Catholic Women’s Ordination Conference Lays Out the Case for Women Priests

WOC ^ | 4/12/05 | Women's Ordination Conference

[anniegetyourgun]

WASHINGTON, April 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- At this pivotal time in the Catholic Church, the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC), a feminist voice for women in the church, provides the theological, biblical, and historical reasons for ordaining women.

“First and foremost, God calls women to be priests. Women and men are equally created in the image of God; therefore, the church should embrace the gifts of women in all levels of ministry,” stated Joy Barnes, WOC’s executive director. “This is not simply an issue of women’s rights, this is fundamentally about fulfilling Jesus’ gospel message.”

“There is no biblical or theological reason to keep women from the priesthood,” continued Barnes. The Vatican states women cannot be priests because in the gospels Jesus chose only male apostles. However, in 1976 the Vatican’s own Pontifical Biblical Commission concluded that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit women’s ordination.

“Our 2,000 year-old Catholic tradition contains numerous examples of women priests,” stated Barnes. “There are both biblical references and compelling archeological evidence that indicate women were leaders of churches -— even bishops -— in early Christianity. In addition, women were legitimately ordained in the underground Catholic Church of communist Czechoslovakia as recently as 1970.”

A Second Vatican Council document, Gaudium et Spes (No. 29), calls for an end to all discrimination, and a July 2004 Vatican document promotes women’s leadership in all realms of society.

“There is a painful inconsistency between what the church teaches and how the church acts regarding women,” said Aisha Taylor, coordinator of WOC’s Young Feminist Network. “Pope John Paul II spoke at length about women’s dignity, yet the church -— by banning women’s ordination -— systematically denies women participation in its governance.”

“WOC calls for a Pope who will usher in a renewed priestly ministry, which includes women and transforms the structures of the church to be inclusive, participatory and spiritually affirming for all God's people,” Taylor concluded.

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Founded in 1975, WOC promotes the voices of Catholic women excluded from official church structures. WOC can arrange interviews with women called to priesthood, ordained Catholic women, feminist theologians, and church historians to speak about the issue of women priests. For more resources on women’s ordination, the legacy of Pope John Paul II, and selecting a new pope, visit http://www.womensordination.org.

[newzjunkey]

These feminists need to start their own church or maybe join the episcopalians. Don't want 'em in mine.

Indeed. For them, the Catholic Church is the ultimate obstacle to their destroyer's ways. What these critics don't seem to get is the fundamental RELIGIOUS DOGMA comes from GOD to HUMANITY and not the other way around. Thus, if they feel so strongly about pro-choice or what-have-you, they could easily find themselves a church which preaches what they want to hear. That's not what Roman Catholicism or even Evangelical Christianity are about. Either you believe there are fundamental, universal, catholic truths or you believe everything's relative.

These critics should go pound sand. They have NO RIGHT to tell the Church it has to liberalize on moral issues such as birth control, homosexual acts, lesbian priests, etc. They're all for religious freedom as long as the religion is not free to be true to itself!

[newzjunkey]

Some priests can be married even now so long as they were already married when joining seminary or, more likely, when they convert from being married clergy of one Christian faith to Catholicism... so there are already exceptions and accommodations.