Posted on 05/19/2014 1:19:21 PM PDT by NYer
First, check out this video from the CBS affiliate in Sacramento.
You can read the transcript here.
This is poor on so many levels. Reporter Maria Medina should be embarrassed. My only conclusion is that it’s sweeps month and the affiliate is desperate for ratings.
Some observations:
1. There’s the hyperbolic writing: “…a new practice emerging that could change Catholicism forever.” Well, actually, no. It’s not a practice, and it’s not really new. It’s a splinter movement by a small minority of dissident Catholics who are not recognized by the Catholic Church and, in fact, are automatically excommunicated for attempting ordination. And what is the evidence, please, that this “could change Catholicism forever”?
2. There’s the freaky lack of logic: “She’s one of a very small, yet growing group of women ordained in the United States to be a priest. But being ordained isn’t easy since the church refuses to ordain women.” That last sentence makes no sense.
3. In fact, the women are not validly ordained. It’s an attempted ordination.
4. There are the fuzzy, unverifiable statistics: “There are now 124 woman priests worldwide according to the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests.” That’s a best estimate from a biased source. Which means, optimistically, a little more than a hundred women in a church with a billion members and a worldwide priesthood numbering over 400,000, according to the most recent figures. Significant? Hardly.
5. There’s the sloppy, irresponsible reporting. At no point in the story is there even an attempt to offer balance. We never hear from a spokesperson for the Diocese of Sacramento, who can offer the official church response, refute their contention that they are ordained and explain why the church does not recognize these ordinations; we never hear from an expert in canon law, who can put this event into canonical context; we never hear from a historian or scholar who can add perspective; we never hear from any tradition-minded Catholics who can offer another point of view.
6. There’s the subtext of heroic victimhood that places all the sympathy in the story with the “women priests.” The reporter notes: “They exist because of two male bishops who believed in them more than 10 years ago” and “More and more are being ordained and gaining support from parishioners as they answer what they say is a call from God into priesthood.” There’s no sense that these women are violating church law and hold no status within the church at all (and that any sacraments they confect are invalid.) And the church’s response to any of this? Crickets.
If the reporter had presented this story to me, I’d ask a number of questions:
What is the official church’s response to this? Did you interview a spokesperson for the Diocese of Sacramento? What is the official Catholic teaching about ordaining women? How many people do these women serve? Haven’t they been excommunicated? How do they feel about that? Are the people they serve concerned at all about the fact that they’ve also been excommunicated? Has Pope Francis said anything explicitly about the ordination of women? What’s the median age of these women? Where do they come from?
And finally, Maria: having turned in this slipshod, badly written, unbalanced and biased piece of reporting, have you updated your resume?
Because I think you should. Sacramento can do better.
As an aside, a married, visiting priest said mass at our parish yesterday. He delivered an excellent homily. His son was an altar server and his 2 daughters assisted as “peace bearers” (in the Maronite Rite, peace begins at the altar and is passed by the priest to an altar server who passes it to 4 children who then carry it to the first person in each pew). His wife was not in attendance .. not sure why. The Lebanese, accustomed to married priests at their homeland, took it in stride. I had a wealth of questions (like: how do you support your wife and children on a priest’s salary? Along with several others, but did not have an opportunity to ask. No, this was not the priest recently ordained in MI. He comes to the US from Lebanon, via Australia where married Maronite priests already serve. It was, as always, a beautiful liturgy. And - no - there are no women priests in the Maronite Catholic Church.
I attended a Maronite Mass in Birmingham, AL way back in 1961 before there was any talk about Vatican II.
What’s she holding? An Eggo waffle?
That would be St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church. You can take a virtual tour of the church and its magnificent stained glass windows, here.
Looks more like an oatmeal cookie.
“An Eggo waffle?”
I think it’s a cookie, you know, the cookies containing enough bulk for, ah...regularity.
It was hard to see on my phone.
It’s sort of like Brad Manning saying he’s a girl now.
No, you ain’t.
Satan can't MAKE these women do his bidding; THEY choose him. These women are lost to Satan.
The YouTube "Ordain a Lady" video (LINK)
Click it. You know you want to....
Thanks. I was a junior at Auburn and a school friend brought me with him to attend Mass at the church.
It makes me feel at home. I am RC but this church is sooo pre-Vat II and so am I.
I know that you guys were not affected by Vat II.
“People frankly have had enough of an organization saying, ‘I’m sorry, some of you are OK and some of you are not OK,’” said woman priest Victoria Rue.
“We’re not going away,” Rue said.
Perhaps Victoria will get her chance to take it up with The Boss once she DOES go away.
Now, this is going to sound rather absurd but, VCII actually benefited the Maronite Catholic Church. Prior to VCII, the Maronites, out of fidelity to Rome, had become very latinized. VCII set about to restore these liturgies to their original format DECREE ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF THE EASTERN RITE. Essentially, VCII became a blessing.
The Vatican II Council declared that "all should realize it is of supreme importance to understand, venerate, preserve, and foster the exceedingly rich liturgical and spiritual heritage of the Eastern churches, in order faithfully to preserve the fullness of Christian tradition" (Unitatis Redintegrato, 15).
It makes me feel at home. I am RC but this church is sooo pre-Vat II and so am I.
A Roman rite Catholic may attend any Eastern Catholic Liturgy and fulfill his or her obligations at any Eastern Catholic Parish. A Roman rite Catholic may join any Eastern Catholic Parish and receive any sacrament from an Eastern Catholic priest, since all belong to the Catholic Church as a whole. I am a Roman Catholic practicing my faith at a Maronite Catholic Church. Like the Chaldeans, the Maronites retain Aramaic for the Consecration. It is as close as one comes to being at the Last Supper.
It wouldn’t come up for me.
>A Roman rite Catholic may attend any Eastern Catholic Liturgy and fulfill his or her obligations at any Eastern Catholic Parish.<
.
I have always been aware of that and that is why I did not hesitate to attend a Maronite Mass to fulfill my Sunday obligation and I’ll do it again should I be so lucky to be in B’ham on a Sunday.
Or you can try cut-and-paste straight to YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0S2WlvNTU8
Thanks, it worked this morning. No doubt my fault, being tired or just distracted.
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