Is Our Institutional Church Unjust? by Emmy Silvius

Is Our Institutional Church Unjust
by Emmy Silvius
Catholica
catholica.com.au

Today's Prophets

Emmy Silvius has a Degree in Theology (Melbourne College of Divinity). She works in the social services sector and has a passion for social justice.

Admittedly, some may view this question as provocative or at least challenging. How can an institution that has faith in an all-loving God as its foundations be unjust? However, unless God is actually "running" this concept called Church, then like any institution it is prone to the weaknesses of humans, who despite the best of intentions, bring their own interpretations and understandings to how their services can best be carried out. Thankfully, as we have seen throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, there is a role for prophets brave enough to question powerful structures — directing all to return to the basics and review afresh the 'what and how' of what they wish to achieve.

Today's prophets are calling for change of views within our church structure. The topics being discussed worldwide are as varied as the people who make up the Body of Christ. One of the issues that not only keeps surfacing but has been increasing in frequency over the past thirty years is that of the ordination of Catholic women to the priesthood.

The huge Christian ambiguity of the place and role of women

Sadly, regarding women's issues, a huge ambiguity runs through our Christian heritage. Tertullian said women are the second Eve, the gateway to the devil. Augustine said women's souls are OK but their bodies are not in the image of God. Aquinas said that women are defective males. We are all heirs to this way of thinking. And as with any prejudice, these thoughts become accepted and the internalisation of this inferiority becomes a pervasive idea that affects men as well as women.

No one can deny the growing number of women in the life of the Church today. More than 80 percent of ministry is done by women. Nonetheless Church authorities have been telling us throughout the centuries that women cannot be ordained priests because Jesus had male apostles. Yet Jesus did not ordain anyone! In fact priesthood and Eucharistic worship as we know it did not come about until the 4th Century AD. The twelve apostles appointed by Jesus represented the twelve tribes of the restored Israel. This category of "The Twelve" was not continued by the early Christian communities. At the time worship often took place in the homes of women, with both men and women providing leadership. The style of worship was prophetic and charismatic, which was in keeping with what the first followers ofJesus had known of him and his mission.

While Jesus did not ordain anyone, he did call both men and women to discipleship. Luke mentions in 8:1-3 that Mary Magdalen, Joanna and Susanna were among the women who travelled with Jesus. That these women are mentioned by name is significant as women were only ever mentioned in ancient writings if they had considerable wealth or had achieved some social prominence. Through the letters of St Paul we learn that women in the early churches were called and chosen for discipleship and leadership. Let us remember that women disciples were the last to see Jesus at his death, and the firstto see Him risen. I wonder what Jesus had in mind when he commissioned Mary Magdalen to go and tell her fellow apostles that He had, indeed, risen from the dead?[1]

The Magisterium — the official teaching of the Church — claims that only man, through his natural resemblance to Christ, can express sacramentally the role of Christ himself in the Eucharist. Following this thought, some have in fact argued that if God had wanted women priests then Jesus would have been a female. This is being quite presumptuous. How can one even claim to be able to rationalise God's thoughts? Still, if Jesus had been a woman — and there is no way he could have been both man and woman or we would be celebrating the birth of twins at Christmas — I can't help but wonder if men would today be needing to fight as equally hard to earn their rightful place within the Church or within society for that matter...? All humans are made in the image and likeness of God! This begs the question of what sex God then could be? But this is a discussion for another time. Also, how do we know that theIncarnation of 2,000 years ago is or was the only Incarnation to ever take place? We have only recently discovered that our planet is but one of billions in a galaxy and that our galaxy is but one of many millions. How can we even attempt to know or understand what else is out there, let alone in what waysGod makes God-self known to ALL creation? Surely we are but a speck of dust compared to all that is and all that will be?

In Galations 3:28 St Paul tells us that all Christians, both male and female, share in and make upChrist's risen body, not by imaging the maleness of Jesus, but by participating in the paschal mystery through Baptism. Many qualified women experience a call to priestly ministry, but because of their gender, have never been given the opportunity to test their vocation. It is interesting that the Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism acknowledges the action of the Holy Spirit in other denominations, who have women serving as priests by stating: "Whatever is wrought by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our separated brothers and sisters can contribute to our own edification." (Ch1, Art4) It would seem that Catholicism has something to learn in our journey to ecumenism.

The only human that God exalted above all others was Mary, a woman. Why then, is no woman in any serious decision-making position in the Church? The most important decision made in Christian history was Mary's: whether or not to accept divine motherhood. If her decision, a perfectly free one, had not been affirmative, there would have been no Christian Church as we know it.

According to the New Testament, all are called by God, all are justified by Christ, all are sanctified in theSpirit, we are all invited to faith and active love. Consequently we are all the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy people. And in this sense, in principle, we are all equal in the church. (Hans Küng)

Historical evidence for women priests

There is meaningful evidence that there were churches in the fourth to sixth centuries that remained in communion with Rome and also had women priests. Dr Giorgio Otranto, Director of the Institute for Classical and Christian Studies at the University of Bari, Italy, discovered iconographic evidence of women presiding over the Eucharist in ancient catacomb frescos. Otranto cites a letter from fifth centuryPope Gelasius I scolding bishops in southern Italy for allowing women "to officiate at the sacred altars, and to take part in all matters imputed to the offices of the male sex..." He also points to the letters of a ninth century Italian bishop, Atto of Vercelli, substantiating the use of the word "presbytera" to refer to women priests[2].

In the early 1970's Roman Catholic married men and women priests were ordained in Czechoslovakia byBishop Felix M. Davidek[3] to meet the needs of the underground church, in which single males were highly suspect, and to minister to Catholic women in prison. One of these women, Ludmilla Javorova, toldThe Tablet (11/11/95) that she had explained all the circumstances of her ordination to Pope John Paul IIin a letter, but had not received a reply.

