Two Catholic women went through ordination ceremonies, one a “deacon,” the other as a “priest” in a synagogue in Philadelphia and were therefore immediately excommunicated, according to Philly.com:
Mary Schoettly, 66, of Sussex County, N.J., was ordained a priest. Chava Redonnet, 51, of Rochester, N.Y., became a deacon.
About 200 attended, (Rabbi) Holtzman said. “It was really beautiful,” she said.
A beautiful excommunication? These kinds of events should be a great source of sadness to the faithful as an excommunication always is.
There’s video of the event from the New Jersey Star Ledger:
NJ woman ordained as a priest in controversial ceremony |
And here is the strong statement from Cardinal Justin Rigali which I think is a definitive one:
ON THE INVALID CEREMONY OF THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN IN PHILADELPHIA
It is most unfortunate that this pseudo-Ordination has occurred within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. I am concerned pastorally for the souls of those involved and for the Catholic faithful who may be confused. Those who present themselves for ordination at such an invalid ceremony – as well as those who falsely claim to be ordaining the women — are, by their actions, automatically excommunicated from the Church. (General Decree regarding the delict of attempted sacred ordination of a woman, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, December 19, 2007)
Such a ceremony is in violation of the constant teaching of the Church, based on Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Both clearly indicate that Jesus called only men to follow Him as Apostles, and the Church has always regarded his choice in this matter as normative for all time. Therefore, she has always followed Jesus’ example by choosing only men for the ministry of Holy Orders. This teaching has been confirmed by the supreme authority of the Catholic Church as definitive and irreformable. Consequently, the Church is not authorized by Christ to confer Holy Orders upon women, and cannot do so, no matter how ardent a person’s desire may be.
All Catholic men and women bring different yet equally valuable gifts to the Church. The Church is strongest when the gifts given by Christ to all her members are celebrated and respected. Our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, said, “The presence and the role of women in the life of the Church, although not linked to the ministerial priesthood, remain absolutely necessary and irreplaceable.” (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, 1994).
God’s gifts, however, are never given to individuals merely for their own fulfillment, but for the unfolding of his plan of salvation in the Church for the benefit of the whole community of the faithful, and no one’s true personal dignity in the Church can be fostered in opposition to the will of Christ Himself. Consequently, such a pseudo-ordination ceremony denigrates the truth entrusted to the Church by Christ Himself, and demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of the respect and dignity accorded to women by Christ and His Church.
May 4, 2009 at 3:53 am
Any one notice the guy at 0:47?
Thank God that was still only a piece of wafer bread and not the body of our Lord.
May 4, 2009 at 8:00 am
Could I interest anyone on a pope Joan?
May 4, 2009 at 11:49 am
Thank V2 for this…the Church has blurred the lines by allowing EM’s, and we’ve seen the abuses that have occurred: women handing out Holy Communion, women “blessing” children in the Communion line, etc… Until we rid ourselves of modernism we’re going to get wimmenpreests, “Pope Fred” of Iowa (or wherever that guy is), and clown Masses.
This buffoonery shouldn’t surprise anyone. I challenge ANYONE to present this type of stuff from the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church…
May 4, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Yes, I noticed the guy at 0:47….I also noticed the woman before him didn’t eat the bread either.
May 4, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Fenton:
At least the lunatics are separating themselves distinctly from the Church, instead of sticking around to do her damage. In case you haven’t noticed, 1) there is usually chaos after any Council, and 2) things are looking better.
May 4, 2009 at 5:07 pm
She said: “I played priest when I was little…”
You’re still playing, lady.
“You don’t leave your family because you disagree with it.”
You just did.
May 4, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Oh, PLEASE! This kind of stuff is just so ridiculous.
May 5, 2009 at 1:42 am
Ladies, the age of narcissism is over.
May 5, 2009 at 1:56 am
“This buffoonery shouldn’t surprise anyone. I challenge ANYONE to present this type of stuff from the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church…”
I accept your challenge.
http://www.eskimo.com/~nickz/axios.html
http://www.amazon.com/Ordination-Women-Orthodox-Church/dp/2825413364
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Ordination_of_Women
http://www.womenpriests.org/theology/kyriaki.asp
May 5, 2009 at 3:01 am
The guy at 0:47.
“I’ll be taking that home with me.”
May 5, 2009 at 3:17 am
The guy at 0:47 should have been hunted down, body slammed to the floor and the host removed physically by force if need be…. consecrated or not… Where is our Eucharist Brute Squad (EBS) when we need it????
Kudo’s to Rigali… thank goodness I have an orthodox Cardinal with the guts to say something….
May 5, 2009 at 4:56 am
Geoffrey,
Mea Maximum Culpa!
Fenton
May 5, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I bet you the people taking the host without consuming it are planning on self-intincting.
-Rob
May 5, 2009 at 8:42 pm
“I accept your challenge”
Not really. You found a few links of nutballs, not a bunch of “wimminpriest-ess-es” claiming to have been tonsured.
May 6, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Not really. You found a few links of nutballs, not a bunch of “wimminpriest-ess-es” claiming to have been tonsured.Oh please. The convert Orthodox think they are above it all which is probably why Antioch is doing what they are doing re: your bishops.
This video showed a couple of our nutballs. There wasn’t 50 people there. We have more kooks because there are more of us. Don’t worry, if the American Orthodox ever reach a membership size of note (that is, before the former Protestants entering your ranks get bored and move on to something else), you will have plenty of goofy videos just like this one.
Max
May 7, 2009 at 9:58 am
No, you have kooks because you have tolerated them for forty years. Because you have no backbone, and are scare to death to actually do anything about it. You have kooks because they’ve been running your church since Vatican 2.
The reason you won’t see this crap among the Orthodox is 1) we have a backbone, unlike you, and we are not afraid to use the word, “heresy,” and 2) we do not tolerate this kind of crap. You’ve tolerated it for forty years. It’s going to continue until you find the guts to actually do something instead of issuing statements from time to time, although it’s about forty years too late.