Women Martyrs, Confessors and Early Presbytyrs (Priests)

St Prisca with lions

Throughout the Church’s history, there have been women and men who witnessed to their Christian faith unto death.

According to ancient tradition, women or men on the way to martyrdom had the power to forgive sins. This is a function of priesthood. The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (3rd cent) states that any confessor who had been imprisoned for faith automatically attains the rank of presbyter (priest) in the Roman communities.

Saints Irenaeus (2nd cent) and Cyprian (3rd cent) apply this power of martyrdom equally to women confessors. It underlines that in the early Church, women, just as did men, shared in the power of the keys — binding and loosening on behalf of Christ. The martyr St. Catherine of Alexandria is shown to have power in the engraving by Albrecht Dührer (see below left). The rack reminds us of her torture, the throne and sword of how she reigns with Christ.

Legend of Saint Prisca

Saint Prisca was a young Roman woman allegedly tortured and executed for her Christian faith. The dates of her birth and death are unknown. She is revered as a pre-schism Western saint and martyr by the Orthodox Church and as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. Though some legends suggest otherwise, scholars do not believe she is the Priscilla (Prisca) of the New Testament couple, Priscilla and Aquila who were friends of the Apostle Paul.

Especially in England, she is honored as a child martyr. January 18 is her feast day.

Not a lot is known about Prisca. It is believed that she came from a noble Roman family and was very young when she died for her faith. She is sometimes represented by two lions, who are said to have refused to attack her at the Co iseum in Rome. Prisca suffered many tortures before she was finally beheaded on the Via Aventine. The Christians buried her body in a catacomb at the place of her death.

There still exists on the Aventine in Rome a church of St Prisca. It stands on the site of a much earlier church, the Titulus Priscoe, mentioned in the fifth century and built probably in the fourth.

Legend says that Saint Prisca was of a noble family. At age thirteen, she was accused of Christianity before Emperor Claudius. He ordered her to make a sacrifice to the god Apollo. When she refused because of her Christian faith, she was beaten and sent to prison.

The martyr St. Catherine of Alexandria is shown to have power in this engraving by Albrecht Dührer . The rack reminds us of her torture, the throne and sword of how she reigns with Christ.

Upon her release from prison, she still held steadfastly to her faith in Christ. This time her punishment included flogging, the pouring of boiling tallow upon her, and a second imprisonment. She was at last thrown to a lion in the ampitheatre but it quietly lay down at her feet.

She was starved for three days in a slaves' prison house, and then tortured upon the rack. Pieces of flesh were next torn from her body with iron hooks, and she was thrown on a burning pile.

She miraculously still remained alive, but was beheaded at the tenth milestone on the Via Ostiensis—the road from Rome to Ostia. The Christians buried her body in a catacomb at the place of her death, where now stands a church of St. Prisca and where previously stood a very early title church, the Titulus Priscoe, mentioned in the fifth century and likely built in the fourth.

________________________
With thanks to John Wijngards, Women’s Ordination Worldwide member group, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research and their website womenpriests.org.

- 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.

Signs of New Openness to Women's Ordination in Eastern Orthodoxy

New openness to women’s ordination among Eastern Orthodox theologians

by Richard Cimino | Religion Watch www.religionwatch.com

Although Eastern Orthodox churches remain opposed to the ordination of women priests, there is a growing openness among theologians to this possibility, even if they are not likely to become activists on this issue, writes Sarah Hinlicky Wilson in the journal Pro Ecclesia (Spring).

Elisabeth Behr-Sigel

As might be expected, women are in the forefront of the effort to rethink female ordination in Orthodox churches, including a number of American Orthodox connected to the journal St. Nina’s Quarterly, as well as such scholars as Eva Catafygiotu Topping, Susan Ashbrook Harvey and Kalliope Bourdara. Many see the work of French Orthodox theologian Elisabeth Behr-Sigel (1907– 2005) as being the standard reference for the argument affirming women in the priesthood. What is more unexpected is that “several male Orthodox theologians have gradually moved toward Behr-Siegel’s position,” Wilson writes.

What is chiefly striking about them, though, is how much the substance of the opposition has changed…the older views that women are incompetent or physically unfit (due to ‘impurity’ from menstrual cycles) have been replaced by concerns about the nature of tradition and the priesthood and how it relates to personhood and gender (for instance, the teaching that the priest is the icon or representation of Christ)

Such prominent Orthodox theologians as Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, Kallistos Ware, Olivier Clement and John Zizioulas have gone on record stating that there are no compelling reasons against the ordination of women. Wilson notes that there are still many opponents of women’s ordination in Orthodox circles, “likely the majority within the churches and certainly a vocal contingent in publication. The articles range from popular diatribes to serious theological scholarship.

What is chiefly striking about them, though, is how much the substance of the opposition has changed.” She adds that the older views that women are incompetent or physically unfit (due to “impurity” from menstrual cycles) have been replaced by concerns about the nature of tradition and the priesthood and how it relates to personhood and gender (for instance, the teaching that the priest is the icon or representation of Christ).

-May 2010 issue of the newsletter Religion Watch www.religionwatch.com

_____________________

Mme Elisabeth Behr Sigel was, perhaps, the most significant Orthodox woman of the 20th century who delivered the 2003 Florovsky Lecture at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary. She was born in Alsace, France in 1907. Her father was Protestant and her mother Jewish. She studied theology at the Protestant Faculty in Strasbourg and then began a pastoral ministry. But it lasted only a year.

She then went to Paris to study theology. During her studies she came into contact with the Russian Orthodox diaspora and joined the Orthodox Church through her friends and colleagues of the Russian emigration. She was influenced by some of the most important theological figures of the era (Metropolitan Evlogy, Vladimir Lossky, Paul Evdokimov, Lev Gillet, Maria Skobtsova, etc.). At the age of 24, she officially embraced Orthodoxy. In time she met and married a Russian immigrant and engineer Andrý Behr.  They would have three children who would provide an impressive number of descendants.

During the Second World War, the family was living in Nancy where Elisabeth taught in the public school system. She was active in the resistance movement during the Nazi occupation.

After the war she taught at the Catholic Institute of Paris, the Theological Faculty of St. Sergius, the Ecumenical Institute of Tantur near Jerusalem and the Dominican College of Ottawa.  She was also member of the editorial board of the magazine Contacts. Behr-Sigel taught worldwide and published many orthodox books and articles in English, French, and German.

She served the Church in many capacities. She devoted much time and energy to the promotion of women in the Orthodox Church — respectfully, almost humbly but with firm conviction and solid theological arguments. She became known for her tireless ecumenical activity.

On November 26 2005, Elisabeth Behr-Sigel died while reading in bed. She was 98.

Her book, The Ministry of Women in the Church, is available in Greek, as well as a number of her articles published in Synaxis (Σύναξις) and Kath’Odon (Καθ’ οδόν).

Christopher d’Aloisio

Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, a father of the faith

She was undoubtedly the most famous Orthodox woman theologian of the 20th century. Elisabeth Behr-Sigel was born on 20 July 1907;  she left this world for eternity on 26 November 2005 at the age of  ninety-eight.

We inherited from this great lady a theological legacy of great value. All her life she was a faithful servant of the Lord. She has been a living witness of the ecclesiastical life in Western Europe for almost a century.

In homage to the memory of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel I would like to develop two themes that were dear to her and that are still relevant: the ministries of women in the Church and the Ecumenical dialogue. However, these of course were not the only interests of the theologian, but in these two topics, her contribution has been particularly significant.

One of the most sensitive issues that of the place of women in Orthodoxy leads us, from the start, to the issue of the diversity of ministries in the body of the Church. In fact, the Church of the first centuries knew a Wide diversity of ministries, a diversity that the passage of history has lessened, but never abolished. It is in this sense that we should understand the words of Saint Paul, particularly in the Epistle to the Ephesians (4, 7-13). The apostle also teaches the Corinthians that the diversity of Church ministries doesn’t go against the unity of the body; on the contrary, unity is based on the diversity of the charismatic gifts from the unique Spirit (I Corinthians 12). It is really the Spirit and not some member of the Church that establishes a faithful person in a function of Church service. Today and in many places, diversity has been replaced -for a while probably -by some hierarchical ministries in a manner foreign to the evangelical spirit because it is based on fear of authority. For the divine Paul and the apostolic tradition, the authority of the Church is conceivable only in a communion of love and not in relationships of hierarchical domination (cf. Romans 12,3-21). It is not impossible that we have here, in this evolution, one of the historical reasons for the disappearance, in Orthodoxy of a variety of ministries within the Church.

The participation at the Eucharistic Liturgy is a parameter that allows us to evaluate the evolution of the ways the Church is administered. In the authentic tradition it is clear that the Eucharist is the hieratic act accomplished by the whole body of the Church. During the Liturgy it is the assembly of the whole Church that offers the oblation to God the Father, because by the incorporation of the Church the baptised are at the same time consecrated to and participating in the vocation of Christ the High Priest. Across the centuries, especially since the Constantinian and Justinian periods, the Church has made its administration more systematic in the manner of the imperial State, establishing an ontological separation between the simply baptised and the ordained ministers as if only the latter were consecrated. The model has prevailed in the Eastern Church until our days, with more or less success. The transformation of our societies and particularly the emergence of Orthodox communities in countries of Western Europe has given the Church since the 20th century the possibility to reflect again on the question of ecclesiastical functions. Our theology has never denied the richness of the first times, evidence of the living and life giving presence of the Holy Spirit in the assembly of the Saints, the ecclesia of the all the consecrated faithful.

Nowadays, the diversity of ministries taken on by the faithful that have not been ordained to the diaconate or to the priesthood is more obvious. Generally, everyone already agrees that it is imperative to give a greater place to the service of the laity in the Church community. Functioning of laity as teachers of catechesis is an obvious example. The question of diversity of ecclesiastical functions is put back on the agenda, certain functions are to be redefined others to disappear or reappear.

The question of feminine ministries in the Church is part of the current questioning of the ministries. Within the framework of reflection on the history and theology of the feminine diaconate led by the group “Femmes et hommes dans l’ Eglise” (Women and men in the Church), Elisabeth Behr­ Sigel, together with a group of clergy and lay people, wrote, in Autumn 2000, a letter to the primates of all the patriarchal, autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox Churches in favour of a creative restoration of deaconesses. The magazine Service Orthodoxe de Presse gave an account of this event: ” … the Signatories underline that the possible restoration of the feminine diaconate constitutes an important question that has been asked of our Church and in our Church for decades. This ministry, they remind us, existed and was flourishing in the time of the Fathers of the Church, as has been shown by serious historical studies. It was at the time quite a complete ministry, liturgical, catachetical and philanthropic at the same time, adapted to the social structure of the age. This question was put back on the agenda at the beginning of the 20th century by the initiative of Saint Nectarios of Aegina, a Greek bishop who died in 1922, and by Saint Elizabeth, Grand-Duchess of Russia, martyred in 1918. But it is particularly in the last 30 years in the context of a deep cultural mutation and of ecumenical dialogue that the possible restoration of deaconesses imposes itself on (he conscience of the Orthodox Church as a burning problem.

In the case of ordination to the priesthood, there is still a certain amount of reflection to be done, said Elisabeth Behr-Sigel. Nowadays the arguments going against such an ordination can be summed up by the symbolic or iconographic character of the function of the priesthood. The theologian Behr-Sigel proposes to diminish this argument, reminding us that the Eucharist is not only a memorial, but also an anticipation of the banquet in the Kingdom where the division of the sexes as we know it will be changed. “To insist heavily on the masculinity of Christ, God made man -anthropos-is it not falling into a form of Nestorianism? That is to say deny the real union in Christ of God and Man. This question was asked by the theologians present in Rhodes [at the pan-Orthodox consultation on the place of women in the Church and of ordination of women, organised by the Ecumenical Patriarchate from the 30th October to 7th November 1988]. Elisabeth Behr-Sigel goes on to propose a deepening of the notion of the person being the image and resemblance of God. She warns against a possible distortion of the understanding of the icon: it is not a naturalist portrait. “In the martyrdom of Blandine (of Lyon) attached naked to a stake, offered by her executioners to the beasts and offering herself in sacrifice to God, in the ecstasy of faith and love, her companions in the fight contemplated ‘the image of Christ’ who was comforting them. ‘She was for her brothers an exhortation. She, the little one, the feeble one, the despised, who had put on the great, invincible athlete, the Christ. Thus said the letter of the Christians of Lyon to the Churches of Asia Minor cited by Eusebius in his History of the Church (Eusebius of Caesarea, Histoire Ecclesiastique,1. ll, Sources chretiennes, 1955, p. 17). Is it not this kind of transparency -how unreachable to the sole human strength -that is expected from the priest ?’

These few words do not sum up exhaustively the thoughts of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel and I only submit them to your charity for reflection and not necessarily in order to convince you. She herself, actually, was not what one could call a militant, but a lay theologian who put her reflection at the service of the Church. She always knew how to step aside before the pastors covered with the charisma of authority and her propositions were never peremptory affirmations, but an effort to revitalise the Church life. She insisted particularly on the fact that the impossibility of giving a simple answer does not exempt from the duty of asking complex questions.

