To most of us, this picture hardly looks like a radical act. Women priests bestowing blessings. But these are Roman Catholic women who have been ordained without the sanction of Rome.
I've been in Boston for the past few days, visiting my daughter who is interning for the Boston Women's Health Collective. The front page of the metro section of the Boston Globe this morning features the story of Jean Marie Marchant, who resigned from her position in the Archdiocese of Boston, "because she had secretly participated in a ceremony last year in which she says she was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest." This coming Monday, in Pittsburgh, another 12 women are set to be ordained by Roman Catholic Womenpriests.
My heart and prayers go out to these women -- called to the ministry in the denomination they love that refuses to recognize their gifts or authority. It makes me proud to be part of a movement calling for full inclusion of women in all aspects of religious life, and part of a denomination where more than half of the ordained clergy are women. Today's article reminded me not to take that for granted.
Have a blessed weekend.
Rev. Debra
1 comment:
I'm from Bedford and believe me, I would've loved to have had a womyn priest(ess?) at the church I attended (not St. Michaels, rather, St. Bridget's in Lexington, which was my father's church).
If the Vatican doesn't make some radical changes soon, they're going to lose more and more of their followers to other religions/aspects of Catholicism.
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