Homily: Ordination of Catherine Collins as Priest by Bridget Mary Meehan-Aug. 31, 2024

Homily: Ordination of Catherine Collins as Priest by Bridget Mary Meehan-Aug. 31, 2024

Today is the day God has made! We rejoice as we ordain Catherine Collins as a priest in a renewed priestly ministry in SF to serve God’s people in this vibrant community of faith! Amen! Alleluia! Cathy is walking in the footsteps of Mary Magdalene, the apostle to the apostles.

  According to all four gospels, Mary Magdalene and other women are present at the cross and tomb. In John’s narrative, the Risen Christ calls her by name, Mary, embraces her and sends her forth to tell the good news of Easter glory. She goes forth in the power of the Spirit to proclaim the core belief of Christianity that Christ’s new life and living presence is with them. 

Today, the Risen Christ calls Cathy by name, and sends her forth to proclaim the good news of God’s infinite, boundless love that all are welcome, all are equal and all are invited to celebrate sacraments in a Spirit inspired community of faith with Mary of Pentecost!

In the Gospel of Mary, the only gospel written by a woman, Mary Magdalene shares with the male disciples the life-giving revelations she has received from the Savior.

Scholars believe that this ancient text was written around the same time as the Gospel of John during a time in which various Christian communities believed women were as worthy and capable as men to teach and lead the church. All three versions of the Coptic and Greek manuscripts are missing pages in the beginning and in the middle. Don’t you wonder who ripped out the missing pages! 

The Gospels of Thomas and Philip- sacred texts, discovered in the Egyptian desert in 1945 near Nag Hammadi, list Mary Magdalene, Mary his mother and Mary his sister as always accompanying Jesus in his ministry.  (Meggan Watterson Mary Magdalene Revealed, p. 46)  

In the Gospel of Mary, we encounter Mary Magdalene as a courageous leader and insightful teacher in the early Jesus movement. 

 Contrary to papal teaching in recent decades, Jesus did not choose only men as apostles or disciples. 

Jesus chose Mary Magdalene to proclaim important teachings that are at the heart of living the Gospel in every age.

Jesus’ legacy is Mary’s legacy and her legacy is our legacy. 

This good news should be included in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and taught in all seminaries!

 

In chapter 10:11-13, the Gospel of Mary states; “We should clothe ourselves with the perfect human, acquire it for ourselves as he commanded us, and announce the good news.” This text reminds us of Jesus’s teachings that:  

 

We are all beloved of God, called to be fully human and fully divine. There is no hierarchy in the circle of love, all are connected, equal and loved. Each of us is created in God’s image and that this beautiful image is reflected in our humanity and divinity.

This means that we can see God’s face in us, in everyone and in all creation. The truth is that male, female, intersex, transexual, nonbinary is made equally in the divine image.

In Mary Magdalene Revealed, Meggan Watterson writes: “We have nothing to be ashamed of or to ever have to hide when it comes to whom we love. Who we love is not determined by our body or theirs, nor their sex or their gender, but the soul that expresses itself through it all.” (p.215)

In Mary’s gospel, the Savior said: “There is no such thing as sin…” (Gospel of Mary 3:3)

He cautioned about making unnecessary laws. “Go then, preach the good news about the Realm. Do not lay down any rule beyond what I determined for you, nor promulgate law like the lawgiver, or else you might be dominated by it.”(Gospel of Mary 4:8-10)

So why you- may wonder- does the RC Church need 1752 laws in the 1983 Code of Canon Law?

Roman Catholic Women Priests challenge one of these laws. We disobey Canon law #1024 because it is an unjust law that prohibits ordination of women. We do so as a prophetic act of obedience to the Spirit to embody the liberating Spirit at work in the ordained ministry of women and all genders. In our inclusive communities, we follow Jesus’ example of Gospel hospitality by welcoming all to participate in and receive all sacraments and by circular leadership in communities of baptized equals. 

In the Gospel of Mary, we see the tension that arises from Peter’s words that still echo in patriarchal power and domination over women in the Church today: 

Levi said to Peter, “Peter you are always ready to give way to your perpetual inclination to anger. And even now you are doing exactly that by questioning the woman as though you’re her adversary.” (Gospel of Mary 10:7-8)

A church that subjugates women with their teachings and structures contributes to women’s abuse and subjugation in the world.  In this, the Church violates its own teachings from the Second Vatican Council which states: “All forms of social or cultural discrimination in basic personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language or religion must be curbed or eradicated as in incompatible with God’s designs.” (Gaudium et Spes 29) We believe that all justice issues are interconnected and thus, support all human rights initiatives. 

The good news we need to hear today is that there can be no spiritual authority outside of us that is greater than the voice of Spirit within us. This voice within us is a voice of love that affirms our moral agency and primacy of conscience in every decision we make.  

