One-third of U.S. bishops believe church ‘should’ ordain women as deacons, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests Affirms Full Equality of Women as Priests and in all Decision-Making Roles by Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/01/22/one-third-us-bishops-believe-church-should-ordain-women-deacons

My Response Yes, of course, women deacons will lead to women priests! This is a no-brainer! So many women are prepared, have the ministerial experience, all they need is ordination!
The bishops know they are ready, willing and able. In fact, many women are functioning as de facto deacons now!
In an institutional Church that is imploding due to the worldwide sexual abuse crisis, women deacons will bring new wine  into old wineskins and help bail out a Church in  free fall.
However, what is needed is a renewed model of priestly ministry and a renewed model of ecclesial ministry in an inclusive, empowered, egalitarian Church. This is what the international movement of Roman Catholic Women Priests offers!
We  are leading the way toward the full equality of women by ordaining women as priests. The ordination of women deacons is only the first step. Our bigger challenge is to change the clerical culture into a new paradigm of equalitarian ministry rooted in our baptism,  not to add women to the old boys club! Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

https://arcwp.org

Michael J. O’LoughlinJanuary 22, 2019

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An extraordinary minister of the holy Eucharist distributes Communion during Mass at Transfiguration Church in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, N.Y. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

As Pope Francis mulls a report about women deacons in the early church, a new survey reveals that at least when it comes to U.S. bishops, support for ordaining women as deacons remains uneven.

According to a report released by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University on Jan. 22, just 33 percent of bishops in the United States think the church “should” ordain women as deacons.

Late last year, a papal commission wrapped up its work studying whether the early church ordained women as deacons and passed its findings on to Pope Francis. Two of the commission’s 12 members—Phyllis Zagano and Bernard Pottier, S.J.—said in an interview with America last month that their own research supports the idea that women were ordained deacons in the early church.

If the path forward for women deacons follows a similar route as the reintroduction of the permanent diaconate following the Second Vatican Council, the pope would first have to acknowledge that women deacons existed in the early church. Then national bishops conferences would decide if they wished to seek permission to reinstate the practice in their countries. The final decision for how each diocese would approach the issue would be made by individual bishops.

Most bishops seem opposed to the idea altogether, with just 41 percent saying they believe it is “theoretically possible” to ordain women as deacons.

If Francis were to follow that process, 79 percent of U.S. bishops say in the CARA survey, they believe the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops would allow individual bishops to decide for their dioceses. If given that option, 54 percent of U.S. bishops say, they would “consider” ordaining women as deacons in their dioceses.

But most bishops seem opposed to the idea altogether, with just 41 percent saying they believe it is “theoretically possible” to ordain women as deacons and only 33 percent saying they believe the church “should” ordain women as deacons. Just 27 percent of bishops think the church will move ahead with ordaining women to the diaconate.

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Even while there does not appear to be widespread support for women deacons among bishops, most of them said they would find women deacons to be “somewhat” or “very helpful.” For liturgical celebrations, 61 percent of bishops said women deacons would be “somewhat” or “very helpful”; 71 percent said they would be “somewhat” or “very helpful” for “word ministries”; and 83 percent said they would be “somewhat” or “very helpful” for charity ministries.

More than three-quarters of bishops, 77 percent, agreed “somewhat” or “strongly” that women serving as deacons would lead to increased calls for women to be ordained as priests.

Women deacons aside, 97 percent of bishops said they believe “somewhat” or “strongly” that their diocese is “committed to increasing women’s involvement in ecclesial leadership.”

According the survey, bishops and deacon directors believe the greatest challenges when it comes to accepting women as deacons could come from priests, male deacons and laity who are opposed to women serving as deacons. They expect as well challenges from some Catholics who fear that ordaining women as deacons could lead to louder calls to open the ordained priesthood to women.

Bishop Patricia Fresen Returns to South Africa to Ordain Woman Priest, Dianne Williams, first Woman Priest of Johannesburg by Diane Dougherty ARCWP

15 years ago, Patricia Fresen became the first validly ordained Roman Catholic Woman Priest of South Africa-simultaneously losing all legal contact with the congregation she served in, as well as the people she served.   