In Germany 1.8 million Catholics signed a petition in December 1995 asking that ordination be open to married people and women, that sexuality is celebrated as a gift, that the laity participate in the selection of bishops and that married people be consulted and included in teachings about sexual morality. Shortly after, 500,000 Austrian Catholics added their signatures to the petition. In that same period Archbishop Maurice Couture of Quebec promised to take the results of a clergy-laity synod asking to reopen the question of women's ordination to Rome.

Dutch author, theologian and ex-priest John Wijngaards (ordained in 1959) has written extensively on the subject of women's ordination, questioning the church's teaching in this area. In 1998 he resigned from the priesthood in protest against Pope John Paul II's decrees 'Ordinatio Sacerdotalis' and 'Ad Tuendam Fidem' which forbids further discussion of the women priests' issue in the Catholic Church. In his 2001 book, The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church – Unmasking a Cuckoo's Egg Tradition, Wijngaards explains in a methodical and highly readable fashion how the practice of not ordaining women in Catholic Tradition came in from outside the Church. It did not find its origin in Sacred Scripture or in other Christian sources, but in pagan Roman law which had excluded women from holding any public responsibility.[4]

The injustice handed out to women must end

The struggle for voting rights has taught women to ask questions about education, property and legal rights. Our foremothers protested the right of women to go to university and equip themselves in professional, academic and research fields. Our schools are shaped by the access they won. Women have spoken out so that society is not only acknowledging domestic violence as an offence, but also putting strategies in place to enable victims to become survivors. The list of practical concerns goes on in many other areas. Can we believe that women are created in God's image and argue against these developments? A 1980 United Nations Report points out that despite the fact women do two thirds of the world's work, they only earn one tenth of the world's income and own less than one hundredth of the world's property. It seems that thirty years on, not much has changed in this regard.

In the USA there is a growing group of Catholics connecting with the 'FutureChurch' movement. These Catholics seek the full participation of all baptised Catholics in the life of the Church. They advocate that Eucharistic Celebration is available universally and at least weekly to all baptised Catholics. FutureChurchpromotes widespread discussion on the need to open ordination to all baptised Catholics who are called to priestly ministry by God and the people of God. They seek to participate in formulating and expressing the Spirit inspired beliefs of the faithful through open, prayerful and enlightened dialogue with other Catholics locally and globally. The decreasing number of parish priests is their main concern. Their discussions with the local Bishops are focused on women's ordination and priestly celibacy. They seek women's full inclusion at every level of decision making in the church from Rome to the local parish. In making their needs known to their Bishops, members of FutureChurch are following the Canon Law of the Church, which states "Christ's faithful have the right, indeed at times the duty, in keeping with their knowledge, competence and position, to manifest to the sacred pastors their views on matters which concern the good of the church." (Canon 212, par 2)

In the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes (The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World) we are told that through the power of God's Spirit the Church is a sign of salvation in the world. As the bearer of the gospel it discloses to people the mystery of God and the meaning of their own existence. It calls them to consider central questions about their origin and destiny and helps them to 'name' the true goal of their searchings. At the same time, the Church profits from the experience and questions of each culture and age in which it lives. It draws on the philosophies, language and concepts of the social milieu to express and clarify the gospel message. Gaudium et Spes is Latin for 'Joy and hope'— yet if there has been a time to speak out on the wrongs of cultural thinking, now is one of them.Remember the wrong done to Galileo? Well, now the wrong is being done to women. For hope to remain alive we need to be firm, dare to speak up and voice our honest concerns.

Reality is the only thing we have that can possibly nourish hope. Hope is not based on the ability to fabricate a better future; it is grounded in the ability to remember with new understanding an equally difficult past — either our own or someone else's. The fact is that our memories are the seedbed of our hope.[5]

Keeping the discussion open does not mean being disloyal, on the contrary it is our duty to express what we believe as Jesus taught us to. The challenge is to create an environment for honest exchange; where the truth can be spoken in love. As Sonia Wagner sgs pointed out recently, we need a Catholic culture where questions about the participation of women are acceptable and even welcomed.[6]

Enriching the dialogue and enhancing life

Many women and men want their experience to be heard, honoured, integrated and absorbed; they want their church to be affirming to all and welcoming to all those currently excluded. They want a process of listening that is not condemnatory. Not dictatorial. They want a development of more adequate theology that speaks to matters of sex and sexuality, open and honest dialogue, wherein disagreement should not be feared. They want a church that looks for genuine healing and not just sustenance, a church that will look for remedies. And they want a spirituality that is reflected in rituals and celebrations that encourage and celebrate life while specifically addressing the stresses and strains of modern living. They want women in leadership roles and they want women to be able to choose to be ordained. It is not about trying to take away from any structure that has existed for thousands of years, it is all about trying to enrich the dialogue and enhance the life of the church.

There is no shortage of vocations if we count everyone who experiences a call to priestly ministry. There are numerous women and men, both single and married, who feel called to the priesthood, but not necessarily to celibacy. It is a hopeful sign for the future of the church that women and men from England, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, the USA and the Netherlands have organised to work for women's ordination. This issue will not disappear — throughout the Catholic Church a certain restlessness with the current position has set in. Many Catholics feel deep within their hearts that women should not be refused ordination.

- Emmy Silvius January 2011

FOOTNOTES:

[1] For a closer look at the New Testament evidence — both pro and contra – on the ordination of women go tohttp://www.womenpriests.org/classic/fuller2.asp for an article by Reginald Fuller.

[2] See http://www.womenpriests.org/traditio/otran_1.asp for a translation of his work. A recovery of women's full participation in early Christianity may be one means of confronting the persistent perception of women as subordinate in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches today, "Images of the past that we carry within us do help to shape both our present and our future. A new set of images may have a liberating effect not only on scholars, with their specialized concerns, but also on the culture of which they are a part."

