Free Republic

A senior German priest has announced that he is no longer Catholic, citing his disappointment over a lack of “reforms” in the Church and admitting to having broken his promise of celibacy. “At the same time, I experience how much hope is placed in ongoing processes such as the Synodal Way. But I’m no longer in a position to also proclaim and honestly and sincerely share that hope, because I simply don’t have it anymore.” The former vicar general described the ordination of women to the priesthood, as well as “the abolition of compulsory celibacy, dealing with queer people, co-determination...

Past studies have shown participating in religious services and in the life of a religious community can be good for your health. (RNS) — Going to church is generally touted as good for the soul. But there is also evidence church attendance can be good for your health — unless, that is, you are a woman at a church that bars women from preaching or other leadership roles. A new study published in the American Sociological Review has found that women who attend churches with such restrictions report worse health than those who attend churches with women in leadership roles....

A key Biblical passage which has been used to prevent women from being ordained is not original and was added later, an academic has claimed. The section of Corinthians which says women must remain silent in church has been used to justify restricting the priesthood to men. But recent research has suggested that the passage was not written by the Apostle Paul, as is widely believed, but was instead added later. Now an academic claims to have discovered a key symbol which proves the passage was not original. Research published in the journal New Testament Studies casts doubt on the...

A rebel Catholic group has ordained its second woman priest in North Carolina, the first in the 46 counties that constitute the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. News outlets report that the Association of Roman Catholic Woman Priests ordained 64-year-old Abigail Eltzroth on Sunday at Asheville's Jubilee, a nondenominational faith community. The group is opposed to the Roman Catholic Church's ban on women priests.

In a historic moment for the Archdiocese of Newark, Archbishop John J. Myers on Monday is expected to announce his successor, Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin, currently the archbishop of Indianapolis, NJ Advance Media has learned. Tobin, a moderate leader who has supported a greater role for women in the church, has also expressed the need for more dialogue over gay parishioners and has sparred with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence over the resettlement of Syrian refugees. Tobin has served as archbishop of Indianapolis since October 2012. Pope Francis named him a cardinal last month. The designation takes effect. Nov. 18. The appointment...

The group has been given official permission to hold a public demonstration in the gardens of Castel Sant’Angelo. Campaigners calling for women priests are meeting in Rome this week where they have launched a poster campaign drawing attention to their cause and where they will participate in their first ever official public demonstration. Women’s Ordination Worldwide, which this year marks its 20th anniversary, wants to re-open dialogue in the Church in spite of Pope John Paul II’s ruling that the matter should not be discussed. Despite the ruling, since 2002, around 150 women have been “ordained” and all of them...

Every Obama event somehow has to offend Christians and Jews. Could Obama pull it off for Chanukah? Yes, he could. I already wrote about Susan Talve's bizarre pre-Menorah lighting rant at the White House Chanukah party. Then, not satisfied with having made a disgrace of the Chanukah ceremony, Susan Talve declared, "I stand here to light these lights to say no the darkness of Islamophobia and Homophobia and Transphobia." Talve babbled about insuring "justice for Palestinians" and began gleefully chanting, "Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah". Or "Allah Willing".

On Saturday, January 3 in Kansas City, Georgia Walker attempted to do what no woman had done before:  She tried to become a Roman Catholic priest.And she’s got the pictures to prove it:  Georgia smiling, arms raised in triumph, vested in red and white, processing down the aisle at St. Mark Hope and Peace Lutheran Church.  Her friend, “Bishop” Bridget Mary Meehan, smiles proudly at her side.  Attending the ceremony were members of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, a group of similarly deluded women who imagine themselves to be ordained.Here’s the thing, though:  WOMEN CAN’T BE PRIESTS.No, really!  Women...

(Rome) The Pontifical Council for Culture is preparing an "opening" towards women priests? Pablo d'Ors, appointed papal Consultor of the Council for Culture since July, 1st, is convinced of a realignment. "While orthodox Church representatives are being kicked out from the Vatican, heretics are being brought in," said Messa in Latino about the Spanish priest, novelist and "Zen Buddhist" and his interview in the daily newspaper La Repubblica . The Pontifical Council for Cultural, headed by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, seems to deal not only with culture and sports, but also with the Doctrine of the Faith, and ground filled with...

Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter) tested new depths of tacky today. They published, on the 20th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, a piece by the excommunicated “lady tambourine ‘priest‘“ (perhaps you recall the Bob Dylan parody song HERE), who – completely deluded – thinks that wymyn have really made progress, along with their tens of followers.This on the heels of publishing an editorial that climate change is the Church’s #1 pro-life issue and that “no sin is more heartless” than not caring for the environment. Good grief.Simply publishing such rubbish from an excommunicated woman, faking...

