Thanks, Pope Benedict XVI: The Interregnum Begins

All forms of media have been saturated with items and news about Pope Benedict XVI’s retirement. Which is why- except for a few words after the announcement- I have avoided the subject. The topic has not been far from my mind, however.

As we enter the interregnum, I’d like to reflect on a few things that some people get, and most people will never understand.

Pope Benedict XVI was exactly the Pope we needed after John Paul II. A Pope usually reigns for about 10 years, so JPII’s reign was extraordinary. I vaguely remember Paul VI’s passing- then John Paul I so soon after. Like many people under the age of 60, JPII was the only Pope I remembered even caring about. Benedict XVI was a lot like him; they were both scholarly, fatherly figures who loved Jesus Christ with their entire being. Sounds like the job description for Pope, actually. Now we may return to the old way- shorter reigns, more of turnover in the job.

The media acts as though this is a big deal. It is- but not for the reasons they push. It is a big deal because the Church is saying goodbye to her beloved Papa. The upside is we are not mourning, as would normally be the case.

The Church is not a business or an organization. She is a family. She operates as a family, not a democracy. Jesus Christ is the head of the Church; the Pope is his vicar. The Pope’s role is to lead the Church as a father- which is why he is called “Papa.” The respected parent is not the one who bows to every whim of the child, letting him do whatever he wishes. The respected parent upholds the rules- and takes time to explain why the rules are necessary. In this case- they are necessary if we see them in view of our eternal destiny.

The body of writings BXVI leaves us is amazing- and more is likely on the way. ( I hope!) Encyclicals and apostolic letters have been the primary writings of most popes- including JPII.  Benedict gave us full-length books, written to be understood by lay Catholics. Not long after he was elected, we were on vacation. I sat by the hotel pool reading The Spirit of the Liturgy, written while he was still Cardinal Ratzinger. (I have read it twice since then- it never gets old) My husband was on the chaise next to me. Enthusiastic about the text, I proclaimed, “Yes. Yes! YES!” Tim asked, “WHAT are you reading?!” “A book by the POPE!” His reply…. “Oh. You sound like an Herbal Essences commercial.” At the time, I was just beginning to delve into the rich treasury of Church writings we have at our fingertips. Spirit was so easy to understand- yet so rich, deep and eloquent. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to understand liturgy in a new and exciting way. I promise, you will never look at the Mass the same!

A newspaper article asked if having “two popes” was going to be a problem for the Church. See? That’s the kind of ignorance in the media. Any Catholic will tell you- there is only one Pope. Benedict will enjoy the honor and respect he deserves in his retirement, but he is no longer our Pope. That makes me a little sad. I will miss him!

Another article suggested a nun be chosen as Pope. Sigh. If you need a refresher on why that will not happen, see HERE.

By far, the most aggravating pundits have been those who insist that the Cardinal- Electors choose a Pope “more with the times,” “more forward- thinking” or “not in the dark ages.” Another example of how people simply do not understand. It is not the Church’s job to bow to the times or the whim of a few people. It is the Church’s role to uphold the teachings of Jesus Christ. Her constancy and consistency and faithfulness to that role have kept her intact for 2000 years. He promised that, you know- when he made Peter the first Pope…and Christ himself promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church.

The Church will not change- cannot change- God’s standards, meaning no change on homosexual so-called “marriage,” ordination of women, or artificial contraception/abortion. Sorry, liberals. It ain’t gonna happen.

So, no matter WHO the next Pope is, no matter where he was born, no matter his political views,  I am confident that he will be elected by the influence of the Holy Spirit. He will uphold the teachings of Jesus Christ. And the One, True Church of Jesus Christ will continue until Christ returns in glory.

Lord, thank you for giving your Church the gift of Pope Benedict XVI. Bless him in his retirement, comfort him in his afflictions, and fill his heart with the gratitude we, your people, have for his service to us. We ask you to send your Holy Spirit to fill the hearts and minds of the Cardinal-Electors as they prepare to enter the conclave. May the man who enters as Cardinal and leaves as Pope be strengthened by our prayers and by your Spirit dwelling within him as he takes the helm of the Barque of Peter. Amen.

