National Catholic Reporter Article on Video of Jesuit Fr. Bill Brennan Calling for Women's Ordination Before He Died/ He Had Co-Presided at Liturgy with Janice Sevre Duszynska, ARCWP

Soli Salgado   |  Mar. 23, 2015

"Seven months after his death, a Jesuit priest's call for the ordination of women has been released in a video.

Jesuit Fr. William Brennan died Aug. 11, 2014, at age 94. But he had previously asked his friend Alice Iaquinta -- a woman ordained in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement -- to record him standing by his conviction that women are called to the priesthood. He asked that she wait to release the message until after he had received a proper Catholic burial...."

"When Brennan participated in 2012 in a liturgy with Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ordained through the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, the Milwaukee archdiocese and his Jesuit superiors sanctioned him. They forbade Brennan to practice his priestly faculties, attend public worship, speak to the media, leave Milwaukee without permission from superiors, and present himself as a Jesuit priest. Until the release of this video, Brennan had fulfilled those wishes.

"He was always exceedingly cautious in how he expressed himself," Iaquinta, who recorded his message, told NCR. "He always made sure to honor the obedience vow that he made and prefaced everything he said with an acknowledgement that he had made a vow of obedience to the Jesuits, and that he wasn't being disobedient, but he was also being obedient to his conscience."

In the video, Brennan credited his mother for his sympathy toward women's rights. He said that when his Jesuit brothers disputed women's ordination, he realized he "did not share their hostility," recalling his "childhood awareness" of his mother once being unable to vote. ..."

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Source URL (retrieved on 03/23/2015 - 10:45): http://ncronline.org/news/people/jesuit-made-deathbed-call-womens-ordination

Bridget Mary's Response: Thank you, Fr. Bill, Alice and Janice for your witness for the full equality of women in the Roman Catholic Church including priesthood!
Fr, Bill, we are counting on your heavenly support now!
 Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org