French TV 1 BBC-2
https://twitter.com/FranceTVRome/status/1848629292441260537
Women Priests Secretly Ordained In The Shadow Of The Vatican
Dressed in a white robe with a rainbow stole, the 68-year-old Frenchwoman acknowledged her ordination was unauthorized by the Vatican, where a month-long summit on the future of the Church concludes next week.
It doesn't matter, said Rocher, who is transgender.
"They've been repeating the same message for 2,000 years -- women are inferior, subordinate, invisible. It's okay. We've waited long enough, so I'm doing it now," Rocher told AFP.
Thursday's ceremony in three languages, organized with the utmost discretion in the presence of around 50 faithful from several countries, followed the same liturgy as an official mass, with readings from the Bible, singing and Communion.
Yet it was illegal in the eyes of the Church.
Even more, canonical law says the six ordinands -- three priests and three deacons, including Rocher and another transgender person -- should all be excluded from the Catholic community, along with the ceremony's other participants.
Such excommunication would be an unjustified sanction according to US "bishop" Bridget Mary Meehan.
She belongs to the group organizing the event, which says it has performed 270 ordinations of women in 14 countries since its creation in 2002.
Thursday's ceremony in three languages, organized with the utmost discretion in the presence of around 50 faithful from several countries, followed the same liturgy as an official mass, with readings from the Bible, singing and Communion.
Yet it was illegal in the eyes of the Church.
Even more, canonical law says the six ordinands -- three priests and three deacons, including Rocher and another transgender person -- should all be excluded from the Catholic community, along with the ceremony's other participants.
Such excommunication would be an unjustified sanction according to US "bishop" Bridget Mary Meehan.
She belongs to the group organizing the event, which says it has performed 270 ordinations of women in 14 countries since its creation in 2002.
"For 22 years, we have worked hard to create a more inclusive, loving church where LGBTQ, divorced and remarried (people) -- everyone -- is welcome at the table. No-one is excluded," said Meehan, 76.
On the upper deck of the barge, the six candidates committed to "serving the people of God" before an altar decorated with candles and two crowns of flowers.
Then one by one, the members of the congregation laid their hands on the heads of the newly ordained to bless them.
'Cold shower'
In recent weeks, feminist associations have multiplied initiatives to put pressure on the ongoing Synod, which began in 2021 and is due to end this month.
The groups -- occasionally supported by theologians -- condemn the way women are marginalized by the patriarchal system, despite their central role in parishes around the world.
Unlike other Christian denominations like Protestantism, the Catholic Church remains firmly opposed to the ordination of women.
They are relegated instead to support roles, whether in catechism or education, as nuns or lay people.
The agenda of the Synod summit in October 2023 included a proposal to admit women as deacons -- ministers who can celebrate baptisms, marriages and funerals but not mass.
But that idea has now been ruled out.
The pope, 87, himself excluded it during a CBS television interview in May, to the astonishment of activists.
"It was a cold shower," said Adeline Fermanian from the Comite de la Jupe, a French Catholic feminist group that has been campaigning on the issue since 2008.
Fermanian told AFP the Church's "authoritarian" response and the decision to remove women's ordination from the Synod agenda was "totally out of step" with the philosophy of the summit, which is based on consulting the faithful, including women, around the world.
'The hierarchy is afraid'
Some participants at the Synod say the appeals for more inclusion of women is too Western a concept and certain regions of the world, such as Africa, are not yet ready for women deacons for cultural reasons.
Since becoming pontiff in 2013, Pope Francis has repeatedly stressed the merits of women, including in September, when he declared: "The Church is a woman!"
The Argentine pontiff has also appointed women to important roles within the government of the Holy See.
But he does not see women's central role within the Church as including ministry -- a vision the feminist groups view as misogynistic and retrograde.
"They overpraise our qualities. They make women practically into goddesses... and they tell them 'You're serving. It's the most beautiful vocation,'" said Fermanian.
"In fact, it's a strategy to sideline and discriminate."
Sixty years after the Second Vatican Council, which sought to equip the Church for the modern world, the institution is fighting for its survival, according to these activists.
But the women ordained in Rome are not losing hope.
"I prefer to be someone who moves forward, rather than one who complains," said Loan.
Meehan summed up the mood: "The hierarchy is afraid but the people are not afraid.
"And they love women priests." © 2024 AFP
Italian News: Taken from: Adista Notizie n° 37 of 10/26/2024
Female Ordinations in Rome: Obedient to the Spirit, Disobedient to a Discriminatory Law
ROME-ADISTA. A “holy jolt”, an act of disobedience “to an unjust and man-made canon law that discriminates against women” but in prophetic obedience to the Spirit: a few hundred meters as the crowd flies from the Vatican – where the Synod of Bishops is taking place, from which it seems reasonable not to expect any progress on the role of women in the Church – more than sixty people, including journalists from various countries, attended and participated in the ordination to the diaconate and priesthood of some Catholic women belonging to the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests. On October 17, on a boat anchored on the Tiber, Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan ordained as priests Belen Repiso Carrillo from Spain, the Americans Anne Malloy La Tour and Mary Katherine Daniels and three deacons, Loan Rocher from France and the Spanish Maria Teresa Ribeiro Rosa and Txus Garcia Pascual , two of whom are transsexuals, in a joyful liturgy that lasted over two hours, in which the assembly played a very active role and in which the candidates were introduced one by one in an affectionate and personal way.
