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Tuesday, October 15, 2024

ARCWP Ordination of Belen Repiso Carrillo as Deacon in Rome , Homily Christina Moreira ARCWP

 






















Homilía para la ordenación de Belén Repiso al diaconado

Roma 15 de octubre de 2024

Queridas hermanas, hermanos, querida Belén.

Ante todo, necesito dar las gracias, a quienes estáis aquí hoy acompañándonos,  que habéis acudido a la invitación desde sitios lejanos, dejando la comodidad de vuestras casas, demostráis mucho amor y compromiso, igualmente doy las gracias a nuestra obispa Bridget Mary, a nuestra responsable de formación, Mary Theresa cuya fe y empeño fueron determinantes para llegar a reunirnos hoy. Gracias Belén porque, siguiendo la luz de la gracia que el Materno Espíritu mantiene viva en ti desde tantos años, has tenido el valor y la fuerza de llegar hasta aquí. Gracias a Dios Padre-Madre, que es quien nos convoca hoy y por quien damos este paso de ordenar a Belén diaconisa hoy, y presbítera muy pronto.

Hablo de luz porque de los textos que hemos escuchado sale un resplandor ensordecedor, nace claridad y certeza.

Cabe preguntarse, después de escuchar los nombres de Febe, diaconisa, Priscila -en cuya casa se reunía la comunidad-, María, Junia – ilustre entre los apóstoles- de dónde parte la sordera de quienes no solo no los escuchan, sino que son capaces de obviar hasta su existencia en la historia. ¿Cómo puede ser que hasta tres comisiones bíblicas no hayan podido dictaminar que hubo diaconisas y presbíteras en las comunidades de la Iglesia en tiempos tempranos? Es preciso recordar que esas comunidades se reunían en las casas de las familias recién convertidas y que en casa mandamos, todavía hoy, nosotras. ¿quién sino las mujeres partían en pan y servían el vino en las casas? Sobran pruebas. 

Y sobran, lastimosamente, otras tantas pruebas de esa sordera fingida o interesada de quienes piden para sí el privilegio de los ministerios.

Permitidme que recuerde que ministerio significa servicio, significa poner el alma, la voluntad y la vida al servicio de quienes somos llamadas a cuidar. “Ellos arriesgaron su vida” dice Pablo. No eran tiempos fáciles para quienes seguían a Jesús, como tampoco lo son para nosotras hoy. Pero aquí estamos, juntas bajo este techo, en amor y compañía, puñado apretado de gente de fe y de palabra, que cumple lo prometido y comprometido.

La luz que proyecta el evangelio brota del apostolado de Magdalena, la columna de la primera Ecclesia (comunidad) porque eso significa su nombre, el pilar es ella sin quien nadie estaría aquí hoy confesando que Jesús, el Cristo, Hijo de Dios, ha resucitado. La primera testigo era una mujer, o más bien tres. Cuando algo es íntegro, perfecto y adscrito a la plenitud divina, viene simbolizado por el 3 en la Biblia. Nada es casual en nuestro Libro santo. Nosotras bebemos en la luz de esas tres mujeres que fueron apóstolas de pleno derecho, como lo fue Junia (cuyo nombre se maquilló en Junias en muchas traducciones para intentar convertirla en hombre, aún arriesgándose a crear una pareja de machos, cualquier cosa con tal de no adosar la palabra “apóstol”  a un nombre femenino. Junias, como nombre no existió…Junia sí.

