Women Priests Are Not the Enemies of the Church - Dr. Shanon Sterringer - December 20, 2019

Rev. Dr. Shanon Sterringer | December 20, 2019

Fairport Harbor, Ohio 44077

Dear Bishop Perez,

Dr. Shanon Sterringer at her ordination

I received your letter dated 17 December 2019 (feast of the deaconess Olympias) apprising me of the accusations you have leveled against me regarding several canonical violations in relation to my ordination. I responded to a previous letter you sent to St. Anthony of Padua parish on 22 July 2019 (feast of the apostle Mary Magdalene), and put forth several concerns/questions at that time, none of which you have responded to in this letter or otherwise. It is disheartening that it requires a canonical penalty for you to reach out.  Please find my response to your letter below.   

Dear Dr. Sterringer, 

As Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland, I have the most serious obligation to “defend the unity of the universal Church” and am therefore “bound to foster the discipline which is common to the whole Church, and so press for the observance of all ecclesiastical laws (canon 392, §1 CIC).

Response: I am deeply saddened to read this opening line because it affirms what many in the Church are feeling; that the role of our bishops has been reduced to enforcing unjust laws and protecting an institution not always concerned with the real needs of the people. Jesus came to bring new life and to bring it in abundance. He came to renew viriditas, which is a term the Church reformer, and now Doctor of the Church, St. Hildegard of Bingen, used to refer to the greening power that renews what has dried up and withered. Jesus repeatedly broke religious law when it oppressed or violated the people.  

Women are oppressed in this Church. We are not treated with the same dignity and respect with which Jesus treated women. Centuries of patriarchal sexism have distorted women’s roles in the Church creating ecclesiastical laws that are unjust and dry.  

From my perspective, your role as the Bishop of Cleveland should not be to enforce “discipline which is common to the whole Church, and so press for the observance of all ecclesiastical laws,” as stated. Rather, I believe your primary role is to LOVE – sincerely love - every single member of this Diocese equally (women, men, gay, straight, divorced, married, sinner, saint) for we are all created in the imago Dei. Authentic leadership creates a space for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to shape the Church into a companion model. 

Jesus was not a dictator or a ruler. He walked humbly with the people. He washed feet, he commanded his disciples, women and men, to do the same. I refuse to believe, based on the history preserved, that Jesus would condone using a book of 1,752 canons as a weapon against any of us. 

The priests in Jesus’ day felt it was their obligation to enforce the religious law as well and we know from the Gospels how Jesus responded to their fixation on the letter of the law. 

It has thus been reported to me that you have participated freely and with knowledge in an illicit and invalid ceremony (canon 1024) within the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio on 10 July 2019 which purported to ordain you to the sacred order of deacon. It has also been reported to me that on 3 August 2019 you freely and with knowledge participated in an illicit and invalid ceremony (canon 1024) in Linz, Austria which purported to ordain you to the sacred order of presbyter.  If the above is true, then I am required to inform you (canon 1717, §1) that by your participation in these acts you have been excommunicated latae sententiae (canon 1378, Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, Norme de graioribus delictis, Article 5), the remission of which is reserved to the Apostolic See. It is my prayer for you and my concern for the good of the Church that you repent of your actions and reconcile with the Catholic Church. 

Response: In fact, it was I who reported it to you through your officers in the Parish Life Office, Seminary, and the Lay Ecclesial Ministry Office as far back as one year ago that I was seeking ordination. I reported to you directly that I was ordained to the sacred order of deacon on 10 July 2019 in the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio and to the sacred order of presbyter on 3 August 2019 (feast of St. Lydia) in Linz, Austria. 

Both ordaining bishops, Rev. Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger and Rev. Mary Eileen Collingwood, possess the faculties to validly ordain as they were ordained by a diocesan bishop with faculties in the line of Apostolic Succession. Therefore my ordinations are valid (under the same circumstances that grant validity to right-wing Catholic break-away groups that emerged following the Second Vatican Council), though I do acknowledge the Church considers them illicit. 

You have informed me that I have been excommunicated latae sententiae (canon 1378 Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, Norme de gravioribus delictis). I accept that my relationship to the institution has been severed and this has truly been the most difficult and heart-wrenching decision I have ever had to make. But I do not accept that my relationship with God has been negatively affected. 

God called me to be a priest. I am a cradle-Catholic and I deeply love my Catholic faith. 

Speaking on behalf of women priests everywhere, our call comes through the Church. The seed of my vocation was planted within me before I was born. It was watered at my baptism and nourished as I participated in the sacraments as a child. It came to fruition as I dedicated myself fully to nine years of theological studies at your seminary and ministerial formation through your Diocese.  I understand that the institution does not recognize my vocation, but this does not change its reality. The Holy Spirit is not confined by human rules and social/cultural conditions.

You cited article 5 in Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (This is the document addressing the serious sin of sexual abuse of children by clergy. It is interesting that the Magisterium felt it was appropriate to include women priests in this document as if these issues are somehow related.) The document reads: “The more grave delict of the attempted sacred ordination of a woman is also reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: With due regard for can. 1378 of the Code of Canon Law, both the one who attempts to confer sacred ordination on a woman, and she who attempts to receive sacred ordination, incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.”  

Considering for a moment all of the crimes committed by the Church throughout history and particularly today, acts that are not only immoral but in many cases criminal and violent, it is hard for me to believe that God would agree that the “more grave delict” is the ordination of a woman, particularly given the fact Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene and commissioned her as the Apostolorum Apostola and sent her to preach the first Easter homily to “his brothers”.

 You have asked me to repent and return to the Church. What exactly are you asking me to return to? A Church that does not recognize my call? A Church that treats women as subordinate based on a distorted theology of complementarity? A Church that protects pedophile priests and bishops while judging the faithful for venial offenses? Shall I return to a Church which has hurt me time and time again, with no remorse or willingness to embrace its own need for repentance? Realistically, what do you expect from me, or anyone like me, who has a divine call and has tried to respond properly within the institution only to be forced elsewhere as a result of injustice, blatant disrespect, sexism, clericalism, or a power structure unyielding to change and growth? What would I be coming back to? Put yourself in my shoes for one moment. Would you return under the same circumstances? 

I ask that you please respond to this letter by 3 January 2020. If there is no response from you by that time, I will communicate to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith your refusal to reconcile and ask the Congregation for direction regarding the proper course of action to follow.

Response: In 2018, when I put in writing to the Lay Ecclesial Ministry Office, the Seminary, and the Secretariat for Parish Life and Development my intention to seek ordination, I acknowledged at that time that I understood the consequences of removing myself from the Diocese. I sent you a note dated 23 July 2019 reporting that I had been ordained and that I understood I was no longer affiliated with the Diocese and was no longer under your heirarchal jurisdiction. 

I do not understand how it is appropriate for you to expect me to answer for something that no longer applies to me? If I were still working at the parish this would make sense, but I have been gone from it since 28 September 2018 and have intentionally avoided being on parish or diocesan property so as to not confuse people. I am in a very different place on my faith journey than I once was. While there may have been an opportunity previously to engage in a conversation of reconciliation, the opportunity no longer exists. Too much has unfolded in the past fifteen months that is irreversible. Given the fact that I have already lost my position in the parish, lost my salary and health benefits, lost many long-time connections and relationships, have huge student loans to repay that were incurred by my theological studies, and have been informed I was excommunicated latae sententiae, what other “course of action” are you threatening me with at this point in time?  

With prayers that the Holy Spirit move you to seek salvation in Christ and his Church and invoking the guidance and intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God.

Response: I understand your position and your responsibility to pray for those of us you feel have separated ourselves from Christ and the Church. However, the Catholic Church does not control the only spigot on the font of salvation. I deeply love Christ and while I have accepted that I no longer fit into the institution, “his Church” is an integral part of who I am and always will be. It may be difficult to understand how someone can continue to identify with their Catholic faith while being outside of the institutional structure, but I have encountered many people in my years as a pastoral minister who have formally left the Church, but in their hearts still identify as Catholic. Through their stories and my own experiences, I have come to understand that faith is not defined by rules, buildings, or even doctrines. It is an encounter with the Living Christ. Over the past 47 years I have integrated my faith into my very being and so I will continue to consider myself a Catholic even if the Church feels obliged to impose on me a canonical penalty.

Women priests are not enemies of the Church. In many cases we have risked everything to follow our call to renew viriditas where we experience dryness. I am reminded of the Gospel passage in Mark, “John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.’ Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us” (38-40). 

My ordination is not an attack on Christ, his Church, or the Diocese. It is an emulation of Mary’s YES.  When we have the courage to say yes, like Mary, we become pregnant with the Spirit. Our history reminds us that embracing our prophetic call always puts us in opposition with the status quo and brings temporal consequences.

