Pope Francis says no to women priests

Pope Francis will not ordain women to priesthood.           L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo Via AP

The Catholic News Agency reports that in an interview with Reuters, Pope Francis said more space has to be created for women to take on leading roles in the Roman Curia, but that priestly ordination is not an option.

“We cannot functionalize women,” he said, explaining that while the Church is referred to as a woman, the Sacrament of Holy Orders is out of the question “because dogmatically it doesn't work.”

“John Paul II was clear and closed the door, and I will not go back on this. It was something serious, not something capricious,” he said, adding, “it cannot be done.”

That will be welcome news for many but unwelcome news for some Catholics who are fighting for the ordination of women. They allege that the refusal to ordain women "is not God’s intent, and neither scripturally justified nor the original practice of the church".

The Anglican Church has been down that route, the route to disaster. The implied growth as a result of ordaining women has not materialised, quite the reverse. The church has simply been used by feminists to extend their influence regardless of the consequences.

Lies and deception were used to gain power, not for the church but for themselves. They have reneged on agreements which put them where they are and sidelined anyone who does not agree with them. They have advanced LGBT rights as though that were the Gospel message while promoting same sex marriage.

The ordination of women has been an utter disaster and we are living with the consequences. Western Anglicanism is in terminal decline depriving many more women of their spiritual home. Sadly the destruction has been aided by progressive bishops and priests.

Messy Baptism is the latest feminist first in Wales. Messing up Holy Baptism. What a mess!

50th Anniversary meeting

Archbishop Justin Welby with Pope Francis at Vespers in the Basilica of San Gregorio al Celio

Some may have thought that the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the meeting between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsay in 1966 was an odd event given the changes that have taken place between 1966 and 2016, particularly the ordination of women and questions regarding human sexuality in the Anglican Church.

A joint declaration admits that issues of women and homosexuality are "currently insurmountable", thus shattering the promises of the earlier 1966 meeting. But an understanding is being sought to make some sort of progress out of the rubble that has been created by the unilateral actions of some churches in the Anglican Communion against the wishes of the much larger Catholic and Orthodox churches.

In his sermon Justin Welby referred to the 'Good Shepherd', a theme which will be familiar to regular readers of this blog, and to the good sheep and the bad sheep, enabling those assembled to categorize themselves along doctrinal lines, each assuming any fault lay on the other side. Nevertheless, it must be seen as a positive step that the two leaders are 'undeterred'.

In a Common Declaration Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby declared that "While we ourselves do not yet see solutions to the obstacles before us, we are undeterred."  Their 'sending out' of  pairs of Catholic and Anglican bishops shows a willingness to work together, something that the Church in Wales is belatedly learning to do, living with diversity within its own structure.

Update [09.10.2016]

The ACNS lists the pairs of Commissioned bishops covering 19 countries/areas. There is no mention of Wales or Scotland so unless 'England' is intended to cover Great Britain, Wales and Scotland will be excluded from the united mission "to those who are captive and oppressed".

International Gin Day 2016

A dry Fr Brown?

Today, 11 June 2016, is World Gin Day, one of the most important days in the calendar for Catholics. The sun has gone down over the yardarm so time to celebrate with a G&T in true Anglican/RC style. 

Cheers to all my readers and traditionalists everywhere!

Dying on the Vine

This short video illustrates how strongly a person in the US identifies with their faith. The percentage of Catholics claiming to be a 'strong' Catholic is at an all time low and only half of those claiming to be strong Catholics claim that they attend mass at least once a week. The blame for this phenomenon is put squarely on the bishops who constantly promote social issues at the expense of spiritual concerns: "The episcopate has acquiesced to nearly every cultural fad you can name" inserting "personal views" instead of "traditional teaching". Many of the clergy "either don't know about the faith or don't care about it". 

For the Catholic Church substitute the Episcopal Church in the United States and Anglican church here in Great Britain and the same basic message applies. Observers could easily be forgiven for thinking that Christianity today is all about sex.

In England the Archbishop of Canterbury has been fretting about his stance on same-sex marriage. He told an audience of traditional born-again Christians that "they must 'repent' over the way gay and lesbian people have been treated in the past and said most young people viewed Christians as no better than racists on the issue". Racist, bigot, homophobic, any label is used to smear fellow Christians who strive to defend the faith against revision. Of course there have been errors in the past but to bend to public opinion at the expense of the Christian faith is demonstrably not the way forward.

Next week the Church in Wales will be revisiting the issue of women bishops. Their Archbishop will once again be banging the gender drum urging his Governing Body to give him a blank cheque to appoint women bishops despite his unwillingness to recognise the not unreasonable desire of members of his own church to be allowed to follow the traditional faith of the Holy Catholic Church of which he still claims to be a member.

Any sense of spirituality has been lost in a maze of liberalism and relativity. In Cardiff recently the Archbishop of Wales launched the LGBT Mardi Gras expressing the view that "sadly the church has not always treated lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people with the respect they deserve, as people are made in the image of God". So are the people he has refused acceptable provision. Sexuality in today's church is clearly more powerful than spirituality.

I have not encountered the level of prejudice in the church implied by the Archbishops unless I count the possibly veiled request from an elderly gentleman many years ago that the vicarage be occupied by a family man, a request that was promptly side-lined in favour of appointing the most suitable available priest. As it happens a family man was appointed. He destroyed the good work of his predecessor before moving on to greatness taking his liberal credentials with him to wreak new havoc.

In the video a favourable comparison is drawn between strong Protestants and strong Catholics. That is no cause for celebration in Great Britain when drawing a comparison. As the following graph shows, while 'Evangelical Protestants' are increasing 'Mainline Protestants' are also dying on the Vine.

A new dawn

Just a small item listed among other 'News' items on Google but a momentous event despite the fact that the major interest in the Ordinariate would appear to be from abroad. Listed among the overseas commentators was the BBC although 'auntie' chose to highlight the opinion of Prebendary David Houlding who "belongs to the Catholic Group on the Church of England Synod, and regards the ordination with sadness and anger."

Whatever 'sadness and anger' there may be, nothing should detract from this momentous  occasion in which the Ordinariate brings together Catholics, Roman and Anglican, in the spirit Christ prayed for on the night of His betrayal, that we all may be one.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is clearly a man of vision. Full marks are also due to the Archbishop of Westminster who reflected Pope Benedict's vision in his homily at the ordination of three former Anglican bishops today and to Archbishop Rowan for his prayers and understanding.


Postscript
Less understanding (or deliberate misrepresentation in the  style of WATCH) is shown by Peter Stanford whose article now heads the Google news item. He writes "It is the Vatican's negative attitude to women's ministry that formed the backdrop to the whole affair. The three recruits oppose the Church of England's plans to appoint female bishops and regard the Catholic priesthood as a safe, female-free haven." His article in today's Observer (16 Jan 2011) is beautifully unpicked here.