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In May of 1994 John Paul II promulgated Ordinatio Sacerdotalis which declared definitely that the Catholic priesthood is reserved for males. That document nonetheless contained some language that was difficult to interpret. As a result, Cardinal Ratzinger made an official clarification (Responsum ad Dubium) in November of 1995, making it quite clear that the Church has taught infallibly on this matter. Hence, the question of the priesthood in its relation to sexuality - a question usually posed more simply as "Why can there not be women priests?" - has now been answered in a definitive way. There is no longer...

On this Sunday of "Eastern Easter," B16 ordained 29 new priests -- 28 for the diocese of Rome, and one missionary deacon from the College of the Propaganda Fide... from Iraq. Full homily translation to come; in the meantime, the AsiaNews summary: “Where Christ is preached with the power of the Holy Spirit and welcomed with open heart, society becomes a ‘city of Joy’ despite its many problems as the title of a famous book dedicated to Mother Teresa’s work in Kolkata says.” Benedict XVI extended this wish to the new priests and referred to it in his homily...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A former Vatican official will ordain four traditionalist priests in a Tridentine Mass celebrated in the cathedral of Rome, church officials said. The Feb. 23 ordination Mass in the Basilica of St. John Lateran will be the most prominent celebration of the old rite in Rome since Pope Benedict XVI relaxed restrictions on its use last year. The Mass, to be celebrated by Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, will follow the 1962 Roman Missal, known commonly as the Tridentine rite. In July 2007 the pope issued new rules, saying the old rite could be used much more...

ST. LOUIS — To the Roman Catholic Church, the ceremony was not an ordination. In fact, it wasn't even Roman Catholic. But to two women and the approximately 600 people who came to cheer them on, history was made Sunday in St. Louis as the two became the first women ever in the city to be ordained as Catholic priests. And the first ever, perhaps in the world, to be ordained in a synagogue. Rose Marie Hudson, 67, of Festus, and Elsie Hainz McGrath, 69, of St. Louis, were ordained as priests by an organization called Roman Catholic Womenpriests, which...

Editorial note: An organization called "Roman Catholic Womenpriests" announced, in a news release dated October 15, 2007, that it would be undertaking a ceremony on November 11, 2007, at the synagogue building of Central Reform Congregation, St. Louis, that would purport to ordain two women to the Roman Catholic priesthood. The following article serves to present briefly the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church regarding the ordained priesthood and who may be admitted to Holy Orders. The article is followed by links to some helpful supplemental resources, and a perspective on concerns regarding interfaith relationships arising from Central Reform Congregation's hosting of the November 11 event.It has been the universal and consistent practice...

Via Le Forum Catholique and the website of the French diocese of Frejus-Toulon come some photos of the ordination of Jean-Raphaël Dubrule (to the priesthood) and Eloi Gillet (to the subdiaconate) in the cathedral of Toulon by Msgr. Domenica Rey on Sept. 22nd. Both men belong to a newly recognized community,the Missionary Society of Divine Mercy, which is entrusted with a personal parish in Toulon, the parish of Saint-François de Paule. There are many images on the diocesan page linked to above, but as always, a sampling:

London, Sep 13, 2007 / 09:55 am (CNA).- The bishops of England and Wales are asking for an exemption from new equality laws that could force them to ordain transsexuals as priests or allow them to become nuns.The bishops said proposals to ban “indirect discrimination” against people who have had gender reassignment operations would take away their right to check baptismal and confirmation certificates which would show if candidates for the priesthood, religious life or marriage had a hidden past, reports the London Times. “Many Christians believe, on strongly held religious grounds, that gender is given before birth and cannot...

One of the Catholic clergy’s newest members, Michael Cassabon of Simpsonville, said he looks forward to serving joyfully, following the example of his parents, Michael and Mary Cassabon, as well as others such as Mother Teresa, who have given their lives in service to others. Cassabon, who was ordained July 27 in Columbia and celebrated his first mass July 29 at his home parish, St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Simpsonville, said he first felt the call to the priesthood during confession while he was a senior at St. Joseph’s High School. “It was in that sacrament that I really...

