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)
(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,
