More "womenpriests".
In case anyone had any doubt what the church teaches on the subject, as opposed to the measure of credence given this group by the ignorant-of-when-not-openly-hostile-to-Catholicism Boston media, here is a link to John Paul II's Apostolic Letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis:
A few quotes are in order:
In the Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, I myself wrote in this regard: "In calling only men as his Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. In doing so, he exercised the same freedom with which, in all his behavior, he emphasized the dignity and the vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions sanctioned by the legislation of the time."(5)In fact the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles attest that this call was made in accordance with God's eternal plan; Christ chose those whom he willed (cf. Mk 3:13-14; Jn 6:70), and he did so in union with the Father, "through the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:2), after having spent the night in prayer (cf. Lk 6:12). Therefore, in granting admission to the ministerial priesthