Priest warned after woman's "ordination"

I have known Janice Sevre-Duszynska for years as a friend and former co-worker. She was once a newspaper reporter, and worked as a writer and editor. More recently she has taught English as a second language. She spent time in federal prison for peacefully protesting the School of the Americas. She told me years ago of her childhood desire to serve the Catholic church as a priest. The church officially has denied her fervent desire to serve, but Janice and other women with similar wholesome motives have sought to serve Jesus on their own terms. I could never become a Catholic because the church discriminates against women this way. I admire Janice and the others for doing what they can. I attended the ceremony and thought while Rev. Roy Bourgeois spoke that if the rest of the Catholic Church were like him, it would be easier to have faith in it. The church denies half the human race the opportunity to serve at its highest levels, a distinction Jesus never made as he revealed himself first to the believing women and not the disbelieving male followers.

Leave the Catholics alone

He should be excommunicated

I tried to find a Scriptural basis, or a universally accepted, traditional church basis for the ordination of women. I came up empty-handed. The closest I could find was the ordination of women (over the age of 40) as deacons. The deaconess Pheobe, mentioned in the bible, would support that. Can anyone tell me on what basis are these women asking to be ordained as priests? It seems clear to me in 1Timothy 3:1-5, Titus Chapter 1 & 1Corinthians 9:5 that priests must be men, albeit MARRIED men is the ideal. Please correct me, if I'm wrong. No opinions, please -- I'm sincerely looking for biblical or universally accepted church tradition only. I did research all last summer -- & came up with nothing to support women priests. Thanks..

It is my opinion that women cannot become priests because they can become pregnant.

The health care of the woman must be covered during the gestation, and the baby supported afterwards.

This is purely financial.

Elaine,

Which of the twelve apostles was a woman? I don't remember. What do you mean that Jesus never made that distinction?

Like Cradle Catholic says, there is no scriptural basis for women serving as priests (well, he said he couldn't find any, and that's because there isn't any). Women have the opportunity to serve a multitude of important roles in the Church.

I'm sorry, but the Church does not need to change to suit the desires of women like Janice Sevre-Duszynska. I've said it before on other message boards, and I'll say it again here. If you want a modern Americanized catholic church, find your local Episcopal Church. The Roman Catholic Church does not need to become the Episcopal Church. We are a worldwide church, which doesn't cater to the whims of the American public, and I like that.

Did I not just read that the Pope has no authority to ordain women? What is to stop women from founding their own church on Catholic lines? I wonder who would attend?

More proof that the "church" whatever denomination, is run by people and not by a god vicariously ruling through his subjects.

Having impregnating popes with children has never stopped the RC from doing whatever it wanted in 'being God's rep on earth'.

POWER absolutely makes and breaks the rules and create laws in order to keep its power absolute.

I met a Catholic priest(Marionite rite) at a retreat who was married with 12 children.
That was 'infallibly allowed' and magisterially correct. What is the argument now?

With this power, the church could be the most profitable Casino in the history of mankind.

I am a Catholic (although these days I don't really think I want to be associated as such) and personally think the whole of the organization from the Pope to the Bishops to the Priests is chauvinistic. This is just another way for men (and I am a man) to make themselves more powerful and dominant over women.

I think the heirarchy in Rome better wake up. They are losing members, they do not have enough priests as it is to run the parishes.

They turned off a lot of members (this one included) in their handling of the sex abuse scandal. Just move the Archbishop who had knowledge of the whole thing and could have stopped it when it was still handleable to Rome and give him a nice cushy job far away from where he could be criminally tried for his actions (or non-actions). Now, keep the women in their place. Even though there are plenty of women who want to have a bigger role.

I just don't get it.

Maybe if more women were priests the sex abuse scandel would have been handled better. I just think the Church likes their women like their children... to be seen, touched & not heard.

Well said "MikeinSeattle".......... Christ's hand-chosen apostles were all men. Women play a significant and important role in the Catholic Church, and those who aren't looking for attention, fame or their own self-interests realize this. Men and women are equal in God's eyes, but there ARE differences, and each has different roles in life and in the Church. Maybe I'd like to give birth; but it is not God's design.

Repent heathens and unbelievers, for the end is near...

If all priests are only to be men because all of the apostles were men - why conveniently stop the argument there? Using that logic, which has been applied for centuries as the basis for discrimination, the following must be included: Roman Catholic priests have to be unmarried Jewish men from the Middle East because all of the apostles were unmarried Jewish men from the Middle East.

If the catholic curch wants to exclude women priests, that is their right. It is their club, so they make the rules.

Just like the catholic church can choose not to marry gay couples. But likewise they should have no say in whether or not the govenment wishes to allow gay marrage.

And how do we *know* they were all men? Because it is written in some book that was conveniently written by men in a time when women weren't looked upon as equals?

Probably the same reason Jesus and God are always referred to as "He" or "Him". Designations made by a ruling class of men who wanted to keep women in their place. Can somebody please show me the birth certificate or other hard proof of the sex of Jesus (accounts written in a book written by men, translated by men, in a time where women were not equals does not count).

As a practicing Catholic, the main issue I have with the Womanpriests group is that even if any of these individuals were men, they still wouldn't be ordained as Roman Catholic priests. Many of them are married with children, none have gone to seminary, and many aren't practicing Catholics at all.

Nowhere is there apparent any demonstration of fulfilling a prayerfully discerned vocation in devotion to the faith and the church itself; instead it is about putting oneself on a pedestal and trying to make a point. It all seems more theatrical than sincere.

There are better ways to express ones faith. If you walk into any local parish church on any given day you'll see the huge role that women already play in the church - I daresay they are the ones holding everything together.

To JT (Post #13): Please correct me, if I'm wrong -- I believe ALL the apostles, except John, who was believed to be in his teens, was married. St. Paul, in 1Corinthians 9:5 wrote, "Do not Barnabus and I have the right to marry a believing woman, like Cephas (St. Peter) and the rest of the apostles?" The apostles did not desert their wives and families, to follow Jesus. They went on missionary journeys WITH their families, or they left them in communities, where they would be cared for, and then returned to them. It was on one of their return trips that Jesus healed St. Peter's mother-in-law of an illness. Further, all Old Testament priests were married. John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, was a priest. For a newer example, St. Patrick, the man that converted most of Ireland to the Roman Catholic faith, was the son of a deacon, and the grandson of a Roman Catholic priest. If I'm wrong on any of these facts, please correct me. Thank you to all, and especially to "Mike in Seattle" for confirming what I wrote in Post #3.

To "A cradle Catholic": I'm ok with being wrong. So let me correct my statement, including the comments from "ashamed" also: Using the logic that the Catholic Church has used for years as a basis for discrimination, Roman Catholic priests must be married or unmarried Jewish men or women from the Middle East because all of the apostles were married or unmarried Jewish men or women from the Middle East.

I'm just guessing here, but that probably still means that most Catholic priests don't fit the bill.

I'm not Catholic, and I'm also not saying that there are not good dedicated priests. out there - in fact, I know there are some very good priests. What I am saying, IMHO, is that as an outsider, its quite apparent that this is an institution that has some basis in corrupt concepts that they have devised in order to keep the status quo, and keep the power in the hands of the powerful. My parents were both brought up Catholic, and I recall my mother telling me how startling Vatican II was - that how, suddenly overnight, things they had believed in and rituals they had performed and practices they had adhered to faithfully (such as the ONLY Mass that was valid was a Latin Mass) had been wiped away; she said her family felt betrayed and at a loss, thinking all their worship over the years had been a farce. Her aunt, a nun, was devastated. Thats probably one reason why I was not brought up Catholic.

To: JT- The BEST way to pray is to go into your room and talk with God. We are told not to "forsake the gathering of the assembly" , to keep in communication with fellow Christians. It builds us up, to worship in a community = mass. If only Roman Catholics would read Scripture, they wouldn't be so devastated by changes coming out by the Vatican. They would KNOW what they believe. The ideal church structure is all in the Bible. Catholics give money, supporting the church, enabling it. Though I write from California, my familes originated from Italy and Spain- generations of Catholics. I never left the church, yet, with 12 years Catholic education, I knew next to nothing important, until I got hungry for the bible. Then I was finally "fed". It answered all my questions & simply. Many priests, bishops, nuns and fellow Catholics are involved with "ritual". It is our faith that is important. Ask them to define what they believe. "Who do YOU say I am" Jesus asked, ".. and how will WHAT you know change your life?" We will all be asked that. The devil KNOWS Jesus is the Son of God. But does the devil OBEYJesus? Obey God the Father? The Holy Spirit? No. Through pride, the devil goes his OWN way -- as do we, without the direction provided by the Word of God, that's there to teach us. The Holy Spirit illuminates truths found in the bible --- just ask Him. It's easy. I wish I knew this earlier in life. Some people never find that out. By the way, women in my family have been "liberated" for generations, so when I use the term "He" for God, as a female, I'm not a bit threatened by it. Thank you for allowing me to have this conversation with you, JT.

To "a cradle Catholic", you and I may not see eye-to-eye on various aspects of religion, but I am glad for this forum where different beliefs may be discussed in a respectful manner - and THATs whats of key importance - that I honor and respect other people whose religious choices and backgrounds are different than mine, and that other people do likewise for me. Be well!

"Ordain women or stop baptizing them".

I believe that some concepts of the church need more opening of doors, but to out rightly defy the Church is not the just way. Prayer and patience is the only Christian solution to matters of disagreement. Besides what's stopping any women from the ministry when there are opportunities in Independent Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran churches.