feminine-genius

Two points

Father Zed has done an excellent job fisking an article by the NCReporter, about the consequences for a Woman Religious who attempted ordination in the diocese of Saint Louis. The piece combines some facts with some reactions, creating a typically biased piece which is long on feelings and short on doctrine. (Father's comments are in red.)

Sister of Charity Louise Lears, forced out of all church ministerial roles [Ummm… she attempted ordination – for crying out loud!  Can you say "excommunication"?] by Saint Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, is described by friends and colleagues in near saintly terms.

They call her a bright, energetic, compassionate and faith-filled woman. They see her as a creative, generous and selfless person, a highly effective parish minister. They say she is first rate teacher and preacher. They view her as a person guided by the gospels including an unwavering commitment to justice and the local poor.  [Do they see her as a contumacious excommunicate and probably a heretic?]

These seemingly universal accolades, however, were not enough to save Lears from a severe interdict by Burke who banished her from all Saint Louis church ministries last week.

He also banned her from receiving any of the Sacraments in the archdiocese.

It was her belief that all church ministries, including women’s ordination, should be open to women. [Which seems to trump what the CHURCH says about the matter.  "I want it this way!"] Curiously, this seems to have been only one of many of her passions and, perhaps, not her central passion, which seems to have been parish work.

There are many good things in his analysis, but I think two comments missing. Since his combox is off (perhaps for his sanity's sake) then I'll provide them here.

1. In making the point that the Church has lost the wide range of gifts that this Sister has provided -- as parish administrator, as college professor, as guide for troubled women, as advocate for victims of brutality, and helper to the homeless, the writer forgets the wider, more obvious point: look how much the Church appreciates the feminine genius in all its manifestations. Even without ordination, there is so much to be done by laity and religious -- and she sounds like a very accomplished, compassionate and busy woman.

2. More importantly, as the above snippet makes clear, ordination was not her "central passion." This is staggering, given that she risked it all to make a point that wasn't even about her true "vocation." A man with a vocation to the priesthood would be consumed by the necessary holocaust of his life -- given in imitation of Christ, sacrificing everything so that he could be true to God's call. The way this is phrased, it sounds like she embraced the premise that women should be ordained, and pursued it to make a point -- going through the motion "in principle." If she cannot see the scandal of her disobedience, then at least can she consider the scandal of pretending a vocation to make a point?

Whatever her angle on the charitable works (and we'll have to assume it was all pure of intention for the greater glory of God) the angle on ordination is coy and political, which is as bad as any theological "misunderstanding" behind it. Wrong and bad, and I'm glad Apb. Burke dealt firmly to safeguard the flock and the sacramental games. May he stand as firmly by these principles in his new post at the Signatura. 

No saccharine here

This got posted on Mothers' Day, no less, although you won't find an ounce of Hallmark sentiment from me. I do ask your prayers for all Religious -- those faithful to their Spouse, and those who may have ... chafed a bit. Living in spousal union can be a challenge, no doubt.

Spring fashions

Diogenes has found the ultimate in clerical fashions, which cannot be lampooned. It is metaphysically impossible to make sport of something that stands alone as the height of self-parody.

But there's more than mere physical comfort in play. We're meant to find ourselves in a comprehensive, all-embracing, sense of well-being. Kneelers are out. Pews are padded. The road never forks. We can have our cake and eat it. No decision means a final separation. Everyone's a priest: dad, mom, sis, Aunt Gretchen with the tattoo and the butch haircut ... We can tolerate anything except intolerance. We are a Spandex People.

Versatility -- of both articles of faith and articles of clothing. For those who can't read the fine print, this cute piece can be a cool layer under a suit, stand alone, or be worn as a camisole. What's left to say?

'Nuf talk, do something!

Janet Daley has come out with an essay in the Telegraph which is excellent, deploring the hand-wringing that is crippling Britain in terms of its downward spiral.

I have lost count of the zillions of projects and reports and think-tank pamphlets that I have assiduously read and fervently reported on the breakdown of the traditional married family and its direct link with the myriad dysfunctions of the young. I, and many others, have quoted endlessly those brave and wonderfully painstaking authors, from Patricia Morgan of Civitas to Jill Kirby of the Centre for Policy Studies, who have provided veritable mountains of statistical proof for the argument. What more could possibly need to be said? Not only do we have the objective evidence to show, beyond any possibility of rational doubt, that the decline of marriage has had disastrous consequences for the community, but we can demonstrate that successive governments have effectively bribed mothers to remain single and keep their children fatherless.