Vamos a necesitar toda la Luz que es Jesús, como dijo en el evangelio de Juan “Yo soy la Luz”,  para ser dignas servidoras de su lámpara, para mantenerla en alta porque como dijo también, “no se hizo para esconderla”, vamos a necesitar toda esa luz para lograr que retroceda la sombra que busca ocultarnos y apagar nuestras voces desde el fondo de los siglos y los milenios. Esas sombra está hecha de soberbia, envidia, celos, egolatría, apego a los privilegios, afán de poder y dominio sobre otros, está hecha también de ignorancia y tal vez algo de idiotez y no sirve consolarnos pensando que nosotras no hemos caído y que solo el machismo clerical y endogámico se ve afectado por esa sombra. No nos dejemos llevar por ningún triunfalismo. Al entrar nosotras en las órdenes nos acechan las mismas sombras, somos humanas y hemos de ser conscientes del esfuerzo que merece el recordar a todas las horas de nuestra vida que somos enviadas (eso significa la palabra apóstol) para servir. Los atributos de nuestro maestro son una palangana y una toalla, su postura es arrodillado ante nosotros. Desde la solemnidad de estos días os lo pido, nunca olvidéis esto. Ese es nuestro modelo.

Servir significa que tenemos amo, y ese amo nos convoca a salir a anunciar la Buena Nueva sin pan ni alforjas, desnuda el alma y humildes como él. Significa que a él solo hemos de obedecer. Y, con perdón de nuestros vecinos del barrio de ahí fuera, saber lo que nos manda exige un ejercicio de escucha compasiva, acogedora y obediente ¿a quién? A nuestra comunidad, la que nos ha elegido para servirla, darle aliento, acompañarla en la oración, guiarla en las dificultades, atender en sus necesidades. Cuando no sepas para donde tirar, convoca la asamblea Belén, ella sabe lo que quiere de ti, y tantas veces será para ti la Voz de Dios, te dirá si has sabido o no acercarla al Reino. Tanto la comunidad local, la de Valladolid, como la más ampliada de tus compañeras en el ministerio. Una real sororidad y fraternidad es el fruto de un diaconado bien comprendido. Transparencia, claridad, acogida amorosa son los frutos de un buen servicio, son los signos de que el Reino está próximo, y eso es lo que Jesús nos manda a anunciar, y sanar, y expulsar a los demonios. 

Para eso murió y resucitó Cristo y yo sé Belén que tú no has salido de tu casa y de tu país, como Abrahán, para fallarle. Que tu estela se llene de gente dando gracias porque los ciegos ven, las cojas andan, la gente es liberada y perdonada, y el mal es derrotado. La comunidad cuenta contigo y sabemos que podemos confiar en que nos ha salido una nueva apóstola, enviada por Dios y necesaria.

Que la luz que vio Magdalena en los ojos de su Señor resucitado guíe siempre tus pasos, hoy y en adelante, cuenta con nosotras para darte la mano.

Amén

 

Homily for the ordination of Belén Repiso to the diaconate

Rome 15 October 2024

Dear sisters, brothers, dear Belén.

First of all, I need to thank you, who are here today accompanying us,  who have come to the invitation from far away, leaving the comfort of your homes, show much love and commitment, likewise I thank our bishop Bridget Mary, our Head of Formation, Mary Theresa whose faith and commitment were decisive in bringing us together today. Thank you, Belén, because, following the light of grace that the Motherly Spirit has kept alive in you for so many years, you have had the courage and strength to get here. I thank God, Father-Mother, who is calling us today and for whom we take this step of ordering Belén as a deaconess today, and a priest very soon.

I speak of light because from the texts we have heard comes out a deafening glow, clarity and certainty are born.

One may wonder, after hearing the names of Phoebe, deaconess, Priscilla -in whose house the community was gathered-, Mary, Junia - illustrious among the apostles- where the deafness of those who not only do not hear them, but they are able to overlook even their existence in history. How is it that up to three biblical commissions could not have ruled that there were deaconesses and elders in the communities of the Church in early times? It is necessary to remember that these communities met in the homes of newly converted families and that we still command them today. Who else did the women break bread and serve wine in the houses? There are plenty oftrials. 

And there are many more, sadly, proofs of that faked or interested deafness of those who ask for the privilege of ministries.