The event is certainly not the first of its kind and took place in privacy, in the presence of only accredited persons, to avoid possible disturbances. Its meaning is the promotion of gender equality in the ordained ministry, in a Catholic Church that does not grant the ordained ministry to women and instead punishes with latae sententiae excommunication, that is, automatic, "both the one who has attempted to confer the sacred order on a woman, and the woman who has attempted to receive the sacred order" (art. 1024 of the Canon of Canon Law; see also no. 1379,3).
In his homily, the bishop emphasized how women have always played the role of deacon in the Church. Placing particular emphasis on the role of Mary Magdalene, the first female apostle sent to proclaim the good news of Jesus' resurrection, the bishop appealed for women to be admitted to the priesthood and diaconate: "We are ready!", she said at the end of the homily amid applause.
A story that goes back more than twenty years
Let's take a step back, because this movement has a long history, which began on June 29, 2002 on another river, the Danube, in the German city of Passau, when the first seven women were ordained by the Argentine bishop Romulo Antonio Braschi , founder of the "Charismatic Apostolic Catholic Church of Jesus the King". According to the National Catholic Reporter at the time, Bishop Braschi claimed to have been consecrated bishop twice: the first time, in 1998, by the Argentine bishop Roberto Padin , of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil, and the second time, in 1999, by Jeronimo Podesta , a canonically legitimate figure in the affair, bishop of the diocese of Avellaneda in Argentina from 1962 to 1967, then removed from office for having married, and dying in 2000. This second consecration, of which there is a certificate, placing Braschi within the apostolic succession, would make the ordinations he celebrated legally valid – although illicit, according to Canon Law, since women cannot be ordained. However, Braschi was not the only "bishop" in that 2002 ordination: alongside there was the former Benedictine monk Ferdinand Regelsberger , who had been consecrated bishop by Braschi himself the month before. It seems that there was also a third bishop, probably a Czech bishop, perhaps consecrated in the context of the Czechoslovak underground Church at the time of the persecution of the Catholic Church by the communist regime, who remained anonymous to protect his identity. He too was a protagonist of clandestine female ordinations, and the seven women – who never revealed their identity – would have asked him for a second ordination, if the first was not considered valid. The bishop recounts in his homily: «There is an unconfirmed story according to which Bishop X, a Roman Catholic bishop in apostolic succession, who was traveling for this ordination was locked up in a monastery. They took his car keys and he did not arrive in time. However, on May 19, 2003, Bishop banks of the Saône; the same year, on the St. Lawrence River in Canada.
At the time of the first ordination, condemnations and criticisms did not come only from the institutional Church. A distancing had also been expressed by movements such as “We are Church”, and by www . womenpriests . org , which fights precisely for female priesthood. The fight to have women priests, they had said, must originate in the Catholic mainstream.
There is no equality in the Church
Today, these differences seem distant, and this fight for equal rights for women in the Church, even in the ordained ministry, has become common. We are Church International, present with a delegation during these days of the synodal assembly, displayed a banner with the words “Equality. For women, lay people, LGBT+, married people, everyone” during the Angelus on October 13 in St. Peter's Square. Within minutes, the group was surrounded by the police, who ordered the banner to be removed and held seven members of the group in handcuffs for hours, demanding that they delete all the photographs taken.
“We have come to Rome to ordain deacons and priests and promote gender equality in the ordained ministry in a Church for all,” the bishop began in his homily. “We have come to Rome to share the good news that Catholic women are now serving as deacons and priests in inclusive peer communities that are expanding the tent of the Church throughout the world. We have come to Rome to engage in a 'conversation in the Spirit' with Pope Francis and the synod delegates. We ask that Pope Francis remove all barriers that excommunicate those who respond to the Spirit's call to ordination.” “On April 24, Pope Francis rejected the possibility of ordaining women deacons in an interview with CBS on “60 Minutes.” When asked if a girl could ever have the opportunity to be a deacon, he said “no,” explaining that “If it's a deacon with Holy Orders, no.” (…) My answer, if a little girl asked me if – in the future – she could become a deacon, would be: Yes, come and see!
In April 1976, Meehan continued, the Pontifical Biblical Commission “unanimously concluded that no valid argument can be made against the ordination of women based on Scripture. In other words, stop blaming Jesus. He did not ordain anyone, male or female, at the Last Supper! Scripture scholars remind us that the Gospel writers said that women, many women, followed Jesus.” The Church's discriminatory view “contradicts our fundamental baptismal equality. In Christ, 'there is neither male nor female...all are one in Christ Jesus' (Gal. 3:27-28). It is time to fulfill 1 Cor. 12:13: 'Through their baptism into Christ, women and men equally receive the gifts of the Spirit.' The time for change is now!”
