There is a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today about Joan Clark Houk.
The McCandless woman made news last summer when she joined 11 other women aboard the Majestic, a boat in the Gateway Clipper Fleet. There, Mrs. Houk and the other women were ordained as part of a movement called Roman Catholic Womenpriests, which started ordaining women as priests and deacons in 2002.
During that Sunday afternoon river cruise a year ago today, the 12 women participated in the first ceremony of its kind in the United States. After three women dressed in white vestments laid their hands on the heads of the 12 women and anointed their hands with oil, eight were named priests and four named deacons.
If I call myself King of Pittsburgh and get a few people to believe me does it make it true? Nope.
The Vatican does not recognize the ordinations and so they are not official. Where does one get the authority to do this. They simply make it up.
These women believe they are part of the church's valid apostolic succession because, they say, Roman Catholic bishops in good standing ordained them secretly. The women refuse to name those bishops, to protect them from reprisals by Vatican authorities in Rome. Well if they named them and it turned out to be true, the Bishops would not be in good standing anymore. Yet all we have is allegations, nothing more.
Mrs. Houk has never received a formal notice of excommunication from the Diocese of Pittsburgh or the Vatican. But, before last year's ceremony was held, local diocesan officials stated that the women were, by their actions, walking away from the church. Then Mrs. Houk need not check the mailbox. You have directly defied the Church and are no longer in communion.
Last October, Mrs. Houk celebrated a Mass at Christ Hope Ecumenical Catholic Church in Avalon. I live nearby that place. It's run by an ex-priest. It's a house of heresy and in no way a true church. Just as Mrs. Houk (despite whatever intentions she may have) is not a priest and defies not only the Church but the Bible itself.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
UPDATE: ST. PAUL SEMINARY RECTOR RESPONDS TO WOMEN AS PRIESTS
In this essay, the Rev. James Wehner, rector of St. Paul Seminary in Crafton, responds to issues raised in an article in the July 31, 2007 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
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4 comments:
I read the article in the PG about the "women" priests, I don't even know why the PG would print another story about them.
I do. It stirs up confusion. The credibility of the Church is at stake and anything or anyone who questions it is an instant celebrity.
Can you imagine if I went on this site a said there is no God. If I claimed the church is a scam. I'd be a hero to many.
I have said this so many time I sound like a broken record. The Church is under attack from the INSIDE OUT!
Beware of wolves in sheep's colthing. Especially those who claim to be clergy.
I feel that the church is under attack from the outside more than the inside, the news just loves to make a smear campaign out to the Catholics.
Re James Wehner's reply to the Houk statement on women being priests. Wehner's listed educational background appears to render him competent to speak, but unfortunately it doesn't keep his response from being pompous, paternalistic, patronizing, and terrribly ignorant of the notion of the ipsissima verba in judging the integrity of a text - any text. As a step to showing good will in the matter, he might consider reading "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Ehrman. There is no one panacea for community problems, but since we are a book people, Ehrman sheds helpful light in a community's approach to understanding their Book.
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