.mmacc.org.

Vatican Inner Workings- Hierarchy-Sex Offender Mentaility/Real Crime Refusing to Allow Women's Ordination? National Catholic Reporter

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/inner-workings-hierarchy-sex-offender-mentality

By Fran Ferder and John Heagle

"Rome has now connected the sexual abuse of minors and a ban on the ordination of women in one of its own documents. Perhaps those who crafted the document are on to something: The refusal to allow women into the inner sanctum of ecclesial power may well be related to clergy sexual abuse, and to the Vatican’s impotence in addressing this crime in a truly pastoral way. Is the attempted ordination of women a crime, or is the real crime the refusal to allow it?"

Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community: "Congregation Ordains Catholic Female Pastor" San Diego Union Tribune

Husband Russ witnesses to Nancy's being qualified to serve as priest.

Community blesses as Nancy is prostrate

Children are the first to ordain and lay hands on Nancy

Community member lays hands on Nancy

MMACC's new woman priest continues the Eucharistic celebration

Jane Via on left and NancyCorran on right
( Photos courtesy of Victoria Rue)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/01/congregation-ordains-catholic-female-pastor/

By Christopher Cadelago

"Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community ordained a female pastor Saturday, risking excommunication despite assertions that it represents the true roots of Roman Catholicism.

Nancy Corran was ordained by roughly 150 parishioners rather than a bishop. The ceremony at a rented church in Serra Mesa hearkened back to ancient communities that called forth and ordained women, some religious scholars said"....

Video Link: Nancy Corran, ordained by the MMACC community in San Diego, was interviewed an hourbefore her Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday. Here is the link:

http://www.10news.com/video/24480406/index.html

Vatican Mandates Excommunication for Ordained Women, But Not For Pedophiles

Quote from homily given by Roberta Meehan,RCWP

"Women's ordination is a crime worthy of excommunication because it defiles a sacrament. This is a new ruling. Pedophilia, which destroys the lives and souls of the victims, is a moral sin but it is not serious enough to warrant excommunication. But, women's ordination is not simple disobedience but is a sacrilege because the female body (being a second class creation) defiles the sacrament."

"On the west coast of Florida, a small group of Catholic women priests is saying mass in defiance of the Vatican"

Dena O'Callaghan presides at Liturgy

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/on-the-west-coast-of-florida-a-small-834535.html?page=2&viewAsSinglePage=true

Palm Beach Post

ESTERO — "Like the first Christians, they are outcasts. They meet in private homes and sympathetic Protestant churches.

They are a small band of women priests and the people who believe that they can melt the rock-solid determination of the Vatican to keep the Catholic priesthood all male..."

"...Dena O'Callaghan, 73, ordained two years ago, remains upbeat in the face of every new Vatican pronouncement. She is certain that the church will eventually change its position on women priests.

"Gosh, if I didn't believe that, I'd have no vision," said O'Callaghan.

A group of about 25 people, including several women priests, several husbands and other supporters of the movement, met in Estero on July 22, the feast day of Mary Magdalene, the first person to see the risen Christ. They call her the apostle to the apostles.

O'Callaghan officiated at the Mass, assisted by her husband, John O'Callaghan, a priest who was suspended from official ministry when they married in 1996."....

"'Being a woman priest is what I feel I am called to do' '" by Patsy McGarry / Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0731/1224275874936.html

PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent

Sat, Jul 31, 2010

"The Vatican’s directive confirming its policy of excommunication for those involved in the ordination of women has been greeted with defiance by dissidents in the US and dismay by Irish campaigners...

Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan is a leader of an ever-growing band of dissidents from this policy. She is “happy to be excommunicated. If they keep going like this there’ll soon be more ‘out’ than ‘in’. We’re at the heart of the church, renewing it. We’re not going to put up with second-class membership any more. We are an empowered community of Catholics. Mysticism and social justice are in my DNA as an Irish Catholic. I love the faith, but this corrupt church has to be reformed. Where are the excommunicated paedophiles or bishops who covered up the abuse of children?...”

"Misogyny as church policy" by Eileen M. DiFranco/ Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100730_Misogyny_as_church_policy.html#ixzz0v9EAHYrr

Misogyny as church policy

The equation of female ordination with pedophilia fits a Vatican pattern.

By Eileen M. DiFranco

"We might come to understand the present and anticipate the future by studying the past. And so the recent Vatican announcement equating the ordination of women with pedophilia should be seen in the context of the church's pervasive and persistent clerical misogyny throughout its history"...

..."church fathers - ranging from Tertullian to Jerome to Thomas Aquinas to the recent popes - have held in one way or another that women are unfit for the priesthood. This is due either to their inherent inferiority of character or to their lack of male body parts..."

