Friday, April 22, 2011

Catholics protest for women in priesthood


Catholic activists gathered Tuesday outside Holy Name Cathedral to support a priest from Georgia who believes women should be ordained as priests.

Father Roy Bourgeois has been told by the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers that he will be removed from the ministry if he doesn't recant his public statements on behalf of women in the priesthood; Bourgeois says he will not do that.

To read the full article and to view the video, click here.

Related article: Bourgeois reflects but won’t recant

Related article: San Diego Catholics Protest For Women’s Equality In The Church

4 comments:

Fr. Steve said...

I hate to tell these people, but the Roman Church is not a democracy.

Robin G. Jordan said...

Steve,

My primary reason for posting the links to this article, the video, and the related articles was to draw the present situation in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States to the attention of those contemplating joining a US Personal Ordinariate when and if one is established. The Roman Catholic Church especially in the United States may not prove the safe haven that they may be hoping that it will be. While the US Roman Catholic bishops do not ordain women or openly support the ordination of women, a number of them do appoint women as pastors of small congregations and permit them to preach homilies at Mass. The Roman Catholic Church places a premium on seminary training for its priests and Pope Benedict himself has stated that he does not believe that they get enough training. A number of Continuing Anglican priests do not have any formal training or they attended unaccredited seminaries. The younger priests becoming Roman Catholics can expect to be required to receive additional formation before they are even considered for the Roman Catholic diaconate. The older priests can expect to be laicized. Lay Continuers becoming Roman Catholics can expect to see their congregations disbanded and integrated into an existing Roman Catholic parishes because they are too small and their clergy does not meet Roman Catholic standards. The United States is not the United Kingdom.

Fr. Steve said...

And I agree with you. I read for orders, so if I were to join the Ordinariate, I would be laicized, and since I'm married, be disqualified for the Priesthood. I was simply stating that no matter how much these people make noise, the Bishop of Rome is the final authority on the issue for the Roman Church. So they won't get their Priestesses.

Robin G. Jordan said...

Steve,

I understood what you were doing. But I did not want to pass up an opportunity to explain my reason for posting the links to the article, the video, and the related articles. The UK Ordinariate is being touted as a model for the other ordinariates that may be established. However, the situation in the United States is different than the situation in the United Kingdom. The core of a US Ordinariate will be the Anglican Use Roman Catholic parishes and any Traditional Anglican Communion affiliates that are committed to becoming Roman Catholic. I, however, do no think that the TAC people are going to receive as sweet a deal as the Church of England folks did. The C of E people were Roman Catholics but in the C of E. They hold and teach the doctrines of the 1992 Roman Catholic catechism and use the 1969 Roman Catholic liturgy. The article I retitled "Ordinariate Watch: Passionate Advocates of Christian Unity" confirms my own observations.