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.
Living Gospel Inclusivity and Empowerment Now- https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2025/10/rev-dr-bridget-mary-meehan-arcwp-chat.html
Friday, June 6, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
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
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?!!"
"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
***********************
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
**************************************************If you want to cancel this newsletter or change your email-address,
please contact media@we-are-church.org
__._,_.___
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
***********************
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
**************************************************If you want to cancel this newsletter or change your email-address,
please contact media@we-are-church.org
__._,_.___
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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
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
Monday, June 2, 2008
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)
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)
Sunday, June 1, 2008
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.
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.
Letter of support for Roman Catholic Womenpriests in response to Vatican excommunication
Dear Bridget,
Please know you have our support and prayers and consider the excommunication a badge of distinction .You stand on the shoulders of Joan of Arc and other prophetic courageous women.What a brilliant remark about the pedophiles etc.
Love,
Eleanor & Carl Buck and many others
Please know you have our support and prayers and consider the excommunication a badge of distinction .You stand on the shoulders of Joan of Arc and other prophetic courageous women.What a brilliant remark about the pedophiles etc.
Love,
Eleanor & Carl Buck and many others
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Roman Catholic Womenpriests Ordain Canadians: Jim Lauder and Monica Kilburn-Smith in Canada in May 2008
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=0e41b0a6-28aa-423a-b8d9-69e93bb9d64c&k=77732
Catholic group ordains woman
Reformist group pushes for end to 'unjust' rule
Katie DeRosa, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, May 30, 2008
"The Roman Catholic Church should change the "unjust, discriminatory" rule of denying women the right to be priests, said a Catholic group pushing for reform.
Without the church's approval, the Roman Catholic Womenpriests Movement ordained two people, James Lauder of Victoria and Monica Kilburn-Smith of Calgary, as Roman Catholic priests yesterday at St. Aidan's United Church in Victoria. "
Catholic group ordains woman
Reformist group pushes for end to 'unjust' rule
Katie DeRosa, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, May 30, 2008
"The Roman Catholic Church should change the "unjust, discriminatory" rule of denying women the right to be priests, said a Catholic group pushing for reform.
Without the church's approval, the Roman Catholic Womenpriests Movement ordained two people, James Lauder of Victoria and Monica Kilburn-Smith of Calgary, as Roman Catholic priests yesterday at St. Aidan's United Church in Victoria. "
Canon Law Professor comments on Vatican decree of excommunication
"Previously, church leaders had cobbled together responses to claims of women's ordination based on other laws on misuse of sacraments, said the Rev. Joseph Fox, professor of canon law at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Some of those required automatic excommunication, while others, including one of the most applicable ones, did not, he said.
"This is a law that didn't exist before," he said.
But it won't apply to cases that happened before it was published, he said."
"This is a law that didn't exist before," he said.
But it won't apply to cases that happened before it was published, he said."
Letter to Cardinal Levada: Response to Roman Catholic Womenpriests' Automatic Excommunication
May 30, 2008 (577th anniversary of the burning at the stake of St.Joan d'Arc)
Dear Cardinal Levada,
I read with interest the Vatican decree on women's ordination and excommunication, which leaves me a bit saddened at having been left out…of an "honor" to which I, and fellow members of the congregations to whom priests of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests minister, feel we are equally "entitled."
My wife Helen and I are Catholic grade school, high school (SJ & OP), and University (Loyola U) graduates, and we are common sense, Holy Spirit-filled Catholics, in good standing. We attend, when we are in Florida in the winter, Bridget Mary Meehan's Mary Mother of Jesus Housechurch, and are active, supportive members of that little community. We are in complete solidarity with our pastor, Bridget Mary, and if she is to be 'chastised,' 'punished,' or excommunicated---a move with neither sense nor wisdom--we then feel we must be included in such an edict. Though we are convinced of the invalidity of the "celibate males only" man-made rule (based on unexamined and specious dogma), and the extreme resort to "excommunication," nonetheless, be that the approach of 'official church,' then we don't think it just for you to have Bridget Mary, other friends of ours in RCWP, and the RCWP Bishops 'burned at the stake,' without including us, their supporters in the same 'reward.' Very similar to Jesus, and the women and men who were His true followers, isn't it?
As I am so persuaded that the Holy Spirit is NOT behind this Vatican's decree on excommunication, I am equally convinced the Holy Spirit IS indeed the motivating Force in this long-overdue change in the Church of Jesus Christ, our Church.
I send this note through our Pastor, Bridget Mary, and our Shepards, Bishop Dana and Bishop Patricia, for their information, not like an hierarchical 'chain-of-command, which is not part of the MO of RCWP. I send this to you in a spirit of love and compassion, praying the same Holy Spirit, Who prompted me to write this, will touch you as you read it, and open your mind and heart to what that same Spirit wants you to receive.
Very sincerely, with the love of Jesus,
Jack Duffy
Dear Cardinal Levada,
I read with interest the Vatican decree on women's ordination and excommunication, which leaves me a bit saddened at having been left out…of an "honor" to which I, and fellow members of the congregations to whom priests of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests minister, feel we are equally "entitled."
My wife Helen and I are Catholic grade school, high school (SJ & OP), and University (Loyola U) graduates, and we are common sense, Holy Spirit-filled Catholics, in good standing. We attend, when we are in Florida in the winter, Bridget Mary Meehan's Mary Mother of Jesus Housechurch, and are active, supportive members of that little community. We are in complete solidarity with our pastor, Bridget Mary, and if she is to be 'chastised,' 'punished,' or excommunicated---a move with neither sense nor wisdom--we then feel we must be included in such an edict. Though we are convinced of the invalidity of the "celibate males only" man-made rule (based on unexamined and specious dogma), and the extreme resort to "excommunication," nonetheless, be that the approach of 'official church,' then we don't think it just for you to have Bridget Mary, other friends of ours in RCWP, and the RCWP Bishops 'burned at the stake,' without including us, their supporters in the same 'reward.' Very similar to Jesus, and the women and men who were His true followers, isn't it?
As I am so persuaded that the Holy Spirit is NOT behind this Vatican's decree on excommunication, I am equally convinced the Holy Spirit IS indeed the motivating Force in this long-overdue change in the Church of Jesus Christ, our Church.
I send this note through our Pastor, Bridget Mary, and our Shepards, Bishop Dana and Bishop Patricia, for their information, not like an hierarchical 'chain-of-command, which is not part of the MO of RCWP. I send this to you in a spirit of love and compassion, praying the same Holy Spirit, Who prompted me to write this, will touch you as you read it, and open your mind and heart to what that same Spirit wants you to receive.