The homily was marked by a constant reference to the Scriptures and to female diaconal figures of the New Testament, in Christian communities where women's gifts were affirmed in a variety of leadership roles. “We claim our equal spiritual authority in ordaining women to public ministry in apostolic succession”; an apostolic succession which, “as a matter of justice and fidelity to the Gospel, I believe includes the apostles Mary Magdalene and Junia and all the holy women who have served the Church throughout history.”
The history of women ordained priests continues
Since that day in 2002 on the Danube, 18 women have been consecrated bishops, who in turn have ordained nearly 300 women priests from 14 countries. “Like Jesus who called his first disciples out of the fishing boat to follow him in proclaiming God's love for all, Catholic women and people of marginalized genders today are following Jesus' call to serve renewed communities of faith, anchored in inclusivity and equality,” said Bridget Mary Meehan. She, an American of Irish descent, has been a bishop since 2009.
Of course, candidates for ministry follow a preparation offered through preparatory courses. But as a "new paradigm of priestly ministry", "we cannot put new wine in old wineskins", and therefore the preparation, in the wake of theologian Matthew Fox , operates a shift "from factories of knowledge to schools of wisdom. We believe that the Spirit of God speaks through the people of God. As co-creative traveling companions, we share the wisdom of God in our sacred texts, theologies, sacred practices, sacramental celebrations and lived experiences", we also read on the Association's website. The courses "integrate the evolutionary consciousness of the new cosmology with the community of empowerment presented in feminist, liberation, mujerista, womanista, evolutionary, mystical, and sacramental theologies (theologies of blessing) and aim to prepare candidates to minister in a community of equals that is egalitarian, empowered, inclusive, mystical, and prophetic," "we work for justice and equality for all, especially those on the margins of our Church."
“Since 2002, the international movement of Catholic women priests has lived their vocation in prophetic obedience to the Spirit,” reads the press release issued for the occasion, “ordaining women deacons, priests, and bishops ( contra legem ) to promote full equality for all those called to ordained ministries. “Women priests serve inclusive communities of equals where all, including divorced and remarried people and LGBTQ+ people are invited to receive the sacraments.” They preside over celebrations of the Eucharist, weddings, baptisms, and anointings of the sick in their areas, including “online communities without walls.” They also care for “those who have experienced physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse and exclusion within the Church,” it is explained. “We offer a renewed model of priestly ministry to accompany God's people on their journey toward the fullness of God's love for all.”
But for the movement it is not just about ordaining women priests: there is also a "challenge to oppressive patriarchal culture and the promotion of economic and social justice for women, children and marginalized genders throughout the world. We believe that all questions of justice are interconnected and therefore we support all human rights initiatives". In compliance with the prescriptions of the Second Vatican Council: "Every form of social or cultural discrimination in the fundamental rights of the person, based on sex, race, color, social conditions, language, religion, must be repressed or eradicated, because it is incompatible with the plan of God" ( Gaudium et Spes 29).
German News
Organizers describe ceremony on the sidelines of the Synod on Synodality as "historic"
Women stage ordination of priests and deacons on Tiber ship in Rome
ROME - In the Vatican, the Synod on Synodality is discussing reforms to the Church – the ordination of women to clerical positions is not officially on the agenda. At the same time, others wanted to create facts on a ship on the Tiber.
Six women from France, Spain and the USA underwent a ceremony in Rome on Thursday that resembled the ordination of Catholic priests and deacons. The ceremony took place on a ship on the River Tiber, partly to prevent possible disruption, according to the "International Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests". According to the initiative, the ceremony, which they described as "historic", was intended to promote gender equality in the ordained ministry in a church for all.
Catholic canon law does not provide for the ordination of women and penalizes anyone who actively or passively participates in such a symbolic act with excommunication, ie exclusion from the church community. At the Synod on Synodality on Reforms of the Catholic Church currently meeting in the Vatican, the topic of ordination for women was addressed in several speeches.
Bridget Mary Meehan, an unrecognized bishop from Florida since 2009, presided over the two-hour ceremony on a large houseboat about three kilometers from the Vatican. Belen Repiso Carrillo from Spain and Anne La Tour and Mary Katherine Daniels from the USA were to be ordained as priests, Loan Rocher from France and Maria Teresa Ribeiro Rosa and Txus Garcia Pascual from Spain as deacons, two of whom are trans people. Similar to the Catholic sacrament of ordination to the priesthood, there were hand-raising ceremonies and prayers. The candidates lay stretched out in front of the improvised altar, a white table decorated with a crucifix, Bible, candles and flowers.
"We are ready!"
In her sermon, Meehan said that women had always de facto fulfilled the tasks of deacons in the church without being able to be officially ordained. The Bible tells of numerous women whom Jesus called and who followed him. Mary Magdalene was the first female apostle to be sent out to proclaim the good news of Jesus' resurrection. She appealed to the Church to officially admit women to the priesthood and diaconate. "We are ready!" she concluded her sermon to applause. Among the 70 or so people present were numerous previously ordained women from the initiative. Numerous media representatives followed the event, to which only accredited persons were granted access.
