Women Plan Catholic Ordination

THE Roman Catholic Church is threatening to excommunicate a group of women who plan to be ordained as Catholic priests on Sunday, according to Austrian bishops.

A dozen women from Austria, Germany and the United States plan to be ordained by an unnamed bishop in a private ceremony which breaks the Church law that "the sacrament can only be administered by a baptised man".

"Women make up half of all Christians. If this ordination does not effectively conform to the laws of the Church, it goes against tradition and not against faith," said Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, a former nun who is now a teacher and spokeswoman for the group.

"We want to work in the tradition of French working priests, so that each of the candidates works to support herself as well as carrying out her ministry," said Mayr-Lumetzberger, who is among those planning to be ordained.

She refused to say where the ceremony was to take place, but Austrian media have said it could be in Upper Austria, in the north of the country, or in Bavaria, southern Germany.

According to the media, the ordination will be carried out by 68-year-old Ferdinand Regelsberger, who was himself ordained bishop in a ceremony contested by the Vatican and Austrian church authorities.

The former Benedictine monk was ordained by Romulo Braschi, an Argentine bishop who styles himself a "warrior of the soul" and a specialist in "karma", a dogma which really belongs to Hinduism.

Austria's bishops are fiercely opposed to the women's ordination, which they say goes against Catholic law.

"It is a sectarian deception which has created a schism with the Catholic Church," Maximilian Aichern, bishop of Linz in northern Austria, told the Catholic news agency Kathpress.

In a message which was read out in all the churches in his diocese last week, Aichern warned the candidate "priestesses" against "a simulated ordination which would create a fundamental split with the Church".

"If they go ahead with their plans they could be excommunicated," said the bishop of St Poelten in eastern Austria, while the bishop of Feldkirch, western Austria, told the weekly Profil it was a "serious violation of the rules of the Church which threatens to draw in other believers".

"If a woman celebrates a mass she will be automatically excommunicated," predicted Bruno Primetshofer, an expert on Church law.

The progressive wing of the Austrian Church, which is in favour of women priests, has also distanced itself from the group.

The female priesthood candidates have said they will hold a press conference after the ceremony on Sunday morning, but will not announce its location until tomorrow.

The controversy comes as Austria faces a crisis in its priesthood. Last year just 23 priests were ordained in a country which officially counts six million Catholics in a population of eight million.

In the 1970s 75 priests on average were ordained each year, according to Church statistics.

"I believe that the male priests in the church are getting older and older and fewer and fewer. If they want to keep staffing the church they will have to have women," said Mayr-Lumetzberger.

The Church has been "Laying down the Law" a bit too much it seems to me. The "Law", made by men, says that Charlie Manson would be a better candidate for the priesthood than Mother Theresa would have been, Until you can resolve that notion, you cannot resolve the man-made law about male-only priests.

Quote me the words of Jesus wherein he said only males can be priests. It's perhaps true that he only had male disciples but they were also all Jewish. Does the Church only solicit candidates for the priesthood from among Jewish men? Why is the sex of the disciples controlling and their ethnicity not controlling.

With all the charity I can muster I think this is simply a centuries-old, boys club. I have frankly known too many good women to think this silly exclusionary custom makes any sense anymore and I can find few who defend it who do not sound mean-spirited.

Excuse me all but, give the girls a chance, they couldn't possibly do as much harm to the Church as the pedophiles have.

Quote me the words of Jesus wherein he said only males can be priests.

Quote me the words of Jesus wherein He said women can be priests. The priesthood of Christ is according to the order of Melchisedech. Melchisedech was a man, not a woman. You also might want to refresh your memory by reading 1 Timothy 3:1-12; men not women.

Excuse me all but, give the girls a chance, they couldn't possibly do as much harm to the Church as the pedophiles have.

If you think the Church has problems now because 2 percent of it's priests were masquerading as such and committing crimes, then turn it over to the likes of Helen Prejean, Francis Kissling and Joan Chittister. You ain't seen nothing yet. No thanks, we'll leave that heresy to the Protestants. The Church will prevail against the homosexuals, their crimes and their agenda. Christ assured us of that.

I searched the Old and New Testament using the term "priest". There are 846 references. The Levitical priesthood is described in the Old Testament. Only male members of the tribe of Levy. The Melchizedek priesthood arises beginning in the New Testament in Hebrews 5. Priests are likened to the Son of God. No references are made to females. The references are "cut and paste" from a web search engine output. Some spots may have artifacts from the hyperlinks. Feel free to check your paper copy. It is a KJV translation. At the last supper, all the disciples present were male. If Jesus had intended to foster a female priesthood, do you doubt that he could have accomplished it?

Ex 30:30 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
Lev 1:7 And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar
Num 3:3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the apriests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest’s office.
Num 19:7 Then the priest shall awash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
1 Chr 16:6 And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place that was at Gibeon
2 Chr 29:21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.
Heb 5:1-10 FOR every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 2 Who can have acompassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. 3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. 4 And no man taketh this ahonour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. 5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. 6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a apriest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:1-3 FOR this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2 To whom also Abraham gave a atenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of brighteousness, and after that also King of cSalem, which is, King of peace; 3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

With all the charity I can muster I think this is simply a centuries-old, boys club

No, it is a more subtle but important distinction.

You see, in the US, we see people as isolated individuals, so men and women are interchangable in all roles.

But the "fruit" of this belief is denial that gender means anything: Homosexual behavior is the same as marriage, woman need not be protected when pregnant, and women need to remain barren i.e. to become a "man" to be equal to men.

The Catholic church approaches it differently: they see humans as being truly human only when they are enmeshed in the sphere of human relationships. The church is not a "boy's club", or to be viewed thru the feminist/marxist interpretation of power and slavery, but a family.

As a woman, I may have intellectual gifts that I can use in the workplace. But God made me a woman, which means I also have the calling to be a woman/mother.

Even if we don't marry, we bring this vocation to nurture into our jobs, and to deny this part of our essence results in the sterility of modern feminism.

You see, I also bring the gift of femininity. So as a doctor, I give mothering, comforting and nourishing of the sick in my style of doctoring.

When I was little, I asked my mother why women couldn't become priests. She replied it is because women were able to become mothers.

There is a lot of truth in this.

Being a priest is not merely teaching, it is representing Christ, on the cross, in the last supper. It is the true masculine who sacrifices for the family for God and lovingly leads the family. (a concept based on the ancient Jewish priesthood, and which is why the LDS church has only a masculine priesthood)

But women are the nurturers and lifegivers. And no man has the privlege of bringing new life to the world: Cooperating with the Lord to bring to life a soul that will live forever in eternity.

Our society disdains motherhood, and is confused about the reality of gender and isolates us as individuals. But the Catholic church, which has been around for two thousand years and exists outside of US culture, may be wiser in the long run.

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