Very sincerely, with the love of Jesus,
Jack Duffy
"Vatican weighs in on women's ordinations"
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/keepthefaith/story/C7D9B837CDA6B4B68625745A00043C84?OpenDocument
St. Louis Dispatch
St. Louis Mormons celebrate & Vatican weighs in on women's ordinations
By Tim Townsend
05/31/2008
"Hudson said that since her ordination, she and McGrath have traveled extensively, giving talks and celebrating Mass in a number of Midwestern cities. She said the group has recently had ordinations in Minnesota and Canada, and upcoming ordinations are scheduled in Oregon and Massachussetts.Hudson said there were 29 Roman Catholic Womenpriest priests in the U.S. (with 21 deacons waiting to be ordained as priests in the organization) and about 75 Roman Catholic Womenpriest priests around the world."It's amazing to us how much of a problem 75 people are causing for the all-powerful Catholic church," said Hudson, who said the Vatican decree was evidence that Rome is "running scared.""If anything, (the decree) gives us more impetus to go forward because it means we've got their attention," said Hudson. "The people are behind us."
St. Louis Dispatch
St. Louis Mormons celebrate & Vatican weighs in on women's ordinations
By Tim Townsend
05/31/2008
"Hudson said that since her ordination, she and McGrath have traveled extensively, giving talks and celebrating Mass in a number of Midwestern cities. She said the group has recently had ordinations in Minnesota and Canada, and upcoming ordinations are scheduled in Oregon and Massachussetts.Hudson said there were 29 Roman Catholic Womenpriest priests in the U.S. (with 21 deacons waiting to be ordained as priests in the organization) and about 75 Roman Catholic Womenpriest priests around the world."It's amazing to us how much of a problem 75 people are causing for the all-powerful Catholic church," said Hudson, who said the Vatican decree was evidence that Rome is "running scared.""If anything, (the decree) gives us more impetus to go forward because it means we've got their attention," said Hudson. "The people are behind us."
New York Times: Vatican Asserts Rule That Bars Female Priests
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/world/europe/31vatican.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
Vatican Asserts Rule That Bars Female Priests
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
ROME — The Vatican on Friday reaffirmed a ban on ordaining women as priests, warning that the consequences of any such ordination would be the automatic excommunication of anyone involved.
... In the past six years, the organization says it has ordained more than 50 women and some men as priests and deacons in North America and Europe. In 2002, the Vatican excommunicated the first seven women shortly after the organization designated them priests.
On Friday, Bridget Mary Meehan, a spokeswoman for the group, said the excommunication, which extends to both the women and the bishops ordaining them, was a positive sign “that the Vatican is taking us seriously.”
Excommunicated Catholics cannot participate in the sacraments or public ceremonies or hold any ecclesiastical position.
Vatican Asserts Rule That Bars Female Priests
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
ROME — The Vatican on Friday reaffirmed a ban on ordaining women as priests, warning that the consequences of any such ordination would be the automatic excommunication of anyone involved.
... In the past six years, the organization says it has ordained more than 50 women and some men as priests and deacons in North America and Europe. In 2002, the Vatican excommunicated the first seven women shortly after the organization designated them priests.
On Friday, Bridget Mary Meehan, a spokeswoman for the group, said the excommunication, which extends to both the women and the bishops ordaining them, was a positive sign “that the Vatican is taking us seriously.”
Excommunicated Catholics cannot participate in the sacraments or public ceremonies or hold any ecclesiastical position.
Friday, May 30, 2008
ABC TV Story: "Female Priest Excommunicated
Female Priest Excommunicated
posted 3:24 pm Fri May 30, 2008 -
from ABC 7 News -
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0508/524380.html
"She wanted to become a priest. But the Pope says that position is for men only.
For two years, Sister Bridget Mary Meehan has been saying mass at her Falls Church home as, she claims, a Roman Catholic priest.
On Friday, the Vatican decreed that women priests and those who ordain them incur in lah-tay senten-see-yay or automatic excommunication.
"I was wondering what took them so long," said Meehan.
Meehan was ordained on a boat in Pittsburgh by women bishops from Europe, part of a small but growing global movement.
She says the excommunication is in a way good news.
"Because we're really being recognized now as a movement within the church, even though they do not want to accept us quite yet," said Meehan.
The church holds that only men can be priests, citing the 12 male Apostles of Jesus. But meehan, who celebrates mass in her living room these days, argues women were priests in the early church--and says such drastic action isn't fair.
"Women are excommunicated. Priests, who are pedophiles, and bishops who covered it up, were not excommunicated. Now, does that really make sense?" She said.
But the church sees it differently.
"The excommunication will not stop us! In fact, it just encourages us to go forward, to continue to provide hope and to be good news to God's people," said Meehan.
posted 3:24 pm Fri May 30, 2008 -
from ABC 7 News -
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0508/524380.html
"She wanted to become a priest. But the Pope says that position is for men only.
For two years, Sister Bridget Mary Meehan has been saying mass at her Falls Church home as, she claims, a Roman Catholic priest.
On Friday, the Vatican decreed that women priests and those who ordain them incur in lah-tay senten-see-yay or automatic excommunication.
"I was wondering what took them so long," said Meehan.
Meehan was ordained on a boat in Pittsburgh by women bishops from Europe, part of a small but growing global movement.
She says the excommunication is in a way good news.
"Because we're really being recognized now as a movement within the church, even though they do not want to accept us quite yet," said Meehan.
The church holds that only men can be priests, citing the 12 male Apostles of Jesus. But meehan, who celebrates mass in her living room these days, argues women were priests in the early church--and says such drastic action isn't fair.
"Women are excommunicated. Priests, who are pedophiles, and bishops who covered it up, were not excommunicated. Now, does that really make sense?" She said.
But the church sees it differently.
"The excommunication will not stop us! In fact, it just encourages us to go forward, to continue to provide hope and to be good news to God's people," said Meehan.
Women's Ordination Conference Outraged by Vatican's Excommunication of Womenpriests
Media Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 30, 2008
MEDIA CONTACT: Erin Saiz Hanna (202) 675-1006
Women's Ordination Conference Statement on Vatican Decree of Immediate
Excommunication of Ordained Women
Aisha Taylor, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference, issued the following statement about the Vatican's decree that ordained Roman Catholic women and the bishops who ordained them incur latae sententiae excommunication, which means that the excommunication is immediate and self-imposed. The Women's Ordination Conference is outraged by yesterday's Vatican decree, which reminds Catholic women once again of the animosity they face from the hierarchy, despite being the backbone of most Catholic parishes throughout the world. Out of fear of the growing numbers of ordained women and the overwhelming support they are receiving, the Vatican is trying to preserve what lit tle power they have left by attempting to extinguish the widespread call for women's equality in the church. It will not work. In the face of one closed door after another, Catholic women will continue to make a way when there is none. We reject the notion of excommunication. In our efforts to ordain women into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church, we see it as contrary to the gospel itself to excommunicate people who are doing good works and responding to injustice and the needs of their communities. While the hierarchy prattles on about excommunication, Catholic women are working for justice and making a positive difference in the world. This unreasonable excommunication and the Vatican's stance on ordination are 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 so should the hierarchy. The call for women's equality in the Catholic Church is reverberating loudly in the public consciousness. Around the world, over sixty women have been ordained as priests, deacons or bishops by the group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP), and there are nearly 100 women in the RCWP preparation program. There are 16 national organizations from 11 different countries that advocate women's ordination, and a vast majority of US Catholics support the ordination of women. The refusal to ordain women is nothing more than a blatant manifestation of sexism in the church. It is time for the Vatican to listen to its own research, its own theologians and its own people who say that women are equally created in the image of God and are called to serve as priests in a renewed 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.
