Women Called to Priesthood in the Catholic Church Are Being Ordained: Find Out How!

Times are changing and the Spirit is moving in our church in each of us as the gifts of the Holy Spirit are being called forth to celebrate the sacraments, the holy moments where God embraces us with unbounded grace. Catholics are gathering without priests to celebrate the Eucharist in Ireland and other places where there are no male priests to celebrate.

Jesus called both men and women to be his disciples. (Luke 8:1-3) The Risen Christ sent Mary of Magdala, the apostle to the apostles to proclaim the good news of the Resurrection. Women in the early church presided at the Eucharistic celebrations in their homes. (Romans 16)

 According to Gary Macy in his scholarly book, The Hidden History of Women's Ordination, women were ordained for the first 1200 years of the church's history. Even the Vatican's own Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1976 concluded that there is nothing in the Bible to prohibit women's ordination.

The Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement started in 2002 with the ordination of seven women on the Danube. Our first bishops were ordained by a male bishop with apostolic succession. Therefore our Orders are valid. We are disobeying an unjust canon law that discriminates against women. While the Vatican considers our initiative a revolution, millions of Catholics welcome us grassroots inclusive, partnership model of ministry as a "holy shakeup" whose time has come! We are leading, not leaving the church, into its future now in grassroots communities. In the United States, women priests serve in 29 states. We have grown from 7 to 140 and are in Europe, Canada, Latin America and the U.S.

If you are a woman called or  know of any women who feel called to serve the community in your parish or diocese as priests, please get in touch with me. For more information, visit our website: www.arcwp.org

+ Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwp

703-671-6712

sofiabmm@aol.com