Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests Response to Pope Francis’s Failure to Revise Canon Law Equating Women’s Ordination with Clergy Sex Abuse
On June 1, 2021 Pope Francis shunned the Spirit’s lead to transform the centuries old patriarchal bias against Catholic women called to priestly ministry. He failed to revise Canon 1379 which equates women’s ordination with the grave crime of clerical sex abuse. This updated Canon continues to reserve the harshest punishment of excommunication for ordained women serving the people of God as liturgical presiders, pastoral ministers, spiritual counsellors, interfaith chaplains and social justice advocates. This misogynist man-made law is a degrading insult not only to women called to Holy Orders but to faithful Catholics everywhere.
The worldwide international Roman Catholic Women Priest Movement is supported by millions of our fellow Catholics who reject the Vatican’s continued discrimination against women from a hierarchical model. Rather, they embrace an inclusive, Christ-centered and Spirit-empowered model of Church as a community of equals where all are welcome to receive Eucharist and other sacraments, including the LGBTIQA, and divorced and remarried population.
Moreover, in recent years, some Catholics in priest-deprived areas have been calling women in their communities to be ordained as well as inviting women priests to serve as sacramental leaders to promote spiritual transformation, restorative justice and social change.
The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests claims our spiritual authority to ordain women as a prophetic act to lead the Church to live Gospel equality and justice now. We joyfully respond to the Spirit’s call to create new paths for spiritual renewal and structural transformation in our Church that affirm women as equal images of the Divine in our world.
Pope Francis Misses Opportunity to Revise Misogynist Canon Law 1379 that Equates Women's Ordination with Clerical Sexual Abuse , Roman Catholic Women Priests Are Contemporary Apostles of Equality by Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP
More articles on Pope Francis and an explanation in Religious News Service link of distinction between Decree by Pope Benedict and the new change by Pope Francis which states a penalty in Canon Law.
My response to enshrining the excommunication of women priests and bishops in the revised Code of Canon Law:
The real scandal in the Church is not women priests but the misogyny of the hierarchy. The Roman Catholic Women Priests initiative is a prophetic justice movement that empowers women called to live their God given call to ordained ministry.
Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP
More than 70% of the canons on the code of canon law were changed by the reform, with only 17 articles remaining untouched. The punishments are “applied with canonical equity and having in mind the restoration of justice, the reform of the offender, and the repair of scandal,” the document reads.
The real scandal in the Church is not women priests but the misogyny of the hierarchy. Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP
I am deeply disappointed in Pope Francis who missed an opportunity to take a first step toward inclusivity, equality and justice in the newly revised Canon 1379 released on June 1st. This misogynist, canonical penalty continues to equate women's ordination with clerical sexual abuse. Both are labelled grave crimes that incur excommunication. This newly revised law should have removed all punishments against Roman Catholic Women Priests who have been serving the people of God in new ecclesial communities and justice ministries around the world for the past 19 years. Since our first ordination in 2002, we have welcomed all to receive Eucharist and other sacraments at the Table of God's extravagant love. In the spirit of the apostles, mystics and prophets -Mary Magdalene, Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena and Joan of Arc- we are following our consciences .No excommunication or unjust Canon Law will stop our movement to empower women and liberate the people of God! As followers of Jesus women priests are contemporary apostles leading the Church in a new model of partnership and equality.
Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, https://arcwp.org
Kate McAlwee, Women's Ordination Conference,
For Immediate Release: June 1, 2021
Pope Francis’ June 1 changes to the Code of Canon Law (Book VI) on offenses and punishments fail to correct the mischaracterization of the “grave crime” of women following their authentic vocations to ordained ministry. While not new, the revised canon 1379 is a painful reminder of the Vatican’s patriarchal machinery, and its far-reaching attempts to subordinate women.
In 2007, the Vatican issued a decree stating the attempted ordination of women would result in automatic excommunication, and in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI classified the “attempted ordination of a woman” as one of the most “grave crimes” in the church, on par with those who sexually abuse children.
The consistency of the Vatican’s misogyny does not diminish its power to shock and appall the faithful, who can distinguish between the actually “grave crime” of sexual abuse of a child and the fulfillment of a priestly vocation to serve the People of God.
At a time when Pope Francis has convened a second commission to study the diaconate for women, we lament the reinforcement of any barriers against women answering their vocation to “sacred orders,” which includes the diaconate.
If the church is to heal from its wounds of abuse, we know that canonical punishments alone will not suffice, particularly if the Vatican prioritizes excommunicating women above all else. The continued exclusion of women from holy orders contributes to the very culture of abuse that has failed and harmed so many.