[3] Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, 'Davidek: mad or a genius?' The Tablet, 8 March 2003, Accessed 9 January 2011http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/3614 See also 'A Priest called Ludmilla' (6 Oct 2001) by the same author athttp://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/4873

[4] The following website was established by John: www.womenpriests.org. It is very up-to-date in presenting its evidence. Following up a reference by consulting the writings of various theologians presents no difficulty here. For example, it is easy to read and print the text from John Duns Scotus's (1266-1308) commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, on the question of 'Whether the female sex or youthful age should impede the taking of Orders' - in the original Latin, if one wishes. Bernadette Toal in The Furrow 53 (2002) no 5, May, pp. 316-317.

[5] Joan Chittister in Scarred by Trouble: Transformed by Hope, (William Eerdmans, Michigan, 2003), p 104.

[6] Sonia Wagner sgs, Woman and Man: One in Christ: A Retrospective. Paper presented at the Conference Women: Gathering, Affirming, Celebrating, held in Canberra 26-28 August 2009. A copy of her talk can be obtained from http://www.cacw.catholic.org.au/from-the-office/45.html (see link under: A great gathering!)

Sonia used to be Deputy Chair of the Commission for Australian Catholic Women. In her book Into the Vineyard,she states: "The refusal to admit women to ordination is just one of the symptoms of the disorder that exists in our Church."

Source: http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2001/sep2001p9_606.html

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• AD2000 – A Journal of Religious Opinion – www.ad2000.com.au/index.html
• Commission for Australian Catholic Women website (CACW) was established by the Australian Catholic Bishop’s Conference in December 2000 as a consequence of the 1999 report Woman and Man – One in Christ. In 2006, this Commission became a Council for Australian Catholic Women(CACW) advisory to the Bishops Commission for Church Ministry with a changed Mandate. At the same time, the Office for the Participation of Women (OPW) was set up.
• Future Church website – see for example www.futurechurch.org/sopc/dutchdominicans.htm for an interesting account of the forward thinking vision of the Dutch Dominicans in relation to the role of the laity at Eucharist. At their 2005 Chapter, Dominicans in Holland formed a committee of experts to study "whether celebrating the Eucharist depends on the ministry of ordained men, or whether it is possible that the Church community it has appointed, celebrate the Eucharist themselves." In August 2005, the outcome: "The Church and the Ministry" was sent to every parish in Holland.
• Ordination of Catholic Women (OCW) website – "OCW maintains links with international organisations committed to the ordination of women and has a representative on the Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) Steering Committee as well as being a signatory to the eleven resolutions passed at the inaugural conference of Women's Ordination Worldwide held in Dublin in July 2001." See www.ocw.org.au
• The Tablet – the International Catholic Weekly – www.thetablet.co.uk
• Women Priests website – founded by John Wijngaards – www.womenpriests.org

 
Emmy Silvius has a Degree in Theology (Melbourne College of Divinity), works in the social services sector and has a passion for social justice.

Shatter the Stained Glass Ceiling: An Experiential Account of Marginalization and Criminalization in the Roman Catholic Church, Marie Bouclin

Shattering the Stained Glass Ceiling: an experiential account of marginalization and criminalization in the Roman Catholic Church
by Marie Bouclin

Shatter the Stained Glass Ceiling Tour*
new catholic times sensus fidelium public lecture
Toronto | September 1, 2010

I am tempted to challenge Fr Roy (Bourgeois)’s title for this lecture series. My experience of the ceiling in the Roman Catholic Church is one of solid marble - imported from Italy. Seriously, if I had to give a title to a talk on the excommunication of ordained women in our church, which marginalizes and criminalizes us, it would be something like “We just don’t speak the same language.” I’ll explain that if time allows.

Marie Bouclin

As I jotted down notes to tell you my experience of marginalization and criminalization within the Church, I came to the realization that three discourses have had their impact on my life (Theology/Spirituality, Social Justice, and Church Law), and certainly on my journey to priesthood. So what I will share with you is a chronology of events which marked turning points in my life, and the lessons I learned from them.

I was born in a small town in Northern Ontario to a French-Canadian Roman Catholic mother and an Anglo-Canadian Protestant father; I was educated by French Canadian nuns who instilled in us a religion of fear, self-abasement and redemption through personal abnegation. At age 18, I entered the convent because a) I wanted to earn the approval of my parents by being the best I could be, and that would be, according to the Sisters, a consecrated virgin; b) I wanted to earn the approval of God by dedicating my life to the service of the church; and c) I hoped to validate my existence by spending a life of prayer and dedication which would somehow bring about the conversion of my father to Catholicism. (He was a Freemason, therefore, according to my teachers, going straight to damnation).

After 7 years as a woman religious, and having lived through the paradigm shift for Catholicism that was the Second Vatican Council, I left the convent. First, I knew I was not cut out for celibacy, but I had learned that ALL believers are called to love God with their whole heart and mind and soul, not just priests and nuns. All human begins are created in the image of likeness of God, that in Christ, there “was neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female”, in other words, there should be no discrimination on the basis of race, socio-economic status, or sex. That also meant that no calling or vocation is more important than another, but all have a place in the reality we call the Body of Christ. So, I returned to University to become qualified as a high school teacher, met a charming young dental student, whom I married. We were gifted with three wonderful children, and my husband of 42 years and I have also been blessed with 2 beautiful grandchildren. In the 10 years I was by choice a stay-at-home mother, I did Bible Study, joined a Catholic Charismatic prayer group, played the organ at Mass most Sundays, volunteered with Birthright to help pregnant teenagers, and was a member of the local core group of Amnesty International. While I defended the human rights of the unborn and of prisoners of conscience, I must admit I was not interested in the wave of feminist liberation of the 1960`s and 70`s. I was satisfied that I was keeping the Great commandments by cultivating my personal prayer life and practising the ethics of social justice promoted by my Catholic faith. Once my kids were all in school, I returned to University and became a free-lance translator and interpreter.

