Mary Teresa Streck is Ordained a Roman Catholic Woman Priest Source: Call to Action
The Epiphany season brings some unwelcome news for opponents of the ordination of women who fled Anglicanism for Rome.
Reports suggest that the drive for change which has destroyed much of the Anglican Communion is gaining momentum in the Roman Catholic Church.
This is all very familiar for Anglicans who have witnessed the long, drawn out, chipping away of the faith as received until their Church has become virtually unrecognisable as evidenced by the near collapse of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the demise of Anglicanism in the UK.
The Irish Examiner reports that Fr Tony Flannery, a founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, who has been suspended from active ministry for the past eight years has asked whether the hierarchy in the Catholic Church will now change its approach to him after senior clerics expressed support for the ordination of women.
In a statement issued on Sunday Fr Flannery highlighted comments made by the Archbishop-elect of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, in which the incoming Archbishop said he would 'like to see women becoming deacons in the church'.
"The Archbishop-elect of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, in an interview with the Irish Times, said he would like to see women becoming deacons in the church. He is reported as going on to say that 'the biggest barrier to having female priests in the Catholic Church is probably tradition, not the Scriptures'. In saying this he appears to undercut the main argument used by the Church against the ordination of women."
LifeSiteNews reports: Bishop Georg Bätzing, the head of the German bishops’ conference, supported in a new interview the idea of “ordaining” women to the diaconate and the priesthood and a blessing for homosexual and cohabitating couples. He also defended the idea of intercommunion. And he even claimed that the German bishops could make some of these changes without approval from Rome.
Bätzing revealed in an interview with the German Catholic journal Herder Korrespondenz that already in the 1980s, he participated in discussions about the female “priesthood.” He argued that there are “well-developed arguments in favor of opening the sacramental [priestly] office also for women.” That is why he himself “often mention[s] the female diaconate, because I see there some more possibilities.” Mentioning the fact that Pope John Paul II and his successor “unanimously” stated that “this question has been answered,” the German bishop sees that “nevertheless, it [the question] is on the table.”...
... But with regard to the possibility of a liturgical blessing of so-called irregular couples – homosexual and cohabitating couples – the German bishop claimed that such a decision can indeed be taken by the German bishops “without Roman approval.” Bätzing then went on to say that he, however, is of the opinion “that we should change the Catechism in this respect.”
Back in 2013 WAMC reported that 'religious history' was made in Albany, New York, when the city's first "woman priest", Mary Theresa Streck, was ordained. "Streck will now carry on the ancient tradition: taking on the role of spiritual leader of a 40-person strong Catholic community — a rainbow congregation of gay, straight, divorced, married and single folks."
It is all so familiar for Anglicans. The warnings are there to be heeded.
Rowan Williams preaches at Eucharist during a Sept. 24 clergy day in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Source: Diocese of Los Angeles/Janet Kawamoto
Addressing a gathering of clergy and laity in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the Anglican communion is "fractured but still a family":
“I am saying ‘Anglican family’ rather than ‘Anglican Communion’ because we’re a very fractured communion but we’re still family – like so many families, quarreling till the cows come home. What gives us our family solidarity is, of course, that dependence on God’s call, God’s welcome. We are, at the moment, in the middle of a period of colossal uncertainty in the life of our Anglican family. There is uncertainty, division, a measure of suspicion still and a sense that our conventional and inherited ways of being Anglicans together across the world have come under almost unmanageable strain."
In fewer words, we are no longer a body of Christians with a common faith and discipline. Our Anglican family is dysfunctional. It is dominated by expressions of intolerance and vengefulness. As the Archdeacon of Llandaff bluntly put it, anyone who could not accept the new order would have to make their own arrangements.
Wikipedia describes Anglicanism as "a Western Christian tradition which has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation."
In recent times the Church of England, instead of leading by example, has followed the 'madness' of the Episcopal Church of the United States ((ECUSA) endeavouring to make the Church more relevant to society's perceived needs, liberalism has replaced tradition as described in my previous entry.
Abp Williams acknowledged that as Archbishop of Canterbury he had to make 'uncomfortable adjustments at both ends of the spectrum, liberal and conservative, north and south' to keep everyone at the table but he believes a problem-solving-by-committee approach no longer effectively addresses current challenges.
Too late anyway. The damage has been done. Self governing Provinces like the Church in Wales have voted for disunity. Family members who, in common with the vast majority of Christians, strive to remain loyal to the faith of the Anglican Church as received have been marginalised or excluded, divorced from the Church they lovingly cared for before it was ripped from them.
The bride of Christ has been torn apart by those who would stand in the person of the Bridegroom. Rowan is right when he compares Western Anglicans to families, quarreling till the cows come home. But the quarreling is now amongst the liberal rump deciding how far the revisionists can go.
There are parallels with society. The nuclear conjugal family traditionally comprised a family group consisting of a (female) mother, a (male) father and their children. As a consequence of formalising same sex relationships and the acceptance of genders differing from the biological sexes of male and female primary school children are to be taught that some children have two mothers or two fathers.
This has gone so far as to compel a transgender man who gave birth with the help of fertility treatment to attempt to register himself as the child's father. Although he lost his court battle the ruling was attacked by campaigners and lawyers including the judge as a blow to the rights of trans parents and their children with calls for legislative reform.
An NHS A&E doctor for 26 years, he was forced out of his job working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after refusing to identify clients by their chosen gender instead of their biological sex as explained in this video:
One might have thought that the Church would stand for truth but Western Anglicanism has confounded the truth by supporting divergence. The family is fractured.
