No matter what else is happening in the Church and world, Rome is way on top of the women's ordination issue. Some might say over the top.Vatican stops women's ordinations in Catholic church
By Kim Cain, Religion News Service, Dec. 8, 2009
By Kim Cain, Religion News Service, Dec. 8, 2009
MELBOURNE, Australia -- An Anglican ordination that was scheduled to be held in a Roman Catholic church in rural Australia was moved to a Protestant church because the Vatican refused to have women ordained in a Catholic building.
Catholic Bishop Joseph Grech of Sandhurst had given permission for the Anglican bishop of Bendigo, Andrew Curnow, to ordain seven candidates in St. Killian's Catholic Church on Nov. 29 after the local Anglican cathedral was closed for safety reasons.
But when it was discovered that four of the ordinands were women, Rome vetoed the local leadership, saying the ordinations could not take place within the Catholic building, even though it was an Anglican service. (I guess this shows that even though all Anglican ordinations are considered invalid by Rome, ordinations of women are beyond invalid. It might be OK to invalidly ordain men in a Roman Catholic Church but not women.)
Curnow told Ecumenical News International that he had been informed that the decision was entirely due to the presence of female ordinands. "It was felt that this would be sending the wrong signal regarding the ordination of women from a Catholic perspective," he said. (Or it emphasizes to the Anglicans the Pope wants in the church that women's ordination will not happen on his watch, in his buildings under any circumstances.)
Instead, the ordinations were shifted to a local church of the Uniting Church in Australia, a Protestant denomination that has a history of ordaining women.
The decision to stop the ordinations in the Catholic church building was handed down through the office of the apostolic nuncio, or Vatican ambassador, to Australia, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto. (I notice that in this case the Papal Nuncio didn't feel the need to go through diplomatic channels.)
"After much discussion with Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto and the Vatican, the ramifications were investigated," Grech told the Bendigo Advertiser. "The Catholic Church's doctrine on the ordination of deacons and priests is well known.
"There were certain issues within the doctrine that created problems. It's the best thing for both churches." (One of those problems is that although the teaching is well known, over half the sheep don't agree with the chief shepherd.)
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This is another one of those bizarre Vatican concerns that put me into gales of laughter. We have heard not one word from the Vatican about the Murphy report concerning the dismal response of the Dublin hierarchy regarding sexual abuse, although I guess we finally will on Friday. There hasn't been one peep out of the Vatican about the 'Kill gays' bill in Uganda, or from the USCCB for that matter. There hasn't been one peep from the Vatican about the secret protocols worked out amongst developing nations in Copenhagen. A document which more or less gives free reign for the developing world to continue to emit green house gasses at the expense of developing nations.
Instead, the Vatican acts with alacrity about an isolated situation in Australia in which a Roman Catholic bishop offered an Anglican bishop a one time use of Church property--out of a sense of Christian brotherhood--because it would have allowed for the ordination of four women. Operative term for Rome appears to be brotherhood.
Roman Catholicism burns while the Vatican piddles. Even the top dog can't piddle that much.