In this week’s Gospel reading, Joseph is ready to dismiss Mary after learning she was pregnant, outside of the institution of marriage, and not with his child. She was in violation of the law and it would have been well within Joseph’s legal right to not only banish her from the clan but to have her stoned for what the religious community believed was a sin. He allowed his heart to be touched by the Spirit, he trusted in goodness and light, and subsequently his attitude was transformed. He chose love over the law. From a female perspective, Joseph’s response to Mary’s pregnancy was as miraculous as the pregnancy itself. It is a beautiful reminder that there is always the opportunity to choose love.

I cannot “repent” because I do not believe I have sinned in following my call to ordination. We are in the midst of miracles here in this sacred space out in Fairport Harbor. St. Hildegard of Bingen works in and through our mission here. It is truly a remarkable space. It is sad that you are not interested in hearing my story or the story of this community because there is no doubt in the minds and hearts of anyone involved here of God’s presence, and it is drawing people. What is unfolding here is bigger than me or even this community. This is a space of light, love, and peace. I believe a hundred years from now a future generation will look back at what unfolded here with respect and awe. Unfortunately, they will be forced to again tell the story of how the religious institution feared, persecuted, and tried to silence the movement of the Spirit, a story that has been repeated many times in the history of our Church.

Bishop Perez, we have an opportunity to do things differently this time around, to not allow history to repeat itself. To be open to the Holy Spirit in this moment. To be open and creative in the way we respond to the Spirit and make a real difference in the Diocese of Cleveland. You have a choice to banish me or treat me with dignity, as a theologian and minister, and take time to listen to my story. 

I do understand, based on my actions, that I am no longer welcome to participate within a parish or diocesan context and while it is painful to be banished from the parish community I so deeply love, I respect this consequence and have adhered to it for over a year. It is my prayer to be able to reconcile with you someday, but not by recanting my ordination. 

I cannot abort my vocation any more than Mary could have “changed her mind” the moment she realized what the potential consequences might be for having said yes, especially if Joseph had chosen to exercise his legal rights. As a woman and a mother, I am positive Mary doubted her decision at times throughout her pregnancy, but in those moments of weakness she trusted her sacred experience. The only unforgivable sin is a sin against the Spirit (Mark 3:29). For me to “repent” my call would be a grave sin against the Holy Spirit.  

I am not the first woman to be ordained in this way and I certainly will not be the last.  The movement of reform is growing quickly and spreading widely because the people are hungry for change. The Holy Spirit is calling us forth to serve in this manner, at a time when the Church is in desperate need of renewal, and no human power can stop the work of the Spirit. The institution has lost credibility with many people and is in need of reform. Hagia Sophia continues to move, breath, and animate growth and change where we are open to her. Women priests are here, have always been here, and always will be here. Women have unique gifts and talents that can help renew our broken Church, if the institution would open itself up to it.  Until this becomes a reality, we will continue to minister from the margins in love and prayer.

Please know of my prayers for you, the Diocese, and all who are struggling to understand their faith in the midst of changing times. 

Prayers for a Blessed Christmas Season,

Rev. Dr. Shanon Sterringer

________________________

Rev. Dr. Shanon Sterringer

Rev. Dr. Shanon Sterringer is a theologian and an ordained priest (ARCWP) with over two decades of pastoral experience and a strong advocate for holistic health/spirituality.  Her background includes a Ph.D. (2016) from Union Institute & University in Ethical and Creative Leadership (she focused on the example of St. Hildegard of Bingen); a D.Min (2012) and a MA in Theology (2007) from St. Mary's Seminary and Graduate School of Theology; a MA in Ministry (2011) from Ursuline College; and a BA (2003) from Cleveland State University.   She is a certified minister. She has training in pastoral care/counseling and sacramental preparation including marriage and funerals. She has received a number of awards and acknowledgements over the years for her academic and pastoral achievements.  She is the author of a daily meditation book, 30 Day Journey with St. Hildegard of Bingen (fortress press 2019).

She is married and is the mother of 3 beautiful adult daughters.  In her spare time she is an amateur beekeeper and she loves to be outside walking, collecting Lake Erie Beach Glass, and reading. 

Her greatest passion is St. Hildegard of Bingen and her second spiritual home is on the Rhine River in Germany! She has dedicated her life to discovering creative ways to help others renew their greenness (viriditas) of mind, body, and spirit.  

Shanon’s blog can be found at thegreenshepherdess.org

Notes:

In 2007, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith decreed the crime of ‘attempted’ ordination of a woman. He who confers of she ‘attempts’ (CDF words) to receive the sacrament of ordination incurs in latae sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See.

Sidebar: In May 2010, the Vatican under Pope Benedict's lead updated its list of the "more grave crimes" against church law. These 'grave crimes' are called "delicta graviora." For the first time, the "attempted sacred ordination of a woman" was included in the list. In such an act, it said, the cleric and the woman involved are automatically excommunicated, and the cleric can also be dismissed from the priesthood.

Other items on the list include priest sex abuse of children. In this case, something less than excommunication is the prescribed penalty.

Although at the time of release of Delicta Graviora, the Vatican defended its decision to include attempted ordination of a woman and said it did not mean to equate this crime with that of priest pedophilia.

The facts speak for themselves. To this day it remains that the punishment for ordination of a woman is automatic excommunication. A priest pedophile is not excommunicated.

Advocacy and Exile: Roy Bourgeois and the Fight for Women’s Ordination - Sophie Vodvarka

Advocacy and Exile: Roy Bourgeois and the Fight for Women’s Ordination - Sophie Vodvarka

“What I came to, is that as Catholic priest, I was in a profession that discriminated against women.” – Roy Bourgeois

It has been seven years since Roy Bourgeois was laicized and excommunicated from the Catholic Church for advocating for women’s equality.

Ordained a priest in 1972, Roy’s remarkable journey includes a Nobel Peace Prize and Oscar nomination, serving in the US Navy in Vietnam, living as a missionary in Bolivia, serving several prison sentences for protesting, and becoming a founder of the School of the Americas (SOA) Watch, a broadly-supported movement to end U.S. militarism in Latin America. Along the way, he made friends with the women who would open his heart to systems of injustice in which he was embedded: sexism and misogyny in the Catholic Church.

Roy Bourgeois on the left in Rome with Women’s Ordination Worldwide 2011

This February [2019], as Pope Francis and the Bishops will meet to discuss the ongoing sex abuse crisis, Roy’s experience gives us a window into a secretive clerical culture that seems unlikely to reform itself. Roy was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and laicized from the Maryknoll Order of priests because he followed his conscience, choosing to listen to people of faith rather than blindly follow tradition – an exclusionary act, which Roy observed, that corresponds to the Church’s history of institutional racism.

 Roy turned 81 this January and his timeless grin continues to radiate out of his bright blue eyes. He chose to live in solidarity with his friends, and a decision like that, despite the consequences, brings peace. Throughout his life, Roy allowed his power to be challenged, and his heart to remain open. His story is compelling because it shows that important paradigm shifts can occur at any age if we allow ourselves to be open. Sadly, his story also shows how clergy will turn on their own, if their power is threatened.

 I first met Roy in 2015 during the last SOA Watch convergence held at Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia. If you are not familiar with the movement, I would recommend watching this Empire Files episode for background, in which Roy is featured. At the time, I knew who he was but I did not fully understand his impact until I read his remarkable biography Disturbing the Peace. The following year, I attended the first SOA Watch Encuentro in Nogales, AZ/Mexico. We shared margaritas one evening, which led to a letter-writing friendship. I’d long wanted to hear more of Roy’s personal journey and he agreed to a phone interview this past December. This article is based on that conversation. 

For many Catholics, 2018 was a year of reckoning. I personally have come to a new spiritual place in recent months and I frequently thought of Roy’s journey during my reflections. What I wanted to learn from Roy was this: How did his encounter with women called to be Catholic priests change his worldview? How did it feel to be excommunicated and cut off from the ministry to which he gave his life? What does it mean to be an outsider in the Church?

All quotes below are attributed to Roy, from two phone conversations in December 2018. 

Paradigm shift 

“Something happened after many years of organizing for SOA Watch. I started meeting women in my talks around the country who would say:

‘You’re a Catholic priest, I’m a devout Catholic woman—and I too am called by God to be a priest, like you are.’ And I remember the first woman I’d met, being somewhat surprised. Not threatened by her, but let’s just say it kept me awake at night. First one woman, then two, then another and another and it really forced me to think about what they were saying. They ask—’why is your call from God as a man to be a priest authentic, but my call by God as a woman to be a priest not authentic?’”

Rather than explain the injustice away with the usual talking points, Roy considered the words of his friends.

“It didn’t take that long to realize that what these women were saying was so true. And it forced me to reflect on my six years in the seminary when I was being trained to be a priest. We started using words there, which was the beginning of the, shall we say, clericalism. The root of the problem is sexism, it’s discrimination. We were really brainwashed from an early age not to question the Church’s teachings.”

“In the seminary we learned that we were the consecrated ones. We, the men, were the ones called by God with a special task. We were called to be priests. And what we were doing, women couldn’t do. In subtle ways we were seduced by thinking we were very special, chosen by God. Looking back what I realized is that we were getting a taste of power. We were experiencing that pedestal thing. We became the focus, and somehow our profession is different from others. And how people start treating us differently, even our friends and family, that’s when it really sets in. The addiction to power.”

As women told Roy their stories, he began to think about his childhood. He remembered how racism was reinforced through religious experiences from an early age. Roy grew up in Luchter, Louisiana during segregation. He attended a Catholic Church where black parishioners were only allowed to sit in the last five pews of mass.

“And not one person, not one teacher or priest said it was racism. They said ‘this is our tradition.’ We justified our segregated churches and schools by saying it was our tradition, and we are separate but equal. So I started reflecting on our priesthood, our all-male priesthood. It’s the same thing. The same tactics. We say ‘women can’t be ordained, it’s our tradition.’ The Church is using theology to justify our sexism just as we did our racism.”

(It should be noted that racism in the American Catholic Church is a major topic of injustice in itself. This discussion of ‘tradition’ does not intend to equate the experiences of black Catholics with sexism experienced by women.)

As Roy’s eyes opened to the exclusion of women in the Church, he began incorporating this injustice into his talks about SOA Watch.

“I’d end my talks discussing this injustice closer to home in my Church, as a Catholic Priest. What I would say, is:

What we have here is this grave injustice against women, and against God. What we have here is a sin, the sin of sexism.

“So wherever I spoke I brought this out, and then I started getting calls from Maryknoll. I was being reported as speaking against Church teaching. I was told to be quiet—focus on SOA Watch. I said, ‘Nope, not possible.’” 

A break-away Vatican Radio interview

“I started speaking out more and then a turning point came. I was invited to Rome to speak about the SOA Watch at a conference with 300 or so priests and women religious. So I went there and spoke, and afterward I was so disappointed in myself because I didn’t mention women’s ordination, maybe because I was afraid. It kept me awake at night. I felt like a coward. And I felt like I betrayed friends. I thought what am I becoming? I thought I missed an opportunity that will never come again.

“But then, the next day, I received an invitation to speak on Vatican Radio, a 15-minute live interview, translated into several languages, and I thought wow! When I woke up that morning, I knew what I had to do, so I went into St. Peter’s Basilica to pray and get some courage. So for 12-13 minutes, the focus of the interview was SOA Watch, and then I said ‘there is something else I have to talk about as a Catholic priest. We’ve been talking about injustice in US foreign policy and I want to talk about an injustice in the Church—this injustice is against women. Women like men are called to be priests. And saying that only men can be priests is wrong.’ Then the station manager came in with about a minute left and cut me off, and started playing Gregorian music. I’ll never forget that. I felt so good.

“After the interview, the women who worked in the radio station invited me for a cup of coffee and they said they’d never heard anybody talk about it before. They said they traveled with the Pope often and that ‘certain topics are off-limits.’ They were grateful to hear someone talk about women’s equality.

“Of course, when I returned there was a call waiting from the Superior General at Maryknoll New York and they said ‘you better be careful, because what you were saying is really serious.’ And I said, ‘Okay, thanks for sharing,’ and I kept talking about it.” 

Jesuits pull support for SOA Watch over women’s equality

It wasn’t just the Maryknolls who were uncomfortable with Roy’s open discussion about sexism in the Catholic Church. The Jesuits, who were an integral organizing power within the SOA Watch movement, expressed concern as well.

The Jesuits were highly involved in the SOA Watch movement from the beginning, to honor and bring justice to the Jesuits who were murdered at the hands of SOA graduates in El Salvador during the civil war in the 1980s. Dozens of Jesuit Universities and High Schools organized their Ignatian Family Teach-In during the same time as the SOA Watch Days of Action.

“We had 3000 students from Jesuit schools attending SOA Watch every year, along with the presidents and professors of their Universities. The Jesuits would invite me to address their students, give them updates about how the movement was doing and thank them. But when I started coming out speaking publicly about women priests I got a call. They asked me not to bring up women’s ordination. And, I said as a speaker, I’ve never been told what I can and cannot say, so I said maybe you should disinvite me. And they said ‘No, the students would be disappointed, but just think about it.’

“It was a 15-minute speech, and I mostly spoke about the SOA Watch. And then in the last few minutes I said we need to focus on another injustice close to home. You’re Catholics, and I just want to let you know that as a Catholic priest there is another injustice we need to address. I am calling for the ordination of women and as a result I’m being told to keep silent, and I cannot do that. I said, there will not be justice in our Church until women can be ordained.

“The students all stood up and clapped when I called for the ordination of women – because a lot of these students support women’s ordination too.”

The next year, Jesuit Universities pulled their support from SOA Watch, and started planning their Ignatian Family Teach-In in a different location.

To bring insult to injury, a familiar talking point among supposedly social justice-minded Catholics was to blame Roy’s support of women over the diminished support of SOA Watch.

“Some people said I was hurting the SOA Watch movement by discussing women’s ordination.” 

Supporting women’s ordination from their coffins

Roy tried many times to convince his Maryknoll friends and other priest friends to sign letters publicly supporting women’s ordination. He was convinced that if 20, 30, 50 priests banded together they couldn’t all be kicked out.

“Not one would sign.”

However, he did eventually convince three priest friends to write into their legal wills that upon their death, they would wear “Ordain Women” pins on their cassocks while laying in their coffins.

“They can’t excommunicate them when they’re dead!”

(I commissioned my friend, artist Aubrey Inman, to illustrate this absurd scene, above.)

Friend’s ordination leads to excommunication

Roy believed in the sacredness of women’s ordination, and when he was invited by his friend, Janis Sevre-Duszynska, to attend her ordination, he was happy to participate. There are about 300 women worldwide who have been ordained as priests, many of them in the US. If you haven’t been to one of their services, don’t knock it until you try it. I’ve been to a few, and have never experienced anything that felt closer to what Jesus called his followers to partake in. They are beautiful communal ceremonies with feminine warmth and love, without rank or pomp.

Nevertheless, a woman who seeks to be ordained as a Catholic priest suffers excommunication, as does anyone who participates in her ordination.

“After I participated in the ordination of Janis, that is when it got serious. When I returned from Kentucky I was summoned to Maryknoll headquarters for a meeting. They said they had to send the Vatican a report on me.”

During the meeting, Roy said that he repeatedly asked questions to the Maryknoll Priests and Canon Lawyer who were present. He said they refused to discuss women’s equality, saying:

“Pope John Paul II said we cannot discuss the issue. It’s closed.”

“I said, ‘We’re grown men. And the last time I was told I couldn’t talk about something I was a little kid.’ I said, ‘What happened to reason? What happened to being an adult?’ And there was silence. And I said, ‘I have to tell you this issue of women priests is being discussed throughout our church, and they are coming. This discussion is going on with you or without you.’”

Roy later noted that the average age of priests at Maryknoll is 79. Like many religious orders, their seminaries are closing. Half of the men who were in his seminary class have left to marry or pursue other careers. Across the country, Catholic parishes are closing, for lack of new vocations from men (among the myriad of other issues including rampant sex abuse). What Roy was saying was both a practicality and a reading of the sensus fidelium. He maintains that he has listened to the spirit speaking through faithful people. He has read the signs of the times.

So what are the bishops doing?

Excommunication and Laicization

“It didn’t take long to get the letter from the Vatican. The Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith said only men are the true teachers of faith and morals. The letter said that I had 30 days to recant the public support for the ordination of women or I would be expelled from the priesthood and Maryknoll. I took a week off. I thought about it seriously.

“I wrote back to the Vatican and said what you are asking of me is not possible, it goes against my conscience. You are asking me to lie, to say something I do not believe and you must realize that God did make women and men equal, and what we have here is a classic case of sexism and misogyny. They said I caused a grave scandal.

“I said when Catholics hear about grave scandal they don’t think about women’s ordination, they think about the predator priests and the bishops who covered up for them while they abused children for decades.”

