Kentucky woman ordained as priest in defiance of Roman Catholic Church

Locutus

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Jun 18, 2007
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(Reuters) - In an emotional ceremony filled with tears and applause, a 70-year-old Kentucky woman was ordained a priest on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority.

Rosemarie Smead is one of about 150 women around the world who have decided not to wait for the Roman Catholic Church to lift its ban on women priests, but to be ordained and start their own congregations.


In an interview before the ceremony, Smead said she is not worried about being excommunicated from the Church - the fate of other women ordained outside of Vatican law.


"It has no sting for me," said Smead, a petite, gray-haired former Carmelite nun with a ready hug for strangers. "It is a Medieval bullying stick the bishops used to keep control over people and to keep the voices of women silent. I am way beyond letting octogenarian men tell us how to live our lives."


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Kentucky woman ordained as priest in defiance of Roman Catholic Church | Reuters
 

Elder

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Jan 15, 2011
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Woah!! RC church will not like this; I was raised strict Roman Catholic and women are not honoured in this way within the church. Perhaps things are changing finally.
 

tibear

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Jan 25, 2005
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The new "priest" certainly doesn't sound like the forgiving type. At least from what is said in the opening post I don't believe she is priest material.

It seems to be all about her and not about God.
 

karrie

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Jan 6, 2007
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The new "priest" certainly doesn't sound like the forgiving type. At least from what is said in the opening post I don't believe she is priest material.

It seems to be all about her and not about God.

lol. You put it better than I could. I was still trying to find a way to explain that it read as a 'flip off', not an attempt to create change. But, that is one tiny glimpse of who she is. Maybe there is much more to her ministry. I wonder how many of the people who went to her ordination will have the conviction to leave with her if she is excommunicated?
 

tibear

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Jan 25, 2005
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lol. You put it better than I could. I was still trying to find a way to explain that it read as a 'flip off', not an attempt to create change. But, that is one tiny glimpse of who she is. Maybe there is much more to her ministry. I wonder how many of the people who went to her ordination will have the conviction to leave with her if she is excommunicated?

I would assume that they all knew this would result in her excommunication so they would have no problem leaving with her.

I find it interesting that some people simply claim that they want to do God's work but then say that the Church is preventing them from doing that. How exactly was the Church preventing this woman from doing God's work. Outside of serving at mass or receiving confession she could do everything else a priest could do, so why are those things SO important to her? She could even receive "unofficial" reconciliation/confession from people without the church's blessing for absolution. (This is called counselling.)

As I said, most of these women seem to want power rather than do God's work.
 

Spade

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Nov 18, 2008
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Arbitrary restrictions on the possible roles of women vis-a-vis men are held unacceptable in a secular society, yet we blithely condone those restrictions in the religious realm, even though many argue that the religious informs the secular.

I would rather see religious institutions accept the Doctrine of equality rather than persist in sexual apartheid -justifying this anachronism by claiming "separate but equal."
 

s_lone

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Feb 16, 2005
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The new "priest" certainly doesn't sound like the forgiving type. At least from what is said in the opening post I don't believe she is priest material.

It seems to be all about her and not about God.

So if it was only about God she'd accept the sexist tenets of the Church? Is the requirement for a woman to be priest material for her to submit to doctrine which states she can't be priest?
 

tibear

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Jan 25, 2005
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So if it was only about God she'd accept the sexist tenets of the Church? Is the requirement for a woman to be priest material for her to submit to doctrine which states she can't be priest?

I would say that she didn't need to go through the Church to do God's work.

If she really wanted to be part of the Church than she would work inside the Church to change it, NOT going to the media and working against the Church.

I think she would be better off channeling her energies into doing God's work away from the altar. Let's face facts, when Jesus came his priority was the poor not going to the synagogue and partipating in liturgy. Perhaps this nun has forgotten that.

I think the questions that are asked at the "pearly gate" are: when did you feed me? when did you clothe me? when did you visit me? Not, when did you consecrate bread and wine into my body and blood? If being able to consecrate body and blood is what's important to the nun then she isn't priestly material.
 

karrie

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Jan 6, 2007
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So if it was only about God she'd accept the sexist tenets of the Church? Is the requirement for a woman to be priest material for her to submit to doctrine which states she can't be priest?

Honestly, to say 'I am drawn to serve god through mass.' is a far cry from essentially saying it's about showing the boys what's what.

Personally, I don't think female priests would be a bad idea. But, female priests who 'are tired of having octogenarian men tell us what's what'.... well... they're going to have an awfully hard time being Catholic priests. lol.
 

tibear

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Jan 25, 2005
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Honestly, to say 'I am drawn to serve god through mass.' is a far cry from essentially saying it's about showing the boys what's what.

Personally, I don't think female priests would be a bad idea. But, female priests who 'are tired of having octogenarian men tell us what's what'.... well... they're going to have an awfully hard time being Catholic priests. lol.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. They need to concentrate on doing good and let the rest take care of itself. Heck, it took almost 2000 years for the Church to admit that people outside the Church could go to heaven, things will change but at God's pace which in the Church seems to be extremely slowly.
 
