88% of U.S. Catholics "Comfortable" with Ordination of Women, CEO of Catholic Relief Services Out of Touch with Groundswell of Support for women priests/See Fact Sheet Compiled by Women's Ordination Conference!

Fact Sheet Compiled by Women's Ordination Conference:

88% of U.S. Catholics would be “comfortable” with the ordination of women, according to a 2015 Shriver Report.

The majority of Catholics would like to see women have equal standing in ordained ministry: in France (83%), Spain (78%), Argentina (60%), and Italy (59%), and Brazil (54%), according to a 2014 Univision poll.

63% of U.S. Catholics support ordaining women as priests and 81% support ordaining women as deacons. Gallup Organization survey, September 2005

64% of U.S. Catholics support women’s ordination and 69% support married priests. The Associated Press-Ipsos Poll, April 2005

Only 29% of U.S. Catholics say a male, celibate clergy is “very important.” Gallup Organization survey, September 2005

There are 16 national organizations from 11 different countries that advocate women’s ordination and eight Women’s Ordination Confernce local groups that do so in the U.S.A.

More than 180 women have been ordained as priests, deacons or bishops by the group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) and the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priest (approaching 250 in 2017, bmm)

In Rome and throughout the Mediterranean, archaeologists have found images on frescoes, mosaics, and tombs that depict women serving in roles specifically reserved for deacons, priests, and bishops. Found in catacombs and early Christian churches, they date from 100 to 820 A.D.

Catholic Relief Services Statement:

"Administration aims to preserve orderliness through processes and rules. Administrators dread questions, and sometimes prematurely equate the call for discussion with rebellion.  As an example, while many Catholic women actually do not dispute the Church’s stand on women’s ordination, it is safe to say that most of them do not understand the rationale. They often stop asking, fearful that a “why?” question will be perceived as adversarial, rather than the desire to know, to understand, to be able to speak to others about it."

from Carolyn Woo, CEO of Catholic Relief Services

https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2017/07/01/usccb-convocation-needs-humility-hear-peoples-voices-anguish/

Bridget Mary's Response: This statement shows how out of touch the officials of the Catholic Relief Services are!

Bridget Mary Meehan, www.arcwp.org