Let me remind you that ministry means service, it means putting the soul, will and life into the service of those we are called to care for. "They risked their lives," says Paul. It was not an easy time for those who followed Jesus, as it is not easy for us today. But here we are, together under this roof, in love and companionship, a crowded handful of people of faith and word, who fulfill what is promised and committed.

The light that the gospel projects springs from the apostolate of Magdalena, the column of the first Ecclesia (community) because this means her name, the pillar is she without whom no one would be here today confessing that Jesus, the Christ, Son of God, has risen. The first witness was a woman, or rather three. When something is whole, perfect, and attached to the divine fullness, it is symbolized by three in the Bible. Nothing is casual in our holy Book. We drink in the light of those three women who were full-fledged apostles, as was Junia (whose name was made up in Junias in many translations to try to make her a man, even risking to create a male couple, anything so as not to attach the word "apostle"  to a female name. Junias, as name did not exist... Junia as name exists indeed.

 

We will need all the Light that is Jesus, as he said in the gospel of John "I am the Light",  to be worthy servants of his lamp, to keep it high because as he also said, "it was not made to hide it", we will need all that light to make the shadow that seeks to hide us recede and extinguish our voices from the bottom of the centuries and millennia. That shadow is made of pride, envy, jealousy, egocentricity, attachment to privilege, desire for power and dominion over others, is also made of ignorance and perhaps some idiocy and does not serve to console us thinking that we have not fallen and that only clerical and endogamic machismo is affected by this shadow. Let us not tbe carried away by any triumphalism. When we enter the orders, the same shadows lurk behind us, we are human, and we must be aware of the effort that it is worth remembering at every hour of our life that we are sent (that means the word apostle) to serve. The attributes of our master are a basin and a towel, his posture is kneeling before us. From the solemnity of these days, I ask you, never forget this. That is our model.

Serving means that we have a master, and this master calls us to go out to proclaim the Good News without bread or saddlebags, bare the soul and humble as him. It means that we are to obey him only. And, with the pardon of our neighbors from the neighborhood outside, knowing what we are sent to do requires an exercise in compassionate listening, welcoming and obedient to whom? To our community, which has chosen us to serve it, give it encouragement, accompany it in prayer, guide it in difficulties, attend to its needs. When you do not know where to draw, convokes the assembly Belén, she knows what it wants from you, and so many times will be for you the Voice of God, tell you if you have known or not to bring her to the Kindom.

Both the local community, that of Valladolid, and the more extended of your companions in the ministry. A real sorority and fraternity are the fruit of a well-understood diaconate. Transparency, clarity, loving welcome are the fruits of good service, they are the signs that the Kindomis near, and that is what Jesus commands us to announce, and heal, and cast out demons. 

For this reason, Christ died and rose again, and I know Belén that you have not gone out of your house and country like Abraham to fail him. Let your wake be filled with people giving thanks because the blind see, the lamewalk, the people are freed and forgiven, and evil is defeated. The community counts on you, and we know that we can trust that a new apostle has come out, sent by God, and needed.

May the light that Magdalena saw in the eyes of her risen Lord always guide your steps, today and for the future, count on us to give you a hand.

Amen

Thursday, October 3, 2024

The Vatican synod agenda calls for transparency. But on women deacons, it's lacking, by Christopher White. National Catholic Reporter

 https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/vatican-synod-agenda-calls-transparency-women-deacons-its-lacking

A woman holds a sign in support of women deacons as Pope Francis leads his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Nov. 6, 2019. (CNS/Paul Haring)

A woman holds a sign in support of women deacons as Pope Francis leads his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Nov. 6, 2019. (CNS/Paul Haring)

BY CHRISTOPHER WHITE

Vatican Correspondent

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 One of the clarion calls included on the agenda for October's Synod of Bishops is for the church to consider how to build a greater culture of transparency and accountability. But when it comes to women deacons, a number of leading theologians, scholars and activists believe the Vatican's doctrinal office is failing to practice what the synod is trying to preach.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis established 10 study groups to examine some of the most contentious issues that surfaced at the first session of the synod on synodality in October 2023, including one to consider the question of women deacons.