She points to specific economic incentives that would help strenthen marriage, and then takes on the shibboleth of modernism:

The great national scandal of our time is not just the deterioration of life in our communities but the fact that everybody knows what is at the heart of it and no one in power – even those who talk most about poverty and know that family breakdown is the chief cause of it – will do what must be done. This has been the most shameful failure of political and moral courage among the governing classes in living memory. Who is going to face down the smug Left-liberal coterie (or what remains of it: on this subject, at least, it is losing its nerve) and say that marriage must be supported, however many respectable people you know who are cohabiting?

I look forward to seeing how her piece is received by this very coterie, and see that one initiative is already being approved, the demand that fathers take responsibility for their children. Of course, in other quarters, the government is working at cross-purposes of stable families with nonsense like this. (According to Ms. Daley, children in same-sex arrangements are a small portion of the total, but a common vision of family life would be helpful.)

All in all, with immigration causing its share of problems, the media adding salt to the wounds, and families being shredded, a single coherent voice for virtue and heritage arising in the next 2-3 years would save Britain before it's too late. Beyond that, not much is possible.

Dog and Pony Show

Diogenes highlights for us an announcement of a "liturgy" attempted by womenpriests in Minneapolis, with the enthusiastic support of Call to Action (natch).

Call to Action Minnesota: Womenpriests Celebrate the Eucharist. On Saturday, September 23, 4-8 pm. Call to Action invites you to a Eucharistic Celebration with Regina Nicolosi presiding. Rev. Nicolosi was ordained as a womanpriest this summer. Following the Eucharist is a presentation by SJA parishioner Dr. Dorothy Irvin on "Ancient and Contemporary Models of Womenpriests and Deacons". Supper is included.

What I've always questioned -- as an aside, since the whole routine is blasphemous and irreverent -- is where these "womenpriests" minister. Where do they [try to] say Holy Mass, to pray the Divine Office, hang a shingle, and provide a consistent and reliable presence for a little Christian flock?

When a new priest is ordained, part of the excitement is his first assignment and who his spiritual children will be. When these women engage in their litur-game, they seem to go on the road for show, like The Rubber Man, the Fire Eater, or the Bearded Lady. They live on the thrill of bouncing here and there to perform, and the focus is not on  the triune God, but "come see the priest with a pair of ovaries!!"

Very hard to imagine that their theology calls them to decrease so that Christ may increase. Instead, it's "all me, all the time." Shallow, finite, and self-destructive. Like feeding a flock on a diet of cotton candy.

Avante garde is so ho-hum

Nothing is surprising (or new) in the Anglican communion.

A Church of England bishop has urged Christians to recognise the "motherhood" of God.

The Bishop of Bolton, the Rt Rev David Gillett, said God's motherly role was an established element in Christian belief and should be emphasised to counter masculine images.

In the latest issue of Crux (p. 11), the Manchester diocesan magazine, the bishop said that Mothering Sunday, which falls on March 26, was a good time to explore the theme.

"Some dismiss the idea as a modern heresy linked with the rise of feminism," he said.

"But recognising the motherly role of God has an honoured place within Christian spirituality and is an important corrective to overlie dominant masculine images."

The bishop ends his comments with this:

Our human mother, the Church as mother, and God as mother -- all three merit our response on Mothering Sunday.

Well, my response would be, "Whither fathers? And who, good sir, are you? What is your role?" Given the growing numbers of women priests in his communion and the decline in church attendance, I think the single-parent family model they're promoting is suffering.

A maternal god devolves into pantheism because of the difference in the way that men and women create. (Think about it.)

God asked us to call Him Father, and He created a feminine Church to complete the celestial union with His creatures. God is spark, men (ordained and otherwise) carry on His work by planting seeds, women in image of the Church nourish the new life with their very flesh. Anything else ends up being a sterile same-sex union -- and hence, the CofE decline before our very eyes.

(Btw, the quote by Julian of Norwich that he uses doesn't bolster his argument. Note how carefully she refers to God as masculine. "Wisdom," as the first-born of God, danced with Him as He created the world. She is the forerunner of the Incarnate Bride, described in detail in the Book To Come -- another shameless, self-serving plug!)