In 1987, I was hired by our diocesan bishop as translator for the diocese, secretary for the diocesan synod he was undertaking, and personal secretary for the new auxiliary bishop. I saw this as a fulfilment of my life as a Catholic woman, which was to serve God and God’s people by working for “the Church”.
In 1992, my suitability for church employment was questioned because I had been reported in the local press as saying, in a workshop on women`s human rights, that the church discriminated against women. I was pressured to resign from my position. The lessons I learned from that experience of being dismissed without apparent cause and the 5 years of working with the local hierarchy were that:

• women are expected to work much harder for less pay that even lay men get;
• there is no freedom of speech, i.e. no expression of doubt, dissent or questioning is tolerated;
• there is no job security - a woman can be dismissed, without cause, on the whim of a priest or bishop;
• women have no input, no decision-making power even in areas that concern them: not only are doctrinal and moral decisions are made by men vested with clerical power, but so are the more practical decisions about the institutional workplace
• sexual harassment is rampant.

I wondered where the Social Justice Teaching of the Church was in all of this...

Unable to work in what I came to see as a “poisoned work atmosphere for women” I returned to free-lance translating and one of the great loves of my life, the study of theology. The words a close friend had muttered to me in 1972 came back to me. “You are not a feminist, but then you have never lost your job just because you`re a woman.” It seems I had paid my dues.

In 1996, about the time I was considering a subject for my Master’s thesis, a friend of mine called to tell me she had been sexually abused by our pastor. She knew two other women who were also victims of this priest. Over the course of the next 2 years, I met 18 women who had been victims of either clergy sexual abuse or had been dismissed without cause. I made an appointment with my bishop to ask him who was ministering to these women. His response was, “Marie, all those women want is money.” In 6 words he made it very clear that there would be no justice, and certainly no healing process for women coming from church leaders.

So, in 1998, I presented my thesis which was titled, La codépendance des femmes en Église; comment se relever d’un abus de pouvoir. My aim was to answer the question, “How do we help women heal the spiritual wounds caused by the abuse of power by clergy?” I learned in the process - and stories of clergy abuse of nuns and young girls were emerging from all over the world - that as long as women were not allowed to represent Christ in an official, sacramentally recognized way, not only would the spiritual needs of women not be met, but women, especially poor and vulnerable women would continue to be exploited, raped, and even murdered with impunity.

I published my thesis in 2000 under the title Pour vivre debout, femmes et pouvoir dans l’Église, in which I claim that for justice to be served, and for abused women to find healing, the Church needs women priests. My arguments rest on the experience of women and the research and publications of feminist theologians and Scripture scholars. The English of the version of the book, Seeking Wholeness was only published in 2006, and that was on the condition that I take out the chapters dealing with women`s ordination. That was no problem, to be honest, there were all kinds of stories of injustices against women I could tell. And I did want women to hear the stories of other women so their own story would be validated. There were plenty of books out there making a case of women`s ordination.

In 2000 I followed a seminar on dealing with allegations of clergy misconduct with Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune of the FaithTrust Institute, then called the Centre for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence. Her opening words were, “It was not until women were ordained in the Protestant churches that the problems of sexual abuse by clergy and family violence began to be treated seriously.” It was at that point that I decided to become actively involved in the women`s ordination movement. It was time to put my faith - research, reflexion, and prayer - into to concrete action to bring about change.

In 2002 I was invited, as delegate for Canada`s Catholic Network for Women`s Equality, to attend the first ordination of 7 RC women on the Danube. Although these women were ordained by a RC bishop, the ordinations were considered illegal (contra legem = against the law) and invalid under Canon Law. The women were all excommunicated - the harshest punishment imposed by the church. I was also Canada`s delegate to the annual steering committee meeting of Women`s Ordination Worldwide. WOW’s main objective is to change Canon 1024 which reads “Only a baptized man can validly receive sacred ordination”. By changing one word: man to person, thus opening Holy Orders to women, we hoped to put the Roman Catholic institutional church on a path towards the full inclusion of women, but also initiate a reform of the priesthood as it now exists. In that sense, WOW is an important part of a larger movement for church reform.
In 2004, as Coordinator of Women`s Ordination Worldwide, I met African feminist theologian Patricia Fresen. She had been ordained by 2 women from the Danube movement, now bishops. Patricia was convinced that, much as apartheid ended in South Africa because people refused to obey the unjust apartheid laws, so Church law (Canon 1024) would be changed if some bishops just disregarded it and ordained women. Because she was ordained outside the law, Dr Fresen was dismissed from her religious community after 45 years of service and from her teaching position in a Catholic university; she now lives in exile in Germany. During a visit Patricia invited me to be ordained to minister to women who had been abused by clergy, and so I was ordained to the priesthood in 2007. That week I received an email from my pastor saying that, on the bishop`s order, I would not be allowed to receive communion at Sunday Mass.

On May 29, 2009, the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano published a notification that all women who attempted ordination are excommunicated latae sententiae - meaning automatically. Our group of Canadian Roman Catholic Womenpriests were gathered in Victoria at the time for the ordination of our 3rd and 4th priests - a divorced woman from Calgary and a married man from Vancouver. All we could say was, “This is an unfair punishment for breaking an unjust law” and recommit to offering a new model of priesthood, based on servant leadership, that is a non-clericalist, non-violent, and radically inclusive from of ministry which believes, teaches and practises a religion of compassion, justice and peace.

By now I hope you’ve come to the conclusion that one of the problems in the religious institution I belong to is that ordained Catholic women - simply do not speak the same language as our current leadership.