How to Get People to Leave Your Parish in 10 Easy Steps

The Screwtape Letters by C.S.Lewis is a favorite of mine. For those unfamiliar with the book, Screwtape (a devil) sends a series of letters to his nephew, Wormwood ( an apprentice devil), offering advice on wooing the patient (a nominal Christian) away from the enemy (God).

     As you can imagine, the book is awkward reading at first- especially if you are unaware of what Lewis is doing. It is, however, quite insightful- and really gets you thinking!

     In that vein, I offer you…. “How to get people to leave your parish in 10 easy steps.” An effective tool for maintaining the integrity of your parish life and ensuring it doesn’t suffer from the onslaught that newcomers bring.

1.       Discourage ministry participation by anyone new. You really are not in need of any new Extraordinary ministers, lectors, servers, ushers, funeral dinner workers or –gasp!- cantors/choir members. It is rather presumptuous for someone to offer to serve in those ministries without being asked (and you will not ask them). This also applies to helping in Religious Ed, parish festivals, bingo and other events and fundraisers. The parish has managed quite nicely without the newcomers, and will do just fine without them. The nerve!

2.       Never, ever, ever let someone sit in your pew! Arrive early for your spot. If you happen to get there at the same time as someone new (because your fellow parishioners KNOW where you sit), simply keep scooting down the pew until you push them right out. I saw this one expertly executed on February 24, 2013. It was beautiful! The trespasser didn’t even realized what had happened. Flawless!

3.       Be sure the ChriEasters know they are not welcome back. You’ll take their money in the collection basket for the holiday, but let’s not push it. Don’t share hymnals and- for crying out loud- be sure you hug the end of the pews! Scooting toward the middle of the pew so there is room for more people to sit is ridiculous- and might be perceived as welcoming, which can’t be allowed. Besides, it looks good if people are standing for Mass.

4.       If your parish does the Protestant “welcome those around you” bit (shudder!), and you see someone new/ from another parish say something like, “ Oh, are you slumming it today?” or “What are you doing on this side of town?” That way, they get the idea they don’t belong.

5.       Kill creative and/or innovative ideas as soon as they are offered. “We have always done it this way” effectively shuts down most people.  Especially when offered by a new member- or one who rarely offers input- new ideas are a way for them to try to weasel into parish life. Next thing you know, they’ll think they run the place, and that cannot be allowed. Shoot it down quickly. Then, some time later, you can re-present the idea as your own- which is acceptable, since you are an established parishioner. Ideas to draw in young people and young adults must be stopped. You cannot tolerate even more people being invited to the parish, as this is counter-productive. However, you must push “progressive” liturgical ideas- always test the limits on those! If the rubrics don’t specify not to do something, it must be allowed. Try hand washing on Holy Thursday, ribbon-waving processions for Pentecost, so-called liturgical dance in a non-ethnic parish. This will keep away newcomers who are stuck pre-Vatican II.

6.       Criticize any contribution by the young people of the parish. Expect them to be better than adults at any ministry they try. Be sure they hear you. This leaves those spots open for the adults, no matter how poorly those adults fill those ministries.

7.       Question their piety, especially if it falls outside the norms of the parish… and especially if it comes from the person trying to learn more about liturgy/ Catholic faith.  A perfect tool here is to call someone who wants to follow established rules and traditions a Pharisee. They understand this is an insult straight from Jesus! He berated the Pharisees for their exterior observance of the law, without having the love of God at their heart. This, of course, is how these interlopers are- and you know it, too!