A faded fragment of papyrus known as the “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” which caused an uproar when unveiled by a Harvard Divinity School historian in 2012, has been tested by scientists who conclude in a journal published on Thursday that the ink and papyrus are very likely ancient, and not a modern forgery. Skepticism about the tiny scrap of papyrus has been fierce because it contained a phrase never before seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife...’ ” Too convenient for some, it also contained the words “she will be able to be my disciple,”...

“The existing abuse of females is the worst and most pervasive and unaddressed human rights violation on earth,” says former President Jimmy Carter, who is making the rounds of various news shows to promote his new book, A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power.Carter—repeating something he’s stated previously—said the abuse is “indirectly” derived “from the fact that religious leaders say that women are inferior in the eyes of God, which is a false interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. But when they see that the pope, and the Southern Baptist Convention and others say that women can’t serve as...

Since becoming the head guy in The Vatican (www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm), Pope Francis has pulled a bigger beach crowd than the Rolling Stones (www.rollingstones.com), walked through slums, and washed and kissed the feet of prisoners. He even slummed it on his flight out of Rio by talking with reporters covering his trip, but he didn’t wash or kiss their feet. And even though he came out and said it is not his place to judge a gay person who accepts the Lord and has goodwill, there are plenty of women who think he should have said something for the ladies in the...

When anti-Catholic ecumenical atrocities take place, Catholic bishops should act.Here is an example which calls for consequences.From WTAX in Kentucky: Kentucky woman ordained as priest in defiance of Roman Catholic Church [Note either the carelessness or the bias? She was not ordained as anything.]By Mary WisniewskiLOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) – In an emotional ceremony filled with tears and applause, a 70-year-old Kentucky woman was ordained a priest [No.  She went through a fake ceremony.] on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority. [Liberals often use the word When anti-Catholic ecumenical atrocities take place, Catholic...

A majority of American Roman Catholics consider the church out of touch with their views... The new poll shows a greater yearning for change than when Benedict became pope in 2005. At about the time he was selected, fully half of American Catholics wanted the church to stick with its traditional policies; now, 38 percent say so... The Post-ABC poll finds 55 percent of Catholics opposing the ban on married priests, while 58 percent oppose the prohibition on female priests. About a third say they want to keep the priesthood male and unmarried.

In early December the independent and very liberal National Catholic Reporter weekly newspaper published a long, carefully reasoned editorial declaring that “The Ordination of Women Would Correct an Injustice.” If the Church were deliberately perpetrating an injustice in the matter of ordination, of course, it would be a serious matter. The NCR editorial was a response to the earlier “excommunication, dismissal, and laicization” of Roy Bourgeois, who as a Maryknoll priest had long and defiantly—and in spite of numerous warnings—engaged in what was officially described as a “campaign against the teachings of the Catholic Church”—he repeatedly and obstinately engaged in...

Several students are protesting the decision by Boston College to not renew the contract of an adjunct professor in its School of Theology and Ministry who has openly questioned why the Catholic church won’t ordain women.The Boston College mission statement on its website talks about the Jesuit foundation of the school that makes it unique. It reads: “No other institution so explicitly embodies the fundamental human desire to know.”But after Father John Shea, a professor of pastoral care and counseling, asked church leaders for a theological explanation for why women are not being ordained to the priesthood of the...

WICHITA, Kansas -- He came to fame as a passionate political activist. For years, Father Roy Bourgeois has tried to shut down the School of the Americas in Columbus, Georgia. He and his thousands of supporters claim it trains Latin American soldiers to defend American backed governments. But in more recent years, Bourgeois has taken on a new target, the Vatican. "Sexism is racism," said Bourgeois on a visit to the Wichita area this week. He is a staunch supporter to have women ordained as Catholic priests. "God created men and women of equal worth and dignity," said Bourgeois. "There's...

The Catholic Church won’t be celebrating one Iowa City resident’s ordination next month. In fact, neither the Diocese of Davenport nor the Vatican will even acknowledge Mary Kay Kusner’s ordination through a group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests. That lack of institutional acknowledgment keeps Kusner, 50, motivated as she prepares for ordination by a group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests. “I believe Christ’s intention was to have an inclusive church,” Kusner said. “I believe ‘catholic,’ which means universal, needs to be a truly inclusive and welcoming church.” Such a church, she said, would include the ordination of women. Kusner, a self-described devout...

(RNS) With her careers as veterinarian, astronaut and U.S. president behind her, Barbie has at last found her true calling: as a second-career Episcopal priest. The 11.5-inch-tall fictional graduate of Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., has donned a cassock and surplice and is rector at St. Barbara’s-by-the-Sea in (where else?) Malibu, Calif. She arrived at the church fully accessorized, as is Barbie’s custom. Her impeccably tailored ecclesiastical vestments include various colored chasubles (the sleeveless vestments worn at Mass) for every liturgical season, black clergy shirt with white collar, neat skirt and heels, a laptop with prepared...