Not content with fracturing our own family, feminists are intent on fracturing the Roman Catholic Church to advance their political agenda.
The Llandaff Diocese of the Church in Wales is embarking on an 'ambitious Year of Pilgrimage' to reinvigorate its work and worship as part of the Church’s 2020 centenary celebrations. Traditionally the Cathedral Church of St David in Pembrokeshire has been a place of pilgrimage but it has been turned into a feminist enclave making it difficult for orthodox pilgrims to participate fully.
This WomensOrdinationConf tweet was 'liked' by St Davids Cathedral staff:
"They don't just want a seat at the table. They want to rearrange the seating, in sense, by reducing clerical privilege, by focusing on ordination as more a call to serve than a pathway to power". The Women's Ordination Conference describes itself as "A voice for women's equality in the Catholic Church".
Mutual flourishing in the Church goes out of the window after women take power. The Bridegroom and His bride become tools for revisionists to help overturn convention no matter who is hurt.
When mutual flourishing is allowed the results can be remarkable as illustrated by a tweet following a recent Confirmation service at Llandaff Cathedral presided over by the Bishop of Burnley, Philip North: "Standing room only in the Cathedral for a Diocesan Confirmation @LlandaffDio and the most candidates I think I have ever seen. What utter joy. Thank you @BishopJuno and @BpBurnley. God is good!"
Rowan Williams is reported to have said that as it is the Church in Wales has no future. The Church of England is not far behind.
Three stories here, here and here with ever more appearing in the run-up to the synod vote, all suggesting that women are being cheated out of their rightful place in the church hierarchy when in reality it is they who have cheated and continue to cheat with false claims of misogyny and discrimination to achieve their goal of outright victory no matter what the cost to others. In addition to WATCH (Women and the church) and GRAS (Group for Rescinding the Act of Synod) they even have their own self-promotion lobby, Darc (Women Deans, Archdeacons and Residentiary Canons) from whom the first woman bishop in the Church of England is likely be appointed.
Quoting immature school girls in her sample of views of clergy and congregations for the BBC, Charlotte Smith says that they could not understand why women could be vicars but they could not be bishops. Also, 'some of the volunteers' working in the cathedral were 'equally mystified'. One said, "If women are made priests, inevitably, if they're good, they should become bishops", apparently ignorant of the fact that we profess to belong to one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church in which the ordination of women to the priesthood is not permitted, a point side stepped by WATCH in their briefing notes when they compare the Church of England with Methodists, Baptists and others inCatching up with our sister Churches:
• The Methodist Church: the Church of England is close to joining formally with them, but they have made it clear that they will not agree to this unless we allow women to be bishops. They have had a number of ordained women as Presidents since the first in 1992. • URC: this year they have two women (ordained and lay) as joint Moderators of their General Assembly (equivalent of the Archbishop of Canterbury) and they have had others in the past. • Baptist Union: have women as regional ministers – their equivalent of Bishops.
If that is what they wanted the way was clear for them to join one of those denominations but that would have implied an act of faith rather than a secular drive for so called equality when inequality did not exist in the Anglican church until feminists succeeded in turning traditionalists into an underclass unworthy of provision other than on the victors' terms.
The Independent puts it this way: "Supporters of change say they are "furious" at the House of Bishops for adding the concession and a coalition of senior ordained women now say they cannot support the legislation. The group, known as Darc ... urged church members to vote down the Bill as they believe the latest changes have made it discriminatory. The Rev Celia Thomson, Canon of Gloucester Cathedral and Darc convenor, said: "The House of Bishops are, in good faith, concerned to keep as many people happy as possible, but the amendment they have added won't serve that purpose. It would discriminate against women in law. Do we really want to be... responsible for putting through legislation that discriminates against women? It's very distressing for all women clergy and for lay women in the Church, because it's saying something profound about how women are viewed. And that's not how the majority of the Church thinks about it".
The 'majority of the Church' as the Rev Celia Thomson puts it sees no discrimination against women. What she refers to is a simple majority conjured up through synodical process in what is fast becoming a protestant sect.Selective in their approach, they first claimed that they would be 'second class' bishops if concessions were made, now they use the familiar charge of discrimination. Anything in fact that they can stir up to avoid any concession to those who do not embrace a scheme which is turning the Anglican church into yet another protestant denomination.
With hindsight it is clear that trust was misplaced when women were made deacons then when they were ordained priests, that is the real cause of distress in the church. It is not the case that "If women are made priests, inevitably, if they're good, they should become bishops", they should not have been ordained as priests". They should not have been ordained in the first place. Two wrongs don't make a right!
Postscript In a recent survey by Christian Research among over a 1000 CofE worshippers, 75% of those surveyed said they wanted traditionalists to be enabled to remain in the CofE by appropriate provision for their position. In response to another survey which showed that ordained women priests now outpace men in Church of England, David Martin, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, told The Sunday Times, "It's obvious that over time the priesthood will become increasingly a female profession. As far as the church has a future it will include a predominant ministry of women and they will get to the top." (3 July, 2012)
About a million Catholics regularly attend mass in England and Wales, but leaders say there
are many more who are baptised but do not go to church. Photograph: John D Mchugh/AP
In her article for the Guardian, "Catholic church plans campaign to re-evangelise inactive members", their award winning religious affairs correspondent, Riazat Butt, includes what is presumably an old image of the ex-Archbishop of Westminster with a picture ofPope John Paul II, whose initiative the plan was. It has been driven forward by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, who offered a more recent view here.
The Anglican Church has Back to Church Sunday. God help us! Sorry, I couldn't watch it all. No wonder Anglican churches are emptying.