*There are three broad discourses within all religions and consequently within our church today. First, there is the METAPHYSICAL, which includes the study and applications of Philosphy, Theology, Sacred Scriptures, and Spirituality, seeking answers to the questions: Where do we come from? Where are we going? Who and What is God? Can we enter into a relationship with the Divine? What does that relationship look like? It is out of this metaphysical quest that come not only a religious belief system, but also the sacramental or symbolic and ritual (or public expression) of the Catholic church. Personal religious devotion, mysticism and meditation practices, as well as centuries of sacred music, art, and literature are also part of this metaphysical discourse.

Secondly, there is the ETHICAL discourse, which includes the study and application of Christian Ethics and Moral Behaviour based on the teachings of Sacred Scripture, more specifically the New Testament, the Church’s Traditional Moral Theology and the Social Teaching of the Church. It is the Christian moral/ethical imperative discourse that has given us, over the centuries, people who were moved to found hospitals for the sick and dying, schools, social agencies, movements for prison reform, and for all kinds of humanitarian works because they took the Gospel message to heart.

Basically, these two discourses, the metaphysical and the ethical, can be summarized in the words of Jesus, the Jewish prophet from Nazareth: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets ”. Yes, Jesus refers to the Law.

Religions hold a third discourse, which is LEGAL. In Roman Catholicism, that means the study and application of Canon Law which defines the rules and norms of actions to maintain in place the Roman Catholic church’s hierarchical structure and particularly the sacred power of priests to administer the sacraments and “achieve order in the ecclesiastical society”(Introduction to the 1983 Code of Canon Law). The criminalization of women`s ordination is part of a legal construct which is called the Roman Catholic Church. *

Our discourse, as I said at the beginning, is grounded in the metaphysical and ethical discourse of Jesus of Nazareth, Jewish Wisdom and the experience of Early Christian communities - understood through the lense of our current culture and theological scholarship. The highly centralized hierarchy of the RCC seems to be trapped in the illusion of self-proclaimed inerrancy and the rule of man-made laws. Criminalized and marginalized as we may be, we womenpriests enjoy a much greater measure of freedom in the quest for knowledge and a relationship with the Divine. For me, this is a source of serenity, joy, and inner peace. But that does not mean that justice for women in the church has been served.

---

Shatter the Stained Glass Ceiling Tour
new catholic times sensus fidelium public lecture

Join Roy Bourgeois, Maryknoll priest, SOA Watch founder, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and Marie Bouclin Roman Catholic Womanpriest , as they speak in Toronto as part of the “Shatter the Stained Glass Ceiling Tour.” Join us and participate in breaking the silence on women’s ordination.

Sunday October 24th 2010
2pm
OISE Auditorium
252 Bloor Street West Toronto

There is a parking lot directly under the building which is accessed from Prince Arthur, the first street north of Bloor, and a municipal lot on Bedford just north of Bloor Street. OISE is on top of the St. George subway station and can be accessed directly from there

$10

A Roman Catholic priest faces excommunication for his public support of women’s ordination through the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement. The priest is Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder of the School of the Americas (SOA) Watch who is known internationally for his work to end U.S. government-funded combat training of Latin American militaries. Last November, he decided to risk his 36 years of priesthood to end sexism in the Church.

Marie Evans Bouclin, a former nun and high school teacher, was ordained a deacon in August 2006, and was ordained to the priesthood in May 2007 in Toronto. Marie worked as a free-lance translator in religion and ethics for over twenty years., is serving a second term on the national work group of the Catholic Network for Women’s Equality (CNWE) and was coordinator of Women’s Ordination Worldwide from 2002 to 2006. She is the author of Seeking Wholeness: Women dealing with abuse of power in the Catholic Church (Liturgical Press, 2006).

The Toronto event will host the Premiere of the film,

Pink Smoke Over The Vatican

A Film by Jules Hart

“Pink Smoke Over the Vatican” is a documentary film about a group of impassioned women who have stepped forward to challenge the Vatican. They have been labeled heretics, heroines, radicals, visionaries, feminists and fanatics. By whatever name, this unique group of religious women have chosen at great personal risk to live out their spiritual calling through the forbidden path of ordination. The film follows candidates for priesthood as they confront their inner doubts and anxieties while at the same time challenging the centuries-old established order of one of the most powerful institutions in history.

This film is topical, unique, and controversial. The papacy has reached a time of crisis and the controversy over women’s role, and their place in the Church, must be addressed if the Vatican is to have any relevance in the 21st century. These women feel a spiritual calling to be priests and they are tired of waiting. They have chosen to take hold of their destinies and, in so doing, the destiny of the Roman Catholic Church.

The voices of these women must be heard.

Pink Smoke Over The Vatican has been chosen as an official selection of the Hot Springs 19th Documentary Film Festival in October!
Pink Smoke Over The Vatican has also received 2 awards at the Action on Film International Film Festival: Best Female Filmmaker and Best Faith-based Film!

Roman Catholics face excommunication by defying the Vatican's absolute ban on women's ordination - a "crime" considered as "grave" as male priests' molestation of children. To order a dvd please go to www.pinksmokeoverthevatican.com or amazon.com!

Ordination of Women a Crime: Vatican (The Age)

Ordination of women a crime: Vatican

The Age | Melbourne
July 16, 2010

AFP

The ordination of women as Catholic priests is a "crime against the faith," the Vatican has said while it issued a raft of new disciplinary rules.

Cases of "attempted ordination of women" will now be handled by the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), a Vatican statement said on Thursday.

The new rules put attempts at the ordination of women among the "most serious crimes", along with pedophilia.

They update a 2007 CDF decree, according to which those who attempt to ordain women - and the women concerned - are subject to automatic excommunication.

The US-based Women's Ordination Conference, an advocacy group, dismissed the decision as "medieval at best" and a "scare tactic".

The update was prompted by "fear of our growing numbers", the group said in a statement. "The Vatican is using this attempt to extinguish the widespread call for women's equality in the church."

