A Basque Woman Ordained Spain's First 'Clandestine' Catholic Bishop

Bishop Olga Lucia Alvarez BenjumeaARCWP 

Mercedes, the first bishop in rebellion from Spain in an event celebrated by the Colombian bishop Olga Lucía Álvarez Benjumea / EFE

Mercedes, the new bishop, remembers with anger how since her childhood she felt frustrated by the exclusion of women in the Church

June 13, 2024 17:59

1. ALAVA
2. BIZKAIA
3. GIPUZKOA
4. BASQUE COUNTRY

EFE

The Association of Roman Catholic Priests (APCR), an international organization that fights for the right of women to be priests although it is not recognized by the Church, has made history by ordaining a Basque woman as bishop, the first in Spain. Mercedes, the new bishop, remembers with anger how since her childhood she felt frustrated by the exclusion of women in the Church, whose institution has always favored men. Her ordination, celebrated on June 1 according to the Roman rite and before a large group of attendees, marks a milestone in the fight for gender equality in the ecclesiastical field.

The ordination ceremony was presided over by Olga Lucía Álvarez Benjumea, a Colombian bishop and prominent representative of the movement in South America. Mercedes, who prefers to remain anonymous, does not see her new position as a social honor, but as an opportunity to serve the community, reflecting her commitment to the mission of the Church. In statements to EFE, he stressed that his appointment is not a matter of personal prestige, but rather of fulfilling the call to service that he considers fundamental in his faith.

The job, "a boy's thing"

She remembers how her mother told her that religious service was "a boy's thing," and that only if the seminaries were opened to women would she be able to continue with her vocation. "Until I found the association", a Catholic, feminist and inclusive group of which she has been a part for four years and where she was consecrated a priest two years ago.

Currently made up of 124 priests and 10 bishops, the movement was born on the Danube River in 2002 and has since grown to form communities spread across Germany, Austria, France, Scotland, Canada, the United States and South America.

It is a renewal movement within the Roman Catholic Church whose objective is to achieve full equality within the Church as a matter of "justice and fidelity to the Gospel ", which advocates a new model of inclusive priestly ministry in the Church. .

It demands women's access to sacred orders like any baptized man, a possibility prohibited in article 1024 of the code of canon law, which they defend abolishing, as well as the so-called Gratian Decree.

"Every baptized man has the right to sacred orders. In other words, we women who are baptized do not. That is the question," Mercedes claims. "I want to be entirely part of the Church and for the Church to fully welcome all people, no matter what they are. Every person has the right to be loved," he adds.

"The movement is growing in Europe and Spain," acknowledges Mercedes. Since the first appointment in 2013, Spain has three ordained priests, including the new bishop, and six new appointments are expected, always "in hiding."

In 2007, the Catholic Church approved in its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith the 'latae sententiae' excommunication of both those who confer sacred orders on a woman, and the woman who has attempted to receive ordination.

Colombian Olga Lucía Álvarez Benjumea, the first Latin American priest and the bishop who consecrated Mercedes, claims to have not received any notification from Rome: "I know there is a canon, but it does not apply to me because I have not renounced my baptism. , nor have I withdrawn from the church.

"If the Church applies excommunication to us it is because it recognizes us," explains Álvarez Benjumea.

Regarding Pope Francis, Álvarez Benjumea considers him as "a very dear boyfriend who sends us flowers and tells us very nice phrases", but from whom we cannot expect "anything more".

pastoral work

The new bishop, for her part, shows "great respect" when speaking of the pontiff and sees in his mandate an attempt to take steps forward, although "not enough."

He does not believe that "everyone, everyone, everyone" fits in the Church, because divorced people, homosexuals, transgender people and women occupy "a fifth place."

She claims that "it is time" for the Church to open the doors to women and defends that they can access not only the diaconate, as the Church is beginning to propose: "We do not want the diaconate, we want the priesthood."

After her ordination on June 1, Mercedes will carry out pastoral work and ordination of other people. "I have celebrated mass, I have baptized a girl, I have attended funerals." All of this in private homes and "clandestinely."

"I feel a call to service in a way of exercising the sacraments, of helping people who are in need. And people see it well that a woman can agree to do all this type of work without hiding. Because we are not sinning," he insists.