Pope Francis has called the Synod on Synodality to engage in a sacred listening process to hear all voices including those on the margins. We hope that Pope Francis will soon invite women priests to an open dialogue. If Pope Francis lifted the penalty of excommunication against Roman Catholic Women Priests, this action would send a powerful message that in a Synodal Church -no one is left out -and, that we are one Body in Christ, and a Church for everyone.

In the spirit of Mary Magdalene, we joyfully claim our spiritual authority as disciples and equals to ordain Cathy Collins a priest today!

Interview with Lisa Ling on CBS Mornings about Roman Catholic Women Priests on September 19, 2024

 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YJMka65NSsE&list=UU-SJ6nODDmufqBzPBwCvYvQ&index=4&pp=iAQB

Roman Catholic Women Priests: Books, Articles Links, Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

 https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2024/08/videos-and-book-about-roman-catholic.html

 

 Roman Catholic Women Priests are a "prophetic challenge to transform hierarchical and sexist structures that claim that males only can be ordained for priestly service to God and the community."

Women Called to Catholic Priesthood: From Ecclesial Challenge to Spiritual Renewal Paperback – March 19, 2024

Sharon Callahan and Jeanette Rodriguez explore the contexts, calls, journeys, spirituality, and theology of women called to priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church in this compelling and carefully crafted ethnographic work. Posing the questions of how womenpriests' stories illustrate both ecclesial challenges and spiritual renewal, the authors encourage readers to thoughtfully engage these women on their own terms.

Women Called to Catholic Priesthood draws on the stories of forty-two women serving in the United States, Canada, Colombia, Europe, and South Africa. Ranging in age from their early thirties to their late eighties, these women tell stories that help us understand the spirituality and deep sense of call womenpriests experience despite the challenges they face in challenging Roman Catholic canon law. Callahan and Rodriguez's work is both moving and timely as the global church engages in synod work aiming to discern where the Spirit of God is calling Roman Catholics in the twenty-first century.

Womanpriest: Tradition and Transgression in the Contemporary Roman Catholic Church (Catholic Practice in North America) 1st Edition Amazon

by Jill Peterfeso (Author)

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars    33 ratings

Part of: Catholic Practice in North America (15 books)

See all formats and editions

The Case for Women Priests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGBlRvc6J2k

Women Priests Then and Now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WTs3rhaZKw

Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests 2013 Update

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTBrJSZk5t0

Books:

Amazon.com: Women Find A Way: The Movement and Stories of ...

https://www.amazon.com/Women-Find-Way-Movement-Womenpriests/.../1602642230

Amazon.com: Women Find A Way: The Movement and Stories of Roman Catholic ... Elsie Hainz McGrath, Bridget Mary Meehan, Ida Raming: Books. ... 

Living Gospel Equality Now, Bridget Mary Meehan https://www.amazon.com/Living-Gospel-Equality-Now-Catholic/dp/B00854C39O

Exclusion of Women from the Priesthood (9780810809574): Ida ...

https://www.amazon.com/Exclusion-Women-Priesthood-Ida-Raming/dp/0810809575

Amazon.com: Exclusion of Women from the Priesthood (9780810809574): Ida Raming, N.B. Adams:Books.

Amazon.com: A History of Women and Ordination, Vol. 2: The Priestly ...

https://www.amazon.com/History-Women-Ordination-Vol-Priestly/dp/0810848503

Ida Raming's book sheds much light on the canonical roots of the Roman ... to thoroughly understand the church's teachings on women and priesthood, this is a ...

Articles:
A /Brief Overview of Womenpriests in the History of the Roman Catholic Church https://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/RCWP_Resource.pdf

This book is openly available in digital formats thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

While some Catholics and even non-Catholics today are asking if priests are necessary, especially given the ongoing sex-abuse scandal, The Roman Catholic Womanpriests (RCWP) looks to reframe and reform Roman Catholic priesthood, starting with ordained women. Womanpriest is the first academic study of the RCWP movement. As an ethnography, Womanpriest analyzes the womenpriests’ actions and lived theologies in order to explore ongoing tensions in Roman Catholicism around gender and sexuality, priestly authority, and religious change.

In order to understand how womenpriests navigate tradition and transgression, this study situates RCWP within post–Vatican II Catholicism, apostolic succession, sacraments, ministerial action, and questions of embodiment. Womanpriest reveals RCWP to be a discrete religious movement in a distinct religious moment, with a small group of tenacious women defying the Catholic patriarchy, taking on the priestly role, and demanding reconsideration of Roman Catholic tradition. Doing so, the women inhabit and re-create the central tensions in Catholicism today.

National Catholic Reporter: https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/advocates-dismayed-reaffirming-ban-women-priests

Advocates dismayed by reaffirming ban on women priests

Jun 9, 2018

by Dennis Coday

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Janice Sevre-Duszynska is engaged by Italian police as she approaches the Vatican during a demonstration for women's ordination in 2011. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Advocates for the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church said they are "deeply dismayed" by a newspaper article penned by the Vatican's doctrinal chief that reaffirmed the church's ban on women priests as "definitive" and "a truth belonging to the deposit of faith."