New priests' reform movement launched in Ireland/Irish Catholic

http://www.irishcatholic.ie/site/content/new-priests-reform-movement-launched

New priests' reform movement launched in Ireland

29 Jul 2010

Garry O'Sullivan and Michael Kelly

"A new priests' movement is being planned to push for a reformation within Irish Catholicism, The Irish Catholic has learned. The push, which will include a call for the Church to re-evaluate its teaching on sexuality as well as ''an equal place for women in all areas of Church life'' is the brainchild of three prominent priests."

"In a statement to The Irish Catholic, the three, Fr Tony Flannery, Fr Brendan Hoban and Fr Sean McDonagh said ''the consensus was that, due to the diversity of opinion among priests, it would be impossible to represent all clergy."

I congratulate Fr. Tony Flannery, Fr. Brendan Hoban and Fr. Sean McDonagh for their courage in initiating a reform movement in Ireland. This is a very hopeful sign. Even if you stir up a hornet's nest of opposition by the hierarchy and/or by the Vatican. It is time that, we the people, including our male and female priests resist the oppression and take back our beloved church! My prayers are with you!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
sofiabmm@aol.com
703-505-0004

Archbishop Dolan/"You cannot Justify the Vatican's Attack on Womenpriests,; Sexism is a Sin"

Archbishop Dolan rips New York Times coverage of Pope July 27, 2010

Singling out The New York Times, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York blasted media coverage of the Vatican’s revised norms for the clerical abuse of minors and other exceptionally serious crimes.

...“It is a source of consternation as to why, instead of complimenting the Vatican and a reformer like Pope Benedict XVI, for codifying procedures long advocated by critics, such outfits would instead choose to intrude on a matter of internal doctrine, namely the ordination of women.”

Archbishop Dolan, "you cannot justify the Vatican's attack on Womenpriests. Sexism is a Sin. It is time to follow Jesus example of Gospel equality. Jesus did not ordain anyone . The Vatican's Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1976 concluded that there is nothing to prohibit women's ordination in the bible. The emperor has no clothes! Stop blaming the New York Times.

The ordination of women is not a crime. It is a disgrace that the Vatican would come out with such a mysogynist statement. It is absolute theological nonsense, and you know it!

Roman Catholic Womenpriests are faithful members of our church. We are not leaving the Catholic Church and no punishment will push us out. We are leading the church into a new era of justice and equality for women in the church. We are the "Rosa Parks" of the Catholic Church, disobeying an unjust law and following our consciences. We are not going away! We are growing!

We will endure and justice will triumph!

We love the church and are in the process of changing it into a renewed vibrant, people-empowed model in grassroots communities.

Bridget Mary Meehan,RCWP

703-505-0004

sofiabmm@aol.com

“

"Vatican Must Not Be Granted Immunity from Equality Legislation" by Mary Condren/Irish Times/ Live Dream Now!

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0726/1224275466148.html

ANALYSIS:" The Vatican must no longer be granted immunity from equality legislation, in the name of liberty, equality, and even the Gospel, "writes MARY CONDREN

"THE VATICAN’S recent Normae de Gravioribus Delictis document prescribes automatic excommunication for anyone involved in the ordination of a woman. In according greater penalties to those who “attempted” women’s ordination than to clerics who abused children, it has further shocked many loyal Irish Catholics, prompting them to inquire about the theological reasons why the Roman Catholic Church objects to women’s ordination."

I agree completely with Mary Condren The Vatican decision to classify women's ordination as a grave crime against the sacraments is the last straw for the majority of Catholics who believe in Gospel equality. Sadly, the Vatican is creating a toxic atmosphere for women in the church and unintentionally caused a tipping point. One woman who emailed me recently said that she could no longer go to her local parish because the church was too toxic.

Likewise, recently, a young woman who completed twelve years of Catholic School, recently gave me a "high-five" for challenging the Vatican's condemnation of womenpriests. RCWP is offering hope to people today who live in a world where partnership is the norm and equal pay for equal work is the law.

Womenpriests are visible reminders that women are equal images of God. We are not defective males unworthy of presiding at sacramental worship as St. Thomas Aquinas taught. God created women and men in the divine image. Who are the men in the Vatican to treat women as inferior, not capable of imaging Christ as a priest simply because we are not male? What a sexist view of the subordination of women!

Women and men of the church, join us on the long march to freedom, justice and equality. Let us gather with kindred supporters from all faiths and no faith who walk in solidarity with us from around the world. Let us proclaim as St. Paul wrote in Galations that in Christ, "there is neither male nor female, all are one..." Let us pray, demonstrate and work for the renewal of our church of a renewed priestly ministry in a community of equals. Let us live as if this dream is a reality in our grassroots communities as we become the church of our dreams!. Then sooner or later, the Vatican will catch up and embrace the full equality of women as the Body of Christ in all ministries in our church including Holy Orders!