Background
The following is the English translated text of the decree written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that was published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
Regarding the crime of attempting sacred ordination ofa womanThe Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, toprotect the nature and validity of the sacrament ofholy orders, in virtue of the special facultyconferred to it by the supreme authority of the Church(see canon 30, Canon Law), in the Ordinary Session ofDecember 19, 2007, has decreed:Rema ining firm on what has been established by canon1378 of the Canon Law, both he who has attempted toconfer holy orders on a woman, and the woman who hasattempted to receive the said sacrament, incurs inlatae sententiae excommunication, reserved to theApostolic See.If he who has attempted to confer holy orders on awoman or if the woman who has attempted to receiveholy orders, is a member of the faithful subject tothe Code of Canon Law for the Eastern Churches,remaining firm on what has been established by canon1443 of the same Code, they will be punished withmajor excommunication, whose remission remainsreserved to the Apostolic See (see canon 1423, CanonLaw of the Eastern Churches).The current decree will come into immediate force fromthe moment of publication in the 'Osservatore Romano'and is absolute and universal.William Cardinal Levada PrefectAngelo Amato, S.D.B. Titular Archbi shop of Sila Secretary
Women's Ordination Conference
P.O. Box 15057
Washington, DC 20003 USA
Phone: 202 675-1006
Email: ehanna@WomensOrdination.org
http://www.womensordination.org/
Become a WOC member today! Visit www.WomensOrdination.org/membership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 30, 2008
MEDIA CONTACT: Erin Saiz Hanna (202) 675-1006
Women's Ordination Conference Statement on Vatican Decree of Immediate
Excommunication of Ordained Women
Aisha Taylor, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference, issued the following statement about the Vatican's decree that ordained Roman Catholic women and the bishops who ordained them incur latae sententiae excommunication, which means that the excommunication is immediate and self-imposed. The Women's Ordination Conference is outraged by yesterday's Vatican decree, which reminds Catholic women once again of the animosity they face from the hierarchy, despite being the backbone of most Catholic parishes throughout the world. Out of fear of the growing numbers of ordained women and the overwhelming support they are receiving, the Vatican is trying to preserve what lit tle power they have left by attempting to extinguish the widespread call for women's equality in the church. It will not work. In the face of one closed door after another, Catholic women will continue to make a way when there is none. We reject the notion of excommunication. In our efforts to ordain women into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church, we see it as contrary to the gospel itself to excommunicate people who are doing good works and responding to injustice and the needs of their communities. While the hierarchy prattles on about excommunication, Catholic women are working for justice and making a positive difference in the world. This unreasonable excommunication and the Vatican's stance on ordination are 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 so should the hierarchy. The call for women's equality in the Catholic Church is reverberating loudly in the public consciousness. Around the world, over sixty women have been ordained as priests, deacons or bishops by the group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP), and there are nearly 100 women in the RCWP preparation program. There are 16 national organizations from 11 different countries that advocate women's ordination, and a vast majority of US Catholics support the ordination of women. The refusal to ordain women is nothing more than a blatant manifestation of sexism in the church. It is time for the Vatican to listen to its own research, its own theologians and its own people who say that women are equally created in the image of God and are called to serve as priests in a renewed 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.
Background
The following is the English translated text of the decree written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that was published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
Regarding the crime of attempting sacred ordination ofa womanThe Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, toprotect the nature and validity of the sacrament ofholy orders, in virtue of the special facultyconferred to it by the supreme authority of the Church(see canon 30, Canon Law), in the Ordinary Session ofDecember 19, 2007, has decreed:Rema ining firm on what has been established by canon1378 of the Canon Law, both he who has attempted toconfer holy orders on a woman, and the woman who hasattempted to receive the said sacrament, incurs inlatae sententiae excommunication, reserved to theApostolic See.If he who has attempted to confer holy orders on awoman or if the woman who has attempted to receiveholy orders, is a member of the faithful subject tothe Code of Canon Law for the Eastern Churches,remaining firm on what has been established by canon1443 of the same Code, they will be punished withmajor excommunication, whose remission remainsreserved to the Apostolic See (see canon 1423, CanonLaw of the Eastern Churches).The current decree will come into immediate force fromthe moment of publication in the 'Osservatore Romano'and is absolute and universal.William Cardinal Levada PrefectAngelo Amato, S.D.B. Titular Archbi shop of Sila Secretary
Women's Ordination Conference
P.O. Box 15057
Washington, DC 20003 USA
Phone: 202 675-1006
Email: ehanna@WomensOrdination.org
http://www.womensordination.org/
Become a WOC member today! Visit www.WomensOrdination.org/membership
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Roman Catholic Womenpriests Reject Vatican Excommunication
For immediate releaseFrom Roman Catholic Womenpriestswww.romancatholicwomenpriests.orgCONTACT:Bridget Mary Meehan: (703) 283-2929 (cell), 703-671-6712
sofiabmm@aol.com
Roman Catholic Womenpriests’ Response to Vatican Decree of Excommunication
Roman Catholic Womenpriests reject the penalty of excommunication issued by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stating that the “women priests and the bishops who ordain them would be excommunicated ‘latae sententiae.” Roman Catholic 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. The Catholic Church teaches that a teaching or law of the church is authoritative only if it is “received” by the sensus fidelium, the community of faith. If the community of faith does not accept the law, it has no effect on us. All people have a moral obligation to disobey an unjust law. St. Augustine taught that an unjust law is no law at all. Since 70% of U.S. Catholics favor women’s ordination and a growing majority of Catholics worldwide also favors women’s ordination, we do not “receive” or accept the Church's prohibition against the ordination of women and the church’s continued reliance on sexist metaphors, beliefs and assumptions for denying ordination to women.
Pope Benedict XVI, written when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, in the commentary section of the Doctrine of Vatican II, volume V, page 134, stated: "Over the Pope as the expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there still stands one's own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else, if necessary even against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority.”
Roman Catholic Church laws are often contradictory. In this instance, canon 1024 limits sacred orders to men, while canon 849 states that baptism is the gateway to the sacraments. Scholar Bishop Ida Raming, doctor of theology, points out a prior church understanding: “some medieval canonists hold that not maleness but baptism is the pre-requisite for valid ordinations: “After being baptized, anyone may be validly ordained.” (The Exclusion of Women from the Priesthood: Causes and Background)
Recent scholarship affirms that women were ordained in the first thousand years of the church’s history. The first half of the church’s history provides us with images and accounts of the inclusion of women in Holy Orders that contradict the later prohibition. 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, who always and everywhere said, as we do, that ALL ARE WELCOME.