"Archbishop [Luis] Ladaria's arguments are unconvincing and simply nothing new," said a statement from the Women's Ordination Conference, following the release of Ladaria's article. "How long can the Vatican hide behind its sexist arguments that because Jesus was a man, he intended only men to become priests?" the statement read.

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Writing for the May 30 issue of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that Jesus decided to reserve the sacrament of priestly ordination "to the twelve apostles, all men, who, in turn, communicated it to other men."

"The church has always recognized herself bound by this decision of the Lord, which excludes that the ministerial priesthood can be validly conferred on women," Ladaria writes.

Ladaria's article, "The definitive character of the doctrine of 'Ordinatio sacerdotalis,' " re-examines Pope John Paul II's 1994 apostolic letter that outlined the reasoning behind the ban on the priestly ordination of women.

The archbishop said he decided to write "in response to doubt" about John Paul's teaching, adding that expressing doubt about the barring of women from the priesthood "creates serious confusion among the faithful."

"The only 'serious confusion' among the faithful is just how long the Vatican will continue to parade indefensible arguments that attempt to limit the reaches of God's call," Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference, told NCR.

According to British theologian John Wijngaards, "Yes, there is confusion among the faithful, but not because they doubt the validity of their inner sense of what is genuinely Christian and Catholic, but because the persons who are supposed to guide them keep ignoring their just concerns."

"Confusion is healthy if it leads to a process of honest reassessment," added Wijngaards, professor emeritus of Missionary Institute London and founder of the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research.

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Archbishop Luis Ladaria (CNS/Paul Haring)

Statistics have shown that a majority of educated Catholics believe women should be ordained, he said. "Their belief stems not from theological studies but from their 'Catholic sense,' their considered judgment that Jesus, who always treated women like the men, would not ban women from ordination in our present world."

"This sensus fidei is at the foundation of the teaching authority of the whole church, a foundation hierarchical leaders should take note of in any magisterial decision," he said.

In his essay, Ladaria, who is to be made a cardinal by Pope Francis June 28, addresses the debate over the character of John Paul's Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, especially the question of whether it is to be considered an infallible papal teaching.

Ladaria argues that although John Paul did not formally proclaim the teaching ex cathedra — as outlined by the First Vatican Council document Pastor Aeternus as part of the process of a pope declaring something infallibly — the pope "formally confirmed ... what the ordinary and universal magisterium considered throughout the history of the Church as belonging to the deposit of faith."

"To hold that it is not definitive, it is argued that it was not defined ex cathedra and that, then, a later decision by a future Pope or council could overturn it," he stated. "Sowing these doubts creates serious confusion among the faithful, not only about the Sacrament of Orders as part of the divine constitution of the Church, but also about the ability of the ordinary magisterium to teach Catholic doctrine in an infallible way."

Wijngaards told NCR: "As history shows, many popes have made statements they believed to be 'definite,' which have turned out to be flawed. The 'definitive' character of a papal statement does not only derive from the intention of the pope in question. It is intimately linked to its context.

According to Wijngaards, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis does not fulfill the five criteria of an infallible decision by the "ordinary and universal magisterium," as outlined by the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner.

"Ordinatio Sacerdotalis," he said, "first, was not a collegial exercise of the teaching authority. Second, the bishops of the world had not acted as judges. Third, they had not listened to the ordinary faithful. Fourth, the issue in question does not involve revealed faith or morals. Moreover, fifth, the bishops of the world had not wanted to impose a final judgment on the matter."

He continued, "The belief that only men can be priests because all the 12 apostles were men is scripturally unsound. The appeal to an 'unbroken tradition' of excluding women is as faulty as asserting that the world was created in six days because the fathers of the church, medieval theologians and all bishops thought so."

The statement from the Women's Ordination Conference also notes that even in his 1994 document John Paul acknowledged the question of women's ordination was "at the present time in some places … considered still open to debate."

"The continued presence of a strong movement clamoring for the ordination of women shows that Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is far from definitively held as doctrine by the faithful of the Church," the statement said.

McElwee told NCR, "While the institutional church continues to reject and dismiss the priestly vocations of women, communities of Catholics recognize women's gifts and walk with them on a path of radical inclusion." Kate McElwee is married to NCR Vatican correspondent, Joshua McElwee.

Among those walking "a path of radical inclusion," is Bridget Mary Meehan, one of four bishops in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and pastor of the Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community in Sarasota, Florida. The international Roman Catholic women priests movement, of which the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is one member, claims about 250 priests worldwide.*

"The Vatican's affirmation of its ban on women priests as 'definitive' teaching rests solely on patriarchal church authority," Meehan said. "In doing so, it denies the workings of the Spirit within the people of God."

"The Vatican's affirmation of its ban on women priests as 'definitive' teaching rests solely on patriarchal church authority. In doing so, it denies the workings of the Spirit within the people of God."

-- Bridget Mary Meehan

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