Sunday, April 28, 2013

Woman Priests in the Catholic Church?



I read this morning, 4.28/13, that a 70-year-old Kentucky woman, Rosemarie Smead, was ordained a priest on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority. She said she is not worried about being excommunicated from the Church - the fate of other women ordained outside of Vatican law. "It has no sting for me It is a Medieval bullying stick the bishops used to keep control over people and to keep the voices of women silent. I am way beyond letting octogenarian men tell us how to live our lives."

Not being Catholic I really don't have a fish in this pond but that does not precluded me from having opinions about how this fits in with the human condition. To start with these 'old men' do not tell anyone how to live their lives. These old men believe that this is not a decision of men, but of God. God decided that women bring men into the world. Jesus sent men to evangelize. There were women with Jesus as well. The Gospel mentions a few of them: firstly, Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalene, His disciple and one of the first witnesses to the resurrection; Mary and Martha, the sisters who offered him hospitality in Bethany. The Priests of the Catholic Church believe that they received of Jesus their own ministry. Mary is the most perfect creature, she brought forth Jesus and gave Him His human nature. They believe that salvation is born from her, yet she was not ordained. The hold that women have other ministries in the Church, but not the priesthood, because of the will of God. This is why the Pope cannot change the Tradition. It's not his affair, but God's.

To be a member of the Catholic in good standing you, like in all Organizations, you have to abide by their doctrines, bylaws, or be excommunicated, expelled, from the Church. Those that hold these beliefs are antedated in today's world are free to leave the Church and start their own church as St. Andrew United Church of Christ in Louisville has done. They can call themselves Catholics if they wish but they are no more Catholic than any of the other Protestant Churches are. They are protesting the Church’s tradition of men only priests, and as such joined with Marten Luther schism. The very word 'protestant' means protest.

Rosemarie was a nun in the Church, “Smead had to leave the rigorous Carmelite life due to health reasons, and earned a bachelor's degree in theology and a doctorate in counseling psychology. She taught at Indiana University for 26 years, and works as a couples and family therapist.“ (Reuters) 

It seems to me that if her health was good enough to do all she did after vacating her vows that she used her health as an excuse to leave the Carmelite order where her opportunities were limited to say the least. 

I read that “The woman priest movement started in Austria in 2002, when seven women were ordained by the Danube River by an independent Catholic bishop. Other women were later ordained as bishops, who went on to ordain more women priests and deacons.” Independent Catholic bishop would better read as a rogue Catholic bishop, in other words not a Catholic at all as priests are stripped of their holy orders for participating in ordination ceremonies for women. I do not believe that they will have the same success that Luther did in forming a movement, but time will tell. 

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