The membership of the study groups had been kept secret for over three months, but at the conclusion of the July 9 press conference to present the agenda for the Oct. 2-27 synod assembly, when reporters could no longer ask questions, the Vatican published the names of the individuals participating in each group — with one critical exception.

Under "group five" — which has beentasked with considering "some theological and canonical matters regarding specific ministerial forms" and, in particular, "theological and pastoral research on the access of women to the diaconate," no individual members were listed.

Instead, a note explained that "the in-depth study of the issues at hand-particularly the question of the necessary participation of women in the life and leadership of the church has been entrusted to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the coordination of the Secretary for the Doctrinal Section, Msgr. Armando Matteo." 

Catherine Clifford, professor of theology at St. Paul University in Ottawa, speaks during a briefing about the assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican Oct. 26, 2023. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Catherine Clifford, professor of theology at St. Paul University in Ottawa, speaks during a briefing about the assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican Oct. 26, 2023. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

The memo also announced a forthcoming document on the role of women in the church would be published. An official from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said that Matteo was unavailable to respond to NCR's request for comment.

According to Casey Stanton, co-director of Discerning Deacons, a project dedicated to engaging Catholics in conversations about the role of women and the diaconate, "the lack of transparency with this particular study group does not inspire trust or confidence in the institutional church’s commitment to be synodal."

"Synodality requires us to risk being vulnerable, to engage theologically in light of pastoral realities, and to hold difficult questions with openness," she told NCR.

Frustration over the lack of transparency on how the doctrinal office is handling the topic of women deacons is nothing new and dates back over two decades.

In 2002, the International Theological Commission concluded a study of the diaconate that considered the question of women deacons, which was followed by two different commissions Francis established in 2016 and 2020. The work of the two commissions has never been made public

Catholic scholar and author Phyllis Zagano is flanked by Dominican Sr. Donna Ciangio and Jesuit Fr. Bernard Pottier as she speaks with journalists prior to a Jan. 15, 2019, symposium on the history and future of women deacons in the Catholic Church. (CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Catholic scholar and author Phyllis Zagano is flanked by Dominican Sr. Donna Ciangio and Jesuit Fr. Bernard Pottier as she speaks with journalists prior to a Jan. 15, 2019, symposium on the history and future of women deacons in the Catholic Church. (CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz) 

"Three quinquennia of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have considered the question of restoring women to the ordained diaconate," said Phyllis Zagano, who was appointed by Francis to serve on the original 2016 Vatican commission to study women deacons and is one of the world's leading scholars on the female diaconate.

"One would hope that their findings would be considered along with whatever was presented on behalf of the two more recent commissions," she told NCR via email. "Despite the existence of ordination liturgies used for both male and female deacons, since the time of the Council of Trent there has never been any agreement on the history of ordained women."

"If, as has been reported, the two recent commissions presented an historical analysis, then their reports, like the 2002 statement of the International Theological Commission, would have been inconclusive," she continued.

During the first session of the synod on synodality, the question of women deacons surfaced throughout the monthlong assembly. A final synthesis report specifically called for the results of earlier papal and theological commissions to be presented at the 2024 synod.

While the study groups are expected to present preliminary findings this October, it remains unclear what the Vatican's doctrinal office plans to make public. 

'It's hard not to conclude that these commissions are placebos.'
—Tina Beattie 

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In an NCR interview earlier this year, Canadian theologian and synod delegate Catherine Clifford said she believed the creation of the study groups to study some of the synod's hot button issues means their work must be "open, transparent and accountable so that we have more insight into how these decisions are being made."

"I have a responsibility as a delegate to say, 'look all these secret studies have gone on and we don't know what the upshot has been,' " Clifford said at the time. "The way these issues have been dealt with over the last 50 years has undermined the confidence of the baptized faithful."

