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To parishioners in her small Sacramento congregation, Elizabeth English is their Catholic priest: She presides over their Sunday Mass, leads them during Communion and baptizes their babies. To the Roman Catholic Church, English symbolizes a topic that church leaders consider closed: the ordination of women priests. English left the Roman Catholic Church five years ago to pursue her calling to the priesthood. She is now a priest in the Independent Catholic Church, a group not recognized by the Vatican. She is the only female Catholic priest in the Sacramento region. "I had to leave the church; there was no place...

Late last week, the Canadian Bishops posted a news item on their website entitled “Professor Richard R. Gaillardetz responds to attacks“. The source of these “attacks” was a collection of credible critiques which I posted on Socon or Bust of Dr. Gaillardetz’s theological and moral positions at variance with Catholic teaching and pastoral practice. This theologian has been asked by the Cdn. Conf. of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) to speak at its plenary session this Oct.19-23. You can read the CCCB communication and Dr. Gaillardetz’s letter in response here: http://www.cccb.ca/site/content/view/2717/1217/lang,eng/ ...

Chris Gillibrand of Cathcon has this picture of the “pastoral team” of a parish in Linz, Austria, a diocese where crypto-Protestant liberal priests disguise their women friends as ordained clergy. The woman on the right is dressed in a garment clearly indicating that she is a deacon. In fact – no offence – she is no more a Catholic deacon than the MacBook on which I’m writing this post. Women masquerading as ordained Catholic clergy in Linz “Stealth priestesses” is the way these ladies are described by their opponents (ie, orthodox Catholics). The use of the word “priestess” might seem...

A Womenpriest's "ordination" ceremony on the St. Lawrence Seaway in 2005 Philadelphia, Pa., Apr 28, 2009 / 03:42 am (CNA).- Saying it was “most unfortunate” that the “invalid ceremony” took place within his archdiocese, Archbishop of Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali has said that those who participated in a “pseudo-Ordination” of two women on Sunday have been automatically excommunicated by their act. Cardinal Rigali said those who presented themselves for supposed ordination as well as those who “falsely claim” to ordain them have been excommunicated. On Sunday a self-professed bishop from South Africa named Patricia Fresen and a female bishop...

Rich Harlow, writing in The Boston Globe, revels in the wit and wisdom of former Catholic priest, James Carroll, whose new book, Practicing Catholic, apparently could have been titled Practicing, Part-time Catholic: "Practicing Catholic" could just as easily have been titled "Conscience of a (Theological) Liberal." It distills its religious outlook from its author's personal history: his Catholic youth, ordination, his excitement over Vatican II's reforms and disillusion with the church's backpedaling therefrom, and finally his decision to trade the priest's collar for the writer's pen. As a Catholic of Carroll's persuasion, I find the intellectual ammo he brings to...

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has given American Maryknoll priest Fr Roy Bourgeois 30 days to recant his support for the ordination of women or face excommunication. The threat is revealed in a letter from Fr Bourgeois to the CDF distributed via an email from his lawyer Bill Quigley, National Catholic Reporter says. According to Bourgeois' letter, which is dated November 7, the congregation has given the priest 30 days to recant his "belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or (he) will be excommunicated." The letter indicates that Fr Bourgeois...

Wacky wymynpryst wannabes wend way to Wome CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 11:27 am This just in from AP: Catholic women march in Rome for female priesthood By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press WriterWed Oct 15, 12:23 PM ET Catholic women seeking to become priests denounced the church’s ban on female ordination as sexist and unjust, bringing their campaign close to the Vatican on Wednesday during a worldwide gathering of bishops. [LOL! Er.. um… I mean… Gosh! How sad.] The small group of women representing Catholic organizations from around the world marched across the Tiber River close to St....

As I pointed out some time ago (scroll to 6 July 2005), the 1983 Code does not levy excommunication on those who simulate the conferral and reception of holy orders on women. Canon 1378 excommunicates non-priests who simulate Eucharist and confession, and Canon 1379 imposes "a just penalty" on those who simulate the other sacraments (such as holy Orders), but neither canon directly excommunicates those who simulate holy Orders. The excommunications that have been applied in some cases of female 'ordination' have been imposed in virtue of a combination of other canons (e.g., Abp. Burke's model action in March...

Vatican City, May 29, 2008 / 02:29 pm (CNA).- The Vatican declared today that any women who attempt “ordination” or any bishops who attempt to “ordain” women are automatically excommunicated from the Church by their actions. The decree from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is said to be absolute, universal and immediately effective.The decree which was published in the Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, comes in the wake of several women attempting to be “ordained” as Catholic priests.The most recent attempt to ordain a woman occurred on May 4 in Winona, Minnesota when Kathy Redig, participated in...