The "We are Church" initiative advertised with the slogan "Equality for all Baptised. Equality at Synod." Since the first spectacular action of the "Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests" on the Danube in 2002 , there have been 18 women worldwide who are Catholic women bishops according to their own understanding and who in turn have ordained around 300 women as priests through the laying on of hands. (KNA)
German media TV:
See reference to women priests at approximately 6 minutes in the video.
“Enormous Frustration and protests from the German Church over a new postponement of the female diaconate”
https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2024/11/httpswww.html?m=1
Austria News: “I Saw the Church of the Future”
https://frauenweihe-jetzt.de/ich-habe-die-kirche-der-zukunft-gesehen /
Yesterday, six women were ordained as deacons and priests on the Tiber in Rome. A solemn and joyful ordination ceremony took place parallel to the World Synod of Bishops, which represented an open affront to the official Church.
The ordination of women, announced in advance by the Association of Roman Catholic Woman Priests (ARCWP) (see press release ), was recorded by TV stations in several countries. The approximately two-hour service on the Tiber boat took place in the same form as for male ordination candidates, ie including prostration (laying down of the candidates); only the promise of obedience to the bishop was omitted. The ceremony took place with simultaneous translation into the languages of the ordained: English, French and Spanish.
According to the law of the Roman Catholic Church, the ordination of women is considered a "simulation" and leads to excommunication for those ordained and those ordaining them. It is not recognized by the Church. The women and some theologians consider it valid in the tradition of the Danube Seven , but not permitted (valide, sed illicite).
After the ordination, the radiant faces of the newly ordained women could be seen. They can now do what they see God calling them to do: work as deacons and priests in the Catholic Church. "I saw the church of the future," said one visitor - a church without discrimination against women in universal plurality.
Article in Spanish:
El Papa deja abierto el debate sobre el rol de la mujer en la iglesia
The Pope Leaves Open the Debate on the Role of Women in the Church: Associations of Catholic Women and Voices of Important Cardinals Insist that the Possibility of Female Diaconate Is Not Excluded
Pope Francis at the end of a meeting with priests at Casa delle Suore Pie Discepole del Divin Maestro, Rome
Disappointment
The Pope leaves open the debate on the role of women in the Church
Associations of Catholic women and voices of important cardinals insist that the possibility of female diaconate is not excluded
Marina Garcia Dieguez
Rome . Updated:03/11/2024 - 05:00h
https://www.articulo14.es/autor/marinagd/
https://www.articulo14.es/internacional/el-papa-deja-abierto-el-debate-sobre-el-rol-de-la-mujer-en-la-iglesia-20241103.html
"The Synod of Bishops, the meeting of ecclesiastical hierarchies that has the challenge of deciding the future of the Church , has met again in October 2024, but the debate process will not be closed until spring of next year.
This call, which began in the autumn of 2023, was innovative from the very beginning. In an unusual way, the female vote was introduced and the debate on the role of women in Catholicism began to be addressed . But the complexity of this issue, which pits the feminist struggles of many ecclesiastical sectors of women against centuries of immobility, seems to be at a standstill . The final document has established that “there are no reasons that prevent women from assuming leadership roles in the Church ”, but the key will be to know what that phrase, still open, means.
Equality in the Church
In fact, during this month of October, the Argentine Pontiff explicitly asked the participants of the synodal journey, such as bishops, nuns, lay people and experts, not to focus on the issue of the female diaconate . The female diaconate is the greatest demand for equality within the Church and would mean that women could also access the step prior to a priest being ordained a priest and would allow, among many other tasks, to celebrate the word. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez , prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and one of Bergoglio 's most trusted people , spoke about this issue in a recent press conference. "We know that the Holy Father has expressed that, at this moment, the question of the female diaconate is not ripe and he has asked that we not dwell on this possibility now," he added.
Previous steps are missing
According to Cardinal Fernandez, the Pope 's interest is to work, however, "on the role of women in the Church " by asking his dicastery to explore the possibility of development without sacred ordination. "To rush to ask for the ordination of deaconesses is not today the most important response to promote women ," added this cardinal, because "it does not resolve the question of women in the Church" since he believes that previous steps are missing. Fernandez concluded his statements by asking for the help of women who are heads of a Catholic religious community and who hold positions of authority to work together .
These statements, which came out in October, fit perfectly with the imprecision of the final document of the Synod published in recent days , which calls for further discussion of the issue and postpones a broader decision until next spring. But this impasse increases the disappointment of some sectors of the Church , which had placed all their hopes in this synodal path. The atmosphere is one of controversy and discontent because, as has often happened in his papacy, Francis has reflected with this issue an acceleration and the subsequent sudden stop. For example, in 2016 he announced the creation of a Study Commission on the diaconate for women , renewed in 2020, and now he closes doors through the words of one of the most trusted cardinals. Many interpret that he himself has lit a fire that he now intends to put out.
