Posted on 05/04/2008 1:47:36 PM PDT by NYer
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 Smith, a chaplain with the Calgary Health Region.
"But the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement is doing something tangible about it. It seems prophetic and courageous, something I feel called to be a part of."
The first ordinations of Catholic women as priests were held in 2002 in Europe. More than 50 women, including two other Canadians, have taken the bold step since then.
Kilburn Smith says she's eager to play a pastoral role for what she believes is a growing community of people who feel disconnected from the current church, but who remain Catholic at heart.
Local members of a group called Friends of Vatican II, who are working for reform within the Catholic church, say they don't hide their opinions when talking to other Catholics, but they don't actively try to proselytize.
"It comes up in conversations after church and in other settings," says Shelagh Mikulak.
"I think there are a lot of Catholics who wouldn't have a problem with female priests, but they don't feel comfortable to come out in the open with their support."
Those actively seeking reform have been holding silent vigils across the street from St. Mary's, the Calgary Catholic diocese cathedral, for the past few years during holy week.
Some women who have been ordained as priests have been excommunicated from the Catholic fold. Reform supporters say they're not looking to pick a fight with the Vatican, but they steadfastly maintain their position is an elemental matter of conscience and justice deeply rooted in their faith.
"It's not about being contentious, but we believe there's a need for reform within the church to welcome both women and married male priests," says Fred Williams.
"Clearly the law is unjust. These people want to follow their conscience and their spiritual calling and to deny that is wrong."
Kilburn Smith says she and other Roman Catholic women priests value the sacramental tradition of their church, but are practising a non-clerical, non-hierarchical form of ordained ministry.
"It's leadership modelled on Jesus' example of inclusivity and non-judgmental love," she says.
Kilburn Smith says her concept of a priest's role is, among other things, one who is "the holder of the sacred space" and who, like many, feels moved to use his or her God-given gifts in compassionate ministry.
"Jesus says the Kingdom of God is within you, and that statement doesn't just apply to men. We are each called to minister in our own way. I believe being a priest is my way."
Kilburn Smith says the historic Catholic rejection of
a female priesthood is akin to "gender apartheid" and amounts to a tragic waste of human potential at a time when many Catholic parishes worldwide are without priests.
Supporter Angelina Waldon draws a comparison to the American civil rights movement and its early pioneers who faced entrenched attitudes with courage.
"It's like Rosa Parks; someone, somewhere has to be the first to stand up for what is right," says Waldon.
Kilburn Smith says she and other Catholic women who aspire to the priesthood are often asked why they don't simply move to another Christian denomination, such as Anglican, United or Presbyterian, where female clergy are welcomed.
"I'm Catholic in my bones," she says. "If you want to bring about change, you have to stay within, not walk away and give up. If we didn't care about the church and its future, we wouldn't be doing this."
Supporter Catherine Williams adds, "We the people are the church, not the buildings or the hierarchy."
Will supporters of a female Catholic priesthood see their vision embraced by the church in their lifetime?
"I have to believe it will happen," says Mikulak. "Gender equality is now established in so many other segments of society. But it took courageous women, and courageous men who supported them, to make it happen."
As the spring sun warms the earth and thoughts turn to the leafy renewal of spring, Kilburn Smith is convinced a more inclusive Catholic Church will bloom in the years ahead.
"This is a transition time in the Catholic world. We've been a long time in that moist soil," Kilburn Smith says of those advocating for renewal.
"But now we are starting to sprout up. There is nothing that lives that does not change."
OK, so none of us is 'good enough'.
I still don't understand why GOD would care if the Catholic Priest was Male or Female.
It does make sense that Jesus was a man, as, at the time, women would not have been allowed to preach the word.
After the big opening lie, why read the rest of the article?!?
God decided that women should not be "risked" this way. This is not an insult, or an implication that women are weaklings who "can't take it." Women are high value targets. Souls of new people are actually infused within their bodies.
That answer makes more sense, thank you.
OTOH, It makes me ask,....does God then not care about Anglican souls for instance, or say, people unfortunate enough to have been born into a different religion, such as Islam, or Hinduism?
fake priest for a fake church
Thanks, but NYer already posted that, and that’s what made me ask the questions in the first place.
The bottom line is this: The Roman Catholic Church has firmly established a set of rules for beeing ordained as a priest. These rules determine eligibility to take on that title and role.
The correctness of the rules is a valid subject for debate, but is irrelevent to this article. This woman, by her act in defiance of the duly established rules governing eligibility for the priesthood, has chosen to exit the Roman Catholic Church.
The debate over allowing women in the clergy is a long-running one, with learned people of all stripes taking any of a thousand (or more) different nuanced positions. I will not engage directly in that debate because I do not have enough personal understanding of the various sides to draw an informed conclusion.
But, again, that has little to naught to do with this article. The woman in question is rebelling against her church. One might even say she was protesting - and in doing so becoming a protestant. That is her right as a human being, but she certainly does not have the right to unilaterally change the church rules just because she doesn’t like them.
Just my $.02.
I can tell you for sure ... that this drivel was first uttered in Eden ... by a Serpent.
I can't, but I point out again, that Men wrote the bible.
Also, some of the bible writings were thrown out after one of the Ecumenical Councils. (I apologize for not having the details)
What did those writings say? Did they challenge the Men in charge?
God wrote the Bible.
So we are told.
Sorry he didn't clear it with you first but that's God's rule and he doesn't negotiate.
LOL. If GOD exists, he sure doesn't need to negotiate anything with me.
The woman in question is rebelling against her church. One might even say she was protesting - and in doing so becoming a protestant. That is her right as a human being, but she certainly does not have the right to unilaterally change the church rules just because she doesn’t like them.
I appreciate your answer.
You make a good point.
Interesting. So maybe we are looking at this backwards.
With GOD's love, everyone who believes in Him, are His Priests. He doesn't need us to wear a collar to be one.
That is not very nice Don.
If you care about their souls, shouldn't you be praying for them?
Yes!
What Peter said!
Thanks for posting.
Had God had wanted to become incarnate as a woman, he could have and would have.
It is undeniable that Jesus the Messiah broke countless Jewish paradigms and taboos; breaking one more by becoming incarante as a woman would have been ridiculously easy and totally in character for the man who turned the world upside down. But He did not do so!
Placing limitations upon God, as you seem to do, hardly bolsters your point about women priests.
I see what you are saying.
I guess I just don't agree with Catholic teachings on this matter.
Disagreement is fair.
It is rather analagous that men can’t bear children.
Men might find that unfair to not have such a privilege (just as women might view the all-male priesthood).
Women might find it unfair, especially at painful times when the sacrfice involved is severe, to be the only ones to bear such responsibility (just as men might find it unfair to be the only ones bearing the weight and burden of ordination).
But God is God. And He has chosen the way things will be.
I'm not trying to have my point bolstered, I'm asking questions.
We have souls created by GOD, and He loves us, but He allows imperfect men to run his affairs here on earth. Imperfect Men, but not imperfect women.
I admit that I just don't get it.
I apologize for disrupting this thread.
Thank you for answering my questions, everyone. This might have been the most pleasant religious thread I have seen on FR.
I certainly see how one could see the situation the way you do given our culture of victimhood/fairness/feminisim etc.
I would expect most people in our cultuire to agree with you.
But as a conservative, doesn’t it sort of make you suspicious to buy the liberal agenda on this topic?
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