So, the letter came from Pope Benedict, and Maryknoll supported his decision to laicize Roy.

“Really, I wept when I got the call from Maryknoll. I felt so disappointed in myself, that maybe if I had been more eloquent, if I had reasoned more with them they had understood. But my friends said, ‘No. There’s nothing you could have said.’

“And I did think I was preparing myself for this, but like many things we go through, I didn’t really understand the consequences. I didn’t realize how sad and how hurt and rejected I would feel because I’d been in the community for so many years. It was a community of long-time friends and we’d been through a lot together in Bolivia, in SOA Watch. And it was like family. But getting that letter, expelling me from Maryknoll and the priesthood was just harder than I’d ever anticipated. I had to deal with a lot of anger. I was so hurt and disappointed by long-term friends.” 

Solidarity, healing, and hope

Roy said it took him several years to get over the anger of being rejected by his own. But he says that the grace of the experience has been a new understanding, and solidarity with people in our society who are rejected by their families and groups.

“I’ve felt that what I’ve been experiencing in the way of rejection of shame and hurt is but a glimpse of what millions and millions of people go through every day because of their gender, their race, their sexual orientation. So many people have gone through so much rejection. I couldn’t have come to that glimpse of understanding without crossing the line.”

Roy said after the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report in the summer of 2018, he experienced a turning point.

“For the first time I got to thinking, wow, I certainly would not want to be in this old boy’s club now. It’s such an embarrassment. I’m happy I was kicked out rather than stay in to justify my power and whatever.”

Roy continues to travel across the country and advocate for women’s ordination as well as for SOA Watch. He recently completed a week-long speaking tour in Upstate New York where he was greeted with people who, due to the sex abuse crisis, are opening their eyes to the many injustices in the Church. He said he has hope in the people who he continues to meet, as well as young people who are willing to question the Church’s teachings.

“Many young people that I meet now say they will only belong to organizations that treat their members as equals. That gives me hope.”

In 2019 there is a sense that the Church is at a turning point in history. Roy’s journey serves as a sign-post for the future. Why not speak from our hearts? Courage is contagious.

Sophie Vodvarka

Sophie Vodvarka enjoys writing about creative living, particularly spirituality, art, travel, and current affairs. She has an affinity for gypsy music and lives joyfully in Chicago with her partner. She blogs at Straight into Oblivion, and can be found on Twitter @SophieVodvarka.

St. Olympias: Ordained Woman Deacon -- Feast Day December 17

Deacon Olympias

Today, December 17, is the feast of a 4th-century deaconess, St. Olympias. She was a friend and supporter of St. John Chrysostom, and of St. Gregory Nazianzus, who wrote the epithalamion for her wedding. After her husband's death, Olympias was ordained a deaconess. She established a community near Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) in what is today known as Istanbul. After Chrysostom was banished, Olympias was accused of arson in Hagia Sophia. Despite a lack of evidence, she was found guilty. Her community was disbanded and she was exiled. She died at Nicomedia c. 410.

St. Olympias is commemorated in countless ancient icons and at the Vatican in the form of travertine sculpture on the Colonnade at St. Peter's Basilica (#11 on the right.)

Gary Macy's book, The Hidden History of Women's Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West, and Kyriaki Karidoyanes Fitzgerald's book, Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church: Called to Holiness and Ministry provide information about women’s ministry in the early Church. This is an era of Church history that has been diminished, suppressed, and nearly forgotten.

Deacon Olympias is one of 140 saints commemorated in St. Peter’s Square where a travertine sculpture of her stands on the Colonnades. Her’s is the 11th statue on the north side.

Restoration of the ordained women’s diaconate was recently considered at the Vatican’s Synod on the Amazon. From the final document, we know that the question has been tabled for further study:

"103. In the many consultations carried out in the Amazon, the fundamental role of religious and lay women in the Church of the Amazon and its communities was recognized and emphasized, given the wealth of services they provide. In a large number of these consultations, the permanent diaconate for women was requested. This made it an important theme during the Synod. The Study Commission on the Diaconate of Women which Pope Francis created in 2016 has already arrived as a Commission at partial findings regarding the reality of the diaconate of women in the early centuries of the Church and its implications for today. We would therefore like to share our experiences and reflections with the Commission and we await its results."

Tens of thousands of women served as fully ordained deacons in Catholic parishes during ten long centuries. Some of them ministered in Italy and Gaul, but the vast majority lived and worked in Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. At that time the Orthodox East was still part of the Catholic Church. Learn more about them through the work of our member group, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research here: The Ancient Deaconesses — Women Who Were Ordained Deacons

Women’s Ordination Worldwide’s position paper on restoration of the ordained women’s diaconate is here: WOW Supports Restoration of the Ordained Women’s Diaconate

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Akathist Hymn to Saint Olympias

Kontakion 1

God of the prophets and apostles, God of the desert fathers and mothers, God of all the saints and martyrs: bless us as we work and pray in Your holy presence and in emulation of the honorable deaconess of the Church, Saint Olympias.  She dedicated all her resources and talents to the service of the Holy Church, enduring ingratitude and harassment for the sake of Jesus Christ.  She, who was unfairly blamed for the sins of others, is given proper recognition today by all who say:

Rejoice, Saint Olympias, noble deaconess of the Holy Church.
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-Therese Koturbash, Women’s Ordination Worldwide Communications Team
Therese Koturbash, BA, LLB, GDCL served as Canadian Delegate to Women’s Ordination Worldwide from 2008 to 2013. For all five of those years, she was elected member of WOW's four person International Leadership Circle. She has also been the National Coordinator of Canada's Catholic Network for Women's Equality. Today, Therese serves on WOW’s Communications Team and is a volunteer with WOW member group, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. Her paid work is as a family attorney.

Clericalism and a New Model for Priesthood - Marie Bouclin

Clericalism and a New Model of Priesthood

Marie Bouclin, RCWP Canada Bishop Emeritus, former International Coordinator of Women’s Ordination Worldwide

Marie Bouclin, Special to The Review | December 15, 2019 — Marie, former Canadian Delegate to Women’s Ordination Worldwide, served as International Coordinator of WOW. She is a member of Canada’s Catholic Network for Women’s Equality and the Roman Catholic Womenpriest movement. She was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Womenpriest movement and later consecrated as Canada’s first woman bishop. Today, Marie is RCWP Canada Bishop Emeritus. She is the author of Seeking Wholeness, Women Dealing with Abuse of Power in the Catholic Church. We are blessed to have her with us.
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In his Letter to the People of God1 , Pope Francis denounces clericalism as the cause of the sexual abuse scandal that is, according to Canon Lawyer Thomas Doyle, O.P.2, the worst crisis in the church since the Reformation. I’ve come to connect clericalism and sexual abuse ever since I heard women’s experiences of abuse of clerical power, particularly stories of sexual abuse, harassment and unjustified dismissals of women by priests and bishops. In fact, it was those abuses, and a need for a new model of priestly service that put me on the path to priesthood. I could see an urgent need to find ways of healing the rape of the soul that is clergy sexual abuse. It became very important for me to understand clericalism so that we, in the women priest movement can be ever watchful lest we fall into its trap.

Pope Francis describes clericalism as “an assumption of moral superiority” and “a peculiar way of understanding the Church’s authority” which manifests itself in “sexual abuse and the abuse of power and conscience”. 3 The remedy he prescribes is prayer and fasting. Nowhere is there mention of a systemic problem within the structure of the Church nor is there any real call for change. In fact the constant teaching of the Magisterium is so resistant to change that it has made several decisions that have been harmful to the people of God. Consider that in 1968 with Humanae Vitae, all forms of artificial contraception were banned, even for the poorest families who could not support another child. Paul VI dismissed the advice of his pontifical commission which called for a more modern approach to family planning. Then there was the official banning (though not all bishops agreed) of condoms even though the AIDS epidemic took over 35 million lives, mostly in poor countries. And then of course, there is the prohibition on so much as discussing the ordained ministries of women and excluding women from all decision-making positions. Even though women are “naturally” morally superior if we are to believe John Paul II.4

However, a group of women researchers, mandated by Cardinal Cupich of Chicago proposes a much more detailed definition:5

Clericalism is an attitude of entitlement and superiority. It claims the right to making decisions affecting the lives of Catholics based on the “sacred power” conferred by priestly ordination. In the present scheme of things (according to the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church), the priest is endowed with the power to act in persona Christi, that is to say that he speaks and acts in the person of Christ himself. Clericalism is a form of idolatry most manifest when the priest and many faithful believe that clergy actually speaks and acts “as God”.