Clarify the position
One of the most influential cardinals at the moment, the Archbishop of Kinshasa, Fridolin Ambongo Besungu , has placed his trust in this commission. He said that all the questions are being studied in depth “in order to clarify them”, according to the magazine ‘ Vida Nouvelle’ . But, at the same time, in a briefing held a few days ago in the context of the Synod, he said that “the Church in Africa and I, personally, are not opposed to the possibility of studying the female diaconate , of considering this opening to having women deacons”. Ambongo is part of the famous C9, the Council of the nine cardinals with the most power in the Church who advise the Pope.
Pope Francis during a visit to the women's prison in Venice
Her statement provides clarity on a key point in understanding where this debate is heading in the Church: numbers . At present, the number of believers in the Catholic Church is growing only in the so-called global south. The data show that, especially since 2022, the number of baptized people has been growing in Africa . There, many women nuns already do much more than their role requires, equalling or even surpassing the importance of a priest. These women are crucial to the religious and social development of some communities, and part of their demands focus on making it clear to Rome that they already take care of many aspects because there are not enough priests or because they simply attend to the needs of the parishes in which they are located.
“Daughter, wife and mother”
Over the years, the Pope has reiterated an idea of women as representing the maternal side of the Church . He said in : “The Church needs this, because the Church is a woman: daughter, wife and mother, and who else but a woman can reveal her face?” But the great demand of women fighting from within is focused on a recognition that is not based on their role of care and accompaniment, but that also includes them in decision-making and administrative power, just like a priest has.
Pope Francis leads the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City
In fact, just a few days ago a group of women belonging to the International Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP) decided, in a symbolic way, to be ordained as priests a few kilometres from the Vatican. The place is quite unusual, on a floating building on the Tiber converted into a kind of Church, where a “bishop” has ordained three Catholic “priestesses” and three “deaconesses”, according to the Vaticanist of the Italian daily ' Repubblica' Iacopo Scaramuzzi . A ceremony without canonical value, but which serves to provoke a debate that seems blocked at the moment by Pope Francis himself despite the steps taken in recent months.
What are your demands?
Kate McElwee is the executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference , which tries to unite the voices of women fighting for female ordination and equality within the Church. “Women, including the Church, have been silenced for generations. Our role is to make them feel welcomed so that they can raise their voices ,” she explains to Article 14. This is a debate that is still completely open, but the disappointment for this group of women is that the appointments of some to high ranks of the ecclesiastical hierarchy during this decade of Bergoglio's papacy are exceptions and that the Vatican itself has wanted to remove this issue from the discussions of the Synod , a fundamental place to decide the future of the Church. “I think that Francis is blocked on this issue and this saddens us,” she adds.
Pope Francis and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
“They want to be human beings with full rights in the Church, just like men . We want baptism to become, truly, the proof of equality between men and women . Many, even if they do not wish to be ordained priests, understand that this is a debate that the Church has to face in order to regain its credibility,” adds McElwee. And, according to the numbers, to ensure its survival."
|
| Pope Francis at the end of a meeting with priests at Casa delle Suore Pie Discepole del Divin Maestro, Rome |
The Pope leaves open the debate on the role of women in the Church
Associations of Catholic women and voices of important cardinals insist that the possibility of female diaconate is not excluded
Marina Garcia Dieguez
Rome . Updated:03/11/2024 - 05:00h
https://www.articulo14.es/autor/marinagd/
https://www.articulo14.es/internacional/el-papa-deja-abierto-el-debate-sobre-el-rol-de-la-mujer-en-la-iglesia-20241103.html
"The Synod of Bishops, the meeting of ecclesiastical hierarchies that has the challenge of deciding the future of the Church , has met again in October 2024, but the debate process will not be closed until spring of next year.
This call, which began in the autumn of 2023, was innovative from the very beginning. In an unusual way, the female vote was introduced and the debate on the role of women in Catholicism began to be addressed . But the complexity of this issue, which pits the feminist struggles of many ecclesiastical sectors of women against centuries of immobility, seems to be at a standstill . The final document has established that “there are no reasons that prevent women from assuming leadership roles in the Church ”, but the key will be to know what that phrase, still open, means.
Equality in the Church
In fact, during this month of October, the Argentine Pontiff explicitly asked the participants of the synodal journey, such as bishops, nuns, lay people and experts, not to focus on the issue of the female diaconate . The female diaconate is the greatest demand for equality within the Church and would mean that women could also access the step prior to a priest being ordained a priest and would allow, among many other tasks, to celebrate the word. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez , prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and one of Bergoglio 's most trusted people , spoke about this issue in a recent press conference. "We know that the Holy Father has expressed that, at this moment, the question of the female diaconate is not ripe and he has asked that we not dwell on this possibility now," he added.