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - Identical twins are among the newest priests in the Green Bay Catholic Diocese.Ben and Joel Sember were ordained yesterday along with Andrew Kyserly.James Sember, the twins' father, said he couldn't get them to apply any place else or do anything else.The twins will both serve in the Green Bay diocese, but say their ministries will be different.Joel Sember says that, although they have the same background and the same genes, they have different approach to things in general.His brother, Ben, says he hopes they don't ever get assigned to the same parish. He says it...

Unless you're thinking mid-1940s East Coast priestly ordination, your eyes aren't deceiving you with that shot above. Then again, said conjure wouldn't have taken place on a football field: it's a scene from the aforementioned liturgy last weekend at which 60 permanent deacons were ordained for the Santa Barbara region of the archdiocese of Los Angeles, with Cardinal Roger Mahony as ordaining prelate. Glad Tidings in the archdiocesan weekly: The ordination of 60 men to the Permanent Diaconate at Santa Barbara City College's La Playa Stadium represented the largest single group of deacons ordained at one time in the...

I haven't seen anything on free republic about the ordination in St. Louis for the Institute of Christ the King on Friday June 15. These are the picture I took. It was the most beautiful liturgy I have ever seen. If anything else has been posted I'm sorry to repeat.

On June 15th, 2007, His Grace Archbishop Raymond Burke will ordain two deacons of the Institute to the priesthood. The ordination will take place at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis at 1:00 pm. This will mark the first priestly ordinations of the Institute to be conducted in the United States. All are invited to attend. On the following day, Saturday, June 16th, Abbé Matthew Talarico will celebrate his first Mass at our St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis, and on Sunday, June 17th, will be the first Mass of Abbé William Avis, also at the Oratory. Both these...

WASHINGTON — This year's new crop of Roman Catholic priests in the United States averages 35 years of age and includes a large number of foreign-born priests and men who entered the seminary with college degrees, a study shows.The survey, closely watched because of the country's well-documented priest shortage, was conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.Researchers gathered information from 282 seminarians, or about 60 percent of the 475 candidates for the priesthood in 2007.Although final numbers will not be available until next spring, a rise in...

ROMEOVILLE—For 13 years, Mark Rosenbaum put on the familiar blue uniform and braved erratic Illinois weather conditions, walking house-to-house through rain, snow, bone-chilling cold or humid heat as he delivered mail in LaGrange, Ill.Graduating from Downers Grove South High School in the mid-1980s, he initially took courses at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn but soon opted to join the work force, securing a job with the LaGrange Post Office.Meeting many residents over the years along his neighborhood route, he was often welcomed into their homes to see a new baby or to talk about the passing of a loved...

Bishop Patricia Fresen (right) led a similar ceremony in 2005 An ordination ceremony that openly defies Roman Catholic doctrine has taken place in Toronto. Five women and a married man, all Roman Catholics, have been ordained as priests and deacons by a female Catholic bishop. However, the Vatican says it will not recognise either the ordinations or the group carrying them out. The ordination ceremony was held at a Protestant church on the outskirts of Toronto known for its liberal views. Priestly 'sacrament' The building was packed with an enthusiastic congregation. They watched as Bishop Patricia Fresen, one of the...

STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE -- It was during the chanting of the litany of saints -- 23 minutes of kneeling on the marble floor of St. Patrick's Cathedral -- when the Rev. Brendan Gormley asked God to help him and his sore knees make it through. "That's when I realized that's what the priesthood will be," the Grant City native and former marathon runner said afterward. "I'll be relying on God's grace." Father Gormley, 43, and the Rev. Kevin Malick, 27, formerly of New Springville, were among 14 men ordained by Cardinal Edward Egan yesterday morning. Seven priests were ordained for...

Denver, May 8, 2007 / 11:13 am (CNA).- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M., Cap. will ordain three men to the Catholic priesthood on Saturday, May 12 at 10 am at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, including one cancer survivor. Deacons Randy Dollins, 30, Steven Voss, 28, and Timothy Hjelstrom, 31, will culminate nearly eight years of Catholic study at the Archdiocese of Denver’s St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. Voss, a native of Lakewood, CO, experienced the call to the priesthood soon after being diagnosed with cancer. Shortly after recovering from major surgery, he explored seminary life and, within...