(AGI) - Vatican City, May 29 - A woman being consecrated as priest besides being invalid, automatically leads to the excommunication of the consecrating bishop and the consecrated woman. A decree issued by the Congregation for Religious Doctrine published today by the 'Osservatore Romano' establishes this. "The Congregation for Religious Doctrine, to protect the nature and validity of the sacrament of the holy order, in virtue of the special faculty to be consecrated by the supreme authority decrees that both the one trying to consecrate a woman in the holy order, and the woman who has tried to receive the...

On May 29, Monica Kilburn Smith of Calgary will be welcomed into the small worldwide community of female Roman Catholic priests.Her ordination ceremony will take place in a United Church in Victoria and, of course, will not be recognized by the global Roman Catholic Church. However, Kilburn Smith and local supporters of major reform within the world's largest Christian church say it will be one more small step in a campaign to bring up questions, start discussion, open eyes and, eventually, win hearts."Many Catholics, both women and men, have been working for change within the church for centuries," says Kilburn...

In the run-up to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, there was a tremendous display of unseriousness at the National Press Club, followed by a sacrilege at a nearby Washington, D.C., church. A misguided group called the Women's Ordination Conference held a protest – a press conference and an all-woman "Mass" at a local Methodist church. The group, as the name suggests, wants to see "the ordination of women as priests, deacons and bishops." Sadly, the group doesn't understand women or the Catholic Church. In a prepared statement, WOC executive director Aisha Taylor declared: "The failure to ordain...

From the Winona Daily News: When Winona Bishop Bernard Harrington talks about Kathy Redig, he speaks of her great heart. He regards her as a “great Christian person.” Harrington praises her work as a chaplain at Community Memorial Hospital.And when he thinks of her upcoming ordination in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement — a largely excommunicated group of women ordaining other women to the priesthood — his mood changes. He calls the situation “very, very sad.” And pauses momentarily. “She has chosen to make this decision, and I have to respond,” Harrington said. “My responsibility is as a shepherd...

As Pope Benedict prepares to travel to the United States [arriving April 15th], he continues to uphold the church's long-standing tradition of not ordaining women as priests.  Since July 2006, more than U.S. 20 women with the organization "Roman Catholic Womenpriests" have considered themselves ordained without church approval.  VOA's Jeff Swicord reports on one woman in Sarasota, Florida, who says it is time for the church to openly accept women into the priesthood.  Bridget Mary Meehan (r) Bridget Mary Meehan is one of 24 Roman Catholic women in the United States conducting mass in defiance of church doctrine.She describes her religious...

Dwight Yoakam, one of my favorite country artists, once penned a dry and rather funny number with Roger Miller titled, "It Only Hurts Me When I Cry" (on If There Was a Way, a fine album). It goes, in part, like so: The only time I feel the painIs in the sunshine or the rainAnd I don't feel no hurt at allUnless you count when teardrops fallI tell the truth 'cept when I lieAnd it only hurts me when I cry I mention it for two reasons. The first is that I really don't reference good country music enough on...

<p>Elizabeth English is a mother of two, a partner in a four-year relationship, a social worker. On Saturday, she will add one more title: Catholic priest.</p> <p>English is a member of a small, independent Catholic church that does not recognize papal authority and ordains women to the priesthood.</p>

Two Roman Catholic female priests who were recently ordained co-pastored their first mass Saturday night in the central west end.Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie McGrath led the service at the first Unitarian church of St. Louis.About one hundred people showed up.The service was held in the church's Hope Chapel.The pastor of the church says it was a fitting place for an event where hope and understanding were very much alive.The Roman Catholic Church does not recognize the ordination of Hudson and McGrath that was conducted by an organization called Roman Catholic Women Priests.

Women deacons at Bristol after their ordination in 1994 When the Rev Dr Jennifer Cooper was ordained at Bristol Cathedral a month ago, it was a moment of uncomplicated joy. "I was overwhelmed to be surrounded by so many people, sharing in this very powerful moment," she says. "I was finally going to fulfil my calling."On the surface, few ceremonies could offer more hope to a Church of England fighting for survival than an ordination. It is a sign of new life, at a time when Sunday attendance threatens to dip below a million. And, since the ordination of...

ST. LOUIS: Two women who made Roman Catholic religious history say they are ready to be the new face of the priesthood, even as Archbishop Raymond Burke moved to formally penalize them for violating church law.Rose Marie Dunn Hudson, 67, and Elsie Hainz McGrath, 69, were ordained Sunday as Roman Catholic Womenpriests, a reform movement begun in 2002.The movement defies church doctrine that reserves ordination of priests and deacons to only men as unjust and discriminatory."After all these years, it's a great feeling to be a priest," Hudson said Monday.She and McGrath will co-pastor a faith community starting Dec. 1...

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...