8.       Criticize Mass attire- She is overdressed for Mass, he is underdressed for Mass. This one is very easy. Nit-pick. Go ahead. The stability of your parish is at stake. That skirt is a tad too short, his jeans have a spot on them. That young man is wearing a T-SHIRT? Well, I never! See how simple it is?  And don’t forget- head coverings or chapel veils on a woman are a sure sign she needs to be drummed out quickly. That kind of negative influence on the parish cannot be good. She’s a Pharisee, I’m sure! (see #7)  

9.       Gossip. Make it good and juicy so it is good fodder for the rumor mill.  Lies are the best route since in gossip, a person is guilty until proven innocent- and they have no way to prove themselves innocent, because by the time they get wind of the gossip, their reputation has been completely destroyed.  This is one of the best overall methods for parish size reduction, because once they do discover the gossip, they will be embarrassed and humiliated into leaving. This is where the lies are most effective: the innocent person is more embarrassed then a guilty party would be. It is easy prove someone DID do something, impossible to prove they did NOT. Don’t worry about it not being true- God understands you are doing it for the good of your parish. Besides, it might possibly, somewhat, in some small way  be true and you can confess it, anyway. Then you are off the hook AND mission accomplished. What a deal!

10.   RCIA. This is a dicey one. You need RCIA participants, because the Easter Vigil would be so boring without the Baptisms and Confirmations. But you certainly don’t want these people thinking they belong to your parish. Don’t make any effort to introduce yourself to them. Do not attend the welcome reception after the vigil Mass. Resort to starting at #1 above if necessary if the RCIA members actually show up for Mass after Easter. Most of them will quickly become ChriEasters if you are efficient.

There are other avenues to keeping people away. You may need to tailor these to your specific situation. But these are tried-and-true and will keep your parish just as it is for many years to come… or until there is no one left.

Is Catholic What You Do, Or Who You Are?

( Another class paper, presented in December of 2010; the assignment limited me to 1500 words... the topic- How can apologetics increase lay participation in the liturgy?)

A young man genuflects before entering the pew- but the tabernacle is at his back. A young woman eats breakfast in her car in the church parking lot minutes before Mass begins. A young family consistently misses Mass because the daughter plays club volleyball on the weekends. Unfortunately, these are all common occurrences in Catholic churches. Catholics have lost the meaning behind the postures and rituals of the liturgy and in the process have lost an appreciation for the entire experience of liturgy. Apologetics can contribute to bringing Catholics to a full, active and conscious participation in the liturgy.

Liturgy is the work of the people. In the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (CSL), the fathers of the Second Vatican Council expressed the ideal that, “Christ’s faithful…should not be there as strangers or silent spectators; on the contrary, through a good understanding of the rites and prayers they should take part in the sacred service conscious of what they are doing with devotion and full involvement.” (48) Paragraph 30 of CSL encourages the faithful to participate in “acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons and songs, as well as by actions, gestures and bearing” in addition to sacred silence.

These are not enough, however. The actions, gestures, and postures are externals and the faithful often go through the motions without any consideration for the meaning behind them either because they have forgotten or were never properly catechized in the first place. They are no different than a child who is repeatedly told to look both ways before crossing the street. The child does exactly as he has always been taught and carefully looks both ways- then darts in front of an oncoming vehicle. Mother never told him WHY he was looking: observe if cars are coming, then make a judgment about whether it is safe to proceed across the street. In much the same way, this generation has been taught what to do but not the meaning behind those actions. With the loss of a sense of purpose behind the actions and gestures of the liturgy something more is lost: the ability to enter deeply into the liturgy.