“Roman Catholic Womenpriests are leading the way to a renewed Roman Catholic Church in which the full equality of women will be a reality,” commented Bridget Mary Meehan, U.S. media spokeswoman. “Like Mary Magdalene, apostle to the apostles, and the women deacons, priests and bishops who served in the early centuries of our church, we are offering a model of a renewed priesthood in a community of equals.”
sofiabmm@aol.com
Roman Catholic Womenpriests’ Response to Vatican Decree of Excommunication
Roman Catholic Womenpriests reject the penalty of excommunication issued by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stating that the “women priests and the bishops who ordain them would be excommunicated ‘latae sententiae.” Roman Catholic 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. The Catholic Church teaches that a teaching or law of the church is authoritative only if it is “received” by the sensus fidelium, the community of faith. If the community of faith does not accept the law, it has no effect on us. All people have a moral obligation to disobey an unjust law. St. Augustine taught that an unjust law is no law at all. Since 70% of U.S. Catholics favor women’s ordination and a growing majority of Catholics worldwide also favors women’s ordination, we do not “receive” or accept the Church's prohibition against the ordination of women and the church’s continued reliance on sexist metaphors, beliefs and assumptions for denying ordination to women.
Pope Benedict XVI, written when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, in the commentary section of the Doctrine of Vatican II, volume V, page 134, stated: "Over the Pope as the expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there still stands one's own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else, if necessary even against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority.”
Roman Catholic Church laws are often contradictory. In this instance, canon 1024 limits sacred orders to men, while canon 849 states that baptism is the gateway to the sacraments. Scholar Bishop Ida Raming, doctor of theology, points out a prior church understanding: “some medieval canonists hold that not maleness but baptism is the pre-requisite for valid ordinations: “After being baptized, anyone may be validly ordained.” (The Exclusion of Women from the Priesthood: Causes and Background)
Recent scholarship affirms that women were ordained in the first thousand years of the church’s history. The first half of the church’s history provides us with images and accounts of the inclusion of women in Holy Orders that contradict the later prohibition. 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, who always and everywhere said, as we do, that ALL ARE WELCOME.
“Roman Catholic Womenpriests are leading the way to a renewed Roman Catholic Church in which the full equality of women will be a reality,” commented Bridget Mary Meehan, U.S. media spokeswoman. “Like Mary Magdalene, apostle to the apostles, and the women deacons, priests and bishops who served in the early centuries of our church, we are offering a model of a renewed priesthood in a community of equals.”
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Inspirational, Inclusive Liturgy by Womenpriests in Kansas City
I just received this brillant testimony about a liturgy at which Elsie and Ree, two of our Roman Catholic Womenpriests, presided in Kansas City.
Bridget Mary
"On May 9, Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie McGrath came to Kansas City andconcelebrated a Mass at the Universal Universalist Church. It was so exciting, and I did extend an invitation to everyone I knew, including my study group. The Mass was just as I imagined it would be: open, sacred,inclusive, uplifting, and a visual affirmation of women's callings. As Iwas standing in line for Communion, someone tapped me on the shoulder, and Iturned to see one of the women in my study group. I didn't know she wasgoing to come to the Mass and my heart was overflowing that she also wasable to experience this special occasion...and, she brought her husband!Today, during our study group, she shared how beautiful it was for her. But the best endorsement came from her husband. She said that when they got in the car, her husband had tears in his eyes and said, "I finally got it."
Bridget Mary
"On May 9, Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie McGrath came to Kansas City andconcelebrated a Mass at the Universal Universalist Church. It was so exciting, and I did extend an invitation to everyone I knew, including my study group. The Mass was just as I imagined it would be: open, sacred,inclusive, uplifting, and a visual affirmation of women's callings. As Iwas standing in line for Communion, someone tapped me on the shoulder, and Iturned to see one of the women in my study group. I didn't know she wasgoing to come to the Mass and my heart was overflowing that she also wasable to experience this special occasion...and, she brought her husband!Today, during our study group, she shared how beautiful it was for her. But the best endorsement came from her husband. She said that when they got in the car, her husband had tears in his eyes and said, "I finally got it."
Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson: Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church
On May 19, 2008, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, retired bishop of Sydney, Australia, spoke in the Washington DC area. A group of about 100 people attended the lecture. Bishop Robinson was
effective in stressing the need for structural changes in the Roman Catholic Church to address the sex abuse crisis.
It took courage for a bishop to write a book. He explained that his own journey as victim of abuse led him to identify with the sufferings of victims. He felt that he needed to address this issue and promote a conversation between the people and the hierarchy on this crisis, in particular addressing the structural changes that need to happen to cause effective change in the church.
effective in stressing the need for structural changes in the Roman Catholic Church to address the sex abuse crisis.
It took courage for a bishop to write a book. He explained that his own journey as victim of abuse led him to identify with the sufferings of victims. He felt that he needed to address this issue and promote a conversation between the people and the hierarchy on this crisis, in particular addressing the structural changes that need to happen to cause effective change in the church.
According to two recent news reports the Australian hierarchy have criticized his book and Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles has refused to allow Bishop Robinson to give his presentation on church property.
If you wish to see some clips from Bishop Robinson.s talk, and do not have the opportunity to hear him, the links are below.
In the first clip, he talks about how papal energy has been invested in condemning contraception, women priests, and homosexual acts Papal authority has been committed to these teachings, and has been undermined in the process.
He also talks about the hierarchy's tendency to "keep up appearances" and stressed how this was a major factor in the sex abuse crisis, avoiding scandal etc. It was a journey for him to break ranks and share his story.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3668323053029945008&hl=en
Second clip is:
"There must be profound changes in the church, study of causes of abuse, unhealthy psy, unhealthy ideas about sex and power and unhealthy living conditions. we must look at institutional factors that contribute ...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8594477921867030216
I got up at the question and answer time and introduced myself as a Roman Catholic Womanpriest and said that in our movement we are living the change we wish to see in inclusive ecclesia communities in North America and Europe. The people clapped. He responded that I should follow my conscience. Later a number of people came up and asked for about attending our liturgy.
Andrea Johnson was present and she likewise experience a number of people approach her who were enthusiastic about Roman Catholic Womenpriests.
Bridget Mary
If you wish to see some clips from Bishop Robinson.s talk, and do not have the opportunity to hear him, the links are below.
In the first clip, he talks about how papal energy has been invested in condemning contraception, women priests, and homosexual acts Papal authority has been committed to these teachings, and has been undermined in the process.
He also talks about the hierarchy's tendency to "keep up appearances" and stressed how this was a major factor in the sex abuse crisis, avoiding scandal etc. It was a journey for him to break ranks and share his story.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3668323053029945008&hl=en
Second clip is:
"There must be profound changes in the church, study of causes of abuse, unhealthy psy, unhealthy ideas about sex and power and unhealthy living conditions. we must look at institutional factors that contribute ...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8594477921867030216
I got up at the question and answer time and introduced myself as a Roman Catholic Womanpriest and said that in our movement we are living the change we wish to see in inclusive ecclesia communities in North America and Europe. The people clapped. He responded that I should follow my conscience. Later a number of people came up and asked for about attending our liturgy.