Bridget Mary Meehan

sofiabmm@aol.com

703-505-0004

Toni Tortorilla Says Vatican Out of Touch With Reality

Toni Tortorilla
http://www.oregonlive.com/O/index.ssf/2010/07/ordained_women_hope_church_wil.html

Toni Tortorilla, ordained in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests ...
OregonLive.com

"A Portland woman, ordained in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement three years ago, says the Vatican announcement earlier this month listing pedophilia and women's ordination as grave offenses is an insult to clerical abuse victims and women seeking ordination.

"The sexual abuse of children is morally reprehensible by any possible standard," says Toni Tortorilla, 63. "The ordination of women has been happening for decades in many denominations." She says pairing the issues in one statement "shows how out of touch with reality the Vatican really is."

"Claiming Equal Rights By Using Equal Rites: A Response to Rosemary Radford Ruether" by Patricia Fresen

From left to right:
Bishops Ida Raming, Patricia Fresen,
and Gisela Forster
at Pittsburgh, first US ordinations
July 31, 2006.


Twelve women were ordained
in first ordinations in
U.S. in Pittsburgh
-8 priests, 4 deacons

Claiming equal rights by using equal rites:

a response to Rosemary Radford Ruether

by Patricia Fresen

Rosemary Radford Ruether has recently written a very scholarly paper, comparing the form of ordination in RCWP with that which will be used by the MMACC community for the ordination of a new womanpriest later this month. In the paper, she puts forward good arguments against apostolic succession.

As I read Radford Ruether’s paper, I feel impelled to point out that she has missed the main reason why we our do RCWP ordinations in the way we do - and why we emphasise apostolic succession.

The main point about our claim to be ordained in apostolic succession is not that we believe that apostolic succession actually goes back to the apostles, nor that it passes on in some mechanistic way the power to ‘confect’ the Eucharist and not even that it is the only possible valid form of ordination.

The main point from the beginning of RCWP was, in fact, to claim equality for women in the church and to bring about change in the R.C. church with regard to the ordination of women. This meant, from the beginning, that we needed to be ordained in exactly the same way as the men. It is the official church that regards ordination by a bishop in apostolic succession as the only valid form of ordination in the R.C. church - and therefore there was the need to use the same process if we were to claim equality with male priests and validity of Orders. Therefore it has been important that we be ordained, like the men, by a bishop ordained in apostolic succession. Our insistence that ordination does indeed ‘take’ in a woman, despite all the traditional and contemporary arguments against this (so well described by Radford Ruether) has clearly made some impact on both the hierarchy and the people - which would not have been the case, we believe, if we had bypassed the traditional, canonical teaching about a bishop being the minister of sacred ordination.

If we had used a different form of ordination, not recognizable as the rite of priestly ordination in the R.C. church, I think we would have been much more easily laughed off or ignored by the hierarchy. Doing it their way has been the main point, first in order to claim validity of ordination and therefore equality with men in the church and secondly to bring about reform - and this certainly seems to be working. Further, the impact we are having on the Vatican has very much to do with the fact that a great many non-PhD, but thinking, Catholics see us as very Catholic and very much in the tradition. This, too, has the Vatican worried.

And the church’s claim that only men who share Christ’s maleness have the power to ‘confect’ (dreadful word!) the Eucharist is loudly and clearly contradicted by people’s experience, in the assembly, of ordained women presiding at Eucharist, or by the images of them on television screens, on You-tube and on photographs.

I know of several women who have been ordained, in the last ten years or so, by a community laying-on of hands without the presence of a bishop. None of these ordinations has had the slightest impact on the Vatican or brought about any changes in the church. Our very public and very recognizably Roman Catholic ordinations, on the other hand, have made the hierarchy sit up and take notice. They are very worried, as is evidenced by their multiple excommunications of us and, as they find that these excommunications are having little or no effect, they have resorted to making the outrageous claim that the attempt to ordain a woman is a ‘delicta graviora’, alongside the crime of sexual abuse.

I believe that, rather than our RCWP claim to apostolic succession being ‘faulty’, it has been necessary in the context of claiming equal rights for women in the church:

we claim equal rights by using equal rites! Radford Ruether’s arguments against apostolic succession, showing the confusion and the faulty teaching about it, assume that RCWP subscribes to the official view. This is not necessarily the case for many of us within RCWP. But that is the path we have needed to take, given the circumstances. It is, I am convinced, a valid path to ordination and priesthood. But we too question the theology and the faulty claims about the historicity and traditions regarding apostolic succession.

One more point: Braschi is not the bishop to whom we are referring in the statement cited by Radford Ruether taken from the RCWP website, although it would be easy to read the text in that way. Braschi did not ordain our first women bishops, but we cannot reveal the identity of the bishop who did.

Working out, within RCWP, the way forward with the MMACC community will be our next challenge and I am convinced that, together, we will find it.

23 July 2010