Part of the beauty of Catholicism is that it engages the entire human being. When a 7^th grader asked if he liked his job, the priest answered, “This isn’t my job. It isn’t what I do. It is who I am.” In much the same way, Catholics must grow to understand that being Catholic is less about what they do and more about why they do it.  In turn they will grow in their understanding that their Catholic faith should involve every part of their lives. Even with the sincerest of intentions, lack of understanding of the liturgy deprives the faithful of the richness of the liturgy and opens the door for well-meaning Protestants to mislead them about the liturgy and their Catholic faith. But how does one reach the average Catholic? A small column in the parish bulletin can offer bite-size catechetics on the liturgy.  That would reach those who actually attend Mass, but how many would actually read it?  A parish mission or educational series is another possibility. The drawback of these lies in asking people to return to church during the week, adding another event to the jam-packed schedules of 21^st century America.  Also, the people most likely to attend such sessions are the ones already actively engaged in both their parish and their faith. How does one educate the marginal Catholic who manages to get to Mass, but is otherwise not engaged in her faith? One priest facing a crisis in his community developed a solution. In the February 1995 issue of This Rock (online at http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1995/9502fea1.asp), Fr. Edward Petty describes how his parish dealt with the aggressive arrival of a Fundamentalist sect bent on luring the predominantly Catholic town to their ecclesial community. Fr. Petty lamented that many of his parishioners were Catholic merely because their grandparents were Catholic. They were cultural Catholics lacking any understanding of what they believed or why. This, he felt, made them “ripe for the picking” by the Fundamentalists who were ready to harvest.

The CSL states that “preaching should draw its content mainly from scriptural and liturgical sources” (35.2). With the consent of his archbishop, however, Fr. Petty and his associate began a homily series wonderfully timed to coincide with both Lent and a door to door campaign by Bible college students from the fundamentalist group. As the homilies progressed through the Lenten season, they covered anti-Catholicism in the United States, the origin of the Bible, proper use of scripture and common accusations and arguments used to lead Catholics away from their faith. The priests heavily pirated and admittedly plagiarized well known apologetic works, with the retroactive blessing of the authors. The parish secretaries churned out over 500 copies of each homily in tract form by the Wednesday following the weekend liturgies.  Members gave these to fallen away family, friends…and the Bible college students knocking at their doors.

One of the most remarkable things about the whole situation happened in the 5^th week of Lent when the parish held their annual 40 hours celebration. They pulled out all the stops for adoration and included longer homilies on the Eucharist. Rather than a blip on the parish schedule, the 40 hours devotion became what it should always be- a celebration of the centrality of the Eucharist in the Christian life. The 1400 seat church was filled to capacity all three nights for the evening services. What an amazing way to take the parish into Holy Week! With the help of their priests, guided from the pulpit, the people learned what they had either forgotten or never knew: God gave us His best when He gave us the Eucharist.

That Midwest parish of 5000 had 75% plus Mass attendance at the time Fr. Petty wrote the article.  The Fundamentalist community had all but disappeared, gaining not one member from the ranks of the town’s Catholics. That says so much, doesn’t it? These were average Catholics, no different than those filling the pews of most Catholic churches today. Had their pastor not been proactive, they easily could have been led away from the one true Church of Jesus Christ by the flashy preaching, contemporary music and warm fuzzy Jesus offered by the Fundamentalists. Their pastor literally shepherded them, guiding them into understanding and appreciation for their Catholic faith. He taught them the background behind the actions and beliefs they had taken for granted for so long. He challenged them to take it to heart, to truly enter into the mystery….and they rose to the challenge.

The Catholic Church as a whole cannot afford to ignore what Fr. Petty encountered and how he reacted. While preaching must remain faithful to the directives established by the Magisterium in her wisdom and authority, there is no reason apologetics cannot be judiciously introduced into Catholic preaching.  It is the most effective way of remedially catechizing the average Catholic and can, as shown by Fr. Petty’s experience, successfully engage the parish. As taught by St. Augustine, fundamental understanding of Catholic teaching leads to a better capacity to believe. Together, they give the faithful the foundation they need to fully enter into the liturgy which in turn will lead to a deeper and more rewarding faith life, one that is not a succession of rote and meaningless actions, but the experience of the presence of Jesus Christ it is meant to be. 

Many Gifts, One Body: Women, Ordination and the Catholic Church

(I wrote this paper in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a class; it was presented to the instructor on August 5, 2010... It got a 99 :-) )

The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with the spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling.