In the field of relationships between divided Christians, Elisabeth Behr-Sigel played a pioneering role. Coming herself from Protestantism, she has always kept a strong link with her roots, a questioning capacity about the reality of Orthodoxy, that could have become sclerotic. From her youth, she understood her attraction to Orthodoxy not as a rejection of Western Christian experiences, but as a deepening of those. Through her friendship with Fr. Lev Gillet, the “Monk of the Eastern Church”, Elisabeth Behr-Sigel knew the painful beginning of the dialogue between Christians, practically outlined by Protestants followed by Anglicans on one side of Europe, and the Church of Constantinople on the other side, quickly followed by all the patriarchal, autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox Churches. The Roman Catholics joined the movement next and in a different way. For Elisabeth Behr-Sigel as for all the people who have inspired the ecumenical movement, the dialogue and the search for unity is not an optional choice of ecclesiastical hierarchies, nor a professional speciality to some elite clergy, but a way of being among Christians, an existentia1 necessity that affects the witness of the unique Church of Christ in the world. Very significantly, in her writings, the French theologian names the Churches in the way they name themselves and not in the way the other Churches qualify them; for example, she only uses with quotation marks the adjective “uniate” for the reason of the pejorative connotation with which this qualifier is filled, in the benefit of the “Catholics of Eastern rite”.

She did not ignore the resurgence of proselytism in some Christian communities of Western origin dispersed in Eastern Europe, but she kept a critical distance from the events and knew how to witness a great respect for the other Christians without condemning a whole Church family due to the indigenous behaviour of some of its members. The attention given by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel to the terminology is a sign of patristic wisdom; our tradition gives a great importance to names.

In the same way she was reluctant to use the word “Churches” in the plural when discussing dialogue towards unity, because in this approach. it is the One and Holy Church of Christ that manifests itself in a process of reconciliation. The division of the Body is unbearable when the Gospel is open before us.

At last with many other Orthodox thinkers, Elisabeth Behr-Sigel understood as a manifestation of the providence of God the presence of Orthodoxy in the West. For her, the Orthodox of Western Europe are charged with a particular mission because of their permanent contact with other Christians: to formulate the Orthodox Tradition of the Church in a renewed language, in a world which is in constant evolution. Like the Fathers of the Church, we have to proclaim the mystery of salvation in an intelligible way for the people we speak with. It is not we who choose the people with whom we cross paths, it is the Father who sends them to us, or rather who sends us to them. To talk to the world today, we have to love it in its strengths and in its weaknesses, and tell it about the Christ we know. This great lady, Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, was sought to take on this charge until the dusk of her life, with true pastoral concern towards the next generations. May God rest her soul in peace and grant her eternal memory.

From the journal Syndesmos news, v. XIX, 1, 2006.

'Burning Books' or 'Karma Bites Back' - Therese Koturbash

Newspapers and social media these days are brimming with details of the controversial and just released book From the Depths of Our Hearts. It claims to be co-authored by Cardinal Robert Sarah and the former Pope Benedict. The book issues ‘an ardent defense of clerical celibacy. (Sidebar: It also includes a chapter denouncing ordination of women as deacons or priests.)

As such, the book puts both Francis and Benedict in awkward positions. In breaking his pledge to silence on church affairs made when he abdicated the papacy, Benedict does so just as Pope Francis is considering opening the door to married men to priesthood. 1 The predicament of a former pope publicly contradicting the actual Pope puts the Church in an awkward space. Benedict’s speaking out creates inner-church tension that many worried about when he stepped down seven years ago. Benedict’s vow of silence on key issues was made out of respect for Francis who is the pope.

That was yesterday’s news.

Drama heightened today as Benedict’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein says that Benedict (who is declining) never agreed to participate as co-author and that his name must be removed from the book. 2

A practical question comes to mind: What does one do with published books after one of the supposed authors asks to have his name removed? Burn them?

This brings us to the theme of this post — karma bites back.

Women at the altar : the ordination of women in the roman catholic church by Lavinia Byrne

In 1994, Sister Lavinia Byrne, IBVM (as she then was) learned that under pressure from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (whose prefect at the time was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — as he then was — he went on to become Pope Benedict), the Liturgical Press of Collegeville, Minnesota would be burning all 1300 copies of her new book, Women at the Altar: The Ordination of Women in the Roman Catholic Church. The book is an account of reactions to the ordination of women priests in the Church of England. 3 It argues that since the key building blocks for such progression are already in place, tradition could appropriately be developed to encompass women's ordination in the Roman Catholic Church. By 1993 when Byrne was completing the work, biblical scholars commissioned by the Vatican had discerned that scripture held no impediments. Tradition had been revisited and was found not to be absolute. Byrne writes, ‘The ordination of women to the priesthood is the logical conclusion of all the recent work of Catholic theology about women and in particular about the holiness of all the baptised. It is not an aberation from what the Church teaches, but rather a fulfillment of it so that not to ordain women would now be to compromise the Catholicity of the church.’ 4

The ordination of women to the priesthood is the logical conclusion of all the recent work of Catholic theology about women and in particular about the holiness of all the baptised. It is not an aberation from what the Church teaches, but rather a fulfillment of it so that not to ordain women would now be to compromise the Catholicity of the church.4
- Lavinia Byrne

Byrne’s intention for the book was not to attack or be directive to the Vatican. But, given his order for destruction of the published copies, Cardinal Ratzinger made obvious that he perceived her academic work to be a threat.

The journey is my home, autobiography of Lavinia Byrne

Byrne responded by pointing out that the book was written in good faith and during a time of free and open discussion about women’s ordination. But shortly after the order for burning, John Paul II issued his Apostolic Letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. In what is now known as ‘the Papal No’, JPII prohibited discussion of the issue by the faithful and formally restricted priestly ordination to men only. He said that should anyone even discuss the subject of women’s ordination, they should consider themselves to be out of communion with the Church.

The CDF demanded that Byrne recant her work and make a public statement supporting the ban on women priests. Instead of recanting, on January 6, 2000, ‘with deep regret’ 5 she asked to be dispensed from her vows. Weary of the saga and the fact that the Vatican refused to deal with her as an individual (the CDF insisted on communicating with her through her community's Superior General in Rome thus creating tension affecting others, and Byrne's relations with them), Byrne decided to leave her Order. ‘I am resigning because of the pressure from the CDF. I'm being silenced as a member of a religious order. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith won't to talk me directly but to my religious superiors, and that strategy of not dialoguing with me has become untenable.’ 6

Byrne thereby became one of the first ‘survivors’ of the Vatican’s campaign against any work for women’s ordination.

Her work was not an ‘act of subversion [but instead] an informed attempt to place the changing role of women into context.’7 She makes no secret of her childhood wish to be a priest. ‘When I was little I had no idea that being a girl debarred me from ordination. It was a painful truth when I realised at around the age of 10 that I could not be ordained because I was a girl.’8

Byrne’s more recent work is an autobiography, The Journey Is My Home. It is described this way:

‘Lavinia Byrne entered her convent at the age of seventeen. Her writing and broadcasting have made her a popular and much-loved figure, and therefore it was a huge shock when, in January 2000, she announced her decision to leave her order. This is the powerful story of one woman's struggle to keep her integrity in a Church still using techniques reminiscent of the Inquisition.’

Women at the Altar: The Ordination of Women in the Roman Catholic Church continues in publication today.

-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.

Notes:

1. ‘Benedict defends priestly celibacy as Pope Francis considers changes’, Chico Harlan, The Washington Post, January 12, 2020

2. ‘Benedict wants his name removed from book about priestly celibacy’, Chico Harlan and Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post, January 14, 2020

3. ‘The Accidental Rebel’, The Irish Times, February 24, 2000

4. ibid.

5. ibid.

6. ibid.

7. ibid.

8. ibid.

Feast of the Baptism of Jesus: January 12, 2020 -- Rev. Dr. Shanon Sterringer

Reading One:  Isaiah 42: 1-7

Psalm:  The Lord will bless his people with peace

Reading Two:  Acts 10: 34-38

Gospel: Matthew 3:13-17

This weekend we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. 

Jesus’ baptism has been the source of much theological debate given that the tradition has maintained baptism is the means by which we are freed from the stain of original sin – if Jesus was without sin, why did he seek out John in the Jordan to be baptized?

Like all of our traditions, the doctrine of original sin developed within the lived experience of the community. This development can be seen in the scriptural passages themselves. If we set the Gospels next to each other in the order in which they were written – Mark, Matthew, Luke, John – there is a minimum of a 70-year time span between Mark and John. Over this block of time there is a clear development in the theology of Jesus’ baptism. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus simply comes to John and is baptized. In the Gospel of John, there is no mention of water ever even touching Jesus’ head – John sees Jesus and begins to preach a discourse on who Jesus is. In the passage we just heard proclaimed today from Matthew, Jesus is baptized but with some hesitation on John’s behalf – “It is I who needs to be baptized by you…” 

The teaching that baptism is necessary to wash us free from original sin was not handed to us directly by Jesus. It was St. Augustine, several centuries later, who made the direct connection between the sin of “Adam and Eve” and the need to be baptized in order to be released from it. 

The Book of Genesis claims all human beings are created in the imago Dei – how can someone from the moment they are miraculously conceived in the womb in the image and likeness of God, be inherently marked with a stain so severe it can only be cleansed through the tradition of one major world religion? This theological concept has become even more difficult to explain and understand in the midst of scientific developments which affirm our human history is much more complicated that the Adam and Eve story – how we evolved and in what manner is debated, but most agree we evolved in some way.  We have been taught that death entered into the world when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. Reality is, from the moment this earth was created, death has been present. The dinosaurs died tragically long before human beings were created. 

For St. Augustine’s theology of how original sin is passed down to make sense, we need to assume Adam and Eve are the first set of parents from which every other human being descended.  From this story (Genesis 1-3) we have formed an image of a world with one set of fully formed parents commanded to beget children and populate the earth. The image of Eden most of us have been taught depicts a scene where no other human beings exist. I would like to read an excerpt from chapter 4 of Genesis:

The man (Adam) had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, saying, “I have produced a male child with the help of the LORD.”  Next she gave birth to his brother Abel... When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD asked Cain, Where is your brother Abel? He answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” God then said: What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground... You shall become a constant wanderer on the earth. Cain said to the LORD: “My punishment is too great to bear... Anyone may kill me at sight.” Not so! So the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that no one would kill him… Cain then left the LORD’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain had intercourse with his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. Cain also became the founder of a city, which he named after his son Enoch.

Who were all of these people who might kill Cain? Where did Cain’s wife come from? Who were the people living in the land of Nod, if they had not descended from Adam and Eve? You get the point I am trying to make – these stories were not written to be read literally as historical or scientific texts, yet we have developed centuries of infallible teachings based on biblical fundamentalism. Most of our dogmatic teachings have little to do with love, and even less to do with Jesus, and are really centered around institutional power and law. 

Putting the distorted idea of original sin aside, how do we reconcile Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan by the prophet John the Baptist with a healthy understand of baptism today?

Baptism is a sacrament of gifts. In last week’s gospel we heard that Jesus received three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These gifts are symbols of the gifts we each receive in baptism - gold represents our divine nature; frankincense our baptismal priesthood; and myrrh our prophetic call.  

In our baptism we are endowed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit – gifts including courage, understanding, wisdom, and strength. The gifts of the Holy Spirit we receive at baptism are sealed at our confirmation and renewed through the sacramental life of the Church. We are gifted in so many ways, but we are not always aware of our potential.

A contemporary image that comes to mind when I think about the sacrament of baptism is the Wizard of Oz. We, like the characters in the story, are drudging along on our journey not always aware that we already have the gifts we seek – courage, compassion, intelligence. The institution is in many ways like the Oz – creating an impression that the power lies behind a “proverbial curtain” and is dispensed at the will of the great and powerful magisterial Oz. When the curtain is pulled back, we realize most of what we feared and/or believed to be true, was not authentic. Isaiah 2:22 reminds us, “Do not put your trust in human beings, they are frail” – we are painfully becoming aware of this today. 

We are called – actually we are commanded – to place our faith in God alone, not in human beings or institutions. There are a growing number of scientists suggesting that the entire universe – even what seems to be inanimate objects – have consciousness. 

Stop for a moment and consider this image – the presence of God within and around us in every part of our being. Every aspect of the created world existing with the divine consciousness – within the mind of God – this is extraordinary. How can it possibly be contained – or limited – by any particular creed or doctrine? This idea of a universal consciousness is the message the mystics from every world religion have been trying to communicate for as long as human beings have been able to communicate. We are not separate from God – we are created in God’s image and likeness – we are one with God.

For St. Hildegard of Bingen, and many other enlightened humans, this universal consciousness is described as the Living Light – the force that creates, animates, and sustains all that exists.  It is an energy from which all that exists has emerged. This awareness can be seen in the prologue of the Gospel of John: In the beginning was the Word and then the Word become flesh. Words are energy.

What does this mean in relation to the sacrament of baptism? When we are baptized, as Jesus was baptized, we recognize we belong to a reality much greater than ourselves. We are affirmed in our royal, priestly, and prophetic nature and are endowed with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to help guide and sustain us as we grow in our relationship with God, each other, and all of creation. Baptism wakes us up to our divine nature. It is on some level necessary for salvation, not because it washes away a horrid stain assigned to all humanity, but because it showers us with an abundance of grace giving us eyes to see and ears to hear the presence of God all around us.  Can we come into this awareness without the sacrament of Baptism? Of course. But we recognize the gift of Living Water offered to the Samaritan Woman at the Well, and to us in baptism, is a gift consecrated and shared by Christ himself.

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

https://thegreenshepherdess.org/f/feast-of-the-baptism-of-jesus

Copyright © 2018 The Green Shepherdess - All Rights Reserved.

When God fashioned the man - Aelred of Rievaulx

Saint Aelred of Rievaulx

Equality of women is not a new idea. It is just one that has had lots of resistance. Here from the 12 century is the supportive voice of St. Aelred of Rievaulx:

When God fashioned the man, to recommend society as a higher blessing, he said, 'it is not good that the man should be alone; let us make him a helper like himself' ... this power created a woman from the very substance of the man. In a beautiful way, then, from the side of the first human a second was produced, so that nature might teach that all are equal or, as it were, collateral, and that among human beings—and this is a property of friendship—there exists neither superior nor inferior.

- Saint Aelred of Rievaulx (b. 1110–d. 1167) was a writer, historian, and Cistercian abbot in England. This wisdom comes from his work, Spiritual Friendship. His feast day is January 12 — the anniversary of his death.

Catholic Women's Equality Requires A Shift On The Night Watch - Nicole Sotelo

Catholic women's equality requires a shift on the night watch

by Nicole Sotelo
National Catholic Reporter | January 5, 2017

One hundred [and two] years ago, Jan. 10, 1917, was a cold Wednesday morning. There was nothing exceptional about the day and that's important to note. Women's history isn't made in exceptional moments. It is often made by the long striving of a woman who has called together some friends for a cup of tea and their conversation leads to freedom, whether in society or the church.

Members of Women’s Ordination Worldwide marches with Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois down Via della Conciliazione toward the Vatican during a demonstration Oct. 17, 2011, in Rome. (CNS/Paul Haring)

I don't know if tea was brewed on this particular January morning, but I do know that after much discussion by Alice Paul and other suffragists in preceding weeks, a dozen women of the National Women's Party met at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. They picked up cloth banners and marched across Lafayette Park to stand in front of the White House.

Once unfurled, passersby read the homemade signs: "MR. PRESIDENT WHAT WILL YOU DO FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE" and "MR. PRESIDENT HOW LONG MUST WOMEN WAIT FOR LIBERTY." Indeed, women had been waiting for generations.

At the time, nearly 70 years had passed since the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y., Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had passed away. A new generation of women had entered the movement, one that was seemingly slow in progress. Having failed to secure a federal amendment for equal suffrage, women now campaigned state by state in an arduous bid for freedom, in addition to ongoing federal lobby efforts.

When Alice Paul and her friend, Lucy Burns, helped initiate this fresh protest at the federal level, it was equally arduous. They and other women from the National Women's Party signed up for shifts to hold the banners outside the White House through the soul-shivering winter. After World War I began that spring, public sentiment swept against them as traitors for protesting the president during wartime. By summer, the women began to be arrested, released and often arrested again.

Alice Paul January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American socialist, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the main leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits sex discrimination in the right to vote. Paul initiated, and along with Lucy Burns and others, strategized events such as the Woman Suffrage Procession and the Silent Sentinels, which were part of the successful campaign that resulted in the amendment's passage in 1920.

The punishments against the women intensified and later peaked that November during what became known as the "Night of Terror." Authorities sent the arrested protesters to a local workhouse that served as a prison for low-level offenders. The workhouse superintendent ordered the guards to attack the women. Lucy Burns was hung by handcuffs. Another woman was knocked unconscious and a fellow woman protester, assuming her colleague was dead, suffered a heart attack.

As news spread about their suffering, public sentiment began to sway back in favor of the women. Concurrently, the National American Woman Suffrage Association had continued lobbying for the federal amendment, saying it would be a measure of goodwill to the women who were aiding the war effort.

The imprisoned women were released and in the new year President Wilson, who previously had dismissed the cause, now made a public statement of support for a women's suffrage amendment. By August of 1920, the right for women to vote became law. This Tuesday marks the 100th anniversary of the White House protest, one of the many paths that cleared the way toward that law.

I recall this story because it is one that we need to hear this year as Catholics. The struggle for a woman's right to vote in civil politics may be over, but the struggle for a woman's voice in church polity is still very much alive.

The suffragists' story gives encouragement to those who suffer today. The Vatican and other Catholic officials may not lock people up, they do try to lock people out. The Vatican has issued official excommunication decrees against a handful of women involved in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement and threatened self-excommunication against the rest, something that the women themselves reject. Countless priests, scholars, and others like [Lavinia Byrne, Carmel McEnroy, Fr. Ed Cachia, Bishop Wm. Morris,]Roy Bourgeois, Ada María Isasi-Díaz and Rosemary Radford Ruether suffered professional consequences as a result of their support for Catholic women's equality.

The suffragists' story reminds us that change happens. After last year, when Pope Francis reaffirmed the finality of the ban against women's ordination when asked by a reporter, it is heartening to remember that President Wilson once said something similar when asked about women's suffrage. While Wilson was still governor of New Jersey, he responded in a letter to a Vermont newspaper editor, "I must say very frankly that my personal judgment is strongly against it. I believe that the social changes it would involve would not justify the gains that would be accomplished by it." Of course, he later championed the cause.

Moreover, the suffragists' story needs to be retold because it offers hope. Remember that the women one hundred years ago had no idea that they were on the verge of victory. They only knew that they were not yet free. And so they stood with their banners, perhaps for the sake of justice in their own lives. Blessedly, they were standing for us, too.

I only hope that we Catholic women and allies can do the same for future generations of the church. Whether it is midnight or close to dawn on the journey to justice, only heaven knows. What I do know is that we are needed to take our small shift on the long night watch for Catholic women's equality.

May we all put in an hour, or maybe two. So when dawn comes, whether this year or a hundred years from now, we will have done our part for the generations after us.

As Alice Paul's health failed, she continued to campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment and to watch as a new generation of activists sought liberation in the 1970s. During an oral history interview in the years before her death, she remarked:

"So I think if we get freedom for women, then they probably are going to do a lot of things that I would wish they wouldn't do; but it seems to me that isn't our business to say what they should do with it. It is our business to see that they are free." Indeed, it is.

Nicole Sotelo

[Nicole Sotelo is the author of Women Healing from Abuse: Meditations for Finding Peace, published by Paulist Press, and coordinates WomenHealing.com. She is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School.]

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/young-voices/catholic-womens-equality-requires-shift-night-watch

Canon Law: Women Prohibited from Ministries of Acolyte and Lector -- This Calls Into Question the Equal Dignity of the Baptised

French women denounce exclusion as Eucharistic ministers: “It calls into question the equal dignity of the baptised” By: Mada Jurado | Novena News | January 10, 2020

Can. 910

§1. The ordinary minister of holy communion is a bishop, presbyter, or deacon. <Canon law systemically discriminates against women here because it sets ordination as a pre-requisite for being an ordinary minister of communion. Since women cannot be ordained, they cannot be ordinary ministers of holy communion.>

§2. The extraordinary minister of holy communion is an acolyte or another member of the Christian faithful designated according to the norm of can. 230, §3. <Here the Church systemically discriminates against women through canon law. Why? Only laymen can be admitted to the ministry of lector or acolyte. See Canon 230, §1 below.>

Can. 230

§1. Lay men who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte. <emphasis is our’s to highlight that only men — and not women — are permitted to be admitted to ministry of lector and acolyte (acolyte is altar server, minister of communion)

Nevertheless, the conferral of these ministries does not grant them the right to obtain support or remuneration from the Church.

§2. Lay persons can fulfill the function of lector in liturgical actions by temporary designation. All lay persons can also perform the functions of commentator or cantor, or other functions, according to the norm of law. <Women can be lectors only on a temporary basis when it is not convenient for the bishop, priest, or deacon OR lay men admitted to the ministries of lector/acolyate are available. See below .. ‘When the need of the Church warrants it and ministers are lacking… then and only then are women are a temporary option.>

§3. When the need of the Church warrants it and ministers are lacking, lay persons, even if they are not lectors or acolytes, can also supply certain of their duties, namely, to exercise the ministry of the word, to preside over liturgical prayers, to confer baptism, and to distribute Holy Communion, according to the prescripts of the law. <‘When the need of the Church warrants it and ministers are lacking… then and only then are women are a temporary option for distribution of Holy Communion. A priest is not compelled to allow women to perform this service.>


Note: At the Synod on the Amazon (2019), Synod Fathers reflected on whether women be included in the ministries of the lectorate and the acolyte, reserved only for males by the motu proprio Ministeria quaedam by Paul VI (1972) and by can. 230§1 of the Code of Canon Law (1983).

Story in context:

French women denounce exclusion as Eucharistic ministers: “It calls into question the equal dignity of the baptised” By: Mada Jurado | Novena News | January 10, 2020

If we reject gender discrimination in every other arena, why do we accept it in religion? - Beatrice Alba

If we reject gender discrimination in every other arena, why do we accept it in religion?

by Beatrice Alba
The Guardian | March 5, 2019

Young women and girls deserve better than what mainstream religion offers them

Cardinal Pell’s recent child sexual abuse conviction has been the catalyst for criticisms of women’s lack of authority in the Catholic church. But why has it taken a crime of this magnitude for criticism of the church patriarchy to gain traction?

Perhaps it’s partly timing – with the rise of online activism and in the wake of the #metoo movement, many feminist causes are gaining mainstream support.

‘Male religious authorities go out of their way to exclude women, yet many women follow them regardless’ Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

The church’s exclusion of women from the priesthood and the sexist notions embedded in religious dogma violate our 21st century principles of equality and social justice. Yet the marginalisation of women in religion has come under surprisingly little scrutiny.

Anti-discrimination laws in the Sex Discrimination Act mean that organisations in Australia must not discriminate against any individuals based on their gender. But the law allows for special exemptions, such as religious grounds. Under these exemptions, religious organisations are free to refuse to allow women to ordain as clergy.

Sexism and misogyny are explicitly woven into the dogma and traditions of all mainstream religions. God is personified as male, and his representatives are male. Men are believed to be of higher spiritual authority to women, and many religions do not allow the full ordination of women into the clergy. Some religions disallow women from sitting at the front in their places of worship, and some places of worship refuse entry to women. Religious texts espouse notions of the mental, moral, and spiritual inferiority of women, and religion is used to justify gross forms of gender inequality all around the world.

Teaching girls that they are equal and deserve full participation in public life is inherently at odds with many religions.

Male religious authorities go out of their way to exclude women, yet many women follow them regardless. The existence of these double standards suggests that, as a society, we find this marginalisation of women acceptable and somewhat immune to challenge.

However, we should question the ethics of imposing these sexist and misogynistic views on children. It is difficult to understand the justification for exposing girls and young women to a doctrine that teaches them that they are inferior, or that they can only ever occupy restricted roles in the religion they are indoctrinated into. This instills girls at an early age with ideas that they do not belong in positions of authority and leadership. Research shows the harm done by setting such bad examples.

Young women and girls should be reminded that they have every right to reject the sexist and misogynistic ideas imposed on them by men who see them as their inferiors. They are entitled to be angry at those who attempt to dictate their position, their role, and their choices. They do not owe these men deference, and they should question why they are treated with such disrespect. Young women and girls deserve better than what mainstream religion offers them. A good education and good parenting means teaching young people that they are free to think and choose for themselves, and we should equip them with the skills to do so.

Religion’s endorsement of male supremacy is inconsistent with 21st century values of social justice and gender equality. Teaching girls that they are equal and deserve full participation in public life is inherently at odds with many religions. Children have the right to be free from discrimination, and it is an abuse of their human rights to not treat them with equality and respect. If we reject discrimination on the basis of gender in every other arena, why do we accept it in religion? We should not make exceptions for gender discrimination – the same discrimination and prejudice along racial lines would not be tolerated.

People have the right to practice their religion as they wish if they aren’t harming anyone. But given that religious organisations have special exemptions from anti-discrimination law, as well as special tax exemptions, any retort that critics should mind their own business doesn’t hold up. While such exemptions remain, any citizen can rightfully question these double standards.

Yet religion is seen as sacred, and we find ourselves walking on eggshells around the topic. But as long as religions disrespect and marginalise almost half of the population, they should not be immune to criticism.

We need to ask ourselves what is really sacred: respecting the traditions of a bygone era, or basic principles of social justice. If religions get it so wrong on this basic issue of social justice and human rights, why would we owe them any deference?

We also shouldn’t be surprised when these institutions fail on other basic moral issues. We should be angry about the abhorrent crimes committed by those high up in the church hierarchy. But we already had reason enough to be angry.