Andrea Johnson was present and she likewise experience a number of people approach her who were enthusiastic about Roman Catholic Womenpriests.
Bridget Mary
Bishop Robinson's response to Australian bishops:
The statement of the Australian bishops is not unexpected, but it is disappointing. My book is about the response to the revelations of sexual abuse within the church. Sexual abuse is all about power and sex, so it is surely reasonable to ask questions about power and sex in the church.
In their statement, the bishops appear to be saying that, in seeking to respond to abuse, we may investigate all other factors contributing to abuse, but we may not ask questions concerning ways in which teachings, laws, and attitudes concerning power and sex within the church may have contributed.
This imposes impossible restrictions on any serious and objective study, and it is where I have broken from the Bishops Conference. We must be free to follow the argument wherever it leads.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson
In their statement, the bishops appear to be saying that, in seeking to respond to abuse, we may investigate all other factors contributing to abuse, but we may not ask questions concerning ways in which teachings, laws, and attitudes concerning power and sex within the church may have contributed.
This imposes impossible restrictions on any serious and objective study, and it is where I have broken from the Bishops Conference. We must be free to follow the argument wherever it leads.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson
Committed to Cover-Up
When Cardinal Mahony disinvited Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, author of CONFRONTING POWER AND SEX IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, and recommended that he cancel his scheduled lecture tour, he was echoing the sentiments of many bishops in the US who proclaim themselves to be committed to doing all they can to prevent clergy sexual abuse of children, yet are trying to silence the voice of truth. Robinson's testimony to reality provoked Cardinal Mahony to join the regiment of fearful hierarchy in attacking the faith of this courageous bishop who has served the Church all his life and who, in that role, studied and researched clergy sexual abuse in Australia for many years. Like Bishop Oscar Romero did by witnessing poverty and persecution, Robinson experienced a complete "conversion" by witnessing the clergy sexual abuse he encountered. The bishop's message opens the windows to the reality of the ongoing situation in the Church structure that incubates and covers up such abuse. This message is not heard by those in authority nor do they want it heard by the citizens of the Catholic Church. If you are not so fortunate to have the opportunity to hear Bishop Robinson, get and read his book. Catholics need to know why he is being targeted as the bearer of bad news and spokesperson for the desperate need for the changes in the way the Catholic Church is managed. In order to be healed, the Church must abandon the widespread practice of secrecy, unaccountability and cover-up, all designed to maintain absolute power and control. The pope and the bishops must be open and accountable to the people they lead but also serve. They must be willing to admit past mistakes. Thank you for your support of The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC). More about ARCC is at http://arccsites.org Permission to circulate with source acknowledged is given. Comments and questions are welcomed at rschutz1@prodigy.net or 1-877-700-ARCC. _
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Judy Lee ordained a deacon by Bishop Dana Reynolds
Judy Lee was ordained a deacon by Dana Reynolds, the first U.S. Roman Catholic Womanbishop,
on April 30th in California. Two other women were ordained at this ceremony.
Judy Lee wrote this poem:
The breeze blew gently Through the open doors
And windows of the blessed House that was a sacred church,
Either way a place establishedAnd maintained by love alone,
Bathed in sunlight and nestled In the green brown California hills
Where we ate dinner outside the Night before,
Scented by mountain flowers and aTouch of the Pacific Ocean below
Where surfers in wetsuits catch the Waves and children dance and play.
And a deep orange monarch butterfly Released yesterday by one of us,
Returned and lingeredFor a moment at the window.
Surrounded by a crowd of lovingWitnesses from forever long and now
Welcomed with arms and hearts,
And the voices of angels,
Three women from West, Central And Southern States,And East long before that,
Different as they could be United in purpose and call,
Came to make their vows-
To read, believe and Practice what they teach
And serve the poor and sick
And all who need the love Of Christ out at the margins
Where Jesus met people
And transformed their lives.
Facing a front window where Purple, yellow and red flowers
Swayed gently to the musicThat enveloped them, And all of us,
Vene Sanctus Spiritus,Vene Sancta Spirita,
We three sat expectantly as Sophia Love came gently
To our midst saying softly
Here I Am, are you ready?
And each one rose and said herYes and Amen seven fold.
And the women priests proclaimedThe word with joy and strength,
And our gentle deep womanBishop who had taken the time
And care to know each one of us
And call us in the depth of Our souls, stepped forth andTaught, and blessed and ordained.
All women and men present,All beloved and loving,
Placed their hands upon Our heads in sacred silence.
And tears rolled down our faces
As the empty places were filled
With such love and we saw those Who had gone before get in line
And bless us like the rest,And if we ever doubted the Real presence in the bread and wine,
We never will again.
We, women, are the body of Christ,
And the presence of Jesus in a Broken world,
We, the renewed church
And the servants called womenpriestsAnd deacons hold the Christ light high
And walk the path that Jesus walked,
With Godde’s precious people
,Dancing and swaying and sometimes
Playing a tambourine with multicoloredRibbons in double time syncopation
And joy! Amen, Amen
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Roman Catholic Womenpriests celebrate ordinations in Winona
Dear Sisters and Brothers of RCWP,It is with great joy that I announce the Second priestly ordination and the third diaconate ordination for the Midwest Region. Kathy Redig was ordained a priest on the anniversary of her first communion. Mary Smith and Barbara Zeman were ordained as deacons. Bishop Patricia Fresen ordained and Regina Nicolosi and Alice Iaquinta concelebrated and Judith McKloskey assisted at the altar. Linda Wilcox, Alta Jacko, and Mary Styne served as acolytes. The 260 witnesses joyfully and enthusiastically supported the ordination which was held at Winona State University. Victoria Rue did a wonderful job as M.C. Dagmar Celeste was unable to attend, but was with us in Spirit. We were blessed with excellent musicians, a wonderful site and support persons and great weather. Many volunteers contributed to making the event memorable for us all. Each ordinand wore a handmade stole that carried symbolic meaning for each of them: Kathy's was handwoven by a friend she was in the convent with years ago; Barbara's was created by her from her Grandfather's silk scarf and embroidered with ordination symbols; and Mary's silk stole was hand painted by her sister with symbols of the fire of the Holy Spirit on one side and the waters of creation and baptism on the other. Eucharist was distributed in patens and chalices that were lent to us by the many local clergy of Winona who supported us. Large banners were handmade for Kathy by a friend to use in her future church, which will be called, "All are One." The banners read, "Here we are! We are Ready!" Kathy's husband Robert, crafted the beautiful pine altar from a tree that he and Kathy felled themselves, from their own woods. It too will find its future home in the church they are forming in Winona. This ordination was a communal endeavor in every aspect for all. Tears of joy, many, many hugs, and the g race of the Holy Spirit was with us all.You can contact the newly ordained at:
Mary Smith marysmith98@msn.com,
Barbara Zeman elke@rcn.com
Kathy Redigkrredig@hbci.com
We of the Midwest send our love and blessings to all those who will be ordained in Canada in the coming weeks and to all who have been and will be ordained in the United States this year. May the peace of our brother, Jesus the Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of our God be with you all.smiles, hugs, blessings and love,
alice iaquinta, Midwest Co-administrator
alice iaquinta, Midwest Co-administrator
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
San Jose Diocese attempts to silence womenpriests
PRESS RELEASE
Contacts:
Victoria Rue 831-768-8468, email: victoria@victoriarue.com
Juanita Cordero 408-378-4950, email: joredroc@sbcglobal.net
http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/
Contacts:
Victoria Rue 831-768-8468, email: victoria@victoriarue.com
Juanita Cordero 408-378-4950, email: joredroc@sbcglobal.net
http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/
(This photo was taken at CTA 2006 when womenpriests celebrated their historic first liturgy at Call to Action National Conference in Milwaukee
Juanita Cordero is in a deacon stole second from the right next to Bridget Mary in red stole.)
