Posted on 12/04/2012 12:16:47 PM PST by marshmallow
WASHINGTON — An independent Roman Catholic newspaper in the United States called Monday for a campaign to reverse the Vatican's refusal to allow women to become priests.
"Barring women from ordination to the priesthood is an injustice that cannot be allowed to stand," the National Catholic Reporter said, waving a red flag in front of the Vatican over one of its most strongly held teachings.
The call to the priesthood "is a gift from God," it said, and excluding women from responding to that call "has no strong basis in Scripture or any other compelling rationale."
With bishops and theologians on record as opposing women's ordination, the Missouri-based biweekly -- a respected voice of the Church's reformist wing -- said it now fell upon the faith's rank and file to press for change.
"We must speak up in every forum available to us: in parish council meetings, faith-sharing groups, diocesan convocations and academic seminars," it said. "We should write letters to our bishops, to the editors of our local papers and television news channels."
There was no immediate reaction from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which toes a conservative line on other hot-button issues such as abortion, contraception and gay marriage.
The United States has the largest Catholic population of any rich country, with a quarter of its 310 million people belonging to the faith -- a proportion sustained by Latino immigration.
The editorial was prompted by last month's excommunication and expulsion of Father Roy Bourgeois from the Maryknoll order for his role in a women's ordination ceremony in Kentucky in 2008.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Ahem...
Jesus chose only men as his Apostles. Are they saying Jesus was wrong?
Jesus chose only men as his Apostles. Are they saying Jesus was wrong?
Demand that the National "Catholic" Reporter cease and desist from using the word "Catholic". They have not been Catholic since 1968 (or earlier). Your 'flock' needs clarification on what it means to be Catholic.
...so the Leftist PC crowd wants the Catholic Church to not only dump holy doctrine but put male genitalia on a a new class of progressive parish predators out to divorce Christ from Christendom.
I meant the RCC not the RNC
Once you extract all of the Cafeteria Catholics, all of the self-professed Catholics, and all of the Catholics who voted for Obama, you arrive at the realization that maybe two percent of the American population is actually Catholic.
Well as a purely practical matter the choices are coming down to:
Married Priests
or
Women Priests
or
No Priests
At the Parishes around me the priests all range in age from 70-85.
Unfortunately, the word “Catholic” is not a trademark. They avoid lawsuits by emphasizing the word, “independent” in their masthead, but unfortunately, most people believe that means independent of corporations, not the church
...the Vatican is not gilded in gold and dripping with jewels through sharing the wealth...
...social security has nothing on the RCC when it comes to keeping capital in the pockets of bureaucrats.
Completely false. Human nature does not change. The Catholic Church has produced countless vocations over the centuries with celibate men. The cause for the drop in vocations is the loss of faith. Those diocese and religious orders that have a strong commitment to the traditional and orthodox Catholic faith have no shortage of vocations.
I came up with 8% at one point but I’ll have to dig around and see if I still have the things I used to arrive at that number.
Nonetheless, it’s no where near a quarter of the population.
Back in the middle ages, whenever the Church needed some sweeping out, a celibate abbott or monk known for holiness and competent leadership would be elected as Pope and would effect the needed changes. Monasteries were known to provide such men. And if it was good for the papacy it was considered good for the entire Church. As a result celibacy became the established norm for the Latin Church.
I'd love to hear how you got to 8% (which sounds reasonable to me), if you can find your notes. FWIW, I think a similar "real Christian" reduction can and should be applied to Protestants and Evangelicals. We can argue later about whose reduced numbers should come out the largest :)
“Married Priests mean legitimate claims to an inheritance by their offspring...
...the Vatican is not gilded in gold and dripping with jewels through sharing the wealth...
...social security has nothing on the RCC when it comes to keeping capital in the pockets of bureaucrats.”
Most of the Eastern Catholic Churches have married priests; they haven’t taken the Vatican’s wealth yet.
I liked seeing this reply there to the editorial:
>>"Barring women from ordination to the priesthood is an injustice that cannot be allowed to stand."You do not determine what is good and evil, what is true and false,what is just and injust. When the individual becomes the judge over Christ and His Church, you have willingly given up communion with Him and Her.
Not ordaining women as priests is no more an injustice than not allowing men to be nuns. Or mothers. There are different but equally valuable roles; having one and not the other is not an injustice. It is not less than. Is the Blessed Virgin Mary less than St.Peter?
You've succumbed to political correctness and wanting to be 'of the modern age' more than you wish to be Catholic. And you value your own authority above that of the Church.
Those who are with you took a wrong turn at the Reformation, you should have gone with them and become multiple churches, then more churches, then split churches, then unchurched.
Your way leads to the schisms and splits and eventually dissolution that we see now going on in Mainstream Protestant churches. One need only be able to read the daily paper to see where you wish to lead us - and it is not one, holy, universal.
May God grant you wisdom to see the injury to the Body of Christ that promote in your unCatholic Reporter, independent and separated from Christ's Church.
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