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| From left to right: Jane Via RCWP, Janice Sevre Duszynska ARCWP, and Roy Bourgeois |
From 2002 through 2016, the Vatican has
condemned the ordination of women priests. Since the ordination of “The Danube
Seven” in 2002, the Vatican has tried a number of strategies to quash our
movement: excommunication, silencing, shunning, firing and ignoring. Now ten
years since the first U.S. ordinations on the boat in Pittsburgh, the door has
been opened for the first time. During Holy Week, March 24, the feast day of
Oscar Romero, in the era of Pope Francis and his Year of Mercy, a conversation
-- turbulent at first -- began.
Outside the Vatican Embassy on Massachusetts
Avenue in Washington, D.C. on Holy Thursday, March 24th the three of us -- two
women priests – Jane Via and Janice Sevre-Duszynska, and one excommunicated male
priest –Roy Bourgeois -- washed the feet of supporters on the sidewalk in front
of the embassy as cars and buses passed on the busy road.
We prayed and shared our
statement of purpose to Pope Francis and the Catholic Church calling for the
full and equal inclusion of women and GLBT people. We read from Scripture, and
prayed again this time that church leaders would remember Jesus’ teaching to be
servant leaders and love all disciples as Jesus had. We thanked those who
gathered with us, re-read our statement of purpose lifted up our signs, and –
still in albs and stoles – stepped onto Vatican property and walked toward the
door. We had no idea how our action would play out.
Before we crossed the
circle drive, suddenly filled with police vehicles, we were surrounded and
intercepted by Secret Service officers announcing we were trespassing on private
property and had to leave. We walked past and through them to the door where Roy
posted our statement then rang the doorbell. To our surprise, the door opened
and Roy was able to hand in a manila envelope with a signed copy of our
statement asking that it be forwarded to Pope Francis. Then, we turned to face
the street holding our signs for passing traffic to see. They read: Pope
Francis: Ordain Women, God IS Calling Women To Be Priests and God Created US All
Equal – Gay & Straight.
The officers began the ritual notice: “You are
on private property. If you don’t leave, you will be arrested. Do you
understand?” Over the next two hours, one supervisor after another, each higher
than the former, arrived at the embassy and spoke with us. There were pauses for
radio calls, the arrival of even higher
supervisors and then the announcements would begin again. The highest authority,
who arrived in a suit, announced that he was from the State Department. He
threatened us with the dire state of the D.C. jail and “the very bad people” we
would share space with if we were arrested.
Intermittently, two to three officers would
disappear around the side of the palace-like building to confer with the Papal
Nuncio and staff. Eventually, the officers told us the Nuncio would like to meet with one of us,
specifically a woman. We declined the invitation, suggesting the officer tell
the Nuncio we would meet if all of us were invited. After all, we were only
three people, not a crowd of protesters. Told, “That was not the invitation,” we
remained silent.
The day became hot. We were dressed too warmly
in order not to be cold in jail if we were held. The sun beat down on us. Above,
the Papal flag, yellow and white, fluttering in the breeze, provided occasional
relief, blocking the sun.
More negotiations between the officers and the
Nuncio followed, until officers announced the Nuncio would come to
us.
He came up the steps and onto the porch alone,
while his staff remained in the driveway. Officers joined him on the steps,
standing on either side and behind us. Wearing a Roman collar, the man
introduced himself by title and, although we asked him several times, he
declined to give his name.
He engaged Roy first, who tried to speak for
GLBT people, how they suffer because of church teaching, and of God’s love for all people. The Nuncio
kept interrupting him. He was arrogant, insolent in style and tone, lecturing us
on church teaching, as if its truth was self-evident. The exchange became
heated, raised voices talking over one another. Officers closed in on Roy, ready
to restrain him if needed. Janice intervened: “The
Church’s teaching creates suffering for GLBT people and they are murdered in
Africa and Latin America.” “They commit
suicide,” Roy said and shared the difficulties of someone in his own family. The
Nuncio replied that the church
didn’t kill anyone; these people had their
own consciences; they made their own
decisions.
The Nuncio
then invited one of us women priests to talk with him inside the embassy. We
looked at each other, then said: “No, it would have to be all three of us in
solidarity.”
Roy told him that the church was hurting women
and itself by not ordaining women. The Nuncio said that issue had been a closed
door since John Paul II.
“You need to read Catholic theologians Gary
Macy and Dorothy Irving,” Janice said as he looked at
her intently. “Their research gives evidence of women’s leadership in early
Christianity including deaconesses, presbyteras and bishops up until the
12th century.” His face
revealed no hint of surprise. “The US church has lost 33
million Catholics because its leadership has refused to hear the voice of the
Spirit within the people who embrace women priests and GLBTs. There is a
connection,” Janice
said, “between the church’s oppression of women and violence toward women
and their children in the world.” He responded that the church isn’t responsible
for violence in the world.
When the Nuncio finally approached Jane, after
again refusing to give his name despite very polite inquiry, told us he had
been Nuncio since 2011, disclosing his identity as Carlo Maria Vergano, the
Nuncio responsible for inviting Kim Davis -- who refused to follow federal law
and give marriage licenses to GLBT people -- to meet Pope Francis, sparking
a media firestorm and public outrage that the Pope
embraced Davis and encouraged her to keep up her good work. Then Vergano, in an
indignant and derisive tone asked, “Where did you get those clothes?” in
reference to the alb and stole Jane was wearing. The irrelevance of the question
resulted in Jane’s blank stare and his move away. His comment reminded us of the Rome police asking Janice the same question in front of St. Peter’s
Square before detaining her during the March
2013 papal Conclave.
As he was leaving, we
told the Nuncio we would stay until we were assured Pope Francis received our
statement of purpose. He said Francis would eventually get the statement
– which he said he already read. As he neared the side of the building to return
into the Embassy, he said, “You can stay as long as you like. If you need
something to eat or drink let us know.”
Shortly
afterwards, officers explained that
the Nuncio declined to arrest us. We could
stay. Most officers departed, leaving only two vehicles, on at each side of the
circular drive.
Minutes later, we heard
noise above us as we stood on the porch, holding our signs. Looking up, we saw
the Papal flag disappearing into the embassy.
It was afternoon by
now. We had had nothing to eat or drink
since our early, light breakfast. We were glad we were fasting, delaying the
inevitable as long as possible. We talked further about our witness here on the
steps of the Vatican Embassy, the Nuncio’s choice not
to arrest us, and how to proceed. We
decided we would “occupy” the porch and lawn of the embassy for 24 hours from
the time our trespass began. We would sleep on the porch of the Vatican Embassy on Holy
Thursday.
During the hours
between 1pm and 8pm, Roy stood with his
banner on the Vatican’s porch while Jane -- whose arm was in a cast from her
wrist to her elbow -- and Janice held our signs for
women priests and GLBT equality on the lawn until nightfall. We attracted the
attention of thousands of drivers on busy Massachusetts Avenue, many who gave us
thumbs-up or tooted their horns in approval. We also made friends with John
Wojnowski, 73, who was sexually abused when he was 14 by a priest in Italy.
John, who has been protesting with his huge sign – accusing the Vatican of protecting
pedophiles -- outside the embassy for 17 years, told us the incident
changed who he was. “I’ve lived with the idea of committing suicide
everyday (since),” he said.
As night fell, the wind
picked up and it grew colder. We sat on the
embassy porch bundled in our light jackets as a number of police squads pulled
up. A plainclothes secret serviceman told us
we would be arrested on his way to talk with the Nuncio. Meanwhile, friends arrived to take Jane
and Janice to a restroom and provide water and blankets. We took only one
blanket each, thinking we would spend the night in jail where the activists’
rule is: have your ID and metro card only.
Roy had a different perspective. Throughout the day, he repeatedly told us, “The Vatican is not going to
arrest women priests.”
Not long after our friends left, the secret
serviceman announced, “The ambassador says it’s okay for you to stay overnight.”
Initially too wired to sleep, we sat talking. About midnight, another friend and
supporter arrived with wine and paper cups.
Having had no solid food since early morning and few liquids, we drank
cautiously. As the day had become night, the warmth became cold, and the wine
warmed us and relaxed us.
Eventually, we laid down in a row, our heads next to the
embassy door, with one thin blanket between us and the concrete and our stoles
as our pillows. We cocooned ourselves in our
individual blankets, warm but not warm
enough, draped our signs over our blankets,
and tried to sleep.
Friday morning, we woke to a cold but sunny
morning. We left Roy to hold down the porch while we sought restrooms and coffee. Then we
returned to the lawn and traffic for more witnessing.
At 10:00 a.m., 24 hours after our trespass
began, we prayed with one another and packed to leave. As we stood on the
sidewalk, the Nuncio came down the driveway toward us. His attitude was
completely different. He acknowledged our courage and thanked us for being
nonviolent. He said he wanted to shake our hands before we left. He told us
that Francis knew we were there and that Francis had received our statement.
Another discussion began, but this time, he allowed us to speak. Though he never
showed agreement, he listened. He expressed his belief that the demise of the
Protestant churches is the result of the ordination of women and that GLBT
people are as they are due to some sin in them. We gave him brief condensed
versions of our most basic arguments. At his request, his priest companion, who
was watching our interchange, took photos of us standing together and
smiling.
As we were preparing to
leave a cyclist passed us, then stopped and backed up. A young woman of about
thirty, she smiled at us and asked if we were there the day before witnessing to
women’s ordination. When we acknowledged we
were, she thanked us and launched into a description of the theology course she
was taking at Georgetown, their study of Canon 1024 (which says only a baptized
male can be ordained) and her conviction that change in the church was so
important. At that point, and for the first
time, she looked directly at the Nuncio, the only one among us wearing a Roman
collar, and said, “I hope that you decision-makers will be supportive.” With a
smile and a wave, off she went. The three of us watched her go in
amazement.
At one point in the
conversation, Janice turned to address the priest who introduced himself as the
Nuncio’s councilor. He repeated what the
Nuncio had said before: that the Church
receives its instructions from God. Janice responded that Holy Spirit Wisdom,
Sophia Wisdom, works through the church, especially the people of God, and
transforms our thinking; that women are in need of feminine images of God
because without them there is damage to our souls; that men can be filled with
hubris and arrogance from not experiencing feminine images of God; that we need women to celebrate Eucharist – as
womenpriests do – with our sacred, holy,
feminine bodies. Janice asked him if
he was aware of femicide in our world. “We need the Gospels interpreted from the
experience of women living and dying,” she said. “God speaks through the
Church,” he replied.
Janice looked at him and smiled as a thought
came through. “Didn’t St. Francis of Assisi teach the church?” she asked. His
eyes lit up and he smiled. “So do women priests and the GLBT community,” she
added.
Farewells said,
including handshakes and Italian kisses on the cheeks, the Nuncio left and we
climbed into a cab.
We reflected on how events had unfolded in
unimaginable and remarkable ways. We think
the Spirit moved all of us, in and out of the embassy, so that seeds were
planted in the hearts of decision-makers; but only time will tell. For us, a
night in the DC Metropolitan jail sharing a bare metal bed with herds of
cockroaches, will have to wait for another day. Meanwhile, perhaps the Vatican
is listening…Like the persistent widow of Luke’s gospel, we keep knocking at
those decision makers’ doors.
TO
POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:
“Where
there is injustice, silence is complicity. We have come to the Vatican Embassy
in Washington, D.C., to speak out against the grave injustice being done to
women and gay people by the Catholic Church.
1.
WOMEN IN THE CHURCH: God created women and men equal: ‘There is neither male nor
female. In Christ you are one.’ (Galatians 3:28) God calls both men and women to
the priesthood, but Catholic women who are called are rejected because of their
gender. Who are men to say that their call from God is authentic, but God’s call
to women is not?
The
ordination of women is not a problem with God, but with an all-male clerical
culture that views women as inferior to men. The problem is sexism and sexism,
like racism, is a sin.
2.
GAYS IN THE CHURCH: The official teaching of the Catholic Church states that
homosexuals are ‘objectively disordered.’ For millions of gay people, this
teaching instills shame and self-hatred. It has contributed to gay people being
rejected by their families, fired from their jobs, bullied and even killed. This
teaching has also contributed to suicides, especially among
teenagers.
God
does not make mistakes in creation. Our all-loving God created everyone of equal
worth and dignity: gay and straight. Our Church’s teaching on homosexuality is
cruel and is based on a theology inconsistent with the teaching of
Jesus.
We
are here today to call upon Pope Francis and the Catholic Church to ordain women
and start treating LGBT people as equals.”
Jane
Via, Ph.D., J.D. is a former professor of theology, a retired county prosecutor
and an ordained Roman Catholic Woman Priest. In 2005, she founded an independent
Catholic parish in the Roman Catholic tradition which thrives in San Diego, CA.
She is married and has two adult, feminist sons."
Janice
Sevre-Duszynska, D.Min., a retired teacher and journalist, is an activist priest
in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and an international leader
for women's equality in the Roman Catholic Church. Her journey is explored in
the award-winning documentary, "Pink Smoke Over the
Vatican."
Roy
Bourgeois served as a Catholic priest for 40 years. He is a Purple Heart
recipient and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. In 2012, he was expelled from the
priesthood and the Maryknoll Fathers because of his public support for the
ordination of women.
Breaking News! Women Priests and
Male Priest Fast and Occupy Steps of Vatican Embassy in Washington
DC