British theologian Tina Beattie expressed dismay at the fact that the work of the commission's has yet to be made public — and at the prospect that it may remain secret.

"It's hard not to conclude that both reports included evidence in favor of a female diaconate, but that the magisterium's mind is made up so this is just a window-dressing exercise," she told NCR. "I think it shows arrogance and contempt for those of us who have a genuine interest in these theological issues and debates."

"It's hard not to conclude that these commissions are placebos," Beattie added. 

Compounding the frustration for Beattie and others are remarks Francis made in a May CBS interview where he explicitly voiced his opposition to women deacons, if it is linked to Holy Orders. At the time, the pope's words caught many by surprise as they came amid the ongoing work of the synod where the topic remained an open conversation.

During a July 16 lecture at John XXIII College in Perth, Australia, Jesuit Fr. Frank Brennan expressed "fatigue and frustration" following the pope's interview and the decision to relegate the question of women deacons to the Vatican's doctrinal office, rather than the full work of the synod assembly.

"I now more readily understand why so many women in the church are frustrated or angry or both," Brennan said. "The question about women deacons deserves an answer now."

"Is not the October session of the Synod the appropriate time to think about it?" Brennan said. "And would not the October session be the appropriate time to release the findings of the two commissions held by the pope to consider the question of women deacons?" he asked.

"Is this not the bare minimum required for a transparent and inclusive, synodal church?" Brennan continued. "We need to demand better process from the top if we are to be a synodal church."

Stanton, who has spent the last four years hosting hundreds of synodal listening sessions with thousands of Catholics, said she still has high hopes for the synod but believes it will be "defeating" if the synod process addresses this topic in an "insular and closed" manner.

"I hope the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith can lean into this invitation to greater vulnerability, even as they stand as the authority on matters of church teaching," she said.

"Can they model for us the humble conversion towards becoming a more synodal church?" she asked. 

This story appears in the Synod on Synodalityfeature series. View the full series.

Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer, of Roman Catholic Womenpriests ,Priesthood about a person's gifts, 'not their genitalia,' says woman priest

By Rhina Guidos, National Catholic Reporter 

 https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/priesthood-about-persons-gifts-not-their-genitalia-says-woman-priest

The U.S. representative of a women's ordination movement said she is encouraged by people praying that the Catholic Church will open the priesthood to all who feel called to the ministry — particularly women. 

"What I feel right now is excitement and solidarity because I feel like there is a lot of good energy and movement in the greater body of the church that really wants to see equality come in so many different ways," said Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer of Roman Catholic Womenpriests-USA. She is in Rome as the synod on synodality begins its final gathering Oct. 2-27 at the Vatican.

Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer, of Roman Catholic Womenpriests-USA, poses near St. Peter's Basilica Oct. 2.

Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer, of Roman Catholic Womenpriests-USA, poses near St. Peter's Basilica Oct. 2. (NCR photo/Rhina Guidos) 

Meyer joined women from other countries Oct. 2, who gathered to pray near the Vatican so that synod participants would consider the importance of ordination to the priesthood and other roles for women, even as talk of women's diaconate was taken off the synod agenda. 

"It's not just standing here on the street corner, but there's so many people here in Rome right now that are on the periphery, guided by the spirit, to let these voices be known," she said. "And even if we don't have a space at the center, the Spirit's not given up, so I'm not giving up either."

Women, and some men, from Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, the U.S., England, Wales and South Africa are participating in events organized in Rome by Women's Ordination Worldwide movement as the synod, a four-year worldwide consultation process, is taking place at the Vatican, Meyer said. Many, including Meyer, were disappointed when Pope Francis  responded "no" to a journalist's question about whether he supported the diaconate for women. Some had been hopeful that opening the diaconate to women meant the church would one day be open to women priests. 

"When someone speaks their truth, I believe them," Meyer told National Catholic Reporter Oct. 2. "And I believe that there is no intention to truly and sincerely consider women's vocations [to the priesthood] at this point in time, because if there was any sincerity, our conversations would be open. They wouldn't be relegated to spaces inside."