Two Attempts to Silence Women Priests by Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose
Victoria Rue, Ph.D. and Juanita Cordero M.A., ordained Roman Catholic women priests, have been dis-invited from celebrating Mass on April 26 at the regional conference of Call To Action-San Jose (CTA, a progressive Catholic organization: http://www.ctanorcal.org//). Members of CTA who work for the Diocese of San Jose communicated to the organizers of the conference that they would pull out of the conference program if Rue and Cordero celebrated Mass. Others who work for several of the local dioceses also said they would worry about losing their jobs if they attended the CTA conference in which a Mass by women priests would take place.
Rue and Cordero, not wanting anyone to lose their jobs, offered instead to do a prayer service. The organizers agreed to this. However, these same people then made the further suggestion to the conference organizers that Rue and Cordero should not wear their stoles at the prayer service (stoles are symbols of ordination). Rue and Cordero said this was an impossible request and declined to do so. “This would be asking us to deny our ordination—and that we will never do” said Victoria Rue. The conference organizers have supported the women priests’ decision. The prayer service will take place Saturday, April 26 at 7:30a.m. The women priests will also offer two panels about their ministries Saturday at the Call to Action regional conference at 1:30p and 3:00p.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, April 16, Victoria Rue (who is also a professor of Comparative Religious Studies and Women’s Studies at SJSU) was dis-invited from a panel organized by the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Coalition (a student inter-faith campus organization) due to pressure from Fr. Jose Rubio of SJSU’s Catholic Campus Ministries. Rue had been invited by the students to participate in a panel to be held May 7 at 7:00pm.
The relationship between these two dis-invitations suggests that there is a policy from the Diocese of San Jose to silence women priests, and all those who support them. We regret that the Diocese feels it is necessary to take these reported actions.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Link to Bridget Mary's book reviews
http://bookhitch.com/searchresults.aspx?pageNum=0&searchword=Meehan&subcat=none
To find,review, or purchase one of her books visit the website above or visit http://bridgetmarymeehan.com/books.html. You can find the list of books and contact her there. Both of these sites will have the contact information to Bridget Mary and how you can purchase the books.
To find,review, or purchase one of her books visit the website above or visit http://bridgetmarymeehan.com/books.html. You can find the list of books and contact her there. Both of these sites will have the contact information to Bridget Mary and how you can purchase the books.
Pope's Visit Highlights Fault Lines in the Church
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42054
RELIGION-US: Pope's Visit Highlights Fault Lines in the Church
By Arlene Chang
NEW YORK, Apr 20 (IPS) -
The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States this week may have inspired renewed devotion in many Catholic faithful, but progressive church organisations here say that it's time for the Vatican to rethink its more rigid stances on issues like women priests, contraception and homosexuality.
Bridget Mary Meehan, a priest from the Roman Catholic Womenpriests, agrees. "My concern is that the church is not pro-women. They are against contraceptives or reproductive choice. I believe that by perpetuating such teachings they are being anti-women and anti-life, which is ultimately a violation of human rights," Meehan said......
RELIGION-US: Pope's Visit Highlights Fault Lines in the Church
By Arlene Chang
NEW YORK, Apr 20 (IPS) -
The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States this week may have inspired renewed devotion in many Catholic faithful, but progressive church organisations here say that it's time for the Vatican to rethink its more rigid stances on issues like women priests, contraception and homosexuality.
Bridget Mary Meehan, a priest from the Roman Catholic Womenpriests, agrees. "My concern is that the church is not pro-women. They are against contraceptives or reproductive choice. I believe that by perpetuating such teachings they are being anti-women and anti-life, which is ultimately a violation of human rights," Meehan said......
Friday, April 18, 2008
An Open Letter to Pope Benedict: Women's rights are human rights in church and society: Visit to the United States
Dear Pope Benedict:
In your speech to the United Nations, you spoke eloquently about human rights as a path to equality, however, sadly, the Roman Catholic church discriminates against women . Church law bars women from ordination and patriarchal structures have colluded with the sexual abuse and violence against women that occurs in all religions, nations, and cultures throughout the centuries . Violence against women threatens the lives of more young women thancancer, malaria or war," said Annie Lennox, the British singer who presents the series of investigative reports. "It affects one in three women worldwide. It leaves women mentally scarred for life, and it is usually inflicted by a family member." The National Catholic Reporter wroe about the failures of the Vatican to respond to the clergy sex abuse and explitation of nuns and woman in Africa, Europe and North America. In one instance, a priest impregnated a nun, drove her for an abortion, and after she died, presided at her funeral. The Roman Catholic Church needs to address the issue of violence against women and acknowledge the role that its patriarchal structures have played in the exploitation of women throughout history.
As I watched the magnificent papal Mass at Nationals Park in Washington DC, the clear message was that women are second-class citiznes in the Roman Catholic Church. Not even a glorious liturgy on this historic occasion on a warm April day can remove the sting of the exclusion of women at the altar. No female acolytes or eucharistic ministers were at the altar. In many parishes, girls and women serve in these ministries weekly. In fact, women do most of the work Catholic parishes in the United States. According to surveys, 80% of lay ministers are women. Yet women were missing in action at the altar during the papal Mass. Women are good enough to do most of the ministries including, serve at the altar and distribute communion in their local churches , but when you come, it is the old boys' clerical club only, no women allowed! Do you think this is what Jesus would do?
Jesus offered an example of Gosepl equality. He called both women and men to be his disciples. According to all four Gospels, Mary of Magdala is the first witness to the Resurrection and is the apostle to the apostles. Luke 6 tells us that Jesus' disciples included many women. According to scholars, women were ordained for the first twelve hundred years of Christianity.
Roman Catholic Womenpriests are offering the church, Pope Benedict, a gift of a renewed priestly ministry as we reclaim this ancient tradition. We are shaping a more inclusive, Christ-entered church of equals in grassroots communities where all are welcome including the divorced and married, gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgendered and women who are treated like second-class citizens.
Womenpriests are addressing issues of domestic violence and the abuse of women in church and society.
However, the institutional church must change its structures so that women's equality is a reality in the Catholic Church and women are decision-makers in all areas of church governance including the top jobs at the Vatican Curia.