PHILIPPINESFirst Mangyan priest ordained in the countrySantosh DigalA member of one of the oldest indigenous groupings in the country becomes a priest in a ceremony that draws thousands of faithful. The next day, the newly-ordained Father Oybad returned to his mountain community to celebrate. Calapan City (AsiaNews) – The first ethnic Magyan priest was ordained on April 17 in a ceremony that brought together many faithful. The new priest comes from one of the most ancient and least known indigenous groupings of the country.Although he had wanted a simple affair, Hanunuo Mangyan Gabayno Calinog Oybad’s entry into the priesthood was...

On this World Day of Prayer for Vocations, the Pope ordained 22 deacons of the diocese of Rome to the priesthood at a Mass in St Peter's. The Rite of Priestly Ordination provides an optional homily that is often used, but it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Benedict XVI laid it completely aside. The following is the Whispers translation of what he came up with. * * * Dear Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood, dear Ordinandi, dear brothers and sisters! This Fourth Sunday of Easter, traditionally called "Good Shepherd," recalls for us, gathered here...

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 26, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will ordain 22 men to the priesthood as the Church celebrates the 44th World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The deacons to be ordained this Sunday come from the Redemptoris Mater Seminary; the Roman Major Seminary Madonna of Divine Love; the Capranica College, which serves the Indonesian diocese of Bani; and the Legionaries of Christ. On Saturday, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, there will be a prayer vigil for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the vicar of Rome, will preside over the vigil, which will...

Fr. Kyle Schnippel  Other Articles by Fr. Kyle Schnippel Printer Friendly Version   Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part Two February 28, 2007 In our discussion of Inter Insigniores, we have so far examined why the teaching needed to be emphasized, as well as some of the Biblical roots for the teaching.As we continue, two questions arise: is the attitude of Jesus and the Apostles important, and does this attitude have a permanent value?  Some traditions, like requiring women to wear veils, have been changed, while others, especially those related to sacraments, have...

Fr. Kyle Schnippel  Other Articles by Fr. Kyle Schnippel Printer Friendly Version   Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part One February 25, 2007 With the recent illicit ordination by dissident Archbishop Milingo in New Jersey of two married men to the priesthood, and the repeated attempts by several women's groups to ordain women, most recently upon a boat on a river in Pittsburgh, the question of who has a 'right' to the Sacrament of Orders has been a heated topic of late.According to Catholic Church theology, however, no one has a 'right' to...

ANKAWA, Iraq, FEB. 7, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The ordination of three deacons is a sign of hope in Iraq, says the bishop of Kirkuk. Kirkuk's Chaldean Archbishop Luis Sako was present at Friday's ordinations in Ankawa. According to AsiaNews, the ceremony took place in the Church of St. Joseph and was celebrated by Bishop Rabban Al-Qas, of Amadiyah and Erbil. Bishop Mikha Pola Maqdassi, of Alquoch, was also present. The ordained deacons are Salar Soulayman Bodagh of the Diocese of Alquoch, Raymond Hamid Sargis of Baghdad, and Louya' Gilyana Dinkha of Mosul. Friday's ceremony follows the Jan. 27 ordination of Wassim...

The Holy See has issued a very blunt statement of sorrow and rebuke in respect of the illicit episcopal ordinations that took place in China last Thursday (under the auspices of the state-controlled Patriot Association). Two details struck me particularly. First, the Holy See uses the expression "Cina Continentale" -- i.e., "Mainland China," as opposed to the People's Republic of China. Second, the statement insists "almost all" the bishops, clergy, religious and laity in China have maintained "a profound communion of faith and life with the Successor of Peter." This seems aimed at confuting government reports to the contrary. The...

