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[Catholic Caucus] LGBTQ Catholics subject of emotional debate at synod, participants sayThe second week of Pope Francis' closely watched summit on the future of the Catholic Church included emotional debates among bishops and lay delegates over whether the church's ministries could be expanded to include LGBTQ persons.In interviews with multiple delegates from three different continents, NCR has confirmed that during the Synod of Bishop's Oct. 9-12 discussions on the theme of "communion," tensions began to emerge over how the church might extend its welcome to LGBTQ Catholics and whether use of the acronym "LGBTQ" was even appropriate. For at least...

Cardinal Walter Brandmüller – one of the four dubia cardinals – just published in the German newspaper Die Tagespost a commentary responding to the recent claims put forth by the right hand of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. That is to say, especially her call for female priests in the Catholic Church. Brandmüller thus firmly says that the question of female priests has been authoritatively ruled out by Pope John Paul II and that, therefore, anybody who insists upon this matter – to include the ordination of female deacons – “has left the foundations of the Catholic faith,” “fulfills the...

Fresh on the heels on my April 19th post on the Document of the Pre-Synodal Meeting with “young people,” a text that decries at length the plight of women in the Church, comes this: In an unprecedented move, Jorge the Historic has appointed three female advisers to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; women by the names of Laetitia Calmeyn, Michelina Tenace, and Linda Ghisoni.“A glass ceiling has been broken in the Holy See,” writes Chicago Catholic contributor Christopher Lamb.Well, that’s one way of putting it, I suppose.Another is simply to say that the “God of Surprises” (aka...

Should one take Cdl. Schönborn’s comments on female ordination seriously? April 11, 2018 Symptomatic of a society experiencing a breakdown of its order are, among other things, casual assertions by prestigious figures within that society that, if taken according to the plain meaning of their words, are deeply opposed to fundamental values within that society, but which, though uttered, raise nary an eyebrow among those charged with care for that society.Recent comments from Viennese prelate Christoph Cdl. Schönborn, apparently supportive of ordaining women, are opposed, I suggest, to at least three fundamental ecclesiological values but they have occasioned, as far I...

Lately, Chavez declared himself a member of a charismatic congregation, thus allegedly belonging to his country's fastest-growing branch of Christianity. But then he angered the country's National Catholic Bishops Conference by communing at a Mass organized by a priest of pro-Communist leanings. Should you have any doubt that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is in serious decline, consider this: His bust is being removed from the altars of his country's popular religion, a renowned anthropologist told United Press International on Monday. Less than four years ago, the syncretistic Maria Lionza cult celebrated Chavez as the reincarnation of Simon Bolivar, (1783-1830),...

Every Obama event somehow has to offend Christians and Jews. Could Obama pull it off for Chanukah? Yes, he could. I already wrote about Susan Talve's bizarre pre-Menorah lighting rant at the White House Chanukah party. Then, not satisfied with having made a disgrace of the Chanukah ceremony, Susan Talve declared, "I stand here to light these lights to say no the darkness of Islamophobia and Homophobia and Transphobia." Talve babbled about insuring "justice for Palestinians" and began gleefully chanting, "Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah". Or "Allah Willing".

Several students are protesting the decision by Boston College to not renew the contract of an adjunct professor in its School of Theology and Ministry who has openly questioned why the Catholic church won’t ordain women.The Boston College mission statement on its website talks about the Jesuit foundation of the school that makes it unique. It reads: “No other institution so explicitly embodies the fundamental human desire to know.”But after Father John Shea, a professor of pastoral care and counseling, asked church leaders for a theological explanation for why women are not being ordained to the priesthood of the...

I donÂ’t recall his source, but Thomist scholar Dr. F. F. Centore used to point out to us that according to Aquinas, women make better saints than men. And back in the early 80s, I recall reading Butler's Lives of the Saints and being struck by just how much female saints outnumber male saints; I believe it is by about two thirds. And one cannot read the Latin Fathers for a reasonable stretch without coming across the notion that the Church is a woman. She is the bride of Christ and the Mother of Christians. As St. Augustine comments on...

A woman ordained in July at a ceremony the Roman Catholic Church considers invalid will celebrate a Mass Saturday at a conference in Liverpool. The Rev. Gabriella Velardi-Ward, a member of RC Womenpriests, an international group of Catholics who advocate women's ordination, will lead a 2:30 p.m. liturgy at the Upstate New York Call to Action conference at Le Moyne Manor in Liverpool. The conference will also include presentations by the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, who has been criticized by the Vatican for participating at a Womenpriest ordination; and Mary Hunt, a native of Syracuse and a feminist theologian who is...

The number of women who became priests in the Church of England outnumbered men last year for the first time since the church began ordaining women. ... In a separate [but, dare I say, related?] set of statistics, the Church confirmed provisional figures from January showing average Sunday attendances fell below a million for the first time in 2005 to 988,000.

“I didn’t realize how much pain I had from growing up in a church that did not permit women as pastors,” said Melanie Donohoe in an interview published March 22 in the Oakland Tribune. Donohoe was talking about growing up Catholic. “I was not one of those girls who wanted to be a nun,” said Donohoe. “I always loved the spiritual, the mystical, and the sacramental, but I did not sit around dreaming of being a priest.” But, today, Donohoe is a priest -- or what some would call a priest. She is an Episcopal minister and associate rector of...

SAN DIEGO - A woman who says she has been ordained a Roman Catholic priest led a service during the weekend - despite the risk of being excommunicated. Jane Via, 58, is among 15 American women who have recently gone through ordination ceremonies that are not sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church, which bars women from becoming priests or deacons.A hundred congregants attended her service on Sunday at the Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community in San Diego.It was her first appearance since meeting with San Diego Bishop Robert Brom to discuss the consequences of her claimed ordination, which could ultimately...

The first two things we learn about sex from God, right from the beginning, are that God designed it, not man or society, and that it is very good. The first command was, "Be fruitful and multiply." I do not think God had in mind growing oranges and memorizing times tables. It is significant that most advocates of priestesses do not seem to believe or care much about this. Feminists usually see sexuality as a social, human, conventional, changeable thing, and radical feminists usually see it as a problem, an obstacle, or even an enemy, when they rail against the...

July 24, 2005 "Womanpriests" How did I get this assignment? I've been marked as a "traditionalist Catholic" since I came over from the Anglican Church barely 18 months ago. Well, I was a traditionalist Anglican before that; and my path since adolescent atheism has been consistently towards Christian orthodoxy. It feels odd, to be defending Catholic authority, so soon after my arrival.Yet, if I don't speak, who will? It can be no secret that the majority of Canadian Catholic bishops are cowards. With the important exception of the Bishop of Calgary (Fred Henry), they run away from almost any opportunity...

PASSAU, Germany, JULY 1, 2002 (Zenit.org).- A ceremony in which an excommunicated Argentine priest presumed to ordain seven women was denounced by the Austrian Catholic bishops' conference as a farce. Romulo Braschi, who was excommunicated in the 1960s, claimed he had the power to ordain the women because he himself had been ordained bishop by two other excommunicated clergymen. The women, of German, Austrian and U.S. nationality, went through the ceremony led by Braschi, founder of the so-called Charismatic Apostolic Catholic Church of Jesus King. The Austrian episcopal conference in a statement said that "a simulated ordination like this one...