• Beatrice Alba is a research fellow in the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University

Patriarchy: A Disordered Attachment to Male Supremacy - Luis T. Gutiérrez

The “Son of man” is a human being, not a patriarch
El "Hijo del hombre" es un ser humano, no un patriarca
Il "Figlio dell'uomo" è un essere umano, non un patriarca
Le "Fils de l'homme" est un être humain, pas un patriarche
O "Filho do homem" é um ser humano, não um patriarca
Der "Menschensohn" ist ein menschliches Wesen, kein Patriarch
"Syn Czlowieczy" jest istota ludzka, a nie patriarcha

All men and women are consubstantial in their human nature
Todos los hombres y mujeres son consubstanciales en su naturaleza humana
Tutti gli uomini e le donne sono consustanziali nella loro natura umana
Tous les hommes et les femmes sont consubstantiels dans leur nature humaine
Todos os homens e mulheres são consubstancial em sua natureza humana
Alle Männer und Frauen sind in ihrer menschlichen Natur konsubstantiell
Wszyscy mezczyzni i kobiety sa wspólistotni w swojej ludzkiej naturze

+ Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life, not the male of life
+ Jesucristo es el Pan de Vida, no el varón de vida
+ Gesù Cristo è il Pane della Vita, non il maschio della vita
+ Jésus-Christ est le Pain de Vie, pas le mâle de la vie
+ Jesus Cristo é o Pão da Vida, não o macho da vida
+ Jesus Christus ist das Brot des Lebens, nicht der Mann des Lebens
+ Jezus Chrystus jest Chlebem Zycia, a nie mezczyzna zycia

The substance of the Eucharist is BODY, not XX/XY
La sustancia de la Eucaristía es CARNE, no XX/XY
La sostanza dell'Eucaristia è CORPO, non XX/XY
La substance de l'Eucharistie est CORPS, pas XX/XY
A substância da Eucaristia é CORPO, não XX/XY
Die Substanz der Eucharistie ist LEIB, nicht XX/XY
Istota Eucharystii jest CIALO, nie XX/XY

The substance of the Eucharist is FLESH, not testosterone
La sustancia de la Eucaristía es CARNE, no testosterona
La sostanza dell'Eucaristia è CARNE, non testosterone
La substance de l'Eucharistie est CHAIR, pas testostérone
A substância da Eucaristia é CARNE, não testosterona
Die Substanz der Eucharistie ist FLEISCH, nicht Testosteron
Istota Eucharystii jest FLESZ, nie testosteron

Patriarchy is a disordered attachment to the supremacy of masculinity
El patriarcado es un afecto desordenado por la supremacía de la masculinidad
Il patriarcato è un attaccamento disordinato alla supremazia della mascolinità
Le patriarcat est un attachement désordonné à la suprématie de la masculinité
O patriarcado é um apego desordenado à supremacia da masculinidade
Das Patriarchat ist eine ungeordnete Bindung an die Vorherrschaft der Männlichkeit
Patriarchat jest nieuporzadkowanym przywiazaniem do supremacji meskosci

The Church is a communion, not a patriarchate
La Iglesia es una comunión, no un patriarcado
La Chiesa è una comunione, non un patriarcato
L'Église est une communion, pas un patriarcat
A Igreja é uma comunhão, não um patriarcado
Die Kirche ist eine Gemeinschaft, kein Patriarchat
Kosciól jest wspólnota, a nie patriarchatem

+ Apostolic succession is contingent on redeemed flesh, not on masculinity
+ La sucesión apostólica depende de la carne redimida, no de la masculinidad
+ La successione apostolica dipende dalla carne redenta, non dalla mascolinità
+ La succession apostolique dépend de la chair rachetée, pas de la masculinité
+ A sucessão apostólica depende da carne redimida, não da masculinidade
+ Die apostolische Sukzession ist vom erlösten Fleisch abhängig, nicht von der Männlichkeit
+ Sukcesja apostolska uwarunkowana jest odkupionym cialem, a nie meskoscia

The nuptial mystery of Christ and the Church is not a patriarchal marriage
El misterio nupcial de Cristo y la Iglesia no es un matrimonio patriarcal
Il mistero nuziale di Cristo e della Chiesa non è un matrimonio patriarcale
Le mystère nuptial du Christ et de l'Église n'est pas un mariage patriarcal
O mistério nupcial de Cristo e da Igreja não é um casamento patriarcal
Das Hochzeitsmysterium Christi und der Kirche ist keine patriarchalische Ehe
Tajemnica zaslubin Chrystusa i Kosciola nie jest malzenstwem patriarchalnym

+ Canon 1024 is an abortifacient of female priestly vocations
+ El Canon 1024 es un abortivo de vocaciones sacerdotales femeninas
+ Il Canon 1024 è un abortivo di vocazioni sacerdotali femminili
+ Le canon 1024 est un abortif des vocations sacerdotales féminines
+ Canon 1024 é um abortivo de vocações sacerdotais femininas
+ Canon 1024 ist eine Abtreibung von weiblichen Priesterberufungen
+ Kanon 1024 jest poreczycielem kobiecych powolan kaplanskich

Catechism 1577 is a doctrinal cover-up of patriarchal gender ideology
Catecismo 1577 es un encubrimiento doctrinal de la ideología patriarcal de género
Il Catechismo 1577 è una copertura dottrinale dell'ideologia di genere patriarcale
Le catéchisme 1577 est une dissimulation doctrinale de l'idéologie patriarcale du genre
O Catecismo de 1577 é um encobrimento doutrinário da ideologia de gênero patriarcal
Katechismus 1577 ist eine doktrinäre Vertuschung patriarchaler Geschlechterideologie
Katechizm 1577 jest doktrynalnym przykryciem patriarchalnej ideologii genderowej

The institutional ecclesiastical patriarchy is an abuse against Christ and the Church
El patriarcado eclesiástico institucional es un abuso contra Cristo y la Iglesia
Il patriarcato ecclesiastico istituzionale è un abuso contro Cristo e la Chiesa
Le patriarcat ecclésiastique institutionnel est un abus contre le Christ et l'Église
O patriarcado eclesiástico institucional é um abuso contra Cristo e a Igreja
Das institutionelle kirchliche Patriarchat ist ein Missbrauch gegen Christus und die Kirche
Instytucjonalny patriarchat koscielny jest naduzyciem wobec Chrystusa i KosciolaAgnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Luis T. Gutiérrez
Mother Pelican Journal
the.pelican.web@gmail.com

How Do You Follow A Star - Ruth Fehlker

Homily for the Feast of Epiphanias
Matthew 2, 1-12

How do you follow a star?

Ruth Fehlker

If you look at it practically: it doesn’t actually work. At least not in the way the gospel describes it in this story. A star that guides the wise men along and then stops above a house? A single star is much too far away to actually indicate a certain place on earth – it is a little like looking for the end of the rainbow.

And then there’s the figurative way of understanding it – a hallmark saying to “follow your star” meaning – follow your destiny. But does that work here? And if that is what the wise men are doing, how do they know what their destiny is?

The people for whom the evangelist Matthew was writing probably had a little more understanding of this imagery. It was an image known to them from coins – a star above the head of ceasar meant: “this one is divine – from God”. The star in this narrative tells us: Jesus is from God (so far, so easy, at least for us.) And it is a “real” star, not just a symbol.

Stars are too far away to indicate a small place on earth – and often we feel that God is too great and too far away to care for our small human life. But with the birth of Jesus it becomes evident: God wants to be so close, he literally crawls into our world, into our lives. And thus the star in the story is also close. (It’s basically turning things upside down: the star on the coin was meant to elevate the human ceasar to the heavens, the star above Bethlehem is meant to indicate that God is on earth.)

More than many other biblical stories this tale asks us to see ourselves in them – in the three wise men. Why? Because, and this is really important, Matthew makes clear that Jesus isn’t there just for a small group, not just for the Jews, not just for the chosen few, but for everyone. For everyone who is willing to see the signs, to start the journey and to be led by Christ. And if this idea hadn’t made it through we wouldn’t be here like this now, we would never have become Christians.

It becomes clear: being a Christian is not a question of belonging to a certain place or a certain people, not even a certain time – it is a question of choice/decision.

How do the wise men of the tale follow the star? It’s a little fuzzy in the details. But I imagine they need the longing for change. And attentiveness for the signs of the times. They need courage to journey into the unknown. They need to weather danger. They need to ask for directions and to change course. And they need the ability to recognize the unexpected as their goal.

Because what is at the end of their journey? Nothing spectacular. A family in a stable, vulnerable and uncertain.

The star shows: God is here.

Really. For us to touch. To love. To feel the pain. To be complicated, endangered, messy and poor. And: unfinished. Nothing means potential as much as a human baby – so much that can still grow! The goal of the wise men is not an end to their journey, but a beginning of their journey with God. Their journey will be different and their lives too.

And maybe that is exactly the way that I – that we can follow the star of Bethlehem: To make the choice every day. To set course every day. To have longing and courage. To ask for directions and change course. And to dare to be unfinished.

Nice images. But what do they mean?

It means to feel what my longing is and to follow it, even if cannot see whether and how it may be fulfilled. To be open for encounters and change, even if it is hard to give up the status quo. And the hardest and the best thing: To take those parts of my life where things are hard, painful and shameful. The places I can hardly look at myself. The places where anger and fear and shame seem to suffocate all the good. And to presume God exactly there and to learn how to see God there.

Where will this road lead? The star will show us. It will be unexpected and unfinished. And God will be there.

Ruth Fehlker, January 2019

_____________________________
Ruth Fehlker studied Catholic Theology at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. She is a Pastoral Officer at St. Lamberti Coesfeld in Coesfeld, Germany where she frequently preaches.

Wise Women Also Came - Jan Richardson

Wise women also came.
The fire burned in their wombs long before
they saw
the flaming star in the sky.

They walked in shadows, trusting the path
would open under the light of the moon.

Wise women also came,
seeking no directions,
no permission from any king.

They came by their own authority,
their own desire,
their own longing.

They came in quiet, spreading no rumors,
sparking no fears to lead to innocents’ slaughter,
to their sister Rachel’s inconsolable lamentations.

Wise women also came,
and they brought useful gifts:
water for labor’s washing,
fire for warm illumination,
a blanket for swaddling.

Wise women also came,
at least three of them,
holding Mary in the labor,
crying out with her in the birth pangs,
breathing ancient blessings into her ear.

Wise women also came,
and they went,
as wise women always do,
home a different way.

-Jan Richardson

———-

Jan Richardson, an artist and Methodist minister in Florida, also portrays the Magi as women of different races in “Wise Women Also Came,” an image that appears on the cover of her book “Sacred Journeys: A Woman’s Book of Daily Prayer.”

Continue - Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Continue — a poem of encouragement by Maya Angelou

On the day of your birth

The Creator filled countless storehouses and

stockings

With rich ointments

Luscious tapestries

And antique coins of incredible value

Jewels worthy of a queen’s dowry

They were set aside for your use

Alone

Armed with faith and hope

And without knowing of the wealth which awaited

You broke through dense walls

of poverty

And loosed the chains of ignorance which

threatened to cripple you so that you

could walk

A Free Woman

Into a world which needed you

My wish for you
Is that you continue

Continue

To be who and how you are
To astonish a mean world
With your acts of kindness

Continue

To allow humor to lighten the burden
Of your tender heart

Continue

In a society dark with cruelty
To let the people hear the grandeur
Of God in the peals of your laughter

Continue

To let your eloquence
Elevate the people to heights
They had only imagined

Continue

To remind the people that
Each is as good as the other
And that no one is beneath
Nor above you

Continue

To remember your own young years
And look with favor upon the lost
And the least and the lonely

Continue

To put the mantle of your protection
Around the bodies of
The young and defenseless

Continue

To take the hand of the despised
And diseased and walk proudly with them
In the high street
Some might see you and
Be encouraged to do likewise

Continue

To plant a public kiss of concern
On the cheek of the sick
And the aged and infirm
And count that as a
Natural action to be expected

Continue

To let gratitude be the pillow
Upon which you kneel to
Say your nightly prayer
And let faith be the bridge
You build to overcome evil
And welcome good

Continue

To ignore no vision
Which comes to enlarge your range
And increase your spirit

Continue

To dare to love deeply
And risk everything
For the good thing

Continue

To float
Happily in the sea of infinite substance
Which set aside riches for you
Before you had a name

Continue

And by doing so
You and your work
Will be able to continue
Eternally

St. Thérèse of Lisieux - Patron Saint of Women's Ordination - Celebrating Her Birthday January 2

Thérèse of Lisieux, Patron Saint of Women’s Ordination, Celebrating the Day of Her Birth

Thérèse of Lisieux - patron saint of women’s ordination
- born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin
- lived 2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897
- nun, theologian, playwright, writer
- struggled with exclusion for her call to priesthood
- the greatest saint of modern times according to Pope Pius X 1, 2
- in the official church, she is patron of missionary priests, HIV/AIDS sufferers, florists and gardeners
feast day: October 1
- proclaimed 3rd female Doctor of the Church in 1997

Therese of Lisieux, patron saint of women’s ordination

Thérèse of Lisieux dressed as imprisoned Joan of Arc. Photograph taken by her sister Celine.

The patron saint of women’s ordination, Thérèse of Lisieux was born on this day, January 2 in 1873. A French Carmelite nun, she is officially honoured as saint and third woman Doctor of the Church. She is celebrated as the Little Flower for her Little Way — her genuine commitment to manifesting God’s love in the tasks and people we meet in everyday life. 3 She made the simple things of life the seedbed of her sanctity.
 
But she is much more than this. Church Fathers would have us believe that Thérèse was a demure, sweet, and delicate child. The truth is that she admired Judith of the Old Testament, the warrior Joan of Arc, and she (Thérèse) is one of the first women of modern times to declare her calling to priesthood. She wrote about it and her inner identification with the archetypes of warrior, priest, apostle and martyr. 4

I sense in myself the vocation of Warrior, Priest, Apostle, and Martyr. In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be love. 5

—St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Her yearning to be a priest is well documented. Her journals record it. She confided in her sister Céline about the calling. At a young age, Thérèse wrote: ‘I feel in me the vocation of PRIEST; with what love I would carry you in my hands when, at my words you would descend from Heaven.’ 6 She was convinced that she would have been a good preacher and even better than the priests she heard. On her sickbed she composed what she would say from the pulpit. 7

Thérèse of Lisieux preparing ciborium for mass

In testimonies from the process of her beatification there is a detailed statement from Céline. She shared that Thérèse preferred death to the continued painful endurance of living with her unfulfilled call. Thérèse believed God had let her become sick so she would not have to suffer rejection by the Church from priesthood. In her testimony, Céline said:

‘… before she was really ill, Sister Thérèse told me she expected to die that year. ... When she realised that she had pulmonary tuberculosis, she said: 'You see, God is going to take me at an age when I would not have had the time to become a priest ... If I could have been a priest, I would have been ordained at these June ordinations. So, what did God do? So that I would not be disappointed, he let me be sick: in that way I couldn't have been there, and I would die before I could exercise my ministry.' 8

‘The sacrifice of not being able to be a priest was something she always felt deeply. During her illness, whenever we were cutting her hair she would ask for a tonsure [the practice of shaving the crown of the head that was part of the ritual of ordination until it was abandoned by papal order 9 in 1972] ... But her regret did not find its expression merely in such trifles; it was caused by a real love of God, and inspired high hopes in her. The thought that St Barbara had brought communion to St Stanislas Kostka thrilled her. 'Why must I be a virgin, and not an angel or a priest?' she said. 'Oh! what wonders we shall see in heaven! I have a feeling that those who desired to be priests on earth will be able to share in the honour of the priesthood in heaven.' 10

The thought of priesthood preoccupied Thérèse to the end of her life. It is moving that while dying, she wrote of St. Barbara bringing communion to St. Kostka in heaven revealing that Thérèse knew the obstacle for her was one created by men and not God. 11

Too often Thérèse’s call is written out of her story. Today we honour her not so little impact as a courageous voice for women and her fierce love for God. Women are called to priesthood. It is our work to amplify their voices and to work for their welcome in the official Church. In Thérèse’s memory, we reflect on the great loss and scandal caused by the institutional Church turning away so many of God’s servants only because they are women.