Previous steps are missing
According to Cardinal Fernandez, the Pope 's interest is to work, however, "on the role of women in the Church " by asking his dicastery to explore the possibility of development without sacred ordination. "To rush to ask for the ordination of deaconesses is not today the most important response to promote women ," added this cardinal, because "it does not resolve the question of women in the Church" since he believes that previous steps are missing. Fernandez concluded his statements by asking for the help of women who are heads of a Catholic religious community and who hold positions of authority to work together .
These statements, which came out in October, fit perfectly with the imprecision of the final document of the Synod published in recent days , which calls for further discussion of the issue and postpones a broader decision until next spring. But this impasse increases the disappointment of some sectors of the Church , which had placed all their hopes in this synodal path. The atmosphere is one of controversy and discontent because, as has often happened in his papacy, Francis has reflected with this issue an acceleration and the subsequent sudden stop. For example, in 2016 he announced the creation of a Study Commission on the diaconate for women , renewed in 2020, and now he closes doors through the words of one of the most trusted cardinals. Many interpret that he himself has lit a fire that he now intends to put out.
Clarify the position
One of the most influential cardinals at the moment, the Archbishop of Kinshasa, Fridolin Ambongo Besungu , has placed his trust in this commission. He said that all the questions are being studied in depth “in order to clarify them”, according to the magazine ‘ Vida Nouvelle’ . But, at the same time, in a briefing held a few days ago in the context of the Synod, he said that “the Church in Africa and I, personally, are not opposed to the possibility of studying the female diaconate , of considering this opening to having women deacons”. Ambongo is part of the famous C9, the Council of the nine cardinals with the most power in the Church who advise the Pope.
Pope Francis during a visit to the women's prison in Venice
Her statement provides clarity on a key point in understanding where this debate is heading in the Church: numbers . At present, the number of believers in the Catholic Church is growing only in the so-called global south. The data show that, especially since 2022, the number of baptized people has been growing in Africa . There, many women nuns already do much more than their role requires, equalling or even surpassing the importance of a priest. These women are crucial to the religious and social development of some communities, and part of their demands focus on making it clear to Rome that they already take care of many aspects because there are not enough priests or because they simply attend to the needs of the parishes in which they are located.
“Daughter, wife and mother”
Over the years, the Pope has reiterated an idea of women as representing the maternal side of the Church . He said in : “The Church needs this, because the Church is a woman: daughter, wife and mother, and who else but a woman can reveal her face?” But the great demand of women fighting from within is focused on a recognition that is not based on their role of care and accompaniment, but that also includes them in decision-making and administrative power, just like a priest has.
Pope Francis leads the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City
In fact, just a few days ago a group of women belonging to the International Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP) decided, in a symbolic way, to be ordained as priests a few kilometres from the Vatican. The place is quite unusual, on a floating building on the Tiber converted into a kind of Church, where a “bishop” has ordained three Catholic “priestesses” and three “deaconesses”, according to the Vaticanist of the Italian daily ' Repubblica' Iacopo Scaramuzzi . A ceremony without canonical value, but which serves to provoke a debate that seems blocked at the moment by Pope Francis himself despite the steps taken in recent months.
What are your demands?
Kate McElwee is the executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference , which tries to unite the voices of women fighting for female ordination and equality within the Church. “Women, including the Church, have been silenced for generations. Our role is to make them feel welcomed so that they can raise their voices ,” she explains to Article 14. This is a debate that is still completely open, but the disappointment for this group of women is that the appointments of some to high ranks of the ecclesiastical hierarchy during this decade of Bergoglio's papacy are exceptions and that the Vatican itself has wanted to remove this issue from the discussions of the Synod , a fundamental place to decide the future of the Church. “I think that Francis is blocked on this issue and this saddens us,” she adds.
Pope Francis and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
“They want to be human beings with full rights in the Church, just like men . We want baptism to become, truly, the proof of equality between men and women . Many, even if they do not wish to be ordained priests, understand that this is a debate that the Church has to face in order to regain its credibility,” adds McElwee. And, according to the numbers, to ensure its survival."
The Holy Shakeup Comes to Rome: Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests Ordination on October 17, 2024
by Bridget Mary Meehan
Over sixty people - including journalists from France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy and the United States witnessed a holy shakeup minutes from the Vatican!
Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP ordained three priests: Belen Repiso Carrillo from Spain, and Anne Malloy La Tour and Mary Katherine Daniels from the United States and three deacons Loan Rocher from France, and Maria Teresa Ribeiro Rosa and Txus Garcia Pascual from Spain on the Dram , a boat, anchored on the Tiber River.
Like Jesus who called his first disciples to get out of their fishing boat to follow him in proclaiming the all-embracing love of God for everyone, Catholic women and persons from marginalized genders are following the call of Jesus today to serve renewed communities of faith anchored in inclusivity, and equality.
We came to Rome to offer hope to Catholics around the globe that women priests and deacons are here now. We minister inclusive communities where all are welcome to receive and celebrate sacraments.
We ask Pope Francis to engage in a “conversation in the Spirit” and to remove all barriers that excommunicate those who answer the Spirit's call to ordination.