Yes, Pope Benedict, human rights is the path to equality not only in our world, but also in our church and women's rights are human rights. Next time you come, I hope Roman Catholic womenpriests will be at the altar with you, and partnership and equality will be a reality in our church and world. May Christ, our hope, inspire us to work together for peace, justice and equality for all.
Bridget Mary Meehan
Sister for Christian Community and Roman Catholic Womanpriest
sofiabmm@aol.com
In your speech to the United Nations, you spoke eloquently about human rights as a path to equality, however, sadly, the Roman Catholic church discriminates against women . Church law bars women from ordination and patriarchal structures have colluded with the sexual abuse and violence against women that occurs in all religions, nations, and cultures throughout the centuries . Violence against women threatens the lives of more young women thancancer, malaria or war," said Annie Lennox, the British singer who presents the series of investigative reports. "It affects one in three women worldwide. It leaves women mentally scarred for life, and it is usually inflicted by a family member." The National Catholic Reporter wroe about the failures of the Vatican to respond to the clergy sex abuse and explitation of nuns and woman in Africa, Europe and North America. In one instance, a priest impregnated a nun, drove her for an abortion, and after she died, presided at her funeral. The Roman Catholic Church needs to address the issue of violence against women and acknowledge the role that its patriarchal structures have played in the exploitation of women throughout history.
As I watched the magnificent papal Mass at Nationals Park in Washington DC, the clear message was that women are second-class citiznes in the Roman Catholic Church. Not even a glorious liturgy on this historic occasion on a warm April day can remove the sting of the exclusion of women at the altar. No female acolytes or eucharistic ministers were at the altar. In many parishes, girls and women serve in these ministries weekly. In fact, women do most of the work Catholic parishes in the United States. According to surveys, 80% of lay ministers are women. Yet women were missing in action at the altar during the papal Mass. Women are good enough to do most of the ministries including, serve at the altar and distribute communion in their local churches , but when you come, it is the old boys' clerical club only, no women allowed! Do you think this is what Jesus would do?
Jesus offered an example of Gosepl equality. He called both women and men to be his disciples. According to all four Gospels, Mary of Magdala is the first witness to the Resurrection and is the apostle to the apostles. Luke 6 tells us that Jesus' disciples included many women. According to scholars, women were ordained for the first twelve hundred years of Christianity.
Roman Catholic Womenpriests are offering the church, Pope Benedict, a gift of a renewed priestly ministry as we reclaim this ancient tradition. We are shaping a more inclusive, Christ-entered church of equals in grassroots communities where all are welcome including the divorced and married, gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgendered and women who are treated like second-class citizens.
Womenpriests are addressing issues of domestic violence and the abuse of women in church and society.
However, the institutional church must change its structures so that women's equality is a reality in the Catholic Church and women are decision-makers in all areas of church governance including the top jobs at the Vatican Curia.
Yes, Pope Benedict, human rights is the path to equality not only in our world, but also in our church and women's rights are human rights. Next time you come, I hope Roman Catholic womenpriests will be at the altar with you, and partnership and equality will be a reality in our church and world. May Christ, our hope, inspire us to work together for peace, justice and equality for all.
Bridget Mary Meehan
Sister for Christian Community and Roman Catholic Womanpriest
sofiabmm@aol.com
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Women's Ordination Vigil at Shrine:Pope Benedict's Visit to U.S.
Women's Ordination Conference (Aisha Taylor, executive director, far left, Bridget Mary Meehan RCWP and Erin Hanna from WOC conduct vigil at Shrine of Immaculate Conception.
See pope in the popemobile! (April 16,2008)
Thousands of people clapped, sang and cheered as pope entered shrine.
Many people made comments about the banner and some asked questions about women apostles. So I had an opportunity to share about women disciples and Jesus example of inclusivity in the Gospels and the history of ordained women for the first twelve hundred years of church history.
I was interviewed by Chuck Hadad from CNN and Jennifer Crandall from Washington Post Interactive.
Mass presided by Catholic Women in honor of Pope Benedict's visit to the United States
Clips on youtube.com that feature highlights of Mass presided by Catholic Women
at Foundry Methodist Church in Washington DC on April 14th.
Opening Hymn of Mass
Clip of Andrea Johnson's homily
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7aeLL6MSZo
Mass Consecratory Prayers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWp3zUb14Ms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7aeLL6MSZo
Mass Consecratory Prayers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWp3zUb14Ms
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Women's Ordination Mobile Billboard to Follow Pope Benedict in Washington DC
Ordain Catholic Women" Mobile Billboard to Follow Pope
WASHINGTON, DC - April 16 - Today, as Pope Benedict XVI visits our nation's capital on his 81st birthday, the Women's Ordination Conference continues their "Giving the Gift of Women" campaign, urging him to open the doors to women's ordination. A large mobile billboard stating, "Pope Benedict, How long must women wait for equality? Ordain Catholic Women," posted on a truck will follow his engagements in Washington, DC.
"We are disappointed that the pope has missed an opportunity to include women during his stadium Masses as altar servers, which has been approved by the Vatican since 1994," said Aisha Taylor, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference. "In a tragically familiar pattern, only men - including priests, bishops and cardinals - will be near the altar. That's why we have extended our mobile billboard campaign to circle Nationals Park on the day of the Mass."
On Monday, April 14, the mobile billboard drove from 10:30AM to 6:30PM in Washington, DC, beginning at the National Press Club where WOC hosted a press conference to lauch the campaign, and circling the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Headquarters and Catholic University. Later that night, in conjunction with thirteen similar events around the country, over 100 people attended an inclusive Mass presided by Catholic women, including two recently excommunicated ordained women from St. Louis. During the Mass, attendees gave generous financial support to enable WOC to circulate the mobile billboard outside Nationals Park.
WASHINGTON, DC - April 16 - Today, as Pope Benedict XVI visits our nation's capital on his 81st birthday, the Women's Ordination Conference continues their "Giving the Gift of Women" campaign, urging him to open the doors to women's ordination. A large mobile billboard stating, "Pope Benedict, How long must women wait for equality? Ordain Catholic Women," posted on a truck will follow his engagements in Washington, DC.
"We are disappointed that the pope has missed an opportunity to include women during his stadium Masses as altar servers, which has been approved by the Vatican since 1994," said Aisha Taylor, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference. "In a tragically familiar pattern, only men - including priests, bishops and cardinals - will be near the altar. That's why we have extended our mobile billboard campaign to circle Nationals Park on the day of the Mass."
On Monday, April 14, the mobile billboard drove from 10:30AM to 6:30PM in Washington, DC, beginning at the National Press Club where WOC hosted a press conference to lauch the campaign, and circling the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Headquarters and Catholic University. Later that night, in conjunction with thirteen similar events around the country, over 100 people attended an inclusive Mass presided by Catholic women, including two recently excommunicated ordained women from St. Louis. During the Mass, attendees gave generous financial support to enable WOC to circulate the mobile billboard outside Nationals Park.
