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Wed02222012

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Women and the Priestly Role

George Pieczonka

This article was responded below by Marjorie Reiley Maguire, Ph.D., J.D.

Women and the Priestly Role
by
Marjorie Reiley Maguire, Ph.D., J.D.
< This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >

The August 6 issue of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (p. 3J) published an article by a Catholic seminarian living in Rome, which criticized the ordination of eight women as Roman Catholic priests and four as deacons on July 31 in Pittsburgh. Joseph Shimek was not at the ordination. I was. As a Catholic woman theologian, I can attest to the validity of the ordination of these women and to its solid grounding in history and Scripture.


What Mr. Shimek overlooked is the Roman Catholic theology of apostolic succession. This is a kind of ecclesiastical genealogy whereby every Roman Catholic bishop can trace back to at least the early centuries of the Church (although not as far as an actual apostle) the bishops who were in the direct line of the bishop who ordained him by the laying on of hands. It is this apostolic succession that Catholics believe gives a bishop the authority to ordain priests. It is this authority which will validate Mr. Shimek's own ordination when that occurs.

The women bishops who performed the ordinations in Pittsburgh are also part of this line of authority. They were ordained bishops by an unnamed, male bishop in Europe, who presides over a diocese and is in full communion with the Vatican. Two other male bishops assisted. This male bishop had the courage to act on his belief that the Church needs women priests at this time and also needs women bishops who can ensure that the ordination of women will continue. When this male bishop ordained the women bishops, he solemnly said over them, "This is not being done for you. This is so the work of justice may continue in the Church."

The papers proving the ordination of the women bishops and the episcopal genealogy behind it are locked in a bank vault in Europe until the unnamed male bishop dies. This in itself is a sad commentary on the state of the Church.

Because the women in Pittsburgh were ordained by three women bishops who are in the long line of apostolic succession of bishops, the ordinations are valid. The eight women are truly priests. They can celebrate Mass. They can change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. However, the ordinations are illicit, or unlawful, because the Vatican has not yet approved the ordination of women in its canon law. Thus, none of the women expects to be assigned to parish work by the local bishop.

As an argument for his criticism of the women's ordination, Mr. Shimek repeated the erroneous historical claim that women have never been ordained priests in the history of the Church. However, modern scholars have shown the opposite. For instance, Biblical scholar and archeologist, Dorothy Irvin, has published archeological and textual evidence from throughout Europe testifying to women's ministries as both priests and bishops in the early Church. As late as 820 A.D. there was a Bishop Theodora whose icon with her title can still be seen in the Church of St. Praxedis in Rome. Unfortunately, Mr. Shimek is probably not being taught this history in his seminary classes in Rome.

The claim of Mr. Shimek that the twelve apostles were the only ones Christ originally called to be priests is also erroneous. Catholics trace the institution of the priesthood to the Last Supper, not to the call of the twelve apostles. In spite of the influence of artists who have shaped the popular imagination by picturing only twelve men at the table with Jesus, the Gospels actually say that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his "disciples." The priest at a Catholic Mass solemnly says that Jesus said the words of Consecration over the bread and wine to his "disciples." In the Orthodox liturgy, the priest says that Jesus said these words to His "holy apostles and disciples." Women were among the "disciples" of Jesus. Thus women were among those ordained by Jesus as the first priests at the Last Supper.

Perhaps the most disturbing claim of Mr. Shimek, but not unique to him, is the claim that only a man can be a priest because only a man can be an icon of Jesus. This extremely radical theology reduces Jesus to phallus par excellence, instead of human par excellence. It also reduces the priesthood to a phallic symbol.

The women I saw ordained in Pittsburgh are holy, bright, and dedicated women. Most of them are mothers and grandmothers. Most of them have yearned for ordination for years. They have gotten theological degrees at their own expense while raising families or doing healing work in the community. They have not enjoyed the luxury of study in Rome paid for by the local bishop from diocesan funds.


It would be scandalous if a Church which has not excommunicated priests who are child molesters were to excommunicate these good women priests or deny them communion at their parish churches. It is also scandalous for anyone in the Church to continue to claim that God is not free to call these good women to the priesthood.


Marjorie Reiley Maguire, Ph.D. (Catholic University), J.D. (University of Wisconsin) is a Catholic theologian and attorney in Milwaukee.

Understanding the Priestly Role

George Pieczonka

The very same day by sheer coincidence the following article appeared in the Milwaukee/Journal Sentinel
(it is interesting to know that since Dolan arrived ? this gentleman speaks from Rome in regard to local issues
And obtains space in the Editorial section of the newspaper)

Understanding the priestly role
By JOSEPH SHIMEK
(I do not have an email address for him)

Last week, eight women rode a boat down a river in Pittsburgh while taking part in an ordination ceremony that, for the most part, resembled the Roman Catholic rite.

The Catholic Church does not believe that women can be validly ordained, so church leaders consider the ceremony to be both futile and reckless. Actually, the Vatican has already excommunicated some of the women who took part in a similar ceremony in 2002.

But members of the group, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, don't see it that way. To them, the church's refusal to ordain women is unjust and discriminatory, on par with apartheid.

One of the group's members, Kathy Sullivan Vandenberg of Waukesha, said that she has felt called to the priesthood for about 30 years.