Women are called to priesthood. It is our work to amplify their voices and work for their welcome in the official Church. In Thérèse’s memory, we reflect on the great loss and scandal caused by the institutional Church which has turned away so many of God’s servants only because they are women.

The people of the Church have welcomed the ecclesial and sacramental gifts of women and benefit from their ministries on the margins. We pray for Church leaders to open the doors to dialogue with women called to priesthood and to support them as equals. We know that God does not discriminate.  If the Roman Catholic Church claims to follow Jesus, it must free itself from the sin of sexism and practice radical inclusion just as he did.

Thérèse of Lisieux

The continuing exclusion of women from ordained ministries and decision-making roles in the Catholic Church is an injustice that hurts all of us. It is the sin of sexism and is offensive to God. We must speak out for inclusive leadership in our institutions and empower women to live their authentic callings. We speak out our concern for all priests… including the ones the Vatican won’t yet recognise only because they are women.

St. Thérèse — pray for us, for our work, for all women who struggle with callings to priesthood, and for the women who, in the face of continued Vatican intransigence have prophetically moved forward to action their callings to priesthood on earth now.

St. Thérèse - pray that our Church leaders will be emboldened to decisively take action to end sexism in the Church and start walking with us as equals.

Amen!

-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.

For more about St. Therese of Lisieux, see here: Catherine Broome, OP, The Priestly Vocation of Therese of the Child Jesus: Spirituality (1997), pp. 225-230 found on the website of our member group www.womenpriests.org

———————————————————————————-

1. Descouvemont, Pierre; Loose, Helmuth Nils (1996). Thérèse and Lisieux. Toronto: Novalis. p. 5

2. John Paul 11 (19 October 1997). "Angelus － Proclamation of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face as a "Doctor of the Church"". vatican.va: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

3. St. Therese and Her Little Way, https://www.littleflower.org/therese/reflections/st-therese-and-her-little-way/

4. Broome, Catherine, OP, The Priestly Vocation of Therese of the Child Jesus: Spirituality (1997), pp. 225-230

5. St. Therese of Lisieux: Story of a Soul, 8 Sept 1896.

6. ibid.

7. op. cit. Broome.

8. St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Those Who Knew Her: Testimonies from the Process of Beatification, ed. and trans. by C. O'Mahony, OCD (Dublin, 1975) pp155-6 as quoted in The Ordination of Women in the Roman Catholic Church, by Eric Doyle OFM

9. tonsure - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonsure

10. Op. cit. C.O’Mahony

11. Broome, Catherine, OP, The Priestly Vocation of Therese of the Child Jesus: Spirituality (1997), pp. 225-230.

Talk and Dither: Words v Action - 31 December 2019

Figure in stonework of Abbey Church of Sainte Foy, Conques, France. The Abbey Church was a popular stop for pilgrims traveling the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela. Today, the figure crafted by the stonemasons who had a sense of humour, seems to me like a picture of Catholic feminist women surviving through the centuries. ‘Nevertheless, she persisted.’

2020 opens with a news story reporting that Pope Francis sees the ‘masculine monochrome of leadership … in the Catholic Church as a defect, an imbalance that harms the church itself and its mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the world.’ 1 In November, he said that more must be done to include women in the Church. 2 In April he wrote that because we are a living Church, we must ‘acknowledge a fair share of male authoritarianism, domination, various forms of enslavement, abuse and sexist violence’ against women. 3

In 2007, Benedict XVI acknowledged that ‘inadequate consideration for the condition of women … create[s] instability in the fabric of society.’ 4 He observed ‘the exploitation of women who are treated as objects, and …the many ways that a lack of respect is shown for their dignity’. 5 He spoke of ‘the mindset persisting in some cultures, where women are still firmly subordinated to the arbitrary decisions of men, with grave consequences for their personal dignity and for the exercise of their fundamental freedoms.’ 6 And he pointed out, rightly, that there can be no illusion of a secure peace until these forms of discrimination are overcome, since they injure the personal dignity impressed by the Creator upon every human being.’7

On behalf of the Church, John Paul II publicly apologised for injustices it committed against women throughout history, for its violation of women's rights and for its historical denigration of women. 8

John Paul I reminded us that ‘God is our father, and even more he is our Mother.’ 9

Paul VI observed that through laws and evolution of customs, the world was rightly recognising women’s equality and co-responsibility with men in the running of the family. He saw as a good thing in the sphere of politics that women in many countries were gaining a position in public life equal to that of men.10

John XXIII pointed to the advancement of women as one of the most important ‘signs of the times’. Women, he said, are ‘gaining an increasing awareness of their natural dignity. Far from being content with a purely passive role or allowing themselves to be regarded as a kind of instrument, they are demanding both in domestic and in public life the rights and duties which belong to them as human persons.’ He even went on to say that ‘human beings have also the right to choose for themselves the kind of life which appeals to them: whether it is to found a family—in the founding of which both the man and the woman enjoy equal rights and duties—or to embrace the priesthood [emphasis mine] or the religious life.’11

So as the page on the calendar turns to the start of the third decade in the third millennium of Christianity, where are things at for the modern woman in the Catholic Church? Francis says that our claims to seek more equality in the Church are legitimate. For the last 15 years, I have been part of a movement that includes many intelligent, spiritually gifted, leading Catholic women who are making those legitimate claims. What’s happening in terms of action inside the Church? 12

A survey of the last 60 years of Catholic Church history shows us a few sentences here and there, sometimes even paragraphs written by elite Church men about women. The men come across (to me) as old grandpas who have inklings of wisdom but who can’t seem to connect thought to action. In my imagination, I see a strange sort of back patting by elite church men for making what they think are great strides in progressing women’s presence in the Church. From time to time, words of contrition are offered acknowledging that ‘they’ have not treated women well. When I was young in the movement that is making legitimate claims for women, all these words seemed like nourishment. Now I am getting old and grey. Fifteen years later, it is hard not to be cynical and now, I see these men as timid in relationship to women.

As a lawyer and business woman, I know that credible strategies and measurable benchmarks for progress are critical when one is seriously about achieving any kind of change — including institutional change. Where are these in our Church? I don’t see any when it comes to progress for women.

It is said that ‘actions speak louder than words.’ I reflect on the wisdom attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, ‘Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.’ When words are spoken and but no concrete action is taken —when there are words but no game plan and no institutional metric set to measure success — from a thinking person’s point of view, it is hard to see an organisation or its leadership as credible. Words spoken without work for inclusion is benevolent sexism — for short, it’s sexism.

Pope Francis, we are bright, creative and gifted women. We know our Church history, theology, Tradition and canon law. We know that Jesus’s mother Mary is the men’s club model for priesthood. She is a woman. Earlier this year, you stressed that any change in the area of women's ministries must be grounded in divine revelation and dogma.13 On this front, we’ve got your back. We have the bases covered. We are happy to help in the work of unfolding the map and progressing work for change with divine revelation and dogma in mind. We will help you rid the Church of the masculine monochrome of leadership that is a defect and an imbalance. This must be done because, as you say so well, it is harming the church itself and its mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the world.

Ordaining women as priests will be a good place to start. We know that our claims are legitimate. We demand — yes, demand — the rights and duties which belong to us as human persons baptised in Catholic community. Changing Church law so that women can officially be lectors and ministers of the Eucharist, changing the rules so that female altar servers are included not by virtue of a benevolent priest’s or bishop’s discretion but instead officially included would be an easy thing to do. Including women as heads of Vatican Congregations and at all tables where decisions are made is a must. And providing voting rights for women at Synods would be a step in the right direction. Our legitimate claim rises from divine justice and not male benevolence. When the Berlin Wall fell, it fell quickly… not immediately but because people who knew human dignity worked for that change. Pope Francis, in our Church it is a door that needs to be opened a door and not a wall to tear down. Turn the door knob. There is no time to waste.

Therese Koturbash, BA, LLB, GDCL
Communications Team, Women’s Ordination Worldwide

1. Cindy Wooden, Vatican magazine looks at women in the church in the age of Pope Francis, America, December 30, 2019

2. Carol Glatz, Pope Francis: More must be done to include women in church bodies, Crux, November 19, 2019

3. Chico Harlan, Pope Francis says Catholic Church should support women’s rights, Washington Post, April 2, 2019

4. Pope Benedict XVI, Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2007

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Pope John Paul II, Letter to Women, May 29, 1995

9. Pope John Paul I, Angelus, September 10, 1978

10. Pope Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, February 2, 1974

11. Pope John XXIII, Pacem In Terris, Encyclical on Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty, April 11, 1963

12. Pope Francis, Christ is Alive, Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Christus Vivit, To Young People and to the Entire People of God, March 25, 2009

13. Christopher Lamb, Is the Catholic Church Changing on Women’s Ordination, The Tablet, May 11, 2019

Ludmila Javorva, A Priest Forever -- on the 49th Anniversary of Her Ordination to Priesthood

Today, December 28, 2019, we honour the 49th anniversary of the ordination to Roman Catholic priesthood of Ludmila Javorova. Born in 1932, Ludmila is a Czech woman who was one of at least 7 women and a number of married men ordained to serve as priests in the underground church of Soviet occupied Czechoslovakia.

During the Soviet era in Czechoslovakia, Catholic religious orders were banned, and most existing clergy were forced into military service, jailed, sent to forced labour camps, tortured and in some instances, murdered. 1

Ludmila Javorova, today

The Communist state viewed religion with suspicion. Religious issues could not be brought into public life. Male priests were easily identifiable Secret police could be listening in at any moment. If a priest was perceived as a threat to the government, he would be jailed or disappeared. The practice of faith was persecuted. While trying to manage an oppressed church, Czechoslovakia’s Bishop Felix Davidek sensed they were living in a time that was not ordinary—it was a ‘kairos’ moment— a time of opportunity. 2, 3

It was in this climate of fear that he decided to ordain qualified individuals--including women--to be priests. He justified the ordinations by the pastoral needs of a church suffering harsh persecution. He himself had endured fourteen years in Soviet prison for his faith. While a prisoner, he was troubled by the fact that women being held had no priest among them. His concern for their spiritual needs, his intelligence and practicality led him to conclude that priests of the same gender (female) could go under the radar and effectively serve as sacramental ministers for those women. Insisting that canon law must not infringe on God's law, and guided by its principle that it (canon law) should be used in the service of salvation, Davidek discerned he would move forward with ordination of women. In his view that law did not cover every life situation, and the needs of women in prison and the oppressed Church were paramount. 4 ‘The people need the ordination of women. They are literally waiting for it and the church should not prevent it,’ he is reported to have said. 5

Bishop Felix Davidek

Davidek felt that the Holy Spirit was confirming that Ludmila should be ordained a priest. So, on December 28, 1970 she received her ordination and became a Catholic priest.6 During those dark days of oppression and persecution, Javorova celebrated the Mass secretly. Without drawing suspicion of authorities that she was a priest, she was able to visit women in prison who wished to receive the sacraments. ‘She served as she could, even though she had to keep her ordination a secret from most people.’ 7 Later, the Pope declared her ordination illegitimate, but who can guess the status of the Czechoslovakian church if she had not followed the Holy Spirit’s leading?8

‘Javorova’s life is certainly reminiscent of Esther, a woman called upon by God to serve “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). Javorova’s story shows us that God’s call cannot be confined by societal expectations. Even though Javorova lived during a harsh time, she may very well have never been ordained if not for the burdensome time in which she lived. God makes use of his servants, and even difficult situations, if we are bold enough to accept God’s call.’9

Ludmila Javorova as a young woman

The series of velvet revolutions that liberated European countries from Soviet domination in 1989 brought democracy back to Czechoslovakia. With religious freedom restored, the hidden church was no longer necessary, and the Vatican began the process of deciding whether to recognize the Holy Orders of the Czechs—single men, married men, and women—whom Bishop Davidek had ordained.10 Many of the priests from the hidden church worried that the Vatican would not recognize their Orders so they chose to remain ‘underground’. Ludmila wasn’t one of them. Although her ordination wasn’t public knowledge, she made no effort to hide it from Vatican officials. The result was predictable. In 1996, she was forbidden to exercise her priesthood on the grounds that her Orders were invalid—not because she had been ordained in the hidden church, but for the sole reason that she was a woman.’ 11 Ludmila obeyed.

Despite her outward obedience to the Vatican, Javorova finds the church’s refusal to ordain women incomprehensible. ‘I cannot understand when it is a matter of salvation or of helping souls in need, why the hierarchy of the church objects if a woman should enter into the process. Who is the priest? Someone to accompany people in their joy and in their suffering, who offers to go together with them, who is an experience of Christ to them, who works together with God.’ 12

Ludmila, a priest forever.

- 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.

To learn more about Ludmila Javorova, these are some excellent resources:

1. Peter Hebblethwaite, “Secret ordinations kept Czech church alive.” National Catholic Reporter, 10 September 1993.

2. Dr. Suzanne Tunc, Ludmila Javorova : Histoire de la première femme prêtre. Paris, Temps présent, 2012.

3. Fr. Kerry Walters, ‘My Priesthood As a Woman Has Been Different’, February 24, 2014, The Call: An Online Magazine of the American Catholic Church

4. Miriam Therese Winters, Out of the Depths: The Story of Ludmia Jarovová, Ordained Roman Catholic Priest. Crossroad, 2001.

5. www.womenpriests.org
   
   _______________________________________

1 Ludmila’s Story: Beliefnet.com Beliefnet.comhttps://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/catholic/2001/05/ludmilas-story.aspx

2 Ritchie, Hilary, Ludmila Javorova: For Such a Time as This : March 26, 2014, CBE International cbeinternational.org/blogs/ludmila-javorova-such-tim

3. ‘kairos’ - ancient Greek word meaning the right, critical, or opportune moment.

4 Tarjanyi, Judy, Female Priest Tells Her Story:Toledo Blade July 14, 2001.

5. ibid.

6. Ritchie, ibid.

7. Ritchie, ibid.

8. Ritchie, ibid.

9. Ritchie, ibid.

10. ‘My Priesthood as a Woman Has Been Different’, February 24, 2014, The Call, An Online Magazine of the American Catholic Church , http://anccthecall.org/2014/02/24/my-priesthood-as-a-woman-has-been-different/

11. ibid.

12. ibid.

_______________________________________________________

This page contributed by Therese Koturbash:

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, womenpriests.org and Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. Her paid work is as a family attorney.

Carmel McEnroy obituary: Catholic theologian fired for views on woman priests Staunch advocate for women’s rights described as ‘a canary in the Catholic coal mine’

In today's (27 Dec 19) Irish Times: the obituary of Sr. Carmela McEnroy. In 1995, she was fired from her tenured position teaching theology at a US American seminary on account of being accused of ‘public dissent ‘from church teaching. Sr. Carmela was one of over 1,000 people who signed an open letter to Pope John Paul II asking him to reopen dialogue on women’s ordination.

McEnroy is thought to be the first victim of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (John Paul II's 'papal no' to women's ordination and to dialogue about it).

her book, Guests in Their Own House: The Women of Vatican II (1996), is deemed to be the most insightful account to date of the 23 female auditors who participated in Vatican II. It is the first full history of the 23 women who were permitted to 'observe' proceedings of the Second Vatican Council. Her detective work for this work was done long before the days of online resources and connectivity. The book won a 1997 Catholic Book Award for History/Biography.

Your memory is a blessing for us, Sr. Carmela. We will not disappoint you! Rest in power and please pray for us.

_______________________

Carmel McEnroy obituary: Catholic theologian fired for views on woman priests - Staunch advocate for women’s rights described as ‘a canary in the Catholic coal mine’

The Irish Times | December 27, 2019

Sr Carmel McEnroy 
Born: May 15th, 1936  
Died: December 3rd, 2019

Mercy Sister Carmel McEnroy, the author of a groundbreaking book on the role of women in the Second Vatican Council, has died. Born and educated in Ireland, Sr McEnroy spent most of her adult life working in the United States as an eminent theologian and staunch advocate for justice and women’s rights.

Sr Carmel McEnroy with her dog: her book, Guests in Their Own House: The Women of Vatican II (1996), is deemed to be the most insightful account to date of the 23 female auditors who participated in Vatican II

Her book, Guests in Their Own House: The Women of Vatican II (1996), is deemed to be the most insightful account to date of the 23 female auditors who participated in Vatican II. Although spiritual renewal and modernisation of the Roman Catholic Church was at the heart of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), women were not invited to be part of its deliberations until 1964 and even then, many of the bishops found their presence difficult.

Sr McEnroy was fired from her post as professor in theology in 1995 after she signed an open letter to Pope John Paul II and the American bishops asking that the discussion of women’s ordination be allowed to continue

In what was the first published account of the role of women at the council, Sr McEnroy wrote about how the 23 female auditors helped shape the language of documents and in some cases had full voting rights on mixed [gender] commissions. In an article published on the Mercy Sisters’ website in January 2013, she recalled how within 20 years of the closing of Vatican II, the fact that there were women at the council was already being forgotten.

“This exclusion motivated me to recover the dangerous memory of the female auditors before it was irretrievably lost,” she said. The book, which won the American Catholic Book Award for History/Biography in 1997, was re-published in 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.

Baptised Margaret Carmel Elizabeth McEnroy, she grew up the third of seven children born to Bernard and Agnes McEnroy in Carrickmakeegan, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim. She excelled at her studies in the Mercy Secondary School in Ballymahon, Co Longford, and entered the Sisters of Mercy as a postulant in 1955. She made her final profession in 1961. Volunteering for the missions in the US, she was sent to Jefferson City in the Missouri Diocese. She taught at and was principal of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Columbia, Missouri, for many years.

Sr McEnroy received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967 from Marillac College in St Louis, Missouri. She completed a master’s in theology in 1976 followed by a doctorate in 1984 at the University of St Michael’s College at the St George’s Campus of the University of Toronto.

She went on to become a distinguished theologian, teaching systematic theology at St Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St Meinrad, Indiana, for 14 years. However, she was fired from her post as professor in theology in 1995 after she signed an open letter to Pope John Paul II and the American bishops asking that the discussion of women’s ordination be allowed to continue. The letter, which was published in the National Catholic Reporter in November 1994, was written in response to the pope’s Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of May 1994 which sought to close the debate on women priests definitively.

In autobiographical notes at the end of her book on women in Vatican II, Sr McEnroy wrote how she was fired from her teaching position “with less than two weeks’ notice, no due process and the insulting offer of half a year’s already meagre salary”. The charge brought against Sr McEnroy, was public dissent from magisterial teaching in regard to women’s ordination even though she had signed the letter in a private capacity.

The resignation of Sr Bridget Clare McKeever, a Sister of St Louis and also a tenured professor at St Meinrad’s College, and the Catholic Theological Society of America’s questioning of the charge of dissent and a call for Sr McEnroy’s reinstatement did nothing to budge the authorities at St Meinrad’s decision to sack Sr McEnroy.

'She was a sign to other Catholic women scholars that there is no recourse from the power of the patriarchal church to crush its opposition'

Sr McEnroy took a civil action against St Meinrad but in 1999, the court of appeals of Indiana ruled in favour of the seminary’s argument that resolution of the action would “excessively entangle the court in religious matters in violation of the First Amendment”. The American Association of University Professors censured St Meinrad School of Theology for violating Sr McEnroy’s academic freedom.

Speaking to Global Sisters Report about Sr McEnroy, the feminist theologian, Mary Hunt described her as “a canary in the Catholic coal mine”. Hunt said, “She was a sign to other Catholic women scholars that there is no recourse from the power of the patriarchal church to crush its opposition. That seminary – like many others – still has only a minuscule percentage of women on the faculty. Yet her book remains a classic in the field, a gift to a church that did not want to read what she had to say but could not deny the truth of her message.”

Sr McEnroy went on to work as a visiting professor of theology at the Berea College and Lexington Theological Seminary, both Protestant educational institutions in Kentucky.

As well as her sharp intellectual skills, Sr McEnroy maintained a strong interest in Irish art and music throughout her life. She loved nature and explored photography and art: in her latter years, she produced some beautiful watercolour paintings. A loyal and generous friend, she also remained very close to her siblings, nieces and nephews, always remembering birthdays, graduations and wedding anniversaries. She returned to Ireland in her retirement, living her final years with members of the Mercy community and her beloved dogs in Renmore, Co Galway.

She is survived by her sisters Rita (Fitzgerald) and Noreen (Smith), her brother Brian, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, cousins, many friends and Sisters of Mercy, Western Province. Her sisters, Sr Bernadette and Sr Gabriel, and Br Ignatius pre-deceased her.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/carmel-mcenroy-obituary-catholic-theologian-fired-for-views-on-woman-priests-1.4120617

Ousted cardinal McCarrick gave more than $600,000 to fellow clerics, including two popes, records show: Washington Post 26 Dec 2019

Editorial note from Women’s Ordination Worldwide: Cash for favours or to avoid investigation of sex abuse?

Recent sad news reveals that serial sex abuser of seminarians and more, now former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (‘Uncle Ted’) gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in church money to powerful Catholic clerics over nearly two decades while the Vatican failed to act on claims he had sexually harassed young men.

McCarrick was one of the most recognizable church figures in US America during a career spanning a half-century. He traveled the world for the Vatican and became the U.S. Catholic Church’s de facto spokesman nearly two decades ago as it reeled from a sex-abuse crisis that began in Boston.]

What The Washington Post does not point out is that in the midst of this grave scandal, McCarrick has never been excommunicated. Funny that. Had he had taken part in the ‘grave crime’ of ordination of a woman, McCarrick would have been immediately excommunicated and defrocked within a year.

The Vatican and it’s record on a) women and b) justice leaves a lot to be desired. There are people who need to go to jail.
_________________

Ousted cardinal McCarrick gave more than $600,000 to fellow clerics, including two popes, records show

The Washington Post | Investigations
By Shawn Boburg,
Robert O'Harrow Jr. and
Chico Harlan
Dec. 26, 2019

Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in church money to powerful Catholic clerics over nearly two decades, according to financial records obtained by The Washington Post, while the Vatican failed to act on claims he had sexually harassed young men.

Starting in 2001, McCarrick sent checks totaling more than $600,000 to clerics in Rome and elsewhere, including Vatican bureaucrats, papal advisers and two popes, according to church ledgers and former church officials.

Ousted cardinal McCarrick gave more than $600,000 to fellow clerics, including two popes, records show

Several of the more than 100 recipients were directly involved in assessing misconduct claims against McCarrick, documents and interviews show. It was not until 2018 that McCarrick was removed from public ministry amid allegations of misconduct decades earlier with a 16-year-old altar boy, and this year he became the first cardinal known to be defrocked for sexual abuse.

The checks were drawn from a little-known account at the Archdiocese of Washington, where McCarrick began serving as archbishop in 2001. The “Archbishop’s Special Fund” enabled him to raise money from wealthy Catholic donors and to spend it as he chose, with little oversight, according to the former officials.

McCarrick sent Pope John Paul II $90,000 from 2001 to 2005. Pope Benedict XVI received $291,000, most of it a single check for $250,000 in May 2005, a month after he was elevated to succeed the late John Paul.

Representatives of the former popes declined to comment or said they had no information about those specific checks. A former personal secretary to John Paul said donations to the pope were forwarded to the secretary of state, the second most powerful post at the Vatican. Experts cautioned that such gifts may also have been directed to papal charities.

A Vatican spokesman declined to comment. In statements, Vatican clerics who received checks described them as customary gifts among Catholic leaders during the Christmas season or as a gesture of appreciation for their service. They said the gifts from McCarrick were directed to charity or used for other proper purposes.

The gifts “never had any effect on the Cardinal’s decision-making as an official of the Holy See,” said a spokesman for Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, a high-ranking cleric who received $6,500 from McCarrick in the 2000s, the ledgers show.

The checks from McCarrick’s fund add a new dimension to a scandal over how he rose to the highest levels of the U.S. Catholic Church and remained there despite complaints of misconduct that reached the Vatican as early as 2000. A Post investigation earlier this year found that another cleric, a McCarrick ally who was a bishop in West Virginia, also gave cash gifts to influential clergy in the United States and at the Vatican while facing allegations of sexual misconduct and financial abuses.

Do you have information about a fund or charity controlled by a high-ranking cleric in the U.S. Catholic Church? Tell the Washington Post about it using this confidential form.

McCarrick, a legendary fundraiser for the church, was defrocked in February after Vatican officials found him guilty of two charges: soliciting sex during confession and committing “sins” with minors and adults “with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.”

The Vatican plans to release a report about its handling of the allegations against McCarrick in the coming months, church officials have said. The financial records from the Archbishop’s Special Fund are among the documents church officials in Washington sent to Rome for that examination, according to one former archdiocese official. The former officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

An attorney for McCarrick did not respond to requests for comment for this story. In his only public statements about the misconduct allegations, McCarrick recently told a reporter, “I do not believe that I did the things that they accuse me of.”

In a statement to The Post, the Archdiocese of Washington said McCarrick had sole control of the tax-exempt fund.

“The funds in the account came from donations sent personally to Mr. McCarrick to direct in his sole discretion,” the archdiocese said. “During his tenure in Washington, Mr. McCarrick made contributions to many charitable and religious organizations and members of leadership in the Church.”

The ledgers obtained by The Post show names of beneficiaries, check numbers, amounts and dates of disbursement. The ledgers also contain the names of donors for the years 2010 to 2016.

McCarrick’s fund took in more than $6 million over 17 years. Among the biggest contributors was Maryanne Trump Barry, the sister of President Trump and a former federal appellate judge. She gave him at least $450,000 over four years, the records show. She declined to comment.

McCarrick directed millions of dollars from the fund to Catholic charities in the United States and in Rome, as well as organizations in countries stricken by poverty and conflict, the ledgers show.

Yet nearly 200 checks were sent to fellow clerics, including more than 60 archbishops and cardinals.

The leader of a foundation that made substantial contributions to McCarrick’s fund said he was surprised to learn that checks went to clerics. Tom Riley, president of the Connelly Foundation, based outside Philadelphia, said in a statement that his group’s contributions were meant to help “the poor, the needy, refugees, and the mission of the Catholic Church.”

“Everything about the current situation is a source of terrible sadness for us,” he said.

McCarrick greets the crowd at the completion of his installation as archbishop of Washington in 2001 at St. Matthew’s Cathedral. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Checks to key figures

McCarrick, 89, became one of the most recognizable church figures in America during a career spanning a half-century. He traveled the world for the Vatican and became the U.S. Catholic Church’s de facto spokesman nearly two decades ago as it reeled from a sex-abuse crisis that began in Boston. In Washington, he presided over funerals of the city’s political elite, including Edward M. Kennedy, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, and hosted dinners for President George W. Bush and other dignitaries

Behind the scenes, McCarrick’s alleged conduct so alarmed some of his fellow clerics that they reported it to superiors, according to documents that have been posted online in recent years and interviews with some of those involved.

One of those who came forward was the Rev. Boniface Ramsey, a teacher in the late 1980s and early 1990s at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in the Archdiocese of Newark. McCarrick was leader of the archdiocese for more than a decade.

Ramsey said publicly last year that he called the Vatican’s U.S. diplomat, known as the apostolic nuncio, in 2000 to sound the alarm when McCarrick was announced as the next archbishop in Washington.

“I was just shocked,” Ramsey said in a recent interview with The Post.

Ramsey said he told the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, that McCarrick routinely took students from the seminary to his New Jersey beach house and pressured them to sleep with him in his bed. Ramsey told Montalvo he was not aware of any sexual contact but considered McCarrick’s behavior inappropriate.

Montalvo instructed Ramsey to put his claims in writing so they could be forwarded to the Vatican, and Ramsey did so, he said. Ramsey heard nothing back until 2006, when he received a letter from Sandri, then an archbishop in the Vatican secretary of state’s office. The letter briefly acknowledged his warning from several years earlier, according to a copy he posted online.

The ledgers obtained by The Post show that McCarrick was writing checks in those years to Montalvo, Sandri and other senior prelates responsible for managing clerics or handling sex-abuse allegations.

The Rev. J. Augustine Di Noia in 2009. He now is an archbishop. (Domenico Stinellis/AP)

Montalvo accepted three checks from McCarrick worth a total of $5,000 before his death in 2006, the ledgers show, while Sandri received the $6,500 from 2002 to 2008.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who until 2006 served as secretary of state, received $19,000 from 2002 to 2016, the records show.

Sodano did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The Rev. J. Augustine Di Noia, an American who in 2001 started working in the Vatican office that assessed sex-abuse claims, accepted six checks worth a total of $9,500 from 2001 to 2009, the records show.

In a statement, a spokesman for Di Noia, now an archbishop, said the first check was for expenses related to his move to the Vatican. Others were “Christmas-time offerings” or were given to support him as he transferred to another Vatican post in 2009.

“Archbishop Di Noia affirms categorically that Theodore McCarrick never attempted to influence him in his work for the Holy See,” he said. “Whatever were Theodore McCarrick’s tragic personal failures, it is nevertheless a sad day when improper motives are reflexively assigned to assistance given and received in good faith.”

Told by The Post of McCarrick’s checks, Ramsey said he was not surprised.

“I assumed something like this was going on,” he said. “But I didn’t know checks were going to individual clerics.”

Lack of action

A retired bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, N.J., said in a statement last year that in December 2005 he contacted Montalvo with new allegations about McCarrick, who had been bishop there in the 1980s. Bishop Emeritus Paul Bootkoski said he called the apostolic nuncio and then followed up in writing to relay two former seminarians’ claims of sexual misconduct by McCarrick.

Officials in the Metuchen Diocese deemed one claim so significant that they had secretly paid an $80,000 settlement, according to recent news accounts. They would pay $100,000 to the second seminarian a short time later.

While leaders in Rome considered how to proceed, McCarrick reached retirement age. In May 2006, he stepped down from his post in Washington, his public reputation untarnished. He remained prominent in church affairs and in his capacity as archbishop emeritus was allowed to maintain control of the special fund.

At least one Vatican official has said he was infuriated by the lack of action against McCarrick. Late in 2006, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò wrote a memo urging Sandri and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, then the secretary of state, to sanction McCarrick, according to a public letter Viganò released through Catholic publications in 2018.

Viganò wrote that his superiors never responded to the memo he sent in 2006. He accused Vatican officials of protecting McCarrick and asserted that McCarrick “had the financial means to influence decisions” at the time. He did not elaborate in the letter and did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Viganò’s August 2018 letter was published soon after the church announced that McCarrick was being removed from public ministry.

Critics of Viganò have accused him of using the letter to undermine progressive adversaries within the church. In public statements, some top Vatican officials have disputed details of Viganò’s account, including his claim that Pope Francis was aware of detailed allegations against McCarrick years ago but ignored them. Francis does not appear among the list of check recipients, according to the ledgers obtained by The Post.

At the same time Viganò says he was urging sanctions, McCarrick continued sending checks to key church figures. The checks were often clustered around Christmas, with just over half recorded in the ledgers in December or January, according to a Post analysis. In some cases, McCarrick started giving clerics money when they took on new jobs with more authority.

In 2007, among the new beneficiaries was Bertone, who had recently been named secretary of state. Records show that Bertone received seven checks worth a total of $7,000 before he stepped down in 2013.

Cardinal Fernando Filoni began receiving checks in 2008, soon after he was elevated to be a top aide to Bertone. Filoni received $3,500 through 2013, the records show.

Viganò said in his public letter that he shared his concerns about McCarrick with Filoni in 2008. Once again, nothing came of it, Viganò said.

“I was greatly dismayed at my superiors for the inconceivable absence of any measure against the Cardinal,” Viganò wrote.

Bertone and Filoni did not respond to messages seeking comment.

McCarrick also gave to lower-level officials in Rome.

American Archbishop Peter Wells started receiving checks in 2010, the year after he took a key Vatican job under Filoni. Wells had received $2,500 by the time the checks stopped in 2016, the year he left the post for an assignment outside the Vatican.

Other recipients included the longtime head of the papal household, Cardinal James Harvey, and at least two priests working as personal assistants to Benedict and John Paul.

Wells did not respond to messages seeking comment.

In an interview, Harvey said numerous bishops from big cities in the United States sent him monetary gifts to show appreciation for his office’s help, including in making arrangements for visits to the pope.

“It never occurred to me that this would be in some way improper,” he said.

“It wasn’t about currying favor,” Harvey said. “It wasn’t some parallel system of nefarious activity.”

McCarrick, as archbishop of Washington, and other U.S. cardinals and bishops prepare for a reception at the U.S. Embassy in 2005 with President George W. Bush. (Andrea Bruce/The Washington Post)

A spokesman for Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, called such gifts common and said they do not influence how Parolin exercises his official responsibilities. He received $1,000 from McCarrick shortly after becoming secretary of state in 2013.

“To send and receive such gifts is customary during the Christmas season, including between Bishops, as a sign of appreciation for work carried out in the service of the universal Church and for the Holy Father,” the spokesman said in a statement.

Some experts, told of The Post’s findings, said cash gifts can create the appearance of a conflict.

“It raises questions about whether McCarrick was buying access or protection,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a columnist at Religion News Service and author of a book about Vatican politics and operations. “This doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Former West Virginia bishop Michael J. Bransfield gave $350,000 in cash gifts to clerics in the United States and at the Vatican from 2005 to 2018, The Post reported in June. He used church money that was routed through his personal account.

The church began investigating Bransfield last year after one of his top aides wrote in a confidential letter to church leaders that the gifts, many of them sent around the Christmas season, were an attempt to “purchase influence.” The investigation later faulted Bransfield for the gifts and found that he inappropriately spent millions of dollars in church money on personal extravagances and engaged in sexual misconduct with seminarians and young priests. Bransfield, who was removed from public ministry in July, has denied wrongdoing.

More than a dozen recipients of Bransfield’s gifts pledged to return the money after The Post reported that it was drawn from church accounts.

At least 17 clerics who received cash gifts from Bransfield also received checks from McCarrick, records show.

Well-known donors

The donors to the Archbishop’s Special Fund include wealthy and well-known figures.

Among them are novelist Mary Higgins Clark; John B. Hess, chief executive of oil giant Hess Corp.; and a foundation run by Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.), who previously served as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, the ledgers show.

“For many years I have supported a long list of Catholic charities and causes because I believe in the work they do,” Clark said in a statement. “If the money I donated to Cardinal McCarrick was misused in any way, it was without my knowledge, and I am shocked and saddened.”

Hess and Rooney did not respond to requests for comment.

Another donor was William McIntosh, a former Wall Street executive. McIntosh said he got to know McCarrick in the 1990s when both served on the board of the Papal Foundation, a Philadelphia-based charity that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for initiatives favored by the pope. McCarrick was a founder of the charity and its first president.

McIntosh said he began sending contributions to McCarrick when he was archbishop in Newark for a discretionary charitable account he controlled at the time. McIntosh said he trusted McCar­rick’s judgment and was unaware that money he sent him over the years went to other clerics.

A few days after being installed as archbishop in January 2001, McCarrick is assisted in the preparation of incense by altar servers at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Northwest Washington. (Juana Arias/The Washington Post)

“Based on my work with him at the Papal Foundation, I considered him excellent at what he did and tried to be helpful,” McIntosh said. “I had no idea what he was doing with it. I assumed he was doing good things.”

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Newark, Maria Margiotta, declined to answer questions about the fund McCarrick controlled there. “Since matters involving former Cardinal McCar­rick are under review by law enforcement and/or involve litigation, it would be inappropriate for us to discuss publicly,” she said.

The current archbishop of Newark, Joseph W. Tobin, received a $1,000 check from McCarrick in 2016, the ledgers show. Margiotta said that the check was a gift marking Tobin’s elevation as a cardinal and that he believes he deposited it “in a personal account, where it was used to defray the expenses incurred by his new responsibilities or for charitable purposes.”

Some of the money that flowed into McCarrick’s fund came from a foundation that he advised as a board member.

McCarrick directed at least $250,000 to his fund from the Loyola Foundation between 2011 and 2016, as he sat on the foundation’s board, said Executive Director Gregory McCarthy. Each foundation board member was allowed to designate an annual allotment to a favored charity, McCarthy said.

“In this case, the funds went to the Archbishop’s Fund, which was overseen by the Archdiocese of Washington,” McCarthy said. “Frankly I did not know where the funds would go from there.”

McCarthy said foundation officials received assurances from the Archdiocese of Washington that McCarrick’s account was a legitimate charitable fund.

According to two former archdiocese officials, the fund was reviewed yearly to account for expenditures and deposits but otherwise received minimal oversight.

Meanwhile, the number of people claiming to have been abused by McCarrick continues to expand. Early this year, U.S. church officials sent the Vatican allegations involving at least seven boys and dating from 1970 to 1990, The Post has reported.

Amid the fallout, the Catholic Church has been under pressure to explain how it ignored or missed years of warnings. The Vatican report addressing those issues is expected to be released as early as January. In announcing the review in 2018, the Vatican said in a statement that “both abuse and its cover-up can no longer be tolerated.”

McCarrick celebrates Mass at the Basilica of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus in Rome in 2005. (Andrea Bruce/The Washington Post)

Harlan reported from Rome. Stefano Pitrelli in Rome and Andrew Ba Tran and Alice Crites in Washington contributed to this report.

Women's Ordination Worldwide: 2019 A Year in Review

Members of Women’s Ordination Worldwide in action at the Vatican’s Synod on the Amazon. October 2019

2019 was a year of action for Women’s Ordination Worldwide. Here is a review of worldwide events and where took action.

• 2019: In February, Pope Francis acknowledged a longstanding dirty secret in the Roman Catholic Church — the sexual abuse of nuns by priests. It's an issue that had long been kept under wraps, but in the #MeToo era, a #NunsToo movement has emerged, and now sexual abuse is more widely discussed. Sexual Abuse of Nuns: Longstanding Church Scandal Emerges From The Shadows
  
  
  

• 2019: Women’s Ordination Worldwide writes to Pope Francis asking the hierarchy to stop mansplaining Easter ‘The hostage-taking of Christianity by the all male clerical caste is wrong. Why is Pope Francis allowing this injustice to continue when Jesus reminded us that we are all in his image and that we are all asked to bring his message of love to the world? Dear Pope Francis, if Jesus chose Mary Magdalene to be the herald of the Good News, why won't we be hearing a woman preaching the Gospel this Easter Sunday?
  
  
  

• 2019: April —Sr. Ruth Schönenberger, prioress of the monastery of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing, and responsible for Benedictine communities in Bernried, also in Bavaria, and Dresden, in Saxony (The Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing has 1,300 sisters in 19 countries) publicly calls for gender equality in the Church. ‘I take for granted that a woman can also be ordained. I do not understand the reasons against it. I am surprised that the presence of Christ is reduced to being a man. We have here also qualified theologians who only lack consecration — nothing else. I often wonder why this differentiation is made based on sex and not qualifications and further education. One should look for who is qualified for this task.’
  
  
  

• 2019: May - Statement of Indian Women Theologians Forum: ‘The servitude that is the lot of a great majority of women betrays male privilege that is normalized in families and in the Church. This situation makes us interrogate whether the ‘Gender Policy of the Catholic Church in India’ acclaimed as the first of its kind, has remained a failed promise even after 10 years of its existence… Speaking truth to power like the Syrophoenician woman of the Gospels, we reclaim our position, voice and rights as disciples of Jesus in the Church. Stepping beyond the boundaries of gendered identity constructions that have devalued us over the ages, we wish to retrieve our full humanity as persons created, graced and commissioned by the empowering God to build a new Church and social order which is egalitarian and inclusive. We resolve to continue our struggle to build a GENDER JUST CHURCH by exercising our collective agency and networking with individuals and communities committed to realizing the vision of the Reign of God in this world.’

• 2019: Pope Francis stalls on restoration of the ordained women’s diaconate. He claimes a lack of clarity as to historical roots of the sacramental rite. Women’s Ordination Worldwide calls for action through its statement, Women’s Ordination Worldwide Responds to Pope Francis’s Delay on Women Deacons.
  