This attitude of entitlement and superiority has led to very skewed teachings, particularly with regard to women and sexuality. For instance, old celibate men who, again according to Thomas Doyle, have “never had a healthy and honest love relationship in their lives”, claim to have the wisdom to tell young couples how to live their conjugal love, including how many children they will have. Even until now, they taught that sexual intercourse had always to be open to new life.

Then there are the “cheaters” (and their numbers, according to Doyle quoting Dr. Richard Sipe, would be about 90%) who claim they have made a promise of celibacy, i.e., not to marry, but not a vow of chastity. These same men are telling vowed women religious how to live their vow of chastity and how to love Jesus better.

Some chaplains of religious communities believe they are entitled to impose all kinds of mortifications, particularly on young nuns, which would include frequent fasting, corporal penances, deprivations of all kinds, such as sleep, leisure time, family ties, etc. without however, observing them themselves. And this is besides the sexual abuse documented in a recent film by Marie-Pierre Raimbaut.6

There are “princes of the church” who live in luxury but reserve the right to excommunicate women for having had an abortion or tried to have fewer pregnancies because they live in grinding poverty and cannot provide the necessities of life for another child.

Some parish priests have refused the sacraments to women who left a violent and abusive husband (even if their lives were in danger), saying this is the cross women have to bear.

So, if as a renewed model of priesthood, we are to strive to be more faithful to the Gospel, we must recognize that some teachings of the Magisterium, such as article 1563 of the Catechism, simply need to be set aside. For instance, the notion that something special happens, often called “ontological change”, when one is ordained a priest. The ordained man (always a man in the current scheme of things) becomes another Christ (alter Christus). This is not the same as being incorporated into the Body of Christ through Baptism. The underlying theological argument of the alter Christus theory promulgated to priests and laity alike is this: Christ is the second person of the Trinity, “of the same substance as the Father”, to quote the Nicean Creed, and the priest is “configured to Christ”. So, he basically becomes God. And he not only acts and speaks for God (as all real prophets do, for instance), but as God. There is a huge difference.

This is the crux of the problem of clericalism. The priest can claim to know what God wants, can expect to be treated with special reverence, can impose his will as that of God. That endows him with an enormous power which can easily lead to abuse, be it sexual, physical, psychological or spiritual.

The alter Christus theory is also at the root of the current two-tiered membership in the Church. It prompts Vatican reporter Robert Mickens to describe clergy as having

… a privileged and separate caste mentality that makes clerics believe that they are specially chosen, set apart from the rest of people to rule, teach and admonish.7

Consequently, one must belong to this caste to have any decision-making power.

And clericalism is maintained in place by the oath of obedience made by priests and bishops to the Pope. This oath rests on the belief that the teachings of the Magisterium are infallible and also that access to the Divine is always mediated through the clergy. Never mind that experience has taught us otherwise. Some decisions alluded to earlier have been harmful to the People of God, the Magisterium has lost credibility because it has not paid attention to the sensus fidelium nor the advances of science or even biblical exegesis, or even that God has spoken to humanity through the voices of prophets and mystics who have not all been priests. The alter Christus theory has further ramifications. If only clergy are qualified to rule, teach and admonish, they come to believe they are not only morally, but intellectually and spiritually superior. They are entitled to make all decision regarding not only parish and community administration and welfare but also who is worthy, in their opinion, to receive the Sacraments. And all this is enshrined in Canon Law which for centuries now has taken precedence over the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels.

Our task then, as priests, is to avoid falling into the trap of clericalism and exercise a “new model of priestly ministry”. Here is can be helpful to listen to some of the complaints people have expressed to us about women priests, and questions we can ask ourselves:

Do we listen to the members of our communities? Do we give people a voice via “shared homilies”, for instance, or do we insist on imposing our “superior theological/intellectual knowledge” on people who are often well-informed in the faith and want to raise legitimate theological questions?

Do we insist on titles and insignia as recognition of our “superior status” in the church?

Do we make decisions collegially within our small faith communities, especially with regard to liturgy, or do we accept suggestions gratefully?

Do we resist the temptation to impose our “moral or intellectual superiority” by referring too frequently to our own experiences or to a body of esoteric knowledge that has no bearing on the situation at hand?

What more can we do?8

We may find interesting the suggestions made by Marie-Andrée Roy to the members of L’autre Parole, a collective of Christian Feminists based in Quebec. Their aim is to raise awareness and prevent further sexual abuses by clergy, but can serve our purposes in renewing our vision of church. No single action is going to stem this tide of destruction washing over a Church that cannot be “fixed”, but collective actions may help us in our mission to renew it (or build a new one).

1. We can begin by being radically inclusive, at all levels of our ecclesial communities. We need both women and men in all ministries, as well as people who fit into an imprecise human gender. The first criterion for leadership is that people be reliable witnesses to the Gospel.

2. The current theology of the priesthood, which claims that the priest is another Christ (alter Christus) must be deconstructed and a new theology of ministry must be built on the example of Jesus and those who are dedicated to service to the community.

3. We must set aside an understanding of Church as made up of two hierarchical castes, clergy and lay, where clergy hold the key to salvation and the laity is a flock which simply follows. We need equality.

4. Dispense with titles, be it Reverend Father (or Mother or Sister or Brother). Not to mention Excellence, Eminence, Monsignor (= My lord), Your Holiness. We have parents who are our fathers and mothers. All members of our church community are our sisters and brothers with whom we maintain brotherly and sisterly relationships.

5. Abolish all hierarchies, including those of material means, social standing and education. Every person has value and everyone has a voice.

6. There is no need to dispense with the vow of celibacy per se, but we do not impose it. Celibacy is not a condition to be admitted to ministry. Chastity, on the other hand, which is the holy and healthy exercise of human sexuality, is a precious Christian virtue required of everyone.

7. Insist, however, that Church leaders refrain from pontificating and trying to regulate the sexuality of persons, especially as they relate to contraception, abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex, etc. Rather, speak out on the important issues of respect for the dignity of all persons, openness to the poor and most needy, and loving others as ourselves.

8. Develop a new understanding of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience (vowed Religious, for example), so that obedience of all Catholics does not become blindly servile and self-destructive.

9. Demand that the current atmosphere of secrecy, silence and submission be replaced by the acquisition and continuously developed processes of discernment, self-esteem and self-confidence – in other words, learn to love ourselves to love others better .

One of our priests has called her ordination the “grace of all graces”. God has indeed graced us with a call to be channels of grace for God’s people by our attentiveness to spiritual and also material needs. Our ordination also calls us to very high ethical standards of behavior. That means respecting the dignity of all human beings we encounter and treating them exactly as we imagine Christ would. Then we would indeed be another Christ.

[Marie Bouclin, Sudbury, ON, RCWP Canada Bishop Emerita]

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1 Pope Francis, Letter to the People of God, August 20, 2018

2 Thomas Doyle, O.P., Lecture to Futurechurch, March, 2019

3 Letter to People of God, op.cit. #4

4 See John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem, 1988 especially #27 and #31

5 From correspondence with Bishop Andrea Johnson, RCWP

6 L’autre scandal dans l’Église, l’abus sexuel de religieuses, Société Radio Canada, 24 avril 2019

7 Robert Mickens, How serious is Pope Francis about eradicating clericalism?,La Croix International, Sept 21, 2018

8 Marie-Andrée Roy, Unpublished notes, Colloque de L’autre Parole 2019

This article was originally published in The Review, RCWP Canada’s Online Magazine|December 15, 2019 . RCWP is a member group of Women’s Ordination Worldwide.

The Prohibition Against Ordaining Women: On Not Inventing Doctrine by Luca Badini

While flying home to Rome on Tuesday 1st November, 2016 Pope Francis re-affirmed the Catholic Church’s refusal to ordain women. He noted the matter was clearly decided under Pope John Paul II, who rejected the idea of women priests in 1994. The Vatican ‘says’ this teaching is an infallible element of Catholic tradition because it has been taught by the so-called “ordinary and universal magisterium.” This refers to the constant teaching of the bishops (including the Pope) throughout the history of Christianity. Such a constant teaching, according to the Second Vatican Council (“Lumen Gentium – Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” §25), is a mark of infallibility.

However, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis does not fulfil the criteria for being an expression of such an “ordinary and universal magisterium.” Moreover, as theologian Nicholas Lash noted, by claiming that it is indeed such an expression and that the discussion is over, it has been “a scandalous abuse of power.” It is worth recalling in this connection two fine articles explaining the points above:

• Nicholas Lash, “On Not Inventing Doctrine,” The Tablet, 2 December 1995, p. 1544;

• Peter Burns, S.J., “Was The Teaching Infallible?”, BASIC Newsletter, Supplement Feb. 1997, pp. 1-12 (both links open on website www.womenpriests.org).