Inclusive Catholic Mass in honor of Pope Benedict's visit to USA
On April 14th, the Women's Ordination Conference and Roman Catholic Womenpriests celebrated an inclusive Mass led by Catholic women, including presider, Andrea Johnson, Rose Marie Hudson, Elsie McGrath, Erin Hanna, Gerry Rauch. Over 100 people from the DC Metro area attended this joyous celebration of the gifts of women.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Catholic Women give the gift of women in honor of Pope Benedict's Visit to U.S./DC
On April 14, 2008. the Women's Ordination Conference hosted a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC in honor of Pope Benedict's visit to the USA and 81st birthday. Roman Catholic Womenpriests, Bridget Mary Meehan, Elsie Mc Grath and Rose Marie Hudson, participated in the press conference sharing the vision and mission of Roman Catholic Womenpriests. Aisha Taylor, executive director of WOC, and Gerry Rauch, a board member of WOC for many years called for the full equality of women in the church. Aisha Taylor, explained that there would be a Mass presided by Catholic women, including two recently excommunicated ordained women from St. Louis. Taylor said: "In the face of one closed door after another, Catholic women have been innovative, courageous and faithful to the church. They continue to make a way where there is none. Our Mass demonstrates how Catholic women answer God's call and minster to the needs of their communities..." Gerry Rauch, gave a powerful theological presentation of the inherent sexism that has blocked the transformation of the RC church into a more open, participatory, and egalitarian community that ordains women as a response to the call for justice in the church today.
For more information: www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org
email: Bridget Mary Meehan at sofiabmm@aol.com
email: Aisha Taylor at ataylor@womensordination.org
Roman Catholic Womanpriests announce first U.S. Womanbishop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sNcBHle7p8(youtube videos of press conference at National Press Club at which Bridget Mary Meehan announced Bishop Dana Reynold's episcopal ordination)
At a press conference in Washington in honor of Pope Benedict, Roman Catholic Womanpriest,Bridget Mary Meehan announced that Dana Reynolds was ordained on April 9th in a chapel in Stuttgart, Germany. Dana was called forth and elected from the USA western region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests and is the first U.S. Roman Catholic Womanbishop.Dana was called forth and elected from the USA western region of RCWP (Roman Catholic Womenpriests) and is the first U.S. Roman Catholic Womanbishop. She states: "Our RCWP community is blessed with diverse, creative and spiritual gifts, and varied ministries in loving service with the people of God. Together we are living out our callings in a discipleship of equals. We envision, and we are working towards a Spirit-guided development of a balanced ordained ministry (women and men created equal by God) in a renewed Roman Catholic Church. The challenging times we are living in are calling for the re-imagining of how to best acknowledge and respond to the spiritual needs of God’s human family. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, we learn and grow together, returning to and following Jesus' teachings of inclusivity, compassion, and acceptance." Dana resides in California.
For twenty years she has been a facilitator for the creative/spiritual process. She is a spiritual director, volunteer hospice chaplain, and author. Dana is the mother of two adult children and grandmother. She shares life with Don, her husband, of forty yearsFor twenty years she has been a facilitator for the creative/spiritual process. She is a spiritual director, volunteer hospice chaplain, and author. Dana is the mother of two adult children and grandmother. She shares life with Don, her husband, of forty years
Friday, April 11, 2008
VOA TV Story on Roman Catholic Womenpriests in preparation for Pope Benedict's Visit
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-10-voa27.cfm
As Pope Benedict prepares to travel to the United States [arriving April 15th], he continues to uphold the church's long-standing tradition of not ordaining women as priests. Since July 2006, more than U.S. 20 women with the organization "Roman Catholic Womenpriests" have considered themselves ordained without church approval. VOA's Jeff Swicord reports on one woman in Sarasota, Florida, who says it is time for the church to openly accept women into the priesthood.
Bridget Mary Meehan (r)Bridget Mary Meehan is one of 24 Roman Catholic women in the United States conducting mass in defiance of church doctrine... (hit link above for Voice of America story on Mary, Mother of Jesus House Church in Sarasota, Florida.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Roman Catholic Male Bishop Geoffrey Robinson Calls for End of Monarchy in the Church
Dear Friends of Renewal in the Roman Catholic Church,
We affirm Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's mission to renew the RC church. We also are delighted that when he addresses the issue of priesthood, he opens the door to Roman Catholic women as well as men who are called to priestly ministry.
It is a joy to welcome you, Bishop Robinson, a courageous, prophetic bishop from Australia to the United States. We rejoice in your support of women and men as equals and partners, rooted in the Gospel modelled by Jesus of Nazareth.
Bridget Mary Meehan
CATHOLIC THINKERS WILL CALL FOR END OF MONARCHY IN THE CHURCH
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson of Sydney, Australia, will keynote a two-day symposium May 16 and 17 at Philadelphia’s Temple University on “Rebuilding the Catholic Church.” Bishop Robinson is the first contemporary bishop in good standing to suggest revising the Church’s monarchical governance, an anti-Scriptural and anachronistic misuse of power. He does this, and much more, in a book that has electrified Australia. Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church, Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus, has just been published here in the U.S. by the Liturgical Press.
Bishop Robinson will speak in Temple’s Anderson Hall at 8 p.m. Friday May 16. Starting at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, he will audit and react to six other speakers who will offer variations on his themes for the rest of the day, followed by an audience Q. and A. ending at 5 p.m. His Philadelphia visit will be his first stop on a nine-city tour. Other stops: Washington DC, Boston, Fairfield, CT, Morristown, NJ, Manhasset, NY, Cleveland, Seattle, San Diego, and Los Angeles.
In Philadelphia, tickets for both days events, to be held at Temple University’s Anderson Hall, are $10 ($5 for students) and may be ordered on line at http://www.arcc-catholic-rights.net/ or by phoning 877-780-2722. Tickets can be picked up at the door at Anderson Hall. The conference web site is www.rccrenewal.org.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson of Sydney, Australia, will keynote a two-day symposium May 16 and 17 at Philadelphia’s Temple University on “Rebuilding the Catholic Church.” Bishop Robinson is the first contemporary bishop in good standing to suggest revising the Church’s monarchical governance, an anti-Scriptural and anachronistic misuse of power. He does this, and much more, in a book that has electrified Australia. Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church, Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus, has just been published here in the U.S. by the Liturgical Press.
Bishop Robinson will speak in Temple’s Anderson Hall at 8 p.m. Friday May 16. Starting at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, he will audit and react to six other speakers who will offer variations on his themes for the rest of the day, followed by an audience Q. and A. ending at 5 p.m. His Philadelphia visit will be his first stop on a nine-city tour. Other stops: Washington DC, Boston, Fairfield, CT, Morristown, NJ, Manhasset, NY, Cleveland, Seattle, San Diego, and Los Angeles.
In Philadelphia, tickets for both days events, to be held at Temple University’s Anderson Hall, are $10 ($5 for students) and may be ordered on line at http://www.arcc-catholic-rights.net/ or by phoning 877-780-2722. Tickets can be picked up at the door at Anderson Hall. The conference web site is www.rccrenewal.org.
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