A synodal church demands the full participation of women as equal partners in ordained ministry, and nothing less.
My Response: I transferred to Sisters for Christian Community in 1995. SFCC is new paradigm of religious life in our contemporary world. Our mystical oneness is at the heart of our vision -"that all may be one." In a world of beautiful diversity, we share a spiritual oneness that is our origin and destiny. Bridget Mary Meehan SFCC
Rita Yeasted, SFCC(Sisters for Christian Community) reflection on andMentors and Moments that Moved Sisters Ahead was published in THE LIFE section of Global Sisters report (GSR) May 31, 2021.
It is now accessible in the SFCC website. Just click on the direct link and scroll to bottom of home page. Click on SFCC IN THE NEWS and then click on Rita Yeasted,Mentors and Moments That Moved Sisters Ahead
As the saint of ""heretics, Joan of Arc reminds us not to lose heart when religious or political leaders condemn us. Joan of Arc inspires us, rather, to listen to the "voice" of God deep within our beings, our consciences, and to follow its directives. If our conscience is in conflict with Church teaching, we must always follow our conscience. If we are condemned for doing so, truth will prevail in the end. The Spirit will guide the Church on the path of wisdom, and one day, as with Joan of Arc, the Church will call us "saints" for our faithful witness to the Gospel. Bridget Mary Meehan, Praying with Visionary Women, 1999.
So, all the members of the international Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement should rejoice because our excommunications by the hierarchy and local bishops (some of us- like me- have more than one excommunication!) are a prophetic witness to Gospel equality. We are disobeying an unjust law that discriminates against women and leading the Church into a new era of justice and equality for women. Like Joan of Arc, we were born to do this!
"And, today is Trinity Sunday on the Christian calendar. What can we make of this unexplainable mystery in a world torn by so much inequity, vitriol and division? Liturgical theologian Cláudio Carvalhaes reminds us the Trinity “is a Christian belief where God is one in three persons: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. You would think this is craziness! But for Christians, it is how God moves, relates, dances, and manifests Godself in the world—always through relations.”
When U.S. Catholic bishops hold their annual meeting next month,bishops plan to vote on pressuring President Biden to stop taking Communion, excluding him from his church's "source and summit of Christian life." The Vatican disagrees. So do I. So do many Catholics!
My Response: No member of the hierarchy has the power to ban anyone from receiving Communion. Jesus invited everyone at the table including the outcastes of his time. The U.S. bishops, who support this prohibition, do not reflect Jesus' all-embracing love. I believe Jesus would weep. Bridget Mary
Faithful America Statement and Petition:
"If this right-wing hit job proceeds, it will be in spite of the Vatican warning against the inevitable divisions. It would also be just for show: Washington's Cardinal Wilton Gregory has made it clear he will not deny Biden Communion, provingthe vote's only point is to send a partisan signal.
Fortunately, several dozen bishops have signed a letter protesting the vote. San Diego's Robert McElroy has been perhaps the most vocal, arguing that exclusion from Communion is "the wrong step," especially while ignoring the "intrinsic evil" of racism: "The Eucharist is being weaponized and deployed as a tool in political warfare. This must not happen."
Despite these pleas, the bishops' conservative leaders are moving ahead with their anti-Biden crusade, prioritizing cheap political points over spiritual grace. They're ignoring Pope Francis's advice rather than following his pastoral example, andthey need to hear from grassroots Catholics and other Christians who are outraged at this weaponization of worship."
Zoom link for video- 4:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
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Theme: Embracing the Trinity as a Divine Dance
Welcome and Gathering
Mary Al:Welcome to our Zoom liturgy at Mary Mother of Jesus, an inclusive Catholic Community where all are welcome.
-We invite you to pray the liturgy and respond where it says “All.”
-All participants will be muted during the liturgy except for the presiders and readers.
-Please have bread and wine/juice nearby as we pray our Eucharistic prayer.
Whoever you are,
Wherever you are,
Just as you are,
You are welcome at this table. (Integral Christianity by Paul Smith)
Let us now take a few minutes to collect ourselves as we prepare to focus our minds and our hearts on our knowledge that we are all one, brought together at this time to transform ourselves and our world through love; love for our Holy One, love for our neighbors, love for ourselves, and love for our planet.Let us begin our liturgy by expressing this love through song.
Kathryn: In the name of our Beloved; our Creator, Jesus our brother, and Holy Spirit Wisdom, we gather to celebrate the feast of the Trinity and our oneness with and in you and in all things.This Great Mystery is the foundation and template for the entire universe, and when fully experienced, has the capacity to change everything. We seek to fully understand this Great Mystery, but more importantly to understand how we live it in our lives.Let our ears hear, our eyes see, and our hearts receive as we remember and expand the power of love on Earth.During these dark days, we live with the certainty that you walk with us, Infinite One, as we continue to awaken to the fullness of grace consciousness, united as one people, one planet, one universe, expressing unconditional love toward all living things.