Now, the papacy and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) have always responded to criticism of the ban on women by pointing out that Jesus only chose men as members of the Twelve. But the Twelve 1) were a group distinct from, and smaller than, the larger group of “apostles”; 2) their primary distinctive function was merely symbolic, i.e. their number evoked the twelve founding tribes of the people of Israel, so as to underline that Jesus was effectively founding a “new Israel”, i.e. the entire community of his disciples, men and women; 3) crucially, they cannot be regarded as the original church ministers, and so as a model for all future such ministers, for two key reasons: 4) they were not replaced after their death (with the exception of Judas Iscariot, as a one-off), and so did not have successors; 5) they did not seem to have had any official position in the earliest church (James the brother of the Lord, rather than Peter, was clearly head of the nascent Jerusalem church, according to the Acts of the Apostles).

In summary, the Twelve’s function was primarily symbolic, as representatives of the new Israel (i.e. the entire community of the church), and not of a supposedly male-only, patriarchal clerical caste. Last but not least, the group of the “apostles” was a larger group than the Twelve alone, and it included women: a certain Junia is explicitly mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:1 as “outstanding among the apostles.” Interestingly, the name Junia had long been changed by translators to its masculine form, “Junias”, because it was deemed impossible that Paul had called a woman “apostle.” But New Testament scholars have now re-established definitely the feminine gender of the name, and so the marvellous evidence of a prominent female leader of the nascent church has been restored.

Most of what’s in the paragraph above is explained at length in the rather wonkish but wonderfully written famous response by renowned New Testament scholar Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza to Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, entitled simply “The Twelve”.

Finally, consider this: “All who are baptised in Christ, have put on Christ. There is no longer any discrimination between Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female” (Galatians 3:28). Thus every baptised woman shares fully in Christ’s priesthood, kingship and prophetic mission. Baptism implies a fundamental openness to all the sacraments, including the ordained ministry. More in our FAQs on infallibility on this page on our website www.womenpriests.org.

Conclusion: there are no valid arguments against the ministerial ordination of women, and many truly Catholic arguments in favour!

by Luca Badini, Director, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research

Is The Ban on Women's Ordination Based on a Heresy? by Rebecca Bratten Weiss

Agape Feast: An agape feast or lovefeast is a communal meal shared among Christians. The name comes from agape, a Greek term for 'love' in its broadest sense. The plural agapae or agapæ has been used by itself in reference to lovefeasts, but is ambiguous, as it can also mean funerary gatherings.
Image Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Agape_feast_03.jpg

One benefit of the Amazon Synod is that it has exposed to the bright light of day how deeply rooted racist, colonialist, and xenophobic attitudes are, in western Catholic culture. This may not seem like an especially joyous benefit – but, at least now we know, and can begin the work of correction.

Another benefit is that the Synod has opened up topics for official discussion that, until recently, seemed to be off the table. One of the biggest of these topics is that of allowing priests to marry. For some reason some Catholics are reacting to this as though Pope Francis were bringing about some terrible alterations to doctrine, while the reality is that, historically, priests used to marry – presently, priests outside the Roman rite still marry – and theologically, priestly celibacy is only a discipline, not a doctrine. There are legitimate criticisms to make, regarding the possibility of allowing married priests – but “oh no, the pope is trying to alter the unalterable!” is not one of them.

Similarly, when it comes to the ordination of women to the diaconate, the argument that this would be some sort of dangerous or destructive change arises out of historical ignorance – as well as, let’s be honest, deep-rooted misogyny. Women have been deacons before, and could be deacons again. We have records of rites of ordination of women to the diaconate. Did the function of women deacons change? Yes. So did the function of men deacons. And of priests. The reality is, the church has been changing all along; neither married priests not woman deacons would be anything especially new.

But this brings us to the forbidden question: what about women priests.

In my experience, whenever a question is forbidden by an institution or power, it’s because the institution or power is uncomfortable with the prospect of having to defend its answer. Better simply to lash out at anyone doing the asking.

Theologian Tina Beattie, founder of the group Catholic Women Speak, of which I am a member, is one with a history of daring to ask forbidden questions. And today she asked one which, I feel, needs to be addressed, regarding the official theological explanation behind the magisterial teaching on women and the priesthood, in the Catholic Church:

Like other Catholic theologians who have openly advocated for women priests I’ve been repeatedly silenced and banned by bishops and the CDF. Under the influence of Pope Francis it’s now possible to discuss these issues without fear of draconian censorship. Questions were raised about women deacons at the Synod on the Amazon which could never even have been whispered in the corridors ten years ago.

Nevertheless, I’ve never had an answer from any priest, bishop or theologian to a question I’ve asked persistently and repeatedly in different contexts. Is there nobody willing to take this on, because  I’m saying there is a heresy in an official Catholic teaching document, namely, Inter Insigniores? Here it is:

“The same natural resemblance is required for persons as for things: when Christ’s role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally, there would not be this ‘natural resemblance’ which must exist between Christ and his minister if the role of Christ were not taken by a man: in such a case it would be difficult to see in the minister the image of Christ. For Christ himself was and remains a man.”

So, if you are a priest, a member of the CDF or a better theologian than me, can you explain this? Are women made in the image of Christ or not? If not, has the whole Catholic teaching tradition been wrong and is Genesis 1 wrong? If so, is Inter Insigniores wrong? And finally, what do men at Mass see when they look at a woman, if they find it difficult to see the image of Christ in her?

Feel free to share. This really is a question that troubles me. I’d like reassurance that there is an explanation but I’ve just failed to see it because I’m a bear of very little brain. I’m sure some of you know some brilliant and doctrinally pure Catholic theologians who could help me to square the circle. Thank you.

Rebecca Bratten Weiss

I would like an answer to this, also. To put it bluntly, is it simply a matter of genitalia, that prevents a woman from fully imaging Christ? And furthermore, if we, the whole church, are all the Bride of Christ, why should not we, the whole church, be able to be images of Christ, ourselves?

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Rebecca Bratten Weiss is a freelance academic, writer, and organic grower.

Are Women Substantially Incompatible for the Priesthood? Attempts to link maleness and priesthood through the ages have failed the test by John Wijngaards, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research

Altar servers are seen as Pope Francis leads Benediction in observance of the feast of Corpus Christi in Ostia, a suburb of Rome, June 3. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

What do these popes have in common? Nicholas V (1454) authorised Christian conquerors to enslave native peoples. Innocent VIII (1484) endorsed the torture and execution of witches. Benedict XIV (1745) condemned taking interest on capital loans as a mortal sin. Pius IX (1864) declared non-Christians could not obtain eternal salvation. John Paul II (1994) taught that priesthood is reserved only to men.

All defended errors based on a mixture of misread scripture and ill-informed prejudice. The only difference is that whereas the other erroneous teachings have now been discarded by the official church, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last month still repeated Pope John Paul II's mistaken view.

Archbishop Luis Ladaria writes: "The impossibility of ordaining women belongs to the 'substance' of the sacrament of order, a fact the Church recognizes. She cannot change this substance. … It is not just a question of discipline, but of doctrine." This is a massive claim that needs to be exposed for the fallacy it is.

Take note: the archbishop asserts that the exclusion of women is not just a practical custom going back to Jesus. A fundamental obstacle is at stake, a trait that makes every woman an intrinsic mismatch to the eucharistic priesthood of Christ. What is he talking about?

Disqualified by birth?

Jesus only chose 12 men in the original band of apostles. This was a symbolic act. He wanted these leaders of the new Israel to match the 12 tribal patriarchs of old. But he never created the 12 as a permanent institution. Nor did he want to establish a permanent norm of male leadership. The intention of instituting a male-only priesthood was only ascribed to Jesus by later generations who projected onto him their own conviction of female inferiority. 

Some women presided at the Eucharist in early Christian communities. But the Hellenistic-Roman context in which the church grew up soon strangled such "anomalies."  The reason? Women were considered mentally and physically inferior. Roman law deprived them of public office. As Augustine succinctly remarked: "Women rank below men by nature and law."

In other words, the substantial obstacle to ordaining women lay in their inferiority as human beings. No one explained this as fully as Thomas Aquinas, heralded by the church as the champion of orthodoxy. "Even though a woman were made the object of all that is done in conferring Orders, she would not receive Orders," he taught, "for, since woman is in the state of subjection, the female sex cannot signify eminence of degree" (Summa Theologica, Suppl. 39, 1).