The Vatican also issued new rules on the handling of sex abuse cases on Thursday. It ordered quicker investigations of pedophile priests and extended the statute of limitations by 10 years to 20 years after the victim's 18th birthday.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi underscored how the ordination of women is "a crime against sacraments", while pedophilia should be considered a "crime against morals".

In May, an Austrian Catholic bishop said the church should rethink ordaining women following the widespread pedophilia scandal.

Eight Catholic activists staged a demonstration in favour of women's ordination in St Peter's Square in June.

Vatican Says Female Priests 'As Sinful' As Child Abuse

Vatican says female priests 'as sinful' as child abuse

By Fiona Govan in Rome
Independent.ie | July 16, 2010

Under the new rules, ordaining a women as a priest is among the church's "most serious crimes". (Getty Images)

THE ordination of women as Roman Catholic priests has been made a "crime against the faith" by the Vatican and subject to discipline by its watchdog.

The new rules issued yesterday put attempts at ordaining women among the "most serious crimes" alongside paedophilia and will be handled by investigators from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), considered the successor to the Inquisition.

Women attempting to be priests, and those who try to ordain them, already faced automatic excommunication but the new decree enshrines the action as "a crime against sacraments".

The unexpected ruling follows the Pope's welcome to Anglican clergy dissatisfied with its General Synod attempts to compromise over calls for the ordination of women as bishops. The first women bishops could be ordained in the Anglican Church as soon as 2014.

Exodus

A group of 70 disgruntled clergy met with a Catholic bishop on Saturday to discuss plans to defect and hundreds are said to be poised for an exodus to Rome. Earlier this year three bishops travelled to the Vatican to talk over an offer by Pope Benedict XVI inviting disillusioned Anglicans to convert to Catholicism, while still keeping tenets of their own faith.

Within the Catholic Church here have been growing calls to allow women to become priests in the wake of the widespread paedophilia scandal. Women priests have been allowed in the Anglican Church since 1992.

But the Vatican made its stance clear yesterday by comparing such actions to child abuse crimes and issuing new rules for investigating both by the same disciplinary body.

Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, underscored how the ordination of women is "a crime against sacraments," while paedophilia should be considered a "crime against morals" and both would fall under the jurisdiction of the CDF.

The organisation, once known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition, was previously headed by the current Pope when he was Cardinal Ratzinger.

The raft of new rules from the Vatican includes the fast-tracking of the investigation process of priests accused of child abuse. 

The CDF will accelerate investigations of paedophile priests and extend the statute of limitations by 10 years to 20 years after the victim's 18th birthday. 

Defrock

It could defrock priests but would not be forced to hand over abusers to the civil courts.

"Clergy sex crimes must be reported to police and the Vatican must make this a binding policy that is uniformly enforced," said David Clohessy, of The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests. 

"Today's action doesn't do that."

(©Daily Telegraph London) 

Catholics Angry As Church Puts Female Ordination On Par With Sex Abuse

Catholics angry as church puts female ordination on par with sex abuse

Women's groups describe Vatican's decision on female ordination as 'appalling'

by John Hooper in Rome 
The Guardian | July 16, 2010

Three ‘bishops’ at the ordination of a female French priest in Lyons in 2005. All four women were excommunicated. From left: South African Patricia Fresen, Austrian Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger and German Gisela Forster. (Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP)

It was meant to be the document that put a lid on the clerical sex abuse scandals that have swept the Roman Catholic world. But instead of quelling fury from within and without the church, the Vatican stoked the anger of liberal Catholics and women's groups by including a provision in its revised decree that made the "attempted ordination" of women one of the gravest crimes in ecclesiastical law.

The change put the "offence" on a par with the sex abuse of minors.

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, called the document "one of the most insulting and misogynistic pronouncements that the Vatican has made for a very long time. Why any self-respecting woman would want to remain part of an organisation that regards their full and equal participation as a 'grave sin' is a mystery to me."

Vivienne Hayes, the chief executive of the Women's Resource Centre, said the decision to raise women's ordination to the level of a serious crime was "appalling".

She added: "This declaration is doubly disempowering for women as it also closes the door on dialogue around women's access to power and decision making, when they are still under-represented in all areas of political, religious and civic life. We would urge the Catholic church to acknowledge that women's rights are not incompatible with religious faith."

Ceri Goddard, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: "We are sure that the vast majority of the general public will share in our abject horror at the Vatican's decision to categorise the ordination of women as an 'offence' in the same category as paedophilia – deemed to be one of the 'gravest offences a priest can commit'.

"This statement follows a series where the Vatican, an institution which yields great influence and power not only in the Catholic community but also wider society, has pitched itself in direct opposition not only to women's rights but to our equal worth and value. We hope this is an issue that the government takes the opportunity to raise if it still feels the impending papal visit is appropriate."

The revision of a decree first issued nine years ago was intended to address the issue of clerical sex abuse. Last night it remained unclear why the Vatican had decided to invite further controversy by changing the status of women's ordination in canon law.

Since scandals blew up in Germany in January, five Roman Catholic bishops have resigned as evidence has come to light of priests who raped or molested children, and of superiors who turned a blind eye to safeguard the reputation of the church. Data from countries in which church membership is officially registered suggest tens of thousands of Catholics, perhaps hundreds of thousands, have abandoned their faith in disgust.

Father Federico Lombardi, the pope's spokesman, stressed that the new rules on sex abuse applied solely to procedures for defrocking priests under canon law. They had no bearing on whether suspected offenders were notified to the civil authorities – he said bishops had already been reminded of their duty to do so.

The most important change is to extend the period during which a clergyman can be tried by a church court from 10 to 20 years, dating from the 18th birthday of his victim. Many people who were abused by priests are unable to summon up the courage to come forward until well into adulthood.

The new norms also streamline the procedures for dealing with the most urgent and serious cases, enabling bishops to defrock priests without a long, costly trial. They put abuse of the mentally disabled on a level with that of minors. And they introduce a new crime of paedophile pornography, defined as "the acquisition, possession or disclosure" by a clergyman of pornographic images of children below the age of 14.

Monsignor Charles Scicluna, who helped overhaul the rules, said: "This gives a signal that we are very, very serious in our commitment to promote safe environments and to offer an adequate response to abuse."

Lombardi said the Vatican was working on further instructions "so that the directives it issues on the subject of sexual abuse of minors, either by the clergy or institutions connected with the church, may be increasingly rigorous, coherent and effective".

But Barbara Doris of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) said it was tackling the issue the wrong way round. "Defrocking a predator, by definition, is too late," she said. "Severe harm has already been done."

Outrage in Church at 'Sexist' Document (Independent.ie)

Benedict XVI: Approves lumping women’s ordination in the same basket as clerical paedophilia

Outrage in Church at 'sexist' document
By Breda Heffernan
Independent.ie | London
Friday, July 16, 2010

IRISH women involved in the church reacted furiously last night and accused the Vatican of "upholding sexism" after it issued the new rules.

Soline Humbert, women's ordination advocate

Soline Humbert, a co-founder of the Irish group Brothers and Sisters in Christ, which was established to promote the ordination of women to the priesthood, said yesterday's announcement was "predictable" and "one more attempt at stopping the unstoppable. It is pathetic. It shows the state of disarray (within the church).

"My heartfelt reaction as a woman, I'm 53 nearly 54, is that all my life in the Roman Catholic Church has been a succession of blows. At this stage, I do not expect any good news to come from Rome. 

"It is very interesting that it comes at a time when the Church of England is ordaining women bishops," she added. 

The Irish Bishops Conference welcomed the publication of the Vatican document, but offered no comment on the issue of ordination of women. 

Vatican Makes Attempted Ordination of a Woman a Grave Crime

Vatican makes attempted ordination of women a grave crime

Revised Catholic rules put female ordination in same category of crime under church law as clerical sex abuse of minors

John Hooper in Rome 
The Guardian | July 15, 2010

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi announces the revised Catholic laws. Photograph: Andrew Medichini/AP 

The Vatican today made the "attempted ordination" of women one of the gravest crimes under church law, putting it in the same category as clerical sex abuse of minors, heresy and schism.

The new rules, which have been sent to bishops around the world, apply equally to Catholic women who agree to a ceremony of ordination and to the bishop who conducts it. Both would be excommunicated. Since the Vatican does not accept that women can become priests, it does not recognise the outcome of any such ceremony.

The latest move, which appeared to bar and bolt the door to Catholic women priests, came at a time when the Church of England moved in the opposite direction, to a step closer to the ordination of female bishops.

The Vatican's reclassification of attempted female ordination was part of a revision of a 2001 decree, the main purpose of which was to tighten up the rules on sex abuse by priests in reaction to the scandals that have been sweeping through the church since January. The most important change is to extend the period during which a clergyman can be tried by a church court from 10 to 20 years, dating from the 18th birthday of his victim.

The new rules introduce speedier procedures for dealing with the most urgent and serious cases; allowed for lay people to form part of church tribunals that judge such cases; put abuse of the mentally disabled on a level with that of minors, and introduced a new crime of paedophile pornography.

The pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, stressed that the changes applied solely to canon, or church, law. They had no bearing on whether suspected offenders should be reported to the civil authorities.

He said that issue had already been dealt with earlier this year in instructions making it clear to bishops that they must report cases promptly.

The Vatican was working on further instructions "so that the directives it issues on the subject of sexual abuse of minors, either by the clergy or institutions connected with the church, may be increasingly rigorous, coherent and effective," he said.

Vatican Revises Abuse Process But Causes Stir

Vatican Revises Abuse Process, but Causes Stir

By RACHEL DONADIO
The New York Times | July 15, 2010

Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s sex crimes prosecutor, left, and Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi discussed the new set of norms issued on Thursday to respond to the worldwide clerical abuse scandal (Andrew Medichini/Associated Press)

VATICAN CITY ­ The Vatican issued revisions to its internal laws on Thursday making it easier to discipline sex-abuser priests, but caused confusion by also stating that ordaining women as priests was as grave an offense as pedophilia.

The decision to link the issues appears to reflect the determination of embattled Vatican leaders to resist any suggestion that pedophilia within the priesthood can be addressed by ending the celibacy requirement or by allowing women to become priests.

The overall document codified existing procedures that allow the Vatican to try priests accused of child sexual abuse using faster juridical procedures rather than full ecclesiastical trials. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the changes showed the church’s commitment to tackling child sexual abuse with “rigor and transparency.”

Those measures fell short of the hopes of many advocates for victims of priestly abuse, who dismissed them as “tweaking” rather than a bold overhaul. The new rules do not, for example, hold bishops accountable for abuse by priests on their watch, nor do they require them to report sexual abuse to civil authorities ­ though less formal “guidelines” issued earlier this year encourage reporting if local law compels it.

But what astonished many Catholics was the inclusion of the attempt to ordain women in a list of the “more grave delicts,” or offenses, which included pedophilia, as well as heresy, apostasy and schism. The issue, some critics said, was less the ordination of women, which is not discussed seriously inside the church hierarchy, but the Vatican’s suggestion that pedophilia is a comparable crime in a document billed a response to the sexual abuse crisis.

“It is very irritating that they put the increased severity in punishment for abuse and women’s ordination at the same level,” said Christian Weisner, the spokesman for “We Are Church,” a liberal Catholic reform movement founded in 1996 in response to a high-profile sexual abuse case in Austria. “It tells us that the church still understands itself as an environment dominated by men.”

