Catholic Church to Women- Women Priests Inclusive , Rita Lucey, Letter to Editor, Orlando Sentinel

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-op-letters-should-catholic-women-keep-silence-20181004-story.html

Civil society ended excommunication years ago

Yes, Susan Talana Harris, we women got tired of waiting for a patriarchal, misogynistic Canon law 1024 to be nullified and in 2002 took matters into our own call to the priesthood when seven women were ordained by an anonymous Roman Catholic bishop, assuring the church law for "apostolic succession."

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The Roman Catholic Womenpriest Movement now numbers almost 300. We are active in social-justice issues, ministering to the homeless and offering sacred rituals to the excommunicated, the divorced, the “fallen away” Catholics, and all who come to us. We are inclusive. All are welcome.

In 2015, many Central Floridians became aware of this movement when I was ordained to the priesthood, which generated considerable publicity. I and many others see this movement much as those of the suffragettes who sought the right to vote. My excommunication, placing me outside the official church, is a continuation of a culture that ended in most other major religions, and within civil society, many years ago.

Now the Roman Catholic institution is reaping the effects of this refusal to grant women full equality, not only in a shortage of priests, but also some believe contributing to the pedophile scandal.

Until there is a paradigm shift within the Vatican hierarchy, the governing body of the Roman Catholic Church, the challenges to its present refusal to recognize the equality of women will persist.

The Rev. Rita Lucey Orange City