Four other bishops take part in the ordination, but very few faithful and priest are present attend the ceremony. Rome (AsiaNews) – A bishop abducted by the Religious Affairs Bureau to force him to participate in an Episcopal ordination not sanctioned by the Holy See was able to escape and is now in hiding until the ritual is performed. Mgr Li Liangui of Cangzhou (Xianxian) was detained along with Mgr Peter Feng Xinmao, bishop of Hengshui, and taken to Xuzhou (Jiangsu) to take part in the ordination of Fr Wang Renlei as bishop. Both prelates were taken away by car...

First Latin Rite ordinations in over forty years in the Diocese of Linz. The two ordinands are from the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter. In the Diocesan yearbook, they only have two other ordinations this year - but not to forget the notorious Golatz. Conveniently, he has been forgotten or perhaps he was ordained too late for publication. No less than fifteen priests died this year in the Diocese.

A new pastoral assistant has been inducted into the notoroious parish of St Francis, Wels, Austria. Rainbow colours were the order of the day.

There's your shot of the day. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn became the first of the McCarrick bishops to spread the Ted's episcopal lineage earlier today when he ordained three new auxiliaries in a ceremony at one of the mega-diocese's spacious parish churches, Our Lady of Angels in Bay Ridge. In keeping with the traditions of Brooklyn Catholicism, the choice of venue was a practical one -- while the Cathedral-Basilica of St James is too small, the traditional fallback site of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, where DiMarzio was installed in 2003, isn't air-conditioned. As many of you know...

News Release August 14, 2006 STATEMENT FROM CARDINAL JUSTIN RIGALI REGARDING EILEEN DIFRANCO Recently, there has been extensive media attention regarding an attempted ordination of women, which took place on a river boat outside Pittsburgh on July 31, 2006. Eileen DiFranco, who is known to members of Saint Vincent DePaul Parish in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, participated in the event. Accordingly, the following statement is issued regarding this activity. Recently, there has been a good deal of publicity about a woman of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Mrs. Eileen DiFranco, participating in a simulated ceremony of ordination to the priesthood...

Dr. Ed Peters latest:The pseudo-ordinations that a number of women around the world, and lately in the United States, have attempted are, to borrow Leo XIII's phrase, "absolutely null and utterly void". (See specifically John Paul II, Ordinatio sacerdotalis, n. 4). Last summer (scroll to 6 July 2005) I explained how such affronts to divine and canon law can and will result in excommunication, although, as I argued, not by the automatic process (1983 CIC 1314) that many simply assumed would apply to such cases. Here I need to make a different point.To no one's great surprise, some of these...

by Mickey Addison Other Articles by Mickey Addison Ordinatio Sacerdotalis 08/10/06 It was one of the few days I was really not looking forward to leading my Scripture study. I had a terrible cold and the thought of conducting a lesson on Revelation did not sound appealing. Though I was trying to put a good face on it, my priest noticed that I was not my usually boisterous self, and he asked me if I wanted a blessing. "Father, that sounds good... Thanks!" I replied. And then he laid his hands on me and prayed healing over me. Needless to say,...

PITTSBURGH The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh plans to send a report to the Vatican about a ceremony in which a dozen women claimed to be ordained as priests and deacons last month. The diocese does not recognize the ordinations and says the women have excommunicated themselves from the church by participating in the ceremony on July 31. Monsignor Lawrence DiNardo, a canon law expert with the diocese, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that someone can excommunicate themselves by their actions, but that the Vatican can then formally decree that an excommunication has occurred. The report will include the names of the...

Waukesha resident Kathy Sullivan Vandenberg faces excommunication for seeking the priesthood in an unsanctioned ordination ceremony, Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan said in a statement handed out at weekend Masses at Vandenberg's home parish. Dolan wrote to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Waukesha that it was his duty to notify the Vatican of Vandenberg's action. Dolan said her excommunication could come soon. The Roman Catholic Church prohibits women from becoming priests. Vandenberg, 64, said Monday that she was "startled" by the letter and surprised that Dolan had "spent so much time and energy" on it when "other important...

On a riverboat cruising the confluence of Pittsburgh's three rivers yesterday, eight women held hands triumphantly and danced with three others they call bishops, as one of the latter proclaimed: "It is with great joy we present to you our newly ordained women priests." More than 350 invited guests burst into applause and cheers for eight priests and four deacons of the group Roman Catholic Womenpriests. But the Catholic Church, which the women claim to have been ordained for, says they have excommunicated themselves through their actions. This is the fourth such group ordained worldwide since 2002, and the first...

