Posts Tagged ‘Women priests’

US nun excommunicated after illicit ordination

Friday, October 30th, 2015

A US nun was excommunicated and dismissed from her religious order last week after admitting that she was secretly ordained as a priest. Sr Leticia Rawles, 67, was ordained in April by the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and has since presided over religious services. Currently critically ill in hospital, Sr Rawes said she Read more

Pope Francis again rules out women priests

Friday, October 2nd, 2015

Pope Francis has again rejected the possibility of female priests in the Catholic Church, citing a ruling of one of his predecessors. During a press conference on board his flight back to Rome from the US, Francis said St John Paul II had decided “that cannot be done”. “Pope St John Paul II – after Read more

Women’s ordination activists gather to send signal to Pope

Tuesday, September 15th, 2015

Some 500 activists wanting women’s ordination will gather for a meeting in Philadelphia one week before Pope Francis arrives in the city. The US-based Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) is hosting the Women’s Ordination Worldwide meeting from September 18-20. The gathering will assess the place of women in church and society and develop plans to advance Read more

Masses banned at US Catholic Worker house

Tuesday, September 1st, 2015

A Catholic Worker House in Iowa has been told it can no longer host Masses after a woman priest presided at a service late last year. In a May 5 letter, Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines diocese ordered the local Catholic Worker House to cease holding services. The local council of priests voted unanimously to strip the Catholic Worker House Read more

Catholic woman bishop in liturgies alongside male priests

Friday, November 7th, 2014

An excommunicated Catholic woman bishop says she has conducted services alongside male Catholic priests without any problems from the Church’s hierarchy. Austrian Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, 58, told The Telegraph: “Most Catholic priests in Austria, are very nice to me. They call me ‘Mrs Bishop’. And they show me respect.” The newspaper reported her having been at Read more

US Jesuit penalised after liturgy with woman priest dies

Friday, August 15th, 2014

An American Jesuit who spent his last two years under restricted ministry after taking part in a eucharistic liturgy with a woman priest has died. Fr William Brennan, 94, died in a rest home in Wisconsin. A Jesuit for 75 years and a priest for 63 years, he was a former missionary in Belize and Read more

US archdiocese pulls shelter funds because of woman priest

Tuesday, August 12th, 2014

Donations have flooded to a US shelter for women and children after an archdiocese withdrew a grant because it didn’t like who was praying there. Debra Meyers, a member of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWR), was invited to lead a Sunday prayer service at Lydia’s House in Ohio on the feast of Read more

Jimmy Carter links Church male-only ordination with abuse of women

Friday, March 28th, 2014

Former United States president Jimmy Carter has said the Catholic Church’s practice of not ordaining women gives tacit permission for discrimination and abuse. Mr Carter said this during an interview with National Public Radio in the United States ahead of publication of his latest book. “ . . . [T]he fact that the Catholic Church, Read more

Clerical fashion house aknowlegdes growing female clientele

Tuesday, December 10th, 2013

Clerical designs are bound to tradition and slow to change. But this year for the first time, Stephen Fendler is revamping CM Almy’s women’s line of everyday clothing to keep up with increased demand. In the United States, in 2012, more than 20 percent of clergy were women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Read more

Restored catacombs fuel debate on women priests

Friday, November 22nd, 2013

The Vatican this week unveiled a series of catacombs used by early Christians in Rome after a major restoration. The Priscilla catacombs where Christians worshipped and buried their own are re-opening to the public after five years of work in which restorers used lasers to clean up the religious frescoes on the walls. The Vatican’s Read more