A Joyful Gloria: Linda Lee Miller and graphics by Rick Miller
Moses said to the people: "Ask this question, now, looking to the ages that are past,that went before you, starting from the time when God created people on earth:
“Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other?Was anything ever like it ever heard?Did ever a people hear the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you hear it, and live to tell of it?Has any god before ever ventured to take one nation from the midst of another by ordeals, by signs and wonders, by war with a might hand and an outstretch arm, by the power of terror, as Your God did in Egypt before your eyes?
“Know this today, therefore, and take it into your hearts:Your God is God indeed, in heaven above and on earth below, and there is no other.Keep the laws and commandments of the Most High as I give them to you this day, so that you and your children may prosper and live long in the land that Your God gives you forever.And we respond by saying Amen.
Responsorial – Spirit of the Living God by Linda Lee Miller
Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. For the Spirit that God has given you does not enslave you and trap you in fear; instead, through the Spirit God has adopted you as children, and by the Spirit we cry out, “Abba Mother, Abba Father!” God’s Spirit joins with our spirit to declare that we are God’s children.And if we are children, we are heirs as well:heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing in Christ’s suffering and sharing in Christ’s glory.
These are the inspired words of the apostle Paul, and we respond by saying, Amen.
Mary Al:Gospel Reading: Matthew 28:16-20- A reading from the Gospel of Mathew
The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had summoned.At the sight of the risen Christ they fell down in homage, though some doubted what they were seeing.Jesus came forward and addressed them in these words:
"All authority has been given to me, both in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of our Holy One, and the Child of Humanity, and of the Holy Spirit.
Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always, even until the end of time!”
Homily Starter – Kathryn Shea, ARCWP
I’m beginning my homily starter with a confession.When I realized about two weeks ago that the date I signed up to preside was the Feast of the Holy Trinity, I nearly fainted.You see, I don’t believe in the Holy Trinity, at least not the idea of three people within one person.And certainly not the big man upstairs with a flowing white beard as God. So I considered asking someone to trade dates, but it was much too late for that. I had to just suck it up and do my best and discover what meaning I could find in the Holy Mystery.Indeed, it is a Holy Mystery, perhaps with no one clear definition or understanding.Perhaps each person must discover for themselves what it means to them.I want to try to understand as much as I can, go far enough so that it holds truth and meaning to me while realizing that I can only go a certain distance in my understanding.
I turned to my two favorite spiritual teachers; Richard Rohr and Paul Smith and found a whole new way to consider the Holy Trinity.Richard Rohr recently wrote a book called, “The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation” in hopes of inviting Christians to renew their lives by thinking “trinitarily”.Richard explains that our current concept of the Trinity that there is a Being out there, critically watching reality and judging it – usually judging it to be inadequate – is not creating happy people, or peaceful people.The old paradigm, without realizing it, has been falling apart. He further states the every science is discovering in it’s entirely a relational universe.Nothing stands autonomously.Relationship is the thing, the core. Richard sums up his new way of thinking by saying, “Whatever is going on In God is a flow, a radical relatedness, a perfect communion between Three-a circle dance of love.And God is not just a dancer; God is the dance itself.”
Paul Smith in his book, “Integral Christianity: The Spirit’s Call to Evolve” talks about the Trinity as the Three Faces of God; the Infinite Face of God (the Creator), the Intimate Face of God (Jesus) and the Inner Face of God (Holy Spirit).Without going into too much detail, he summarizes that “Jesus embraced all three faces of God- the Infinite Face, the Intimate Face, and the Inner Face- as he demonstrated the fullest possible relationship to God.The soul of the Jesus path is that these three points of view are also a model for us in relating to God”.
For me, embracing the Three Faces of God is quite radical, amazing and profound.I can easily adapt to this way of thinking about the Trinity, as well as the Beloved being a Divine Dance.In our readings today, we hear “Your God is God”, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God, are the children of God”, and “Know that I am with you always, even until the end of time.” These are the voices of the Infinite Face, the Intimate Face, and the Inner Face of God.We are already participating in this Divine Dance whether we realize it or not.But when we consciously engage in loving communion and deep relationship, we open ourselves to being transformed at the deepest levels.
So, the lesson learned for me in all of this is, I will no longer say I don’t believe.I will say, “How do I believe differently?” and I am grateful to the Spirit, even if I was initially kicking and screaming, for leading me on this journey of discovery.