Why not? Like his contemporaries, Aquinas believed that the whole future child is contained in the male sperm. In procreation, a woman only contributes her womb — which is like a ploughed field in which a grain of seed has been sown (ST II, 18, 1). Every woman is flawed. Aquinas held that at birth the "female offspring is deficient and caused by accident. For the active power of the semen always seeks to produce a thing completely like itself, something male. So if a female is produced, this must be because the semen is weak or because the material [in the womb] is unsuitable, or because of the action of some external factor such as the winds from the south which make the air humid … " (ST, I, 92, 1, ad. 1).  

"God's image in the full sense of the term is only found in man," Aquinas says elsewhere. "Women are created in God's image only to the extent that they too have a mind" (ST, I, 93, 4 ad 1). But women cannot use their brain fully because God "ordered men not women for intellectual activity" (ST, I, 92, 1). To use a metaphor, a woman may look like a luxury car, but she lacks a proper engine.

So is this why Jesus excluded women from his priesthood? Were they simply not fully human? Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in his 1977 commentary on Inter Insigniores, rejected women's inferiority as a valid reason. But he did not acknowledge that throughout the centuries this prejudice justified the presumed 'tradition' of barring women from the priesthood.

And if women's inferiority is not the substantial obstacle in Ladaria's view, what can he be referring to? John Paul II provides a clue in his 1988 encyclical Mulieris Dignitatem.

Not in the driving seat?

A commentary on Inter Insigniores by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1976) had already stated: "Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church, whom he won for himself with his blood. By using this language, revelation shows why the incarnation took place according to the male gender. It makes it impossible to ignore this historical reality. For this reason, only a man can take the part of Christ, be a sign of his presence, in a word 'represent' him in the essential acts of the covenant."

In Mulieris Dignitatem John Paul II expands on this theme. It was God's will from the start, he says, that the incarnation should happen in a man, a male.  "The Bridegroom — the Son consubstantial with the Father as God — became … the 'son of man,' true man, a male. The symbol of the Bridegroom is masculine," he writes.

John Paul II then goes on to explain that we may "legitimately conclude" that this was the reason why Jesus disqualified women from priestly service. He wanted to link the Eucharist to male priests who could represent him in his masculine bridegroom role. He writes, "It is the Eucharist above all that expresses the redemptive act of Christ the Bridegroom towards the Church the Bride. This is clear and unambiguous when the sacramental ministry of the Eucharist, in which the priest acts 'in persona Christi,' is performed by a man." To continue our metaphor, a woman does not qualify for the race for she is not a driver, only a spectator.

Are John Paul II's speculations sufficient ground to claim that the masculinity of the ordinand is substantial to the sacrament of holy orders? He cannot claim real support in tradition. On the contrary, as numerous theologians have pointed out, his view contradicts the overwhelming evidence for the incarnation embracing both men and women. "The Word became flesh," we read in the Gospel of John. The word flesh does not have a gender. As theologian Sr. Elizabeth Johnson points out, if the incarnation was restricted to the male, the female would not be redeemed since the ancient principle applies here quod non assumitur, non redimitur – "what is not taken up [in the incarnation], has not been redeemed."

The truth of the matter is that Jesus did not, in principle, exclude women from holy orders. Attempts through the ages to conjure up intrinsic reasons for linking maleness and priesthood have failed the test. And history delivers the knockout blow. Women have been verified compatible. Enter women deacons.

During the first millennium, tens of thousands of women were ordained deacons. Their rite of ordination has been preserved. It proves that women were ordained like the men, that is, sacramentally, to use the classic term. In other words, they qualified for holy orders. For the diaconate belongs to Orders. As the Council of Trent instructed, "If anyone says that in the Catholic Church there is not a hierarchy constituted by divine ordination, consisting of bishops, priests, and deacons: let him be anathema" (Session IV, Canon 6). So where does that leave the prefect of the doctrinal congregation?

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Dr. John Wijngaards is a theologian and writer, professor emeritus of the Missionary Institute London, and founder of the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research.

Full original documentation for all the texts quoted in this article — and many more resources — can be found on John Wijngaards' website womenpriests.org. The site features introductory materials in 26 languages.

John is the founder of Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. WICR is a member group of Women’s Ordination Worldwide.

Hope Has Two Beautiful Daughters: Their Names Are Anger and Courage - Therese Koturbash

Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be. ~ St Augustine Illustration by Jennifer Hewitson

Dear friends, I am currently a member of Women’s Ordination Worldwide Communications Team. I am also a moderator on our Facebook Page. By way of introduction, I am from a devout Canadian Ukrainian Catholic family. Raised in the Byzantine rite (there are 7 rites that make up the Roman Catholic Church -- Byzantine is one), I am at home in the mainstream Roman Catholic rite, too. Both rites have Churches in the small Canadian prairie town of my childhood. At university, I attended St. Thomas More College (Saskatoon) founded by the Roman rite Basilian Fathers.

Shifting my view to see that exclusion of women from priesthood was wrong was a tough transition. I was uncomfortable with criticism of Church authority. Once I understood that the exclusion has no credible foundation in scripture, theology, history or Tradition, it became a moral imperative to work for change. Given my work as moderator, I share my story so as to lend authenticity to my presence here.

This ‘bio’ was written during my work for the academic research organisation, womenpriests.org. The bio still fits and since Ukraine is in the news these days via USA impeachment hearings, it seems timely to share. The people of Ukraine are one of my sources of inspiration. Some of this piece refers to Rome’s complicated attempts to theologise a rationalisation for the exclusion of women. It hasn’t worked. I am here. xo Therese
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Therese Koturbash, BA, LLB, GDCL

As a quiet faith-filled observant Catholic who appreciates the opportunity for daily mass, never in my wildest dreams or nightmares could I have imagined becoming a front line worker in the campaign for women priests.

A lawyer by profession today, during youthful career discernment struggles, I would often innocently pray for a figurative ‘St. Paul moment’ of being ‘knocked off my horse’ by the Holy Spirit so that when I ‘stood up’, future direction would be clear. St. Paul’s experience after all seemed like a tidy and efficient way for moving forward. Yet as life teaches, there are reasons for the sayings which urge caution about this sort of thing:

• Be careful what you wish for, or

• Pray then duck.

Years later during a pilgrimage to World Youth Days in Toronto 2002, the St. Paul moment with all its pain came for me. All my life, I have been fortunate to take for granted a Church of the Canadian prairies filled with the spiritual energy of Vatican II. At World Youth Days, I was awakened to the sight of an unfamiliar Church. The ‘fall’ or should I say ‘the reckoning’ bolted me into a painful awareness of discrimination against the women who are called by God to serve as priests. Though at one time I might have written off the women’s ordination movement as one of a rebellious rabble rousing kind, it suddenly dawned on me that the exclusion of women from sacred ministry was more than an issue about ‘equality’ (as important as that is) but also a matter of critical concern for all God’s people – women and men. As a faith community, we must be concerned about all priests called by God to serve us and our Church.

Ancient fresco found in Chora Church outside Istanbul, Turkey. It is called The Harrowing of Hell. Instead of Christ reaching only for the hand of Adam, in this fresco, he reaches for Eve's hand, too -- signifying equality between men and women from Christ's point of view.

The World Youth Days’ experience literally did ‘knock me off my horse.’ I was disoriented, fearful, and enormously grieving for the circumstances that see so many vocations excluded from service to our Church just because those vocations happen to be planted in women. My once cherished daily mass became a time of painful tears. Though I tried to reach out for help about the stirrings inside, reactions from others were frequently negative. I felt as though I had been stricken with a disease or a spiritual cancer. I was fearful that ‘by talking’ I would spread what I perceived to be the contagion of the ‘virus’ or ‘infection’ which had inflicted this painful new vision of my Church. If I caused contagion to spread, I worried about the damage I would be responsible for inflicting on my community of faith.

Although my parish priest tried to help, his efforts seemed more like pity or charity than they did an energy for ‘justice.’ This would feed my anger. I could not articulate even to myself why I found the Vatican’s theology to be so deeply insulting and hurtful. Against the theology of the icon which has been such a meaningful part of my life (I am a Ukrainian Catholic from the Byzantine rite of the Church)the Vatican sets men apart. When Rome says that:

• because I am a woman, I do not bear an iconic resemblance to Christ (Inter Insignores)

• because my spirit has been delivered in the biological packaging of a woman, in our sacraments a simple piece of bread or a machine cut wafer has greater capacity to be recognised as Christ

• while a man can stand in for the bride or groom, my ‘woman’ being imposes limitations on what ‘my package’ can represent [Sidenote: this attempt at grounding exclusion in nuptial theology from Ephesians 5 is one of Vatican’s many failed attempts to justify the exclusion of women.]

the realisation that throughout our history, inanimate objects like candle sticks and sacred cloth were more welcome at the altar than were women – because of the belief that we were unclean, impure, imperfect and misbegotten men and therefore forbidden from entering into sacred liturgical space -- soon made it incomprehensible as to how I, a woman, could continue participating in this faith. The Christ I knew taught me to see his face in every person that I meet. The Christ I knew did not demand crawling over broken glass to participate in the mass.