Although she says she will remain in her pew when it comes time for communion, she also says she's "decided not to leave the church because I feel it is important that good people stay so that we can change the church from within."

This is, of course, not the first time that the question has been raised.

In response to mounting pressure, the Vatican published an exhaustive treatment of women's ordination under Pope Paul VI in 1976. At that time, he pointed out that the Catholic Church had never before believed itself authorized to ordain women. The heart of the matter, the document insisted, is one's understanding of the priesthood itself.

In the Catholic tradition, priests are not seen as one type of minister among others. Priestly ordination is professed to confer an identity. The priest stands as an icon of Christ at crucial moments in the life of the community.

That is not to say, however, that women weren't involved in the life of the Christian community during Jesus' time or that they aren't an important part of its mission today.

We know that Jesus was accompanied by a group of women during his public life. According to the biblical narrative, after the crucifixion, Christ appeared first to a woman and then she proclaimed the paschal message to the rest of his followers.

Jesus' attitude toward women departed sharply from that of his own cultural milieu. From the Samaritan woman to the woman caught in adultery, his ministry was consistently countercultural and free of unjust discrimination, which is, after all, a sin.

As it turns out, there were female priests in other religions at the time. Nevertheless, Christ did not call a single woman to become part of the 12 apostles, whom Catholics see as prototypes for the priesthood. And that decision was considered normative by early Christians, as well as the church's entire teaching authority up until the present.

Even today, women's ordination is entertained as a viable question by only a segment of Catholics found mostly in the Western world.

Historically, the church has not claimed to be the master of its doctrines or sacramental practices. Instead, it sees itself as their recipient and, as such, it must be faithful to the essence of what has been handed down over the centuries.

Thus, when the otherwise prolific John Paul II wrote about women's ordination, the document was less than two pages long. His predecessors had already spoken definitively on the matter, and he was only pointing to an already sizable body of controlling authority. Further discussion, he felt, would be fruitless and might create the false impression that the church's position was tentative.

One of the questions raised by the Catholic Church's position is whether equality can endure despite distinct identities.

Pope John Paul II was one of the people who believed it could. He defended the absolute human, moral and civil equality of women even as he distinguished different religious roles.

Today, when I take visitors to Rome on a tour of St. Peter's Basilica, I tell them that it was designed to be symbolic and instructive during a time when most pilgrims could neither read nor write.

One of the first things I point out after entering the church are the two rows of statues carved into the pillars that support the great structure.

On the outer perimeter, obscured from view, are memorials honoring outstanding popes. But on the inner, more prominently placed main aisle are sculptures of men and women who are remembered as saints.

I tell each tour that these are the people who support the church from the inside. They are its strength.

In other words, the highest places of honor in the Catholic Church are now, and always have been, open to everyone. The most important Christians are not the priests or even the popes.

They are the women and men who have struggled to love God and neighbor while acting as the temporary custodians of a religious tradition that is, ultimately, not of their own making.

Joseph Shimek is a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

Woman Ordained Priest

George Pieczonka

Your Action and Support are needed for a Woman Priest
Ordained this year
Kathy Vandenberg
Reminder
Photos of the ordination of 2005 and 2006 are found at
www.corpus.smugmug.com
More will be added as well

The following letter was placed in every church bulletin

Letters of support can be sent to Kathy at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Marjorie Reiley Maguire, Ph.D., This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Letters to the Milwaukee/Journal Sentinel can be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Letters to Archbishop Dolan can be sent at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Stay tuned we are planning her first Mass in September

Dear Parishioners,
Over the last week, there has been media attention regarding an attempted ordination of women in Pennsylvania. Kathy Vandenberg, who is known to members of the St. Mary Parish community, participated in the event. Please know that I do not accept or support Ms. Vandenberg?s invalid action. ? Fr. Jim Volkert, Pastor of St. Mary?s Parish, Waukesha, Wisconsin.

The following is Archbishop Dolan?s statement regarding this activity:

Archdiocese of Milwaukee

With sadness I have heard the reports that a woman of the archdiocese, Kathy Vandenberg, has attempted a simulated and invalid ceremony of ordination in Pittsburgh. I regret it when anyone publicly jeopardizes his or her relationship with the Church, which Ms. Vandenberg, by her action, has now unfortunately done.

As my duty, I must notify the Apostolic See of this unfortunate even. If the past is any guide, I would anticipate that the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in Rome will soon inform the participants in this exercise that, sadly, they are excommunicated from the Church.

I am also disappointed because Ms. Vandenberg and I had begun a fruitful dialogue on the matter last fall. At that time, in company with the Chancellor of the archdiocese, Dr. Barbara Anne Cusack, I had advised her that any attempted ordination would affect her relationship with the Church. I believed her sincerity when she assured me that she was unaware of such a consequence, and did not want that to happen. I invited her to reflect on the gravity of such a decision, to renounce it, and to return to the Church. She asked for time to consider, which I gladly gave her, reminding her that, in the meantime, she should refrain from the sacraments and any public role in the Church. She promised she would confer with me about the next step. In two subsequent letters, I have asked for her decision. Her regrettable participation in the protest gives me her unfortunate answer.

The ultimate goal is to encourage repentance and reconciliation with the Church.

My prayers for this result remain fervent.

Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of Milwaukee.