Still on her way home

Many have hailed the reversion of Anne Rice to her Catholic roots. While her rediscovery of the God of her childhood is a marvelous thing -- as are all responses to grace -- we would hazard to conclude that she is "in process." The Church she has returned to embrace is not completely to her liking, and sadly enough the constraints on women are part of the "problem."

Her views will not please all of the devout. Rice favors gay marriage. She believes the church position regarding birth control is a grievous error that is not supported by Scripture. She repudiates what she sees as intolerant, "sex-obsessed" church leaders and says she does not find support in the message of Jesus for their focus on sexual orientation or abortion. She argues for a more inclusive church.

"Think of how the church bells would ring and the pews would fill if women could become priests and priests could marry. It would be the great resurgence of the Catholic Church in this country," Rice said recently, seated in front of a roaring fire, in the La Jolla, Calif., mansion she moved to after she left New Orleans.

This doesn't distress me, because I know how arduous the journey can be. If she's just getting back to prayer and the sacraments, then she's probably not shaken off "the world" enough. Perhaps with time (and our prayers for her discernment) she will begin to put on the eyes of faith and find her bearings.

In the meantime, I am glad I didn't try her book on the childhood of Jesus. While some people I respect have acclaimed it as insightful, without knowing that she fully understands the Bride of Christ, I'm not sure to entrust myself her her image of the Bridgroom.

Someone needs to change his mind

Someone needs to change his mind, but it won't be God. Perhaps lesser authority in the chain of command could rethink this man's credentials and office. Bishop Thomas Gumbleton teaches his flock:

If we reflect on the humanness of Jesus, I think, it's much easier for us, in a way, to connect with him than if we just think about his divinity. Yes, as God he could heal in a second. He could change everything. But he's also human. So if we're going to gradually become more like him, we're going to have to connect with his humanness and grow and change as he did. That's exactly what happened on that occasion. He changed. He was converted. You may find that almost impossible to believe, but remember Luke said in his Gospel that Jesus grew in age, wisdom and grace. He grew. He developed. He became more profoundly a full human being by growing. And how does he do it? Well, at this moment, it was because he was willing to listen. He was willing to listen! To be open! That had to be very difficult for him.

"Ssssssssss" comes the reply from the wary listener. This is misleading and dangerous. But all for a point:

Well, we live in the church or part of the church that refuses to be open, to listen, to the women in our midst. How wrong that is! And we build it right into our church law, which could be changed. One of the reasons women aren't listened to is because no woman has any office in the church. The only reason a woman can't have an office in the church, why a woman could not be a cardinal, for example, help to elect the Pope, is because we made laws -- the men in the church made laws -- that make that impossible. The law, the canon law of the church says, "Only an ordained person can hold office." Then we say only men can be ordained, and so only men can hold office. How wrong that is!

How tedious. Have you noticed that the women't ordination agitators are over the hill? Have you noticed the enthusiasm for the Church in the young, who have been properly catechised about the theology of the body and its implications for the all-male priesthood? Perhaps a sabbatical, perhaps a spell at JP2 Institute for you, dear Bishop. (Of course, classes are usually quite full -- of both men and women. You may have to take a number.)

[hat tip to Padre Gio]

Grey-haired movement

Rosemary Radford Reuther has her knickers in a twist -- and for a very good reason. She has been carrying the torch for feminist dissent within the Church, is aging (as are we all!), and has turned to see who will pick up the work she has begun. Egads, where is the next leg in the relay race?

The 460 registered delegates attending the Women's Ordination Worldwide conference in Ottawa July 22-24 came from some 20 countries on five continents, but white women in their 50s and 60s dominated the gathering.

Fewer than a dozen conference delegates were under 30, prompting one of them to ask theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether what efforts were being made to recruit younger women.

It is amusing to see her explanation: she claims that the young women are leaving the Church, having given up being taken seriously, or having their birth control sanctioned, or having hopes of being ordained. Why would they stay when it is evident that patriarchy is the paradigm for the forseeable future?

Maybe, but tell that to the scores of thousands of young women at World Youth Day. Perhaps they passed on the WOW conference in Ottawa because they were saving their pennies for Cologne.

One student gave her reasons:

Dorothy Cummings, who is pursuing a doctorate in theology at Boston College, said she believed most Catholics were uncomfortable with the invalid ordinations of women priests.