Providentially coinciding with my attempt to discern whether the Church was still a place for me, I was chosen by our federal government to serve as one of five hundred Canadian Election Observers in Ukraine’s 2004 Third Round Presidential Election. It is remembered today as the historic Orange Revolution. Participating as an Observer delivered more unexpected faith community revelations to me. While I had been contemplating a departure from the Church, the people of the Revolution taught me to see the value of working from within for change. The experience gave me some insight into the humility it takes to step up to the plate to work for change. I could see that though the transformations my Ukrainian ancestors (grandparents, aunts and uncles) yearned for did not come for them, they did eventually come for 'the people' of Ukraine. I saw how every person’s and each generation’s participation in the historic resistance were essential links in the chain that becomes the conduit for transformation. Suddenly I understood how redemption can be a process and that there is nothing wrong with this. And while previously I had perceived my newfound ‘struggles’ in the Church to be like a cancer or an infection, I found myself able to connect with the people camped out in Kjiv’s Independence Square. They weren’t rebellious rabble rousers. They weren’t gathering with signs and song because they hated Ukraine. They were there camped out in the cold because they loved Ukraine.

Besides a free and fair Ukrainian election happening that year, a parallel historic moment happened in the life of one obscure Canadian woman (ie, me) that year. ‘We are people made for our times’ means that we must have the courage to step up to the plate of the work we are called to do.

Ironically, the pope who imposed the gag order on dialogue about women’s ordination has become a source of inspiration for me. While trying to come to terms with the man-show that had come to town courtesy of Rome, during World Youth Days I would hear John Paul II’s frail Parkinson’s afflicted voice ‘booming’ as it was amplified through the loud speakers, ‘Be not afraid,’ and ‘Cast out into the deep.’

The Holy Spirit works in amazing ways. Shortly after appreciating insights gained during the Orange Revolution, I suddenly was appointed to be the Canadian Delegate to the International Steering Committee of Women's Ordination Worldwide (2008-2013). In my first year of service to WOW, I was elected to serve on its four member Leadership Circle. I was re-elected 4 times to that position. I also took a two year leave of absence from my now 31 year career as a lawyer so that I could join the Team on the ‘front lines’ of the campaign at www.womenpriests.org. During this time, I earned my Graduate Diploma in Canon Law. It was important to me to learn how the Church works.

It is significant to me personally that so much transformation happened for me during what Rome deemed to be the Year of the Priest. For me, it really was the Year of the Priest: not just those who happen to be admitted to the Roman sanctioned men’s club but the Year of all priests called by God – men… and the women not yet recognized by Rome.

Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be. ~ attributed to Saint Augustine

I now give thanks for every painful step along the way. I see how the intensity of my experience has served to fuel my conviction that things must change. I see now that though my parish priest tried to help, in reality there was little that he could say. What words can defend a systemic discrimination propped up by an unorthodox theology that teaches in the source and summit of our faith, women are not icons of Christ?

Now part of the international campaign for women’s ordination, I hope that you will reflect on our work and the reasons for it. I hope that you will consider supporting our work for safeguarding the charisms of women for the service of the Church and for the justice that will come through the recognition and welcome of all priests called by God to serve our Church.

~Therese Koturbash, BA, LLB, GDCL
Communications Team, Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW)

#ordainwomen

Slavery and Its Connection to the Vatican Ban on Women’s Ordination - Therese Koturbash

Georgetown University is in the news these days. (Issue of selling slaves ‘bigger than Georgetown,’ says descendant by Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service, November 20, 2019). The issue of the Jesuits selling slaves more than 180 years ago to get out of a debt that could have shut down the institution is said to be "bigger than Georgetown." It certainly is and not just from the point of view of reparations to be made for that wrong. In the broad context that includes looking at Church teachings that change over time, there are connections between Church teachings, slavery and the ban on women’s ordination.

An argument made against women’s ordination is that Pope John Paul II closed the door to women’s ordination. He said it goes against the will of God. And, once a door has been closed it cannot be opened. ‘This is the Catholic Church so the pronouncement cannot change.’

Strangely enough, the teaching authority of the Church once held that slavery was part of divine will. Throughout most of human history, slavery has been practiced and accepted by many cultures and religions around the world. Certain passages in the Old Testament sanctioned it. The New Testament taught slaves to obey their masters. Pronouncements were made by a number of popes across the ages both defending slavery and outlining the parameters for the practice of it. A number of religious orders and Popes owned slaves. Because of the work of abolitionists, the secular world began to change. And eventually the Vatican followed suit. But it was not until 1965 during Vatican II that a conclusive condemnation was made of the practice.

When put against the backdrop of slavery, the ban against women’s ordination suddenly seems less daunting. Things do change. In instances like this, they change because people work for change.

Let’s keep going. Women can be, are priests and the Vatican will change its way.

Women’s Ordination Worldwide member group womenpriests.org (an academic research group) has a helpful chart showing the timeline on the change of teachings with respect to slavery. Learn more, see here: http://www.womenpriests.org/teaching/slavery1.asp Look also for the links found on that page.

For a world timeline on the work for abolition see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_abolition_of_slavery_and_serfdom

Womenpriests.org also has a helpful online short course that takes one through the history of the case for women’s ordination. See here: http://www.womenpriests.org/introduction/

And for more on current news about Georgetown, see here: ttps://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2019/11/20/issue-selling-slaves-bigger-georgetown-says-descendant?fbclid=IwAR0LbL8Kox3aI9DB65hBvEhDij11PfJ5a605jTa0o14es2hgoJFUyydnXE
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Therese Koturbash, BA, LLB, GDCL served as Canadian Delegate to Women’s Ordination Worldwide from 2008 to 2013. For all five of those years, she was elected member of WOW's four person International Leadership Circle. She has also been the National Coordinator of Canada's Catholic Network for Women's Equality. Today, Therese serves on WOW’s Communications Team and is a volunteer with WOW member group, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. Her paid work is as a family attorney.

The Evidence is There for Women Priests - Therese Koturbash

frescoes Found in Priscilla’s Catacombs in Rome restored in 2013 reveal what could have been women priests in the early Christian church. The female pictured in this fresco has her arms outstretched as if holding Mass.

On All Souls’ Day 2019 Pope Francis celebrated mass in Priscilla’s Catacombs in Rome. This is significant for in these catacombs are ancient frescoes depicting women performing sacramental ministry in the early Church. Early women priests and deacons? Some scoff saying they are nothing of the like and cannot be used to support the case for women’s ordination.

Woman priests or deacons or not, the images are a sign that women were leaders in the early Church and that as things progressed a cork was put in the bottle for development of women's ministries while those for men were allowed a natural historical progression.

I find so frustrating the insistence that there must be precise historical evidence before moving forward with ordination of women. The fact is that Jesus did not ordain anyone yet the development of sacramental ministry performed by men was permitted to progress.

The evidence from the society and culture of the time of the early Church, along with writings of the early Church Fathers, make clear how much prejudice against women was in their thinking. Whether they ever saw women as equals or not, many of these early men failed to experience conversion to the way that Jesus modeled inclusion of women in his ministry.

There are so many signs of this all through his story. His is the only genealogy that names women. His birth is prophesied by a woman, Anna. He comes into the world as a human without the direct contribution of any 'male matter.' (It was a Virgin birth -- from a contribution point of view, as between man and woman, there is more woman in Jesus than man). There is the Samaritan woman at the well, arguably the 1st woman apostle. The only people who anoint him during his life are women. Anointing is a sacramental ministry. Then of course the first apostle to announce the Good News of the Resurrection -- a woman, Mary Magdalene.

From my point of view, while historical evidence of women's early leadership strengthens the case for ordination of women, the lack of historical evidence for anything about men has never stopped their progress in the architecture of the Church.

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Therese Koturbash, BA, LLB, GDCL served as Canadian Delegate to Women’s Ordination Worldwide from 2008 to 2013. For all five of those years, she was elected member of WOW's four person International Leadership Circle. She has also been the National Coordinator of Canada's Catholic Network for Women's Equality. Today, Therese serves on WOW’s Communications Team and is a volunteer with WOW member group, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. Her paid work is as a family attorney.