Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Preparing for the Vatican Synod on the Bible, RC Church Leaders Ignore Own Scholarship favoring Womenpriests

From Oct. 5-26, the Vatican is hosting a synod entitled "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." Once again the voting members are limited to male clerics: cardinals, bishops and priests. At this historic synod, six women experts and 19 observers have been invited to participate.

The good news is that Roman Catholic Womenpriests will be represented at the Shadow Synod in Rome this year. Stay tuned for details!!

I can't believe that there are only six women scholars that have made significant contributions in biblical studies in our era. How many prominent feminists were invited to present on topics that have been ignored for far too long such as the role of women in the bible?

There has been ground-breaking work on this topic. I wrote a book , entitled, Praying with Women of the Bible, that summarized some of this outstanding, consciousness-raising research. Church leaders need look no further than than their own scholarship to conclude that women should be ordained priests in the Roman Catholic Church. The good news is now male bishops have gone ahead and ordained women bishops so that justice can now be a reality for women in the church. Jesus treated women as disciples and equals and for 1200 years women served in ordained ministry. Now Roman Catholic Womenpriests are reclaiming our ancient heritage and offering a renewed model of priestly ministry as a gift to our beloved church.

In 1976, the Pontifical Biblical Commission on women priests concluded after a two year study of scripture that by a vote of 12-5 that neither the bible nor Christ excluded the ordination of women. The vote in favor of ordaining women was 14-3.

According to a recent letter in the National Catholic Reporter, Fr. David Stanley, the head of this scholarly group resigned after he realized that the Vatican did not accept the commission's conclusions.
(Letter to the Editor , NCR, by Vic. Hummert, Sept. 19, 2008, pg 29)

Read historic Pontifical Biblical Commission's Report on ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church.
http://members.aol.com/mfgardner/bcr_prst.htm

For more information about Roman Catholic Womenpriests,

visit http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/

Roman Catholic Womanpriest: Judy Lee ministers to the homeless in the Park in Ft. Myers, Florida

You may want to listen to this inspiring NPR radio interview covering Judy Lee's ministry to the homeless in Church in the Park in Ft. Myers, Florida.

Listen Audio
Judy Lee
Sep. 18, 2008
An activist group hoping to pressure the Roman Catholic Church into dropping its exclusion of women from the priesthood ordained three women at a ceremony in Boston last month. One was Fort Myers resident, Judy Lee. Despite warnings of excommunication, Lee says she went forward with the ceremony to better serve her rather unconventional congregation. WGCU’s John Davis reports. Continue Reading Judy Lee >>-->
http://www.wgcu.org/news/

Mc Brien's article on Apostolic Succession in National Catholic Reporter

Mc Brien's article on Apostolic Succession in National Catholic Reporter
Debate over role of 'bishop' in apostolic succession is a church-dividing issue