Believing she could talk her way through the clerical sexism that keeps women from being ordained, as well as understanding the journey her sisters took to break free of the unjust apartheid laws, her hopes were crushed as she experienced the strong back hand of our Roman hierarchy that demanded her superiors get her to recant, repent, and return as a sister servant within the Dominican tradition.

Unwilling to submit to these request because of a lifelong call to be a priest, she was summarily dismissed from her home for 45 years, and left for Germany to be with the other forerunners of the movement who cared for her and provided a livelihood.

Fast forward 15 years and we find Patricia has returned, not only as a woman priest-but Bishop.  Through her hands and commissioning, Dianne Willman would become the first Woman Priest of Johannesburg. 

What a story is being written on the lines and waves of people who have invested in the church but not the hierarchical institution.  Joining Mary Ryan, ordained in 2014 and Ann Ralston, ordained 2016-in Cape Town-and now Johannesburg-this band of pioneers are sets out to gather at the far end of this continent, a renewed vision of God that will hold a people who will renew our church, making it a vessel of hope for many more to come.   

It was a privilege to join Caryl Johnson of Philadelphia, Roy Bourgeois of Columbus, GA and Jeannette Mulherin, a great supporter of Women's Ordination in the celebration of such a historic event.  All Roman Catholic Women Priests on every continent offer prayers and best wishes as they grow into a center of livelihood -new and renewed in a call that will bear much fruit.  Now that we have been released from the heavy arm of the hierarchy, we bend toward new beginnings-in openness and love, with a creative God as our guide.

Diane Dougherty, ARCWP

doughertyadd@gmail.com

"Following Jesus: Belief or Discipleship"? by Richard Rohr, My Response

My Response: The bottom line is it is all about how we live in love, serve with compassion, and do justice. We should not get our knickers in a knot over anything else especially  dogmas, doctrines or theologies. Jesus sums up our call to discipleship: "love one another as I have loved you!" Each of us is called to be the hands and feet of Jesus everyday.  The four women who left jugs of water and canned food in the Arizona desert for migrants are doing what modern day disciples of Jesus are called to do. See story below.   Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP, https://arcwp.org

This is an example of what being a disciple today means

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/21/literally-what-jesus-told-people-do-arizona-possible-prison-time-leaving-food-and

Four women were found guilty of misdemeanors and are facing possible prison time for leaving jugs of water and canned food in the Arizona desert for migrants braving the scorching triple-digit temperatures during the summer of 2017.

"If giving water to someone dying of thirst is illegal, what humanity is left in the law of this country?"
—Catherine Gaffney, No More Deaths

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco on Friday convicted Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse, and Zaachila Orozco—all volunteers with the organization No More Deaths—for entering the Cabeza Prieta refuge without a permit and leaving the items, which "erode the national decision to maintain the refuge in its pristine nature."

The volunteers—who face up to six months behind bars and a fine of up to $500—and other critics of the Velasco's decision argued that the women were simply trying to save lives.

Richard Rohr:

"I often say that we do not think ourselves into a new way of living, but we live ourselves into a new way of thinking. I’m not suggesting that theory and theology are unimportant; but I believe that faith is more about how we live on a daily basis than making verbal assent to this or that idea. In fact, my life’s work in many ways has been trying to move heady doctrines and dogmas to the level of actual experience and lifestyles that are an alternative to our consumer culture. In today’s reflection, Shane Claiborne—an Evangelical I deeply respect—invites us to quite literally follow Jesus: 

Over the past few decades, our Christianity has become obsessed with what Christians believe rather than how Christians live. We talk a lot about doctrines but little about practice. But in Jesus we don’t just see a presentation of doctrines but an invitation to join a movement that is about demonstrating God’s goodness to the world.

This kind of doctrinal language infects our language when we say things like, “Are you a believer?” Interestingly, Jesus did not send us into the world to make believers but to make disciples [see Matthew 28:18-20]. You can worship Jesus without doing the things he says. We can believe in him and still not follow him. In fact, there’s a passage in Corinthians that says, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, author’s paraphrase).

At times our evangelical fervor has come at the cost of spiritual formation. For this reason, we can end up with a church full of believers, but followers of Jesus can be hard to come by.

