"The Catholic Church's Priorities Fall Short" by Abigail Eltzroth ARCWP, Asheville, Citizen-Times

Abigail Eltzroth, ARCWP, Asheville, North Carolina

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The Catholic church’s priorities fall short

I am a Roman Catholic woman priest, ordained in Asheville this past year. Within hours after having committed the “sin” of “attempted ordination,” church authorities publicly proclaimed my excommunication.

Compare the way the church treated me and the way it treats Theodore McCarrick.

Recently, national news outlets report that Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, DC, is a sexual predator, abusing seminarians and young priests. The church hierarchy, knowing about this abuse, promoted him again and again. Finally decades later, when they could no longer cover up his crimes, the pope removed McCarrick from the rank of cardinal, allowing him to retain the titles of archbishop and priest.

I join the thousands of voices worldwide to demand justice. Women should be allowed ordination, sexual predators must face criminal trials, enablers who covered up these crimes must be held accountable, and victims must have their dignity restored.

Rev. Abigail Eltzroth, Weaverville