"It's disappointing to hear reports leak about what could possibly take place in the future to appease those fighting for ordination of women and tease that perhaps it will happen decades from now. In the end, it has much to do with those in clerical positions who feel that their gender attaches them to their sense of purpose," Meyer said.

"It's not their genitalia," she said. "It is the personhood and the gifts that come within and how you're moved by the Spirit. Discernment needs to be about something so much deeper than your chromosomes."

Being moved by the Spirit is what Meyer said she experienced at age 10 as one of her diocese's first female altar servers in her Bartonville, Illinois, parish.

"I've loved Mass my whole life. I hung on the Liturgy of the Word. Participating in the Eucharist always felt deeply personal, deeply meaningful to me," she said, closing her eyes. 

'I believe that there is no intention to truly and sincerely consider women's vocations [to the priesthood] at this point in time.'
—Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer

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For a while, she thought that meant following a vocation as a woman religious but it was different, she said, and she talked with her mother about it, "about what was possible for me." That's when, through discernment, she realized that her vocation instead was to "stand up for my gender in my church, because this isn't right, we are all equal" and she found a different way to follow her calling.

"I was working with the Sisters of St. Francis, and I started to have friends tell me, 'Angela, you would be such a good priest.' And I kept thinking, that's ridiculous. That's just ridiculous," she said. "My initial reaction was, 'Why would anybody say that?' Because in my head, my imagination was still stuck in this … well, a priest is a guy."

But that's not really what priesthood is, she added. "Priesthood isn't a gender. It is a vocation. It is how we provide care for one another and create a sense of pastoral safety and theological reflection and growth and community." 

Rosemary Ganley, left, and the Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer hold letters as part of a group that spelled out "Ordain Women" near St. Peter's Basilica as the synod on synodality began Oct. 2 at the Vatican. (NCR photo/Rhina Guidos)

Rosemary Ganley, left, and the Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer hold letters as part of a group that spelled out "Ordain Women" near St. Peter's Basilica as the synod on synodality began Oct. 2 at the Vatican. (NCR photo/Rhina Guidos)

Meyer started talking to her spiritual director and learned about a woman ordained in Indianapolis.

"I learned about Roman Catholic women priests. And then I learned that there were several actually very close to me. So, I started in conversation with them," she said.

After spiritual direction and formation in the spirit of Vatican II, in 2019, she was ordained deacon at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Madison, Wisconsin, and was ordained a priest in 2021. Organizations such as Roman Catholic Womenpriests and the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests have helped her find community, even if they're on the periphery of the church, she said. 

'It's not their genitalia. It is the personhood and the gifts that come within and how you're moved by the Spirit. Discernment needs to be about something so much deeper than your chromosomes.'
—Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer

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Officially, the church does not recognize the ordination of women to the diaconate, nor the priesthood. Roman Catholic Womenpriests acknowledges that on its website, which says, "Yes, we have challenged and broken the Church's Canon Law 1024, an unjust law that discriminates against women." They say they believe their ordinations are valid.

"There are those who will say we're not really Catholic," she told NCR. "But what we're doing is we're creating a space where people can come and be and participate in a way that they don't feel their morality compromised, and that they can receive and participate co-equally in community care, pastoral care and sacramental care." 

At one time, she said, it was "extremely hurtful" not to be recognized by a church she so loves.

"I carried a lot of hurt and a lot of pain because of that sense of rejection, of not being good enough, or not enough, not right enough, not whole enough," she said. "Right now, I don't personally feel pain, but I feel the pain and recognize the pain that so many other people carry like I did. And that deserves to be healed. Nobody should have to carry those feelings around."

What she feels the most these days is joy at being part of Brownsburg Inclusive Catholic Community in Indiana.