One of the reasons that Francis of Assisi is so beloved is that he followed Jesus so closely. In Shane’s words: 

Francis did something simple and wonderful. He read the Gospels where Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give the money to the poor,” [Matthew 19:21] “Consider the lilies and the sparrows and do not worry about tomorrow,” [Luke 12:24, 27] “Love your enemies,” [Matthew 5:44] and he decided to live as if Jesus meant the stuff he said. Francis turned his back on the materialism and militarism of his world and said yes to Jesus."

Karen Kerrigan ARCWP and Janet Sevre Duszynska ARCWP Attend Women's March in DC Jan. 19,2019

Roman Catholic Woman Ordained a Priest in J’burg South Africa 1/19/2019, by Bishop Patricia Fresen RCWP, Article by Judy Lee RCWP and A Reflection by Diane Dougherty ARCWP

Dianne Willman RCWP - Deacon

Roy Bourgeois, Patricia Fresen RCWP and Diane Dougherty ARCWP

It is with great joy that we report that Dianne Willman, 44, was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest on 1/19/2019 in Klipkerk at Mosaiek, Fairland, Johannesburg, South Africa at 2PM South African time. 

Bishop Patricia Fresen of Roman Catholic WomenPriests (International RCWP) was the ordaining bishop.The sacred ordination following traditional form was attended by loved ones and supporters filled with the Spirit and happiness for her and for the Roman Catholic Church sorely in need of renewal and new servant leadership. Rev.Caryl Conroy Johnson of the USA, Eastern Region of RCWP also attended the holy Mass. The Mass of Holy Orders is essentially traditional except that the ordinand prostrates herself before the altar and not before the bishop.

Dianne’s ordination to the priesthood fulfills a call that Dianne first experienced as a child attending Catholic School near Durban, South Africa. Before university studies Dianne spent a year of discernment within a religious congregation, the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood. Although life with this Order drew her, her passion for social justice that is lived in the world was the stronger call. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Natal and her Masters Degree in Law at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is currently completing the final stages of a Masters degree in Philosophy/Theology/Spirituality and is undergoing training as a Spiritual Director.

She has worked for 20 years in various legal capacities. During 2012 she served for four months as legal aide to the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations. She participated in the UN Commission on the Status of Women dedicated ato the empowerment of women and the promotion of gender equality. This opportunity deepened her insights in the connections between religion and gender. Dianne is amember of Catholic reform groups like We Are All Church, South Africa. She is also a retreat facilitator and serves on the Board of an integrated spirituality Center known as Bohareng.

A defining moment regarding the priesthood came to Dianne while on a pilgrimage to Israel in 2004. As she walked where Jesus walked she affirmed her call to priesthood. She knew she would fulfill the call when the time was right and purchased her stole , chalice and paten in trust and anticipation. After completing the program of discernment and preparation with RCWP she was ready to answer the call with “with God’s help I am ready”. Her intimate love for Christ and God’s people will now include her continued fight for the dignity, respect and equality of all people and sacramental ministry. Her courage to do this contra legem but with valid Holy Orders guides her every action. Although the personal cost of answering the call is high, on a broader level Dianne strongly believes that the need for action to usher in a new era of the Spirit is higher, where it can be seen that women can represent the image of Christ and all are welcome at the Table. Having experienced life in a country that suffered under the oppressive laws of Apartheid, serving as a lawyer, and loving a church that forbid her priestly participation Dianne is willing to transgress Canon Law because, like the laws of Apartheid, it is unjust law. She believes that such law cannot in good conscience be justifiably obeyed. She stands willing and able to serve God’s holy people, all of them, as a Roman Catholic Priest.

Congratulations Reverend Dianne and thanks be to God!

Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, RCWP
Good shepherd Ministry of SW Florida, USA

From Diane Dougherty ARCWP: 

It was a beautiful celebration with incredible participation from so many groups that are active and progressive in the area.  ...we had a beautiful celebration with a full church and afterwards under the veranda adjacent to the church so people gathered, ate and shared so much with each other.   

Everyone was honored to have Roy (Bourgeois) present and he beamed the entire time.  He really is a supporter-and delighted to be with all of us...notice he wore an alb and stole and did not wince when people called him Father.  Jeannette Mulherin is one lovely woman-my roommate and Roy's personal photographer.  These are the pics she took...

Tomorrow we go to Cape Town and will be with Mary Ryan and Ann Ralston...