The reaction among American Catholics could be measured in some degree by comments from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, a top official in the group, called the document a “welcome statement” even as he took pains to praise the role of women in the church. “The church’s gratitude to women cannot be stated strongly enough,” he said at a news conference in Washington. “Women offer unique insight, creative abilities and unstinting generosity at the very heart of the Catholic Church.”

Still, the archbishop added. “The Catholic Church through its long and constant teaching holds that ordination has been, from the beginning, reserved to men, a fact which cannot be changed despite changing times.” 

At a news conference at the Vatican, Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, the Vatican’s internal prosecutor in charge of handling sexual abuse cases, explained the change on women’s ordination in technical terms. “Sexual abuse and pornography are more grave delicts, they are an egregious violation of moral law,” Monsignor Scicluna said in his first public appearance since the sex abuse crisis hit. “Attempted ordination of women is grave, but on another level, it is a wound that is an attempt against the Catholic faith on the sacramental orders.”

The revision codifies a 2007 ruling that made attempting to ordain women an offense punishable with excommunication. The new document said that a priest who tried to ordain a woman could now be defrocked.

For more than two decades, polls have shown that large majorities of American Catholics favor allowing women to be ordained as priests, despite the lack of support for it among church leaders. The latest poll of American Catholics by The New York Times and CBS News, released in May, showed that 59 percent favored ordaining women, while 33 percent were opposed.

“I think they see us as their worst nightmare and they’re doing as much as they can to stop it,” said Bridget Mary Meehan, one of five American women who say they have been ordained as bishops as part of a tiny movement of women in Europe and the United States who claim to have been ordained as bishops, priests and deacons.

The movement, called Roman Catholic Womenpriests, now claims that 100 women have been given ordination ceremonies as priests, deacons or bishops, and 75 of those are Americans, Ms. Meehan said.

At the news conference here unveiling the changes, Monsignor Scicluna said that rules on their own could not eradicate priestly abuse but that the church now had better tools to work toward that. “This gives a signal that we are very, very serious in our commitment to promote safe environments and to offer an adequate response to abuse,” he said. “If more changes are needed, they will be made.”

In addition to making the faster administrative procedures for disciplining priests the rule, not the exception, the new norms also added possession of child pornography and sexual abuse of mentally disabled adults to the list of grave crimes.

The Vatican also doubled the statute of limitations for abuse cases to 20 years from the victim’s 18th birthday. After that, a priest could be removed from the ministry but not defrocked unless the Vatican lifted the statute of limitations in the case, a right it reserves on a case-by-case basis.

Many victims have said they did not feel able to come forward until long after abuse took place.

Critics immediately said the revisions did not go far enough.

“Given his authority, Benedict could implement meaningful change,” Bishopaccountability.org, which tracks cases of sexual abuse by priests worldwide, said in a statement, referring to Pope Benedict XVI. “He could direct bishops to report every allegation of child sexual abuse to the police, regardless of whether civil law requires them to do so. He could threaten punishment of any bishop or church official who enables or fails to stop a child-molesting priest.” 

For years, bishops complained to the Vatican about confusion over how to handle sexual abuse cases. In 2001, Pope John Paul II issued a document saying all credible allegations of abuse by priests should be reported to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. But the document was not widely circulated, and the confusion remained.

In April, the Vatican for the first time published online guidelines that it said it advised bishops to follow in handling abuse, including reporting all sexual abuse cases to the Vatican and to civil authorities in countries that required mandatory reporting of crimes. But those guidelines do not hold the force of law.

The new document did not change that. “It’s not for canonical legislation to get itself involved with civil law,” Monsignor Scicluna said.

Laurie Goodstein contributed reporting from New York, and Gaia Pianigiani from Rome. 

Ordination of Catholic Women 'Won't Be Silenced' - Australia

OCW 'won't be silenced'

Online Catholics
An Independent Australian eJournal
Issue 43 | 16 March 2005

Silencing alternate voices is a sign of an unhealthy institution, according to the co-convenor of Ordination of Catholic Women (OCW), Joelle Batttestini.

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Following the practice of some years, Ordination of Catholic Women will gather next Monday outside St Christopher's Cathedral in Canberra before proceeding into the Mass of the Oils and Celebration of Priesthood.

"Holy week reminds us that each of us has its own passion to go through," said Ms Battestini, a former lecturer at the University of NSW. "For me, the passion of Christ is not just about darkness and light, but also about transformation and change. Women will be ordained one day but the struggle has to go on if we don't want to be left in the dark."

The report commissioned by the Bishops and released in 1999, Woman And Man , One in Christ Jesus, concluded that the exclusion of women to the Catholic priesthood was was perceived by Australians as a major obstacle to the full participation of women. Further, the report showed that Australian Catholics did not hold that excluding women from ordained ministry was critical to their Catholic faith. The report also suggested that that the nature of priestly ministry needed re-examining.

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In Dublin in 2001, the first international conference on Women Ordination Worldwide (WOW) resolved to pursue dialogue with local bishops and draw constant public attention to the issue of women's ordination by regular demonstrations. In 2005, the second WOW conference will take place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada under the title 'Breaking Silence, Breaking Bread, Christ Calls Women to Lead'. The movement adopted the purple stole as the international symbol for women's ordination.

Ms Battestini said yesterday that OCW was committed to establishing a continuing conversation with the Australian bishops.

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Quoting from an OCW pamphlet, she said: "The sin of sexism is occuring in the Church. To acquiesce in demands for silence in God's household would be as unhelpful for women in the Church as it is for those subject to domestic violence. Experience has shown that silence, passivity and obedience do nothing to protect the battered spouse and do not cure the dysfunctional family."

"So we welcome friends and supporters to join us in a 'purple stole' prayerful witness at St Christopher's Cathedral next Monday.

"OCW is committed not to be silenced," Ms Battestini said.