"I have the just tremendous blessing to preside as priest … it feels like something has been just deeply liberated within me. And for me, it's about connection," she said. "It's about facilitating spiritual wholeness and healing and co-support. I deeply believe in the part of Jesus' prayer, 'your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.' I feel like that 'on Earth' piece is often so discarded when so much of Jesus' ministry was about healing and being in relationship here and now. For me, the Gospel is so earthy and lived and relational and I feel like I get to do that in such an authentic way, to be supported by our community. And I love to preach. I love to preach!"

Late on Oct. 2, she sat by a column at St. Peter's Square, praying with others that the synod  taking place in the buildings nearby will respond to women who feel excluded by a church they love.

"I know myself as a Catholic and I know that I won't always be recognized as such by central authority figures," she said. "It's a complicated thing … but I also believe that evolution is always happening. And so long as we continue to show up, we can continue to have some influence."



Sharing a Meal with Marion and Mark at McDonald’s

 

With Mark and Marion today for breakfast. Mark will be celebrating 16 years on Dialysis next week and Marion is happy she was not injured when she fell early today.  Two years ago she was run over by a car in a parking lot and in intensive care and in rehabilitation for weeks but she is now recovered except for pain in her arm and walks to McDonald’s everyday!  They are both “miracle “ people.

New book shares stories of Roman Catholic womenpriests

 https://www.ncronline.org/culture/book-reviews/new-book-shares-stories-roman-catholic-womenpriests

Heidi Schumpf Book Review on womenpriests


Patricia Fresen, right, greets Elsie Hainz McGrath during a ceremony at which Fresen ordained McGrath and another woman at the Central Reform Congregation Synagogue in St. Louis in this Nov. 11, 2007, file photo. Women Called to Catholic Priesthood shares stories of women who followed their call to priesthood through ordination. (CNS photo/Karen Elshout)

Patricia Fresen, right, greets Elsie Hainz McGrath during a ceremony at which Fresen ordained McGrath and another woman at the Central Reform Congregation Synagogue in St. Louis in this Nov. 11, 2007, file photo. Women Called to Catholic Priesthood shares stories of women who followed their call to priesthood through ordination. (CNS photo/Karen Elshout)

BY HEIDI SCHLUMPF

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Back in 2001, when Pope John Paul II's moratorium on the discussion of women's ordination had most Catholic institutions cowering, I was working for U.S. Catholic magazine, a lay-led publication founded during the Second Vatican Council by the Claretian order of priests and brothers.

Rather than risk publishing articles arguing about church teaching, we editors instead decided to profile five women who felt called to priesthood and let them tell their stories. The women were young and old; African American, white and Latina, and they responded to their vocational calls in different ways. One was ordained in a Protestant denomination; one has since gone to God and I believe at least one has now left the church.

Their stories of sensing a call from God from a young age, of struggling with the pain and frustration of a church that prevents them from answering that call, and their decisions about what to do with that call were compelling. I'm so glad we provided the space for them to be told.

Book cover to "Women Called to Catholic Priesthood"
Women Called to Catholic Priesthood: From Ecclesial Challenge to Spiritual Renewal
Sharon Henderson Callahan and Jeanette Rodriguez
184 pages; Fortress Press
$32.00

None of their stories, however, included pursuing ordination through what's now known as Roman Catholic Womenpriests. That movement began a year after our article's publication, in 2002, when seven women from Germany, Austria and the United States were ordained on a boat on the Danube River (where there was no ecclesial jurisdiction) by a bishop the group claims had apostolic succession.

Now the church can hear the stories of women who have chosen to follow their call to the priesthood through ordination, thanks to a new book by Sharon Henderson Callahan and Jeanette Rodriguez, Women Called to Catholic Priesthood: From Ecclesial Challenge to Spiritual Renewal (Fortress Press, 2024). Callahan and Rodriguez are both affiliated with Seattle University, the former as professor emerita and the latter as a professor and director of the university's Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture.