Then his words “todus, todus” will become a reality because they will apply to all who follow their consciences and disobey Church teachings, including women priests !
Ordinations of female priests in Rome: Neither clandestine nor prohibited
by Christina Moreira, ARCWP
"Anyone who witnessed our ordination ceremony would realize that what was experienced there was a peaceful and gentle act, that the grace and affection that come from above and are poured out and overflowed was palpable."
"Nobody expressly prohibited our ceremony, nor was it clandestine. Our focus was precisely on showing, to the greatest number possible, that we are willing to put ourselves at the service of our Church, to bring to it the qualities and charismas that each baptized person receives for the good of the community."
"Will the Pope one day agree to meet with some of us fraternally so that we can give him news of all those people who love him from the heart and who suffer because they do not feel listened to or taken into account?"
"Anyone who witnessed our ordination ceremony would realize that what was experienced there was a peaceful and gentle act, that the grace and affection that come from above and are poured out and overflowed was palpable."
| Christina Moreira Vázquez. ARCWP Priest
When the first Christian communities (late 1st century and early 2nd century, as attested by the Epistle of James, among other sources) needed to expand the staff for proclaiming the Good News brought by Jesus of Nazareth, caring for the sick and even healing them in his name, caring for the growing communities, breaking bread and praying within them, some figures were created, considered as successors of the apostles and called deacons, deaconesses, priests and presbyters, bishops and bishops .
I am sorry that the reader's vision is clouded, but a careful reading of the New Testament will give you information on this subject. It is enough to look at the Epistle to the Romans where we find a female apostle: Junia, who has been unsuccessfully attempted to camouflage herself in "Junias", a supposedly masculine and non-existent name . I do not give precise quotes on purpose because I believe that people deserve to access the same sources to scrutinize truths that have gone unnoticed.
Following this tradition, which is that of our Catholic and Roman Mother Church, and before following the footsteps of our Master Jesus who did not make any distinction between persons, as the Son of God that he is, nor did he practice discrimination at all, the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (acronym in English RCWP-ARCWP https://arcwp.org/cristina-moreira-the-first-spanish-woman-priest/ ) perpetuates the lineage of our founders, the courageous “Danube 7” as we affectionately call them.
Seven women who were ordained deaconesses, priests and finally bishops by various Roman Catholic bishops with apostolic succession . We thus join the already unstoppable tradition of administering the sacrament of Holy Orders to women and it encourages further research. We do not usually hide or keep quiet. We are on four continents and we have finally reached the contingent of 300 with the latest entrants, among whom four are European.
This past Thursday, October 17, in the city of Rome, on the Tiber River, aboard a barge, the following were ordained to the diaconate following the Roman Catholic rite: Loan Rocher (French from Paris), María Teresa Ribeiro Rosa (Andalusian from Isla Cristina, and also Portuguese) and Txus (from Barcelona, Catalonia-Spain). Belén Repiso Carrillo (Spanish from Valladolid, Spain), Anne Malloy La Tour (American from Texas) and Mary Katherine Daniels Anne Latour (American from Texas) were ordained priests by the Irish-American bishop Bridget Mary Meehan . We were accompanied by numerous family members and friends until the entire capacity was filled.
No one expressly prohibited our ceremony, nor was it clandestine. Our focus was precisely on showing, to the greatest number possible, that we are willing to put ourselves at the service of our Church, to bring to it the qualities and charisms that each baptized person receives for the good of the community . This is the “order” that the bishop gave when she gave the Gospel to the ordained: “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose messenger you are now. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.” That is ordaining with meaning.
It is true that we wear alb, stole and chasuble with the affection of those who receive a valuable legacy and are ready to use it for good. In fact, we are here to build the new Church that we dream of ; our communities around the world are numerous shoots that show flourishing life and, as we are told, are a sign of hope. And that is not by chance: the password to enter is “Come as you are, everyone is welcome.” We do not ask about life status, sexual or emotional orientations, we do not inquire about the origin or number of divorces or sins. We are interested in those who come feeling loved, listened to in their needs, cared for and respected, without conditions.
We do nothing that Jesus of Nazareth did not entrust to his disciples, nothing that we should feel guilty about, when we sit in the midst of his family to break bread and pour wine, to perpetuate his presence where he is sought and needed . The strange thing is that we have to justify ourselves for this. The strange thing is that for centuries this function has been associated with the genitalia of the person who does it. But, they often reply, Jesus was a man. Yes, from the tribe of David, Israeli, circumcised. Do we have to dismiss all those who are not?
I heard that afternoon phrases like “Do you love the Pope?” and I answered without hesitation, of course, we profess to love our neighbor, there are no exceptions. But, I added, “Does he love us? Will he one day agree to meet fraternally with some of us so that we can give him news of all those people who love him from the heart and who suffer because they do not feel heard or taken into account? ” Without a doubt, we have much to tell him, and, to begin with, our beautiful vocations for service, also that of the altar and the sacraments, and our perplexity when we note that they do not seem to be necessary; when after long discernment (in the Church) we surrender to the evidence that they are the fruit of the Holy Spirit and someone answers us that “it cannot be,” because the law does not authorize it.