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s_lone

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I would say that she didn't need to go through the Church to do God's work.

If she really wanted to be part of the Church than she would work inside the Church to change it, NOT going to the media and working against the Church.

I think she would be better off channeling her energies into doing God's work away from the altar. Let's face facts, when Jesus came his priority was the poor not going to the synagogue and partipating in liturgy. Perhaps this nun has forgotten that.

I think the questions that are asked at the "pearly gate" are: when did you feed me? when did you clothe me? when did you visit me? Not, when did you consecrate bread and wine into my body and blood? If being able to consecrate body and blood is what's important to the nun then she isn't priestly material.

Being able to consecrate body and blood seems to be pretty important to all male priests. Why wouldn't it be important for a woman? If she would be better off channeling her energies away from the altar, why wouldn't all men be better off channeling their energies away from the altar? Seems to me you're simply accepting the Church double standard doctrine.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. They need to concentrate on doing good and let the rest take care of itself. Heck, it took almost 20000 years for the Church to admit that people outside the Church could go to heaven, things will change but at God's pace which in the Church seems to be extremely slowly.

Are you suggesting God doesn't want women to be priests... at the moment? But he might change his mind in the future?
 

karrie

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Jan 6, 2007
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I wholeheartedly agree with you. They need to concentrate on doing good and let the rest take care of itself.

On that last point, we disagree. If and when things change by God's will, do you think you should be listening to the men of the church to hear that the women have been called to serve? A calling is personal, and feeling called by God to serve as a priest is something that you need to say you feel, not something someone else needs to tell you you're allowed to do now.
 

tibear

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Jan 25, 2005
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On that last point, we disagree. If and when things change by God's will, do you think you should be listening to the men of the church to hear that the women have been called to serve? A calling is personal, and feeling called by God to serve as a priest is something that you need to say you feel, not something someone else needs to tell you you're allowed to do now.

Unfortunately, the Church believes that the "call" comes from the Church to the person, not from the person to the Church. That is, a man can go to the Church and say that they have a calling from God to be a priest but if the Church doesn't see the calling then there will be no ordination.

Right now the Church believes it has an obligation to follow Christ's example of only choosing men to be his disciples. Perhaps in the future, the Church's leaders will feel that they don't have to follow Christ's example in this matter and females will be called to the priesthood, however until the leaders overcome the belief that Christ gave them that example there will be no female priests.

That is the crux of the matter.

Being able to consecrate body and blood seems to be pretty important to all male priests. Why wouldn't it be important for a woman? If she would be better off channeling her energies away from the altar, why wouldn't all men be better off channeling their energies away from the altar? Seems to me you're simply accepting the Church double standard doctrine.

Are you suggesting God doesn't want women to be priests... at the moment? But he might change his mind in the future?

We obviously need people to work at the altar and perform the sacraments of the Church. (communion, reconciliation, confirmation, ordination and healing of the sick) non-clergy can perform baptisms and weddings however it is only in rare situations.

The issue with female ordination is that the Church currently believes that Christ chose only men as his disciples and as such, the Church has an obligation to continue this tradition. To do otherwise would go against Christ's example. Until they can overcome that believe there will be no female ordinations in the Catholic Church.
 

karrie

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Unfortunately, the Church believes that the "call" comes from the Church to the person, not from the person to the Church. That is, a man can go to the Church and say that they have a calling from God to be a priest but if the Church doesn't see the calling then there will be no ordination.

Right now the Church believes it has an obligation to follow Christ's example of only choosing men to be his disciples. Perhaps in the future, the Church's leaders will feel that they don't have to follow Christ's example in this matter and females will be called to the priesthood, however until the leaders overcome the belief that Christ gave them that example there will be no female priests.

That is the crux of the matter.


The church does NOT come and tell you you're to be a priest if you do not tell them you are interested. They will decide if you are suited or not, but only after you've come forward.

I'm aware of why the church doesn't ordain women currently, but if the women sit quietly back and say nothing, nothing will change. It is not beholden to them to shut up and wait.
 

s_lone

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Feb 16, 2005
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We obviously need people to work at the altar and perform the sacraments of the Church. (communion, reconciliation, confirmation, ordination and healing of the sick) non-clergy can perform baptisms and weddings however it is only in rare situations.

The issue with female ordination is that the Church currently believes that Christ chose only men as his disciples and as such, the Church has an obligation to continue this tradition. To do otherwise would go against Christ's example. Until they can overcome that believe there will be no female ordinations in the Catholic Church.

Fair enough. That indeed seems to be the official stance of the Church. But it seems clear to me that the Church (as a human organization dominated by men and not as a divinely inspired one) chooses to interpret Christ's actions according to its own sexist tenets. Is there a single passage of the New Testament in which Christ remotely suggests women aren't apt to serve God through mass or liturgy as men can be?