So, I invite you to please share your reflections on the Holy Trinity, our Readings, or Homily you’ve heard today.
.
Community Sharing
Communal Statement of Faith
Mary Al and ALL: We believe in one God, a divine mystery beyond all definition and rational understanding, the heart of all that has ever existed, that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of God's Word, bringer of God's healing, heart of God's compassion, bright star in the firmament of God's prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that we are called to follow Jesus as a vehicle of God's love, a source of God's wisdom and truth, and an instrument of God's peace in the world.
We believe that God's kin-dom is here and now, stretched out all around us for those with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it, and hands to make it happen.
Prayers of and for the Community
Kathryn: We now bring our prayer intentions to the Table
Our response is: All: Holy One, we know you respond to our prayers.
We pray for our MMOJ intentions on our community prayer list. (Joan shares)
Our response is: All: Holy One, we know you respond to our prayers.
For what else should we pray?
Kathryn: Holy Mystery may we respond to the needs of our sisters and brothers in loving prayer and solidarity. Amen
Presentation of the Bread and Wine
Anna: Gracious God, you have set the banquet table and have invited all of us to a feast of unending delight.Blessed are You, Holy One, through Your divine providence we have this bread, to share, the Bread of Life.
Anna and All: Blessed are You, Holy One, forever.
Mary Al: Blessed are You, O Loving One through Your divine providence we have this wine to share, our spiritual drink.
Mary Al All: Blessed are, You, Holy One, forever.
Sally: Let us lift up our hearts.
Sally and All: We lift them up to the Holy One, living in us and loving through us.Namaste (3x)
Eucharistic Prayer
Janet: Gracious Wisdom, you embrace us with your extravagant affection in our times of both blessedness and weakness.You are always with us…you living in us and we living in you.In this festive meal, your Spirit is poured out on each of us gathered in the circle of your friends and disciples, we also ask that your Spirit be spread to those of our community who are not with us today.
Joan M: We thank you for the gift of Jesus of Nazareth in history -- and the gift of Jesus in faith. On earth, his life burned with the vision of his mission on earth. Through the example of his life – his teachings and actions - he showed us not only how we should live, but also what was worth even dying for.
Mary AL: When his time on earth had come to an end, Jesus – aware of and accepting his destiny – gave us his life for the values that he deeply believed, lived and taught…his conviction that love is stronger than death.And then, in providing an example of this wisdom for all people in ages to come, he opened wide his arms…and died.And the spirit that lived in Jesus resurrected him to a new life, a promise made to all of us too who live the new story.Jesus is with us today and he will be through the end of time.
(With an outstretched arm, we pray the consecration together.We remember the gift that Jesus gave us on the night before he died.He gathered with his friends to share a final Passover meal.And it was at that supper that Jesus took bread, said the blessing and shared it with them saying: take this, all of you, and eat it.This bread is you; this bread is me.We are one body, the presence of God in the world. When you do this, remember me and all that I have taught you.This is the new and everlasting covenant.
[short pause]
In the same way, Jesus took a cup of wine, said the blessing and gave it to his friends saying: take this, all of you, and drink it.This wine is you; this wine is me.We are one blood, the presence of God in the world.When you do this, remember me and all that I have taught you. This is the new and everlasting covenant.
Kathryn: Jesus, who was with God “in the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth,” is with us now in this bread. The Spirit, of whom the prophets spoke in history, is with us now in this cup.Let us proclaim this mystery of faith.
Kathryn and All:Jesus has died.Christ is risen.The Divine Presence lives in us and through us in the world today.
Janet: God, we know that you bless your church throughout the world. We, your people, ask for your grace that we may continually grow in our love and caring for Francis, our Pope, Bridget Mary, our Bishop and for everyone with whom we come in contact, especially those who live on the margins of church and society. They are all our brothers and sisters, members of your Blessed Family.We remember also all those, living and dead, who touched our lives and left their footprints on our hearts.We remember especially….(mention names here, if you would like to..)
Janet and All: We believe that the Spirit of God is at work in and among us and will do more than we could ever ask or imagine.We believe that it is through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, Creator God, forever and ever.
Mary Al and All: O Holy One, you are within, around, and among us.
We celebrate your many names. Your wisdom come, your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us. Each day you give us all we need. You remind us of our limits, and we let go. You support us in your power, and we act with courage. For you are the dwelling place within us, the empowerment around us, and the celebration among us, now and forever. AmenAdapted, Miriam Therese Winter, MMS
Sign of Peace:
Kathryn: Jesus said to his disciples, “My peace I leave You. My peace I give You.”
Let us join in singing, Peace is flowing like a river by Carey Landry:
