WHY IS THE CHURCH SO AFRAID OF US? - July 14, 2005
/FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
JULY 14, 2005
CONTACT: Women's Ordination Worldwide
Marie Bouclin, 705-524-5418, mbouclin@tyenet.com
Virginia Lafond, 613-728-6908, virginialafond@rogers.com
Joanna Manning, 416-599-1244, jmanning@sympatico.ca
Women Reject Attempts to Silence Discussion on Ordination
Why is the church so afraid of us?
OTTAWA - July 14 - Local committee organizers of the WOW conference are saddened by the negative remarks of Archbishop Marcel Gervais and other local clergy denouncing the upcoming WOW Conference to be held at Carleton University, July 22-24 and forbidding Catholics to talk about women’s ordination.
“The hierarchy’s attempt to shut down any discussion on women priests is a reaction that does not manifest confidence in their arguments,” says Marie Bouclin, spokesperson for WOW. “It’s too bad they don’t take this as an opportunity to celebrate the great contribution of women in all the churches. The Catholic priesthood,” she adds, “would have so much to gain from women’s leadership and experience.”
A recent article in the Ottawa Citizen contained a statement from a member of the clergy to the effect that because men can’t have babies then women can’t be Fathers in the Church. “To build the theology of priesthood around this level of argument is quite pathetic,” says Virginia Lafond of the WOW hosting committee. “We would love to have the clergy come to the conference, listen to our highly qualified speakers, and celebrate our unity as women and men, equal members of the one Body of Christ.”
Several women priests from other denominations will participate in the WOW conference. 420 men and women from several continents have registered so far.
