Womenpriests Excommunicated
The big religious news story of the week seems to be Catholic Archbishop Burke of Saint Louis imposing some good old-fashioned church discipline on two seperated Catholic women. The women in question simulated ordination as Catholic priests in willful disobediance of their church. Much like Peter's three time denial of Christ, the women also denied three times any attempts at reconciliation with the church. Since the women didn't understand that they had automatically excommunicated themselves by their actions and claimed not to have been excommunicated for their simulated odination, the Archbishop humored the women by presenting them with formal decrees of excommunication. We'll bet that came as a surprise since these women and their fellow separated sisters have long taken pride in claiming that none of the priestesses have been excommunicated beyond the original group.
The official response seems to be from priestess Bridget Mary. "Roman Catholic Womenpriests reject the penalties of excommunication, interdict, and any other punitive actions..." Interesting. Rather than rejecting the excommunication, the priestesses seem to acknowledge that they are under excommunication, they just reject the penalties.
Rather than address the decree of excommunication and offer any defense as to why the women are not guilty of schism, Bridget Mary's response continues for six full paragraphs starting with a repetition of urban legends regarding women in the early church. Bridget Mary follows with an erroneous appeal to sensus fidelium by stating "Since 70% of U.S. Catholics favor women’s ordination". As Catholics in the U.S. make up less than 5% of the Catholic Church, Bridget Mary is claiming that this 4% constitutes the sense of the faithfull without any input from or surveying of the remaining 96% of the Catholic Church. Nonsense.
Bridget Mary continues on with an out-of-context quote from the current Pope on the need to follow conscience over ecclesial authority. Conveniently Bridget Mary omits the accompanying requirement to inform and develop our conscience to conform to Christ's Church.
Bridget Mary follows that weak argument with "Roman Catholic Church laws are often contradictory." The claim now is that canon 1024 limiting ordination to men contradicts canon 894 which states that baptism is the gateway to the sacraments. Rather than explain the supposed contradiction, Bridget Mary tosses in an opinion by Ida Raming, a fellow excommunicated priestess. Baptism is indeed the gateway to the sacraments because without baptism a person remains a sinner and is incapable of receiving the graces imparted by God through the sacraments. Baptism does not guarantee one will ever receive any of the following sacraments, but does make their reception possible, provided all other conditions are met. There is no contradiction between the two canons.
Bridget Mary then states "Recent scholarship affirms that women were ordained in the first twelve hundred years of the church’s history." Ordained to what? Bridget Mary claims to Holy Orders; however, we recently examined how the ordination for women deacons did/does not include Holy Orders, but ordination to service.
Bridget Mary concludes with "Roman Catholic Womenpriests are leading the way to a renewed Roman Catholic Church...". Don't think so. Over 600 attended the simulated ordination, but only about 35 now attend services by the two priestesses. A photo of Bridget Mary's home church also shows a handful of elderly attendees. The future church is not present in the photo. Neither example bodes well for a "renewed" church, but for a historically quick death of a heretical schism that will likely become an interesting footnote in church history.
Again to recap, the women priestesses acknowledge being excommunicated, reject the penalties, and they and their parent organization offer no rebuttal to the charges of schism beyond some interesting, but disassociated, tidbits of history and personal opinion. Seemingly, none of the 53 existing priestesses is a canon lawyer or that part of their priestly formation was omitted. The reality show continues.
Others with interesting comments on the excommunication:
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
In the Light of the Law
ST. John's Valdosta Blog
Excommunication Blotter
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The official response seems to be from priestess Bridget Mary. "Roman Catholic Womenpriests reject the penalties of excommunication, interdict, and any other punitive actions..." Interesting. Rather than rejecting the excommunication, the priestesses seem to acknowledge that they are under excommunication, they just reject the penalties.
Rather than address the decree of excommunication and offer any defense as to why the women are not guilty of schism, Bridget Mary's response continues for six full paragraphs starting with a repetition of urban legends regarding women in the early church. Bridget Mary follows with an erroneous appeal to sensus fidelium by stating "Since 70% of U.S. Catholics favor women’s ordination". As Catholics in the U.S. make up less than 5% of the Catholic Church, Bridget Mary is claiming that this 4% constitutes the sense of the faithfull without any input from or surveying of the remaining 96% of the Catholic Church. Nonsense.
Bridget Mary continues on with an out-of-context quote from the current Pope on the need to follow conscience over ecclesial authority. Conveniently Bridget Mary omits the accompanying requirement to inform and develop our conscience to conform to Christ's Church.
Bridget Mary follows that weak argument with "Roman Catholic Church laws are often contradictory." The claim now is that canon 1024 limiting ordination to men contradicts canon 894 which states that baptism is the gateway to the sacraments. Rather than explain the supposed contradiction, Bridget Mary tosses in an opinion by Ida Raming, a fellow excommunicated priestess. Baptism is indeed the gateway to the sacraments because without baptism a person remains a sinner and is incapable of receiving the graces imparted by God through the sacraments. Baptism does not guarantee one will ever receive any of the following sacraments, but does make their reception possible, provided all other conditions are met. There is no contradiction between the two canons.
Bridget Mary then states "Recent scholarship affirms that women were ordained in the first twelve hundred years of the church’s history." Ordained to what? Bridget Mary claims to Holy Orders; however, we recently examined how the ordination for women deacons did/does not include Holy Orders, but ordination to service.
Bridget Mary concludes with "Roman Catholic Womenpriests are leading the way to a renewed Roman Catholic Church...". Don't think so. Over 600 attended the simulated ordination, but only about 35 now attend services by the two priestesses. A photo of Bridget Mary's home church also shows a handful of elderly attendees. The future church is not present in the photo. Neither example bodes well for a "renewed" church, but for a historically quick death of a heretical schism that will likely become an interesting footnote in church history.
Again to recap, the women priestesses acknowledge being excommunicated, reject the penalties, and they and their parent organization offer no rebuttal to the charges of schism beyond some interesting, but disassociated, tidbits of history and personal opinion. Seemingly, none of the 53 existing priestesses is a canon lawyer or that part of their priestly formation was omitted. The reality show continues.
Others with interesting comments on the excommunication:
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
In the Light of the Law
ST. John's Valdosta Blog
Excommunication Blotter
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Labels: Catholic, Catholicism, Communion, Women's Ordination, Womenpriests
0 Comments:
<< Home