Callahan and Rodriguez tell the stories of 42 women in the United States, Canada, Colombia, Europe and South Africa who chose to challenge Canon 1024 with ordinations that are considered illicit by the institutional church and carry the penalty of excommunication. The authors not only trace the womenpriests' vocation stories, but examine the spiritual practices and theological beliefs that undergird their decisions and sustain the women throughout their ministry and challenges from the institutional church.

Ida Raming, one of seven women ordained to the Catholic priesthood on the Danube River in 2002, speaks to reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, in this July 22, 2005, file photo. Diane Watts, national president of Women for Life, Faith and Family, holds a protest sign in the background. Raming was excommunicated following her ordination. (CNS/Art Babych)

Ida Raming, one of seven women ordained to the Catholic priesthood on the Danube River in 2002, speaks to reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, in this July 22, 2005, file photo. Diane Watts, national president of Women for Life, Faith and Family, holds a protest sign in the background. Raming was excommunicated following her ordination. (CNS/Art Babych)

The authors describe the women's journeys collectively, drawing conclusions about them as a whole, but also quoting them individually. The women are identified by first name only, although the appendix includes a list with the full names of the women interviewed.

All felt stirrings of a call early in life and tried to respond within the confines of the church by pursuing other forms of service, including vowed religious life, parish lay ministry, social justice work, health care, chaplaincy or education. Half married and had children and grandchildren. Most waited until they retired from other professions to be ordained, since few are able to financially support themselves as priests. Not only is compensation minimal or nonexistent, but the women must finance their own education.

"Like St. Augustine, each admitted that their hearts were restless as they searched for the best way to answer the God that called them," the authors write. "Each grappled with closed doors, ostracization from friends, parishioners and family, and the threatened expulsion from the religion they practiced and loved. Like Jeremiah, each at times cried out in pain wondering how God could call them to ordained priesthood, when everything in their religion's rules rejected that call."

An photo illustration displays an overhead shot of a woman writing in a notebook, referencing a Bible. (Unsplash/Kelly Sikkema)

(Unsplash/Kelly Sikkema)

The book puts the women's experiences in the context of the Second Vatican Council, as well as the more recent rightward shift in the church. The authors also weave in and cite other scholars' applicable work. I found particularly insightful feminist scholars Alice Eagly and Linda Carli's three phases and barriers to women's vocations: the concrete wall, the glass ceiling and the labyrinth.

The concrete wall feels impenetrable, like the patriarchal structure of the church and the excommunications that now define their relationship to the church. The womenpriests see themselves breaking through the stained glass ceiling, much like their Protestant and Jewish counterparts. The labyrinth symbolizes the circuitous path women must take to positions of authority.

"We found this metaphor helpful in describing the twists and turns of each womanpriest's journey toward ordination," the authors write. "As we moved into the process of listening to their stories, we heard their pain and their joy: the obstacle that causes a turn and an opening they can move forward through."

For example, one woman, Jane, earned a doctorate in Scripture and was a tenure-track faculty member at a Catholic university. After signing a petition in The New York Times opposing church teaching on contraception, the local bishop blocked her tenure application. She went on to earn a law degree and became the prosecuting attorney for the city of San Diego. Throughout it all, she felt called to ordination.

Some women described support from priests, even bishops, though often secretly. Some still attend Catholic parishes and even receive Communion there. But too often, representatives of the institutional church were hurtful. Some womenpriests were shunned not only by church leaders but by their former fellow parishioners. One priest, who had befriended two womenpriests who were a couple, asked the one who was dying to "repent of her priesthood" before giving last rites.

"The most common path for all women attempting to enter ground previously closed has been simply to do the work," the authors conclude. "As countless authors have noted, women have entered into most professions by showing up, working hard, and staying the course."

History will tell if these women are merely "ecclesial challenge" or a "spiritual renewal." But the church should be grateful that Callahan and Rodriguez have documented their historic stories. If anything, this book left me wanting more women's stories. Let's keep telling them.