An open debate on women’s ordination in the Catholic Church is necessary, says Hamburg’s archbishop, Stefan Hesse. “One has to be permitted to think about and discuss the issue.” Hesse says “Ordinatio sacerdotalis,” John Paul II’s 1994 letter stating the church cannot ordain women as priests, was positioned as a response to those who considered Read more
Papal nuncio Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Vatican ambassador to France, plans to meet the female candidates individually at the beginning of the new school year. Marie-Automne Thepot’s mobile phone rang on the morning of July 27th and, to her surprise, the call was from the papal nuncio’s office. The 42-year-old project manager at the Paris City Read more
Ordaining women is not okay, over 200 Australian Catholic students have told the country’s bishops in an open letter. The letter, sent ahead of the upcoming Fifth Plenary Council of the Church in the country, urges the bishops to remain committed to the Church’s teaching. Ordaining women should therefore be rejected. “Many submissions to the Read more
Panel members at a conference organised by women’s ordination supporters have different views on conjectured future female deacons. The five-person panel met as part of the “Open to the Door to Dialogue” conference held in Rome earlier this month. Last month, Pope Francis said he would create a commission to study the history of female Read more
A priest who spoke at a US women’s ordination conference has been told he can no longer celebrate Mass in a San Francisco parish. Fr Jack McClure joined three inactive priests on a panel at a Women’s Ordination Conference in Philadelphia this month. Precious Blood Fr McClure said that he felt called to break his Read more
A former vicar-general in Vienna says the Church is at a crossroads in terms of lay parish leadership because of the shortage of priests. Fr Helmut Schüller said merging independent parishes into vast, impersonal parish associations is “pretty much the most unimaginative thing one can do”. In the long run, the Church will not be Read more
Conservative Anglican leaders have been meeting this week to discuss whether to back a parallel Anglican Church in the United Kingdom. The Global Anglican Futures Conference in the London this week was expected to discuss divisions in the worldwide Anglican Communion over women’s ordination and homosexuality. Gafcon was launched at a meeting in Jerusalem in Read more
Sydney’s Catholic Weekly newspaper is refusing to run an advertisement for an event at which former Irish president Mary McAleese will speak. The reasons cited by Catholic Weekly editor Peter Rosengren are Ms McAleese’s views on homosexuality and the ordination of women. Ms McAleese is the guest of Catholic think-tank, Catalyst For Renewal, and will Read more
A US scripture commentator has had her writings pulled from a book for lectors because she attended a progressive group’s conference. At the request of Chicago archdiocese’s censor, Margaret Nutting Ralph’s work was withheld from a resource book published by Liturgy Training Publications. Ms Ralph had given a presentation on contextual interpretation of Scripture at Read more
An excommunicated Maryknoll priest who became an outspoken advocate for women’s ordination has been dismissed from his order and the priesthood, but supporters are questioning the manner in which he was removed. A Maryknoll statement said Roy Bourgeois, 74, had been canonically dismissed by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for “disobedience Read more