  
  

• 2019: German Catholic women launch a weeklong boycott by suspending voluntary work in churches. Their protest has crystallized fury over a male-only priesthood and bishops' foot-dragging on sex scandals. The grassroots Catholic women's movement Maria 2.0 holds its own services, without priests, outside Catholic churches in 50 cities and towns in Germany. From May 11 until May 18, participating women do not enter churches or perform volunteer work in their parishes in order to make known how empty the churches are without women. Ruth Koch, a leader of Maria 2.0, calls on the Vatican to open the priesthood to women and to drop the celibacy requirement for priests. She explains that the name Mary (Maria in German) is chosen for the movement because she is the most important woman in the Bible. The term 2.0 refers to a new and modern version. It is reported that Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück supports the campaign.
  
  
  

• 2019: May - Fr. Frank Brennan, SJ, Professor of Law in the Public Policy Institute at the Australian Catholic University, Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Social Services in Australia and former Chair of Australia’s National Human Rights Consultation Committee renews his call for Church to consider women priests. Saying he has long been a supporter of women’s ordination, he observes the Church must adapt and ensure equality for everyone. He expresses his fear for the future of the Church unless it engages in open dialogue on issues such as women priests. In a talk at a Concerned Catholics of Canberra Goulburn forum, he refers to Pope Francis's view that a church that loses its humility and stops listening to others "loses her youth and turns into a museum". Yet this thinking has not been extended to speaking about women priests. He observes: "The official position is no longer comprehensible to most people of good will, and not even those at the very top of the hierarchy have a willingness or capacity to explain it.”
  
  
  

• 2019: June - SANTIAGO, Chile — Pope Francis accepts the resignation of the auxiliary bishop of Santiago, Carlos Eugenio Irarrázabal, just 24 days after the pontiff appointed him to the post, and weeks after the bishop made comments about the lack of women at the Last Supper. His short tenure began with a television interview in which he noted that there were no women seated at the table at the Last Supper and that “we have to respect that.” “Jesus Christ made decisions, and they were not ideological,” he said, “and we want to be faithful to Jesus Christ.” He also said that perhaps women “like to be in the back room.” The bishop’s comments angered women’s groups and critics of the church in Chile at a time when confidence in church leadership in the once staunchly Catholic nation has plummeted. In a statement issued by the archdiocese, Bishop Irarrázabal said he wanted to “reiterate my apologies to those have been affected by my comments.”
  
  
  

• 2019: July - Pope Francis who has said repeatedly said that "time is greater than space," and some six years and three months into his pontificate, appoints seven women — superiors general of religious orders — to the space of a Vatican congregation. This is a first. As members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, these women will have a voice as part of the global body most directly involved in matters related to their vocation. A call is made for a ‘Synod on Women.’
  
  
  

• 2019: August - Retired Father Joseph Patrick Breen speaks out publicly in support of ordination of women. Citing that ‘women in most every Christian church today can be priests or ministers’ and that women in Judaism, the faith of Jesus, are ordained, he says, ‘We need to study this and overcome prejudice we inherited from the past and fully appreciate the greatness of womanhood and equality. I also believe it is a matter of justice. I would encourage us, as a church, to study, pray and have a sincere discussion to perhaps come to a better understanding. Women priests would certainly enhance the quality of our church and our faith experiences, and in turn be a great blessing to our church. I believe that we must respond to “the signs of the times” and make changes, if we want people to stay with us and return to the church.’

• 2019: Radicals and the Rule - Member group of Women’s Ordination Worldwide Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) hosts a ‘not-to-be-missed fall event’, "Radicals and The Rule," a conversation between Benedictine sisters Joan Chittister and Teresa Forcades. These radical sisters follow the Rule of Benedict - but they're not afraid to challenge other rules. The event is a first encounter between these Catholic feminist leaders, and an her-storic evening for WOC.
  
  
  

• 2019: October - Women’s Ordination Worldwide’s International Steering Committee meets in Lisbon, Portugal. The meeting is hosted by member group Nós Somos Igreja (We Are Church Portugal).
  
  
  

• 2019: October - Women’s Ordination Worldwide publicly gathers at the Vatican’s Synod on the Amazon to remind Synod Bishops who gather to discuss priest shortages in Amazonia that women are already serving in priestly roles and to demand that they too are recognized as equal leaders of the Church. Women’s Ordination Worldwide joins the call for ecological justice and says that it cannot be separated from the call for spiritual and sacramental equality. WOW’s message to the Synod is: "Empowered women will save the Earth, Empowered women will save the Church" . Click here for WOW’s Press Release WOW at the Amazon Synod to Demand that Women Are Finally Recognized as Equal Church Leaders. Although police issue WOW a protest and procession permit, procession is is disallowed when police see that the umbrellas have the subversive words ‘Women Priests’ printed on them. Unmarked umbrellas, say police, are fine but not ones that say women priests. The action is covered by international media.
  
  
  

• 2019: Women’s Ordination Worldwide is encouraged by the renewal of the Pact of the Catacombs, signed by 40 Bishops from the Synod on October 20, demanding that the church: ‘Recognize the services and real diakonia of a great number of women who today direct communities’ and for ‘an adequate ministry of women leaders of the community’. Without women, the Catholic Church would not exist in the Amazon and it is a matter of justice that they too are finally empowered as equals rather than being supplanted by local men whilst women continue to do the work of serving the communities.
  
  
  

• 2019: October Bishops presiding at the Vatican’s Synod on the Amazon signal openness to giving married men the green light to priestly ordination but still keep women marginalised by holding that restoration of the ordained women’s diaconate requires yet further study. Women’s Ordination Worldwide Responds to the Amazon Synod Conclusion that Women’s Ministry Requires Further Study by saying, ‘Adding married men to sacramental ministry in the Amazon will further push aside the women the Synod recognised are currently doing the work. This reinforces prejudice and signals the supplanting of women whose spiritual leadership will be sacrificed in the name of God but is for the sake of men.’
  
  
  

• 2019: November San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy publicly announces his support for restoration of the ordained women’s diaconate. This appears as the first such public disclosure of a U.S. prelate since Pope Francis reopened consideration of the history of women's diaconal ordination in 2016.
  
  
  

• 2019: November 2- Women the Vatican Couldn't Silence, WOW member group We Are Church Ireland, Voices of Faith, Trinity College Dublin jointly host former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese and Sister Joan Chittister OSB speak their truth about issues besetting the Catholic Church today that are mobilizing Catholic women and men into action and what our current leaders need to do...for a start, listen.
  
  
  

• 2019: December German Synodal Path opens: With growing dissatisfaction within the Catholic Church in Germany, the German Church begins a "synodal path" aimed at renewal. The loudest voice for a transformation of the church — comes from Catholic women who are no longer willing to accept a subordinate role in a male-dominated church. ‘The grief that women have had to endure through the power of churchmen was too great, and the hope for real change is too small, ‘ says Mechthild Heil who is the leader of the Catholic Women's Association in Germany and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union Party in the Bundestag. Women are calling for full equality between women and men, and women's access to all ministries in the church. "This includes all ordained ministries and governing ministries," she says.
  
  
  

• 2019 Advent: Augustinian priest John Shea writes to Pope Francis reminding him that Advent is a time to wake up asking him to wake up to the injustices against women in the Church.
  
  
  

• 2019 Advent: Augustinian priest John Shea writes to the College of Cardinals reminding them that Advent is a time to wake up to the injustices against women in the Church.
  
  
  

• 2019: German Synodal Path - The Catholic Women’s Association of Germany (KFD) draws ‘red lines’ for that country’s Church’s ‘synodal path’ reform process: full equality in Church responsibility and a call to Rome for women’s ordination With an eventual petition to Rome to ordain women, the German Bishops would send a signal that the desire for female priests is there “not only in the Church in Germany, but also in the world Church”, say Agnes Wuckelt, Vice President of KFD. She is a member of the synodal path forum on Women in service and offices of the Church. She tells katholische.de: ‘If that [petition to Rome] did not happen, in our eyes definitely a red line would be crossed.’ Her Association is pushing for the access of women to priestly ordination via the first step, if necessary, of the sacramental diaconate. The KFD recognises that the German Church can’t take such a step on its own without the rest of the world Church. But the Association does expect that if the synodal path calls for women’s ordination, the German Bishops will take that call to the Vatican.
  
  
  

• 2019 Advent: French Bishop Vesco publicly admits, ‘Sometimes, I have the impression that Jesus’ view of women was much more open than ours. Is it that the Word of God cannot be commented on by a woman at Sunday Mass? This is really a question that touches me. Today, we have women trained in theology. Why can’t we ever hear them preach?’
  
  
  

• 2019 Advent: Cardinal Walter Kasper, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, former member of the International Theological Commission, and known as ‘the Pope’s theologian, says he is convinced that “in time, doors will be opened” to women at the altar, celebrating the Mass.

We look forward to advancing progress for women’s equality in the Church in 2020.

Christ is Born! Let Us Rejoice!

Christ is born! Let us rejoice!

Byzantine icons often depict the midwife Salome and another woman who helped the Virgin Mary during the nativity of Jesus Christ. The ancient text of The Protoevangelium of James (thought to be from about 145 AD) provide details. Because of her presence at the birth, Salome is therefore believed to have been the first person to bear witness to the birth of Jesus and to recognize him as the Christ. From The Protevangelium we read:

Midwife Salome and another woman depicted in the lower right corner of this icon.

And I [Joseph] saw a woman coming down from the hill-country, and she said to me: O man, whither are you going? And I said: I am seeking an Hebrew midwife. And she answered and said to me: Are you of Israel? And I said to her: Yes. And she said: And who is it that is bringing forth in the cave? And I said: A woman betrothed to me.

And the midwife went away with him. And they stood in the place of the cave, and behold a luminous cloud overshadowed the cave. And the midwife said: My soul has been magnified this day, because my eyes have seen strange things — because salvation has been brought forth to Israel. And immediately the cloud disappeared out of the cave, and a great light shone in the cave, so that the eyes could not bear it. And in a little that light gradually decreased, until the infant appeared, and went and took the breast from His mother Mary. And the midwife cried out, and said: This is a great day to me, because I have seen this strange sight. And the midwife went forth out of the cave, and Salome met her. And she said to her: Salome, Salome, I have a strange sight to relate to you: a virgin has brought forth — a thing which her nature admits not of.

Meister Eckhart tells us, ‘We are all called to be mothers of God for God is always needing to be born.’

When I reflect on the work for women’s ordination, women’s equality in our Church and the work for social justice in the world, I remember that our world is in labour. We are the midwives, the mothers, the people helping a new way to be born. We are the ‘undoers’ of knots in the work of redemption. The story of Christ’s birth reminds us that we are a community and that we are not alone. Our work is in service to justice. It is also work for conversion and ultimately it is work for love.

In our fragility, in our struggles and in our fierceness, as difficult as it can be, our calling is to do this work well and to do it with love.

Christ is at the centre of the story and it is Christ who brings us together. We are helping Christ to be born.

Wishing everyone a warm, blessed, merry Christmas from

Women’s Ordination Worldwide

Undoing the Knots: Elizabeth Says 'He Will Be Called John' -- A woman's view of Gospel Liberation —

In anticipation of Christ’s birth, the gospel reading for December 23* tells the story of Elizabeth naming her son John (He grows up to be John the Baptist.) I recently enjoyed being part of a conversation with theologian Tina Beattie about this reading. That conversation inspires this reflection.

The naming of John the Baptist: While friends and neighbours expect that in keeping with custom, the child will be named Zechariah, John’s mother Elizabeth chooses his name. Zechariah remains silenced by God until he endorses Elizabeth’s choice.

What do we hear and see in this reading that is part of the grand story of Christ's birth? The naming of John foreshadows what Christ’s presence will bring for women. We learn that Mary's cousin Elizabeth exercises personal agency when she independently names her son ‘John’, while her husband, Zechariah, a priest, remains silenced by God until he agrees with her!

Our Lady, Mary, Undoer of Knots is one of Pope Francis’s favourite devotions

If we follow feminist biblical scholar Phyllis Trible's interpretation of Genesis - that the man calling his wife by name after eating the fruit was the first act of proprietorial domination of the woman by the man - then we can see Elizabeth's naming of John as the first truly great prophetic act of his ministry. The priest is silenced while the woman exercises authority in naming the child. While friends and neighbours expect that custom will be followed so that the child will be named Zechariah after his father, instead, Elizabeth chooses 'John'. In doing so, she does not acquiesce to custom. Through Elizabeth, this new name will be used for the first time. The act of naming and the choice of name become symbols of women's liberation in the story of Christ. Elizabeth independently exercises her personal agency. In the story of Christ, she is empowered to open the door to a new way.

If, as Irenaeus says, the incarnation undoes the knots all the way back to creation, then surely in Elizabeth and Mary being given the authority to name their children, we see the untying of the knots that have kept women bound into silence and submission?

In a world where poverty and oppression wear a feminine face, the priest who is silenced, the husband whose wife is a virgin, the Incarnation who comes first to the poor are vital signs of redemption for women. In the incarnation, the wife ceases to be the bodily property of her husband whose primary function is to bear him children. The priest ceases to have the authority to speak on behalf of the woman. And despite what today's manshow might try to tell us, from the get go in the story of Christ, women are empowered to lead.

One of Pope Francis’s favourite devotions is to Mary, ‘the undoer of knots’. I like to think that in our work for women’s ordination, we are joining in that work of undoing — untying — the knots all the way back to creation so that women’s liberation in Christian faith and the world may fully florish.

*The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1 verses 57-66

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
"No. He will be called John."
But they answered her,
"There is no one among your relatives who has this name."
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name,"
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
 and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
"What, then, will this child be?
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him."

_______________________
Therese Koturbash, WOW Communications Team