Another question that is repeated: “You are causing a schism” and, with pain, I usually answer that the schisms have already occurred and continue: the working people have left, the young people are residual, women are leaving en masse, as was recently published, and we must add the schism of all those who do not feel welcomed because of their “sinful” condition, such as married people who have remarried, those from the entire LGBTIQ+ spectrum and, respect obliges us to mention all the victims of priests, monks, bishops and superiors who rape children, girls, women and vulnerable people together with those who show solidarity. Does anyone see these schisms? Do we only fear the schism of those who support the purse and political power in the Church?
We too have questions. For example: Is someone trying to dictate to the Holy Spirit the terms of reference for discipleship recruitment? Can we really believe, after more than two millennia of Christianity, that the Spirit only speaks to prelates? Isn’t it time to ask whether his Word is not rather spread among his favorites, “the least of these”? How can the Beatitudes be read over and over again without asking this? If prostitutes will enter the Kingdom of Heaven first, there is a different roadmap from the beginning. This is ours.
Once again the law prevails over the divine will. At what point have we forgotten Jesus' sentence: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And the Son of Man is also the owner of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:23-28). It is true that sentences like these have forged the condemnation of the one who pronounced them… we will not forget that either.
We women are all familiar with the so-called “theological arguments” for not receiving holy orders; arguments that are not such, but rather vain attempts to maintain the status quo, the clerical and hierarchical, heteropatriarchal system , which is concerned with preserving its privileges.
Jesus did not ordain anyone, he was not a priest, and he only asked that we remember him. That is what I do, and that is what my companions do, with the utmost love and respect. From our suffering, violated, undervalued and so often despised bodies, we understand from within what surrender means .
We ask from here that, for God's sake, they stop using Mary to distance us from the table of her Son, from his Body and his Memory . It doesn't work, it doesn't convince us. Mary, the Virgin, Our Lady, the Mother of God... was the first woman and the only one with the right to say: "This is my body, this is my blood." She is with us. Another day we will talk seriously about the two principles of Urs Von Balthasar and how, sometimes, theologians invent fictions to justify the unjustifiable.
To those who reproach us for wearing the vestments, we can respond that these white vestments are those of baptism. It is not us women who have vilely defiled them with blood and other things, it is not we who use them to dominate and abuse. For us, to wear an alb, a stole, a chasuble or to hold a staff is to return home after a very long journey and open the trunks of our heritage , it means seeking to enter into our tradition with simple intentions and a desire to fully belong also in the symbolic sense. It means seeking to speak the language of the people who understand the signs, clothes and colours and love them in many places on the planet.
Anyone who witnessed our ordination ceremony would have realized that what was experienced there was a peaceful and gentle act, that the grace and affection that come from above and are poured out and overflowed was palpable . Far from the rebellious and “defiant” attitude that the media usually accuse us of, perhaps to make their headlines more explosive, we have no other desire than to call for communion, beyond all borders and respecting diversity. We are servants of communion.
I wondered why I cried during the laying on of hands . Seeing those people, many of them friends, respond to their calls, seeing them become part of the long cohort of invisible apostles since Mary of Nazareth, Mary of Cleophas, Mary the wife of Chuza and Mary Magdalene overwhelmed me. I felt a joyful fluttering in my ear, I felt love and sweetness, and the verses we read at Easter came to me, those of the first Pentecost, the one that founded catholicity, universality, thanks to the understanding of languages.
There were people on that boat from the United States, Ireland, Colombia, Germany, Holland, France, Spain (Galicia, Castile, Andalusia, Catalonia…), Portugal and Italy of course. They all understood each other, and not only because our heroic team of interpreters made it possible in very adverse conditions, but because our signs, symbols and faces spoke of salvation and of heaven. The Church among us was Catholic, apostolic and Roman, and no one will be able to steal that happiness from us . We will be caring for it all our lives. We cultivated hope with the stubbornness of faith and the serenity of a peaceful conscience.
I serve in the Comunidade Cristiá do Home Novo (A Coruña- Galicia- Spain)
galilea.luz@gmail.com
 | In the Vatican’s shadow, a group ordains women to the priesthood |
https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2024 /10/bridget-mary-meehan-arcwp-homily-for.html?m=1
Video Clips of Ordination on Tiber River , Rome by Chiara Campara
ARCWP Ordination in Rome - Homily by Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan = clip 1
https://youtu.be/LhScdh-eyeY
ARCWP Ordination in Rome – Prayer of Consecration and Vesting of Priests – clip 2
ARCWP Ordination in Rome – Clip 3
https://youtu.be/H4kSyg1Cj5A
We Are Church Italy
https://www.noisiamochiesa.org/ordinazione-femminile-roma-17-10-2024- comunicato-stampa-di-arcwp/
From we Are Church - German/ instagram
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