Catholic Bishops Say No to Women Priests, Yes to Hookers

My Google "Catholic" Alert today listed two articles in this order: "Women Warned Against Catholic Ordination," followed by "Catholic Bishop Backs Brothel Regulation."

That about sums it up. In yet another empty defense of the Catholic Church's blatant discrimination against women who it refuses to ordain, St. Louis, Missouri Archbishop Raymond Burke promised to excommunicate two Roman Catholic women who will be ordained priests in St. Louis on Sunday, November 11. The women are part of an energetic international movement called Roman Catholic Womenpriests, which has organized the ordination of Catholic women around the world, with the first U.S. ordinations, which I described in Salon, last year.

Burke also threatened to impose "additional disciplinary measures." To which one of the ordinands, Rose Marie Dunn Hudson, reportedly replied: "What is he going to do, burn us at the stake?"

Meanwhile, another Roman Catholic bishop in the City of Portsmouth, England, the Right Reverend Crispian Hollis, came out in support of legalized prostitution. He based his position on matters of health and safety and the fact that hooking has been with us "from time immemorial."

Yes, but so have women like the apostle Junia, the deacon Phoebe, and bishop Theodora who have been with us since time immemorial--or at least since the dawn of Christianity. Yet they remain conveniently invisible to the whole lot of this dysfunctional boys' club--Biblical and archaeological evidence be damned.

Notably, the Central Reform Congregation led by Rabbi Susan Talve is hosting the ordinations because no Catholic Church would dare to do so. She, too, is the target of the Archdiocese's wrath. In a statement on its website, the Archdiocese accuses her Congregation of damaging Catholic-Jewish relations and "not showing proper respect for the teaching of the Catholic Church."

Nevermind that that teaching enables bishops to keep women off the altar, where she doesn't belong, while supporting her work in bordellos, where apparently, she does.

Comments

[NoPCZone]

I'm not Catholic, never was and never want to be. I ask a simple question: Why not leave this archaic relic of the Roman Empire, this persecutor of thinkers and defender of the status quo?

I am all in favor of women serving in whatever capacity they are called to in the church. Leave the Church of Rome. You know you want to and know you can do it.

[drakke]

Hmmm. And how's the counter reformation going? Two of my favorite sites to help keep my warm feelings for the "Church" in perspective are http://www.vaticanassassins.org and http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/vatican-ny.html

[chinohillster]

The argument, from encyclicals such as 'Inter Insignores' (Declaration On the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood - 10/15/1976), 'Ordinatio Sacerdotalis' (On Reserving Priesthood to Men Alone - 5/22/1994), and somehwat in 'Mulieris Dignitatem' (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women - 8/15/1988) is as follows:

a. In the Eucharist, the priest is acting 'in persona Christi' - since Christ was a male, the priest of necessity must be a male. There is also the idea that the male priest is a servant/leader of the female Church (however, since both men and women are SUPPOSEDLY part of the Church, this loses some weight...)

b. Since Jesus only called men as his disciples, and they were the first Pope and bishops of the early Church, women are excluded from the priesthood and the diaconate.

However, as has been referenced before (interested persons may want to check out Karen Jo Torjesen's "When Women Were Priests" ), women were an integral part of the leadership of the early Church; even the New Testament refers to Junia, Phoeba, Euodia, Synchyte, Prisca, Lydia, etc, as women who were leaders and who exercised leadership in the early Church)

[reteach]

Hey, what's the big fuss. If you're a Catholic female, all you have to do is die to achieve equality. You can be a saint but forget about being a priest. It's all about the afterlife anyway isn't it?

[sorenmeetsdylan]

The Catholic Church is free to decide who it ordains, period, politically correct silliness to the contrary notwithstanding.

[Quaoar]

I'm not sure the two stories are related in any way.

Bishop Hollis, who supports legalized prostitution (good for him -it should be legalized), may also support the ordination of women. The story doesn't say. And there is nothing to indicate that the archbishop of St. Louis supports prostitution like his English counterpart.

[AreYouSerious]

I actually wrote my senior thesis basically on the ridiculousness of the Catholic Church. I went to CUA so my thesis was a cross b/c American politics/The Catholic Church/and a mainly (the focal point) about a professor at my school during the 70's and 80's. He was basically stripped of his special license to teach theology (which he earned through the Vatican) and was fired from the University b/c of his dissenting views on sexual ethics. He had many dissenting views, but for some reason the dissenting views on sexual ethics made him a target by Ratzinger (who is now our Pope).

The Catholic Church is hypocrisy at its finest.

[jeskiley]

I don't understand why every religion must allow women to hold every position of power. Does it make you less Catholic if you can't physically step into each position? Is acceptance of the established hierarchy nowhere in your mind? Just reminding you that you have one life to live, I'd hate to see you spend it angry. The mysteries await...