"The women who have been most loudly in favour of women's ordination have not been ones respected for their orthodoxy," she said. There is a "yawning gulf" between baby boomers and those born after Vatican II, she said. "Younger women are interested in collegiality. They want to work with priests and bishops, not complain about them.

"So many of the older women seem so angry," she said. "I think amazing things are happening for women within existing Church structures."

Contrast the anger of the Old Guard Dissenters and the joy and hope on the faces of the youth surrounding Benedict. The Church is in good hands, for the true Gospel nourishes those who embrace it.

Same old same old

This piece is quite interesting in the confusion it reveals concerning women's ordination. It's about Susan Ringler who was ordained to the deaconate in the United Catholic Church (which is not valid, licit, or recognised in any way by Rome). She sends up the usual wail:

Until a couple of years ago, she held out hope that lay Catholics and women would gain roles of importance, but the church, she says, has turned hard-line and any dream of eking out more change from Vatican Council II of 40 years ago long faded.

"As a Roman Catholic woman, to think that you have a calling to a deeper ministry from God is almost blasphemy, and the guilt associated with that is huge," says the mother of three grown children who trained as a registered nurse. "It took me a long time to realize that my calling was from God." She says the affirmation she received from family, friends and others redoubled her desire to serve more deeply in ministry and assuaged "guilt that comes naturally to Catholics."

So in that blurb, she basically told the rest of her flock: you're unimportant and shallow. I'm sure they appreciated that. Then it tells of what she had accomplished to date:

In 1987, she was tapped by her then-pastor at St. Timothy’s Catholic Church, Monsignor Dale Fushek, to develop a major outreach ministry to the East Valley’s homeless and poor in the tradition of Phoenix’s Andre House ministry. When Paz de Cristo food kitchen in Mesa served its first meal on Sept. 15, 1988, "we had more volunteers than people to serve," recalls Ringler, who was Paz’s executive director until 1995.

Today, the homeless program, with broad ecumenical support, serves more than 200 meals per night and provides a range of social services. Fighting neighborhood and political opposition to Paz de Cristo’s move to its site and winning Mesa’s approval was the highlight of her work there.

Great guns -- what an accomplishment! Was that unimportant? Highly doubtful. But here's the kicker:

When she became cocoordinator of liturgy at St. Timothy’s, "it just blew me away," she says. For five years, until 2002, she had "the honor to work with one of the best liturgical churches in the country."

"I always was fascinated by liturgy. I went in not knowing anything," she says, but she found she was able to help shape it to resonate with women and the poor.

Her pastor tapped a layman who knew nothing about the liturgy to be its coordinator? There's the silliness: two thousand years of sacred tradition, deep and layered meanings over the centuries, revealed truth entrusted to an established hierarchy, and this priest hands it over to a woman who knows nothing? And she takes that invitation as an initiative to create her own style? We wonder why there's disunity and scandal from the altar.

Actually, bless her heart, she did stumble on some long-neglected needs and prayer intentions:

"I am one of those people who really truly believed for a long time that if you’ve got a position where you can be a voice for the voiceless, then you work within to make changes. The reaction I got from women who saw me up there was, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ They were so grateful seeing me up there telling those guys what to do." In that role, she says, she pushed the envelope to ensure that prayers included "the homeless and the hungry and all the social justice issues and talking about peace."

Oh, my gosh. Maybe we should alert the Vatican: we need to pray for the homeless, the hungry, and victims of injustice. I'm sure Benedict will want to know.

The last paragraph connects the dots:

Ringler is the third female deacon in the United Catholic Church, said the Most Rev. William Christen, Southwest Diocese bishop, who ordained her. His wife, Mary, is one of three female priests, and there is a female bishop. "We have a lot of couples that left (the Roman Catholic Church) a long time ago because of divorce and remarriages," he says. "Now they have found a community where that doesn’t matter."

Dissent is all of a piece. The teachings on marriage and chastity, which are the guarantors of human dignity -- especially the children -- "don't matter." Thus, neither does the liturgy of the ages, the "priest as bridegroom" image, the quiet holiness of the lay state, or the visible unity under the Vicar of Christ. Take a number, get in line. Despite clinging to "catholic" in your name, you're just one more frenetic moth immolating yourself on the wrong light.