Kathy Sullivan Vandenberg, 64, a member of St. Mary Parish in Waukesha, is one of eight Roman Catholic women who expect to be ordained as priests Monday in an unofficial ceremony the Vatican considers invalid. Unhhh...the Vatican does not "consider" it to be invalid. It IS invalid, period. No consideration is necessary, and none is given. Two of them - who claim that they were later ordained bishops by unnamed male Roman Catholic bishops - will preside Monday with a third woman "bishop." And wouldn't we all like to know who those heresiarch-Bishops are? I have met with Archbishop Dolan....

In the three weeks since Joan Clark Houk's plans to be ordained as a Catholic priest became public, the McCandless woman's media baptism has involved six interviews and one letter writer's claim that she was well educated in witchcraft. Joan Clark Houk, shown near the parish offices of St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland, is part of an international movement to ordain Catholic women. She plans to be ordained July 31. But Mrs. Houk, who celebrated her 66th birthday last weekend, remains resolute. On July 31, the cradle Catholic will join 11 other female candidates in an ordination ceremony aboard a...

By coincidence, a potentially historic speech about women that received little media fanfare was made two weeks before America's Episcopal Church elected Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as its leader, the first female to head a branch of the international Anglican Communion. The speaker was Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican's top official on relations with non-Catholic Christians, addressing a private session with the Church of England's bishops and certain women priests. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the 77 million Anglicans, invited Kasper to discuss the English church's projected move to allow women bishops. To date, only the United...

BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly voted Tuesday afternoon to declare that ordaining bodies in the Presbyterian Church (USA) have the leeway not to comply with the constitutional prohibition against ordaining practicing homosexuals and adulterers. By a vote of 298-221, with one abstention, the commissioners of the national governing body approved an Authoritative Interpretation that included recommendation 5 by the Theological Task Force on Peace, Purity and Unity. That recommendation was the major dividing issue in the task force report. It provides guidance to candidates for ordination on how they may qualify for selection and installation as deacons, elders and...

COLUMBUS, OH: Gay Eucharist attracts 1,000+ By Hans Zeiger VirtueOnline Correspondent COLUMBUS, OHIO (6/16/06)-Over 1,000 homosexual and pro-homosexual clergy, bishops, and laymen of the Episcopal Church celebrated Eucharist Friday evening at Trinity Episcopal Church, just blocks from the site of the 75th Episcopal General Convention. "This is a small taste of what heaven must be like," said the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, as he began his sermon to the prolonged cheers of the adoring congregation. Then Robinson was brought to tears as he thanked his homosexual partner Mark, three years after the Episcopal Convention at...

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 16, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address Cardinal William Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, gave to the Church of England bishops' meeting June 5, on the question of ordaining women as bishops. * * * I wish to thank the archbishop of Canterbury for the invitation to speak to you as the Church of England House of Bishops on a question which concerns you and therefore also concerns the Catholic Church and me personally as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. I have already had occasion to say to...

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St Joseph -- a favorite here eons before anyone else knew who he was -- ordained his first crop of priests for the Missouri diocese last week. The message: "In your priestly apostolate, allow God to make you an instrument of justice and peace," Bishop Finn said in his homily, shortly before ordaining Father Stephen E. Hansen, Father Justin E. Hoye and Father Steven C. Rogers at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception packed with their families and friends. "Promote the dignity and respect for all human life from its inception until natural death,"...

