ESSAY
"...I first began thinking about excommunication when friends of mine attended the ordination of two women in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement in February in Sarasota, Fla. I pointed out to them, after the fact, that the Florida papers quoted the local bishop as saying that Catholics who participated in the event were excommunicated. The response of my friends, both of whom are weekly communicants, was a dismissive wave of the hand. Oh, just like that abortion case in Brazil, where everyone was excommunicated except the rapist...
"When bishops declare Catholics excommunicated, they make the presumption that the alleged offenders were deliberately violating their consciences, acting in bad faith and therefore committing a grievous sin. But no one, no bishop, can presume to judge another person’s conscience. The Second Vatican Council described conscience as the “sanctuary” where the individual “is alone with God” (Gaudium et spes). In the opinion of Thomas Aquinas, we are bound to follow our consciences, even when in error, even if it means excommunication..."
"What’s new are the growing numbers of women in Europe and the United States who claim ordination to the priesthood. They acknowledge that the original ordinations of women bishops were not permitted by the Vatican and would therefore be illicit. But they insist that the original ordinations were conferred by male bishops in apostolic succession and are therefore valid. And when local bishops serve these women with papers declaring them excommunicated, they appeal to their clear consciences, to their love for the church, and to the example of Jesus..."
"In the meantime, the bishops are put in the unenviable position of appearing to be at war with women. Some speak of a virtual schism already in the church. But, women ask in reply, who is in schism? They or the bishops? ...
[Ronald Modras is a professor of theological studies at St. Louis University. He is the author of Ignatian Humanism (Loyola Press).]
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