--The Second Vatican Council’s Message to Women, December 8, 1965

            Women are no strangers to Christianity. With the exception of John the Beloved Disciple, only women remained with Jesus as He hung on the cross [Mt 27:55-56] and in all four Gospels, women were the first to receive the news of Jesus’ resurrection. [Mt 28:1-10; Mk 16:18; Lk 24:1-12; Jn 20:1-18 NAB] St. Paul mentions a minister named Phoebe [Rom 16:1] in addition to many other women active in the early Church. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the perfect example of the faithful follower of Christ. Throughout the centuries, holy women have served the Church as wives and mothers, housekeepers and religious teachers and Doctors of the Church. Yet, there is one thing a Catholic woman has never been: a validly ordained priest. A growing faction within the Catholic Church is calling for the Church to ordain women as a matter of justice and equality. They fail to see that the reservation of ordination to men is a gift to the Church that allows men and women to apply their equal yet different gifts to the mission of Jesus Christ and His Church.

The 100 women who have attempted ordination in the past eight years claim to have received the sacrament validly but illicitly because validly ordained bishops ordained the women who in turn ordained them.[1] These women and their supporters want the Church to recognize the ordinations and allow them to minister to Catholics in this time when bishops are shuttering parishes for lack of priests. They appeal to anyone who will listen, saying the Vatican stance shows it is guilty of offenses ranging from outright misogyny to the violation of “international law, our human rights, the example of Jesus and integrity of conscience.”[2] Some question why, when God chose a woman to give Jesus Christ flesh and blood in her womb, women are not fit to make Him present, Body and Blood, in the Eucharist.[3] In her book Sacraments Alive, Sandra DeGidio admits that she brings to her chapter on Holy Orders “…some pain. Pain for my sisters who feel gifted for and called to a priesthood that is not open to them.”[4] The arguments are heartfelt, sincere and-on the surface-logical. Who has the right to deny a vocation based solely upon gender? It simply is not fair.

Compounding the difficulty for the Vatican is the recent Vatican document listing updated disciplinary norms for various offenses within the Church, including for women who attempt ordination (and those who attempt to ordain them) and for those guilty of sexual abuse. Calling both gravioribas delictus (grave crimes) and placing them in the same document provided fodder for those on the women’s ordination front. The Internet went wild with misleading articles claiming the Church felt the crimes were analogous. The Church’s statement, however, clearly distinguished between sexual abuse as a crime against morals and attempted ordination as a crime against the sacraments.[5] Mary Kay Kusner, who calls herself a “womanpriest” (sic), took the opportunity to plead her case in the media: “It is unjust and discriminatory that the males at the Vatican continue to deny us employment and decision making within the Roman Catholic Church.”[6] Kusner and her cohorts consistently make the issue one of sexism and fail to acknowledge the Church’s primary reason for not ordaining women: the Church does not have the authority.

While there exists evidence from the early Church of women serving in ministry, their function was ministry to other women. The Apostolic Constitutions state clearly, “A deaconess does not bless, but neither does she perform anything else done by presbyters and deacons, but she guards the doors and greatly assists the presbyters, for the sake of decorum, when they are baptizing women.”[7] So, from the late 4^th century, it was already the teaching of the Church that only men could serve as priests. With the exception of Judaism, priestesses were common in religions of Jesus’ day.[8] Jesus knew this and had many holy women among His followers-including His Blessed Mother. Yet, Jesus only chose men as His closest companions and as His first priests.[9] The claim that Jesus was conforming to society accuses Jesus of sexism when He “had no qualms about shattering the cultural norms regarding interaction with women.”[10] In 1994, Pope John Paul II issued the following statement:

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Luke 22:32), I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.[11]

Case closed. Still, it seems harsh. Scripture, however, supports the Church’s position. The Levitical priesthood prefigured the sacramental priesthood, which the priesthood of Jesus Christ fulfills.[12] Revelation [Rev 21:9-10] and St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians [Eph 5:21-32] both place Jesus Christ in the role of Bridegroom with the Church as Bride of Christ. A female priest would violate the scriptural image of Christ the Bridegroom, replacing it with a relationship both unnatural and lacking fecundity. This metaphor calls for an exclusively male priesthood, something the Church cannot change; and explains why the only valid subject for the sacrament of Holy Orders is a baptized male.[13] 

Attempted ordination of women is a crime against the sacraments because it affects the sacramental economy. While the sacraments act ex opere operato, they are dependent upon the validity of the minister specific to that sacrament. This is why parents can allow children to play Mass without fear of profaning the Blessed Sacrament, and it is why a person who intentionally simulates a sacrament is guilty of a crime against the sacraments. A Catholic expects that the priest celebrating the Eucharist or Reconciliation with her does so validly and licitly. She has no reason to think otherwise. Ironically, in their attempt to make the sacraments more accessible through their (invalid) ordinations, these womenpriests actually deny Catholics who approach them access to the sacraments and to sacramental grace.

“No one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. Indeed no one claims it for himself; he is called to it by God….[He] must humbly submit his desire to the authority of the Church….”[14]  Lack of humility and submission are the hallmarks of womenpriests like Mrs. Kusner, “[The Vatican’s July 2010 statement] causes us to lessen all the more the authority of the Church.”[15] Her statement reveals her heart: if she cannot humbly accept the authority of the Church, whose authority does she accept? Does she faithfully transmit the teaching of the Church she claims she serves? If there is no humility, no obedience, can there be love?

Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority opposes what God has appointed, and those who oppose it will bring judgment upon themselves. [Rom 13:1-2]

The womenpriests’ disobedience of the Magisterium is no less than disobedience of God. If one believes Jesus Christ instituted the Catholic Church and that he promised that nothing would prevail against Her, then one must believe that the Church has the ability and authority to hand on the faith exactly as God intends. “…The Catholic Church is one body, having many members. The soul that quickens this body is the Holy Spirit; and therefore in the Creed after confessing our belief in the Holy Spirit, we are bid to believe in the Holy Catholic Church.”[16]  

            Extending his metaphor of the Church as the Body of Christ, St. Paul beautifully teaches that the diversity of the parts of the body contributes to the whole, rather than threatening the unity of the body.[1 Cor 12:12-26]  To the Romans, St. Paul writes,  “...we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them.” [Rom 12:5-6]

            The saddest, most consistent mistake of those pushing for women’s ordination is the confusion of equality and sameness. When speaking to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, Permanent Observer Archbishop Migliore reminded them “Gender equality is not sameness and difference is not inequality”[17] Equality, he told them, is complimentarity-men and women working together in their uniqueness for the development of society and humanity. The same is true for the Church. Each person- ordained, lay, religious, male or female- must offer his gifts for the good of the body. Each gift is necessary; each gift is equal…yet none are the same. Archbishop Migliore says that women “are dynamic agents of development in the family, society and in the world….Empowerment of women presupposes universal human dignity…the dignity of every human.”[18]

Since the Second Vatican Council, the role of all the laity has expanded in liturgy and in the Church- this is most evident in the more visible roles women have assumed. If there was not a male altar server available, a woman with sufficient knowledge of Latin could speak the Latin Mass parts proper to the altar server, but could not move about the altar. In the early 1970’s, women became Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and could read scripture other than the Gospel during Mass. The 1975 General Instruction of the Roman Missal specified that women could serve “outside the sanctuary” and in 1992 came permission for female altar servers. The 2000 General Instruction of the Roman Missal allows women to fill “liturgical functions not proper to the priest or deacon” such as cantor, sacristan, commentator, usher and master of ceremonies.[19]

The United States Bishops have asked women to offer their voice in consultation and through cooperation in the exercise of authority.[20] At the parish level, women are pastoral leaders, catechists, teachers, altar servers, cantors and lectors. They serve on finance, liturgical and pastoral councils in their parishes. In the early 1990’s, women filled 85% of the non-ordained ministerial positions in Catholic parishes in the United States.[21] Their gifts extend beyond the walls of the local parish with ministries to the hospitalized and homebound. In the broader Church, women are at the helms of Catholic hospitals and universities. Women are respected theologians and hold national positions within the Church as well as within the Vatican itself.

Women comprise 20% of Vatican employees; Flamina Gionvanelli is the highest ranking among them.[22] She is 3^rd in command at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace-where nearly half the employees are women. Mrs. Giovanelli feels the complimentarity women provide is essential, “Women represent the practical side of theories…. I’ve always had the confidence to speak my mind knowing my opinion will be listened to and it will count.”[23] Mrs. Giovanelli’s 35-year career at the Vatican is a reflection of a new type of feminism proposed by Pope John Paul II. Rather than abandoning femininity in a misguided effort to be the same as men, the new feminism celebrates women’s gifts of “wisdom and moderation, courage and dedication, spirituality and fervor for the good of the Church.”[24] This is a feminism celebrating the dignity women possess as daughters of God and encouraging women, who uniquely share in God’s creation, to offer their nurturing spirits to a hurting world.

            Men cannot give birth. Women cannot be priests. The Catholic Church, who claims Jesus Christ has given her absolute authority to dictate the rather intimate details of the lives of over one billion Catholics, insists Christ has not given her the authority to ordain women as priests. The anger and disobedience of women who attempt ordination generates division. Their interviews show they want to bring attention to themselves and their agenda, not to the mission of Jesus Christ and His Church. Such amazing energy and fervor could be building up the Church rather than leading misguided Catholics away from valid sacraments. Women and men should see differences between the genders as a beautiful gift in God’s plan, not as inequality. The Church, for Her part, must continue to help people recognize and employ gifts unique to the genders- and to individuals-and continue without compromise Her work to bring about the Kingdom of God.

[1]Stephanie Wise, “Female Priests Respond to Vatican,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, July 18, 2010, http://press-citizen.com/article/20100718/news01/7180316/1079/ (accessed July 21, 2010).

[2]Ibid.

[3]Norm Leveillee, “Equality of Women in Our Catholic Church,” http://members.cox.net/normlev/norm7-3.htm (accessed July 21, 2010).

[4]Sandra DeGidio, Sacraments Alive, [Mystic, CT, Twenty-Third Publications, 1991], p. 122-3.

[5]Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gravioribus Delectis, [Vatican City, July 2010], re-printed at http://zenit.org/article-29899?l=english, art 5-6 (accessed July 26, 2010).

[6] Wise.

[7]Clement of Rome, Apostolic Constitutions, [AD 400], http://www.catholic.com/library/women_and_the_priesthood.asp (accessed July 21, 2010).

[8]Jason Evert, “Why can’t Women Be Priests?” www.catholic.com/thisrock/2002/02015bs.asp (accessed July 20, 2010).

[9]Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catechism of the Catholic Church, [Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City,1994],1577.

[10]Evert.

[11]John Paul II, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis , [Washington DC, USCC Publishing Services,1994], 4.

[12]CCC 1544.

[13]CCC 1577.

[14]CCC 1578, referencing Heb 5:4.

[15]Wise.

[16]Thomas Aquinas, quoted at http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=33610 (accessed July 25, 2010).

[17]Zenit, “Holy See to UN: Gender Equality Isn’t Sameness,” http://zenit.org/article-29780?l=english (accessed July 25, 2010).  

[18]Ibid.

[19]John Lilburne, www.Romanrite.com (accessed July 22, 2010).

[20]United States Council of Catholic Bishops, “Strengthening the Bonds of Peace,” www.usccb.org/laity/bonds.shtml, 12 (accessed July 22, 2010).

[21]Philip Murnion, New Parish Ministers: Laity and Religious on Parish Staffs, [New York, National Pastoral Life Center,1992].

[22]Rome Reports, http://www.romereports.com/palio/modules.php?t=Flaminia-Giovanelli--the-first-lay-woman-appointed-to-a-high-level-position-at-the-Vatican&name=News&file=article&newlang=english&sid=1567 (accessed July 25, 2010).

[23] Ibid.

[24] Pope John Paul II, “Women are Essential to the Church’s Mission,” General Audience July 13, 1994, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/alpha/data/aud19940713en.html (accessed July 20, 2010).

WORKS CITED

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