Program about the ordination of only the second American born bishop in the history of the Maronite Catholic Church Sunday May 28, 2006 10:00 PM Tuesday May 30, 2006 2:00 PM Friday June 2, 2006 4:00 AM

SANTA MESSA PER L’ORDINAZIONE PRESBITERALE DI 15 DIACONI DELLA DIOCESI DI ROMA Alle ore 9.00 di oggi, IV Domenica di Pasqua e XLIII Giornata mondiale di preghiera per le Vocazioni sul tema: "Vocazione nel mistero della Chiesa", nella Basilica Vaticana il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI presiede la Santa Messa nel corso della quale conferisce l’Ordinazione presbiterale a 13 diaconi della Diocesi di Roma e a 2 religiosi dell’Ordine dei Carmelitani Scalzi (O.C.D.).Concelebrano con il Papa: l’Em.mo Card. Camillo Ruini, Vicario Generale di Sua Santità per la Diocesi di Roma, S.E. Mons. Luigi Moretti, Vicegerente, i Vescovi Ausiliari, i Superiori...

…… began to consider priesthood and religious life from the standpoint of a successful business career which provided everything I was supposed to have and which I found unfulfilling. …… have wanted to be a priest since I was five years old (I am now forty-seven!). …… have thought about the priesthood since my Confirmation retreat at 13. . . . have studied and traveled through Europe for a year. . . . have a sister who will graduate law school the day before I get ordained a priest (my only sibling). …… that I wanted to be a priest...

WASHINGTON (May 1, 2006)—The Ordination Class of 2006 includes a set of twins, grandfathers, former Protestant ministers, men of varied ethnic and national backgrounds, the father of a priest and the son of a deacon. The twins, James and Joseph Campbell, 26, the youngest of a family of 13 children, will be ordained for the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, with their classmate Marc Solomon. James studied at St. Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and Joseph at North American College, Rome. Another seminarian, Daniel Hendrickson, S.J., 35, who will be ordained a Jesuit priest, is also a twin and has an identical...

BEIJING, MAY 1, 2006 (Zenit.org).- China told the Catholic Church to respect its decision to name its own bishops, as Beijing ignored the Holy See's wishes and went ahead with an episcopal ordination. The rebuff, in a statement by the Foreign Ministry, came as Father Ma Yinglin was ordained bishop of Kunming, in Yunnan province, on Sunday in a ceremony attended by leaders of the official state-approved Church, among others, the South China Morning Post reported. The newspaper said that Chinese religious authorities are planning to ordain Father Liu Xinhong, a Church administrator in Anhui province, as bishop possibly this...

The state-controlled Catholic church in China has ignored the Vatican's wishes and ordained a new bishop. Father Ma Yingling was ordained as bishop of Kunming at a ceremony in the southwestern Yunnan province on Sunday. The Vatican had called for a delay in the appointment over concerns the bishop is inexperienced and too closely aligned with China's communist regime. The Chinese Church does not recognise the Vatican's power to appoint bishops, causing tension between the two sides. Trying to force the clergymen to carry out the ordination ceremony before the (Roman Catholic) Church's approval would be deliberately wrecking China-Vatican...

BEIJING, APRIL 28, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The government-sanctioned Patriotic Association is poised to bring about the ordination of a bishop without Vatican approval, says a Church expert on China. Father Bernardo Cervellera, director of AsiaNews, an agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), warned today that "on Sunday, April 30, in Kunming the Patriotic Association -- and, in particular, its vice president, layman Anthony Liu Bainian -- wants at all costs to ordain a priest as bishop without the Holy See's permission." Thus, he cautioned, the Patriotic Association, or state-sanctioned church, "is about to explode an enormous diplomatic bomb,...

ELCA NEWS SERVICE April 7, 2006 ELCA Council Finds Synod Resolution Conflicts With Church Rules 06-057-FI CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) decided a resolution the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod adopted in a special assembly Oct. 29, 2005, "contains inherently conflicting statements that may be read as being in conflict with the constitution and bylaws of this church." The synod resolution addressed "the exercise of discipline" regarding lay professional and ordained ministers living in committed same-sex relationships. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative...

Having read the comments made to For the Record, I would like to clarify certain points. I renounced my priesthood because after much consideration and study, I had to face these facts. 1. Women are not ordained priests in either Orthodoxy or Roman Catholicism. Women are given numerous other significant roles in those churches, but not the office of priest. We do well to recognize that these churches continue in the Tradition of 2000 years in upholding this decision. 2. The Protestant use of Scripture passages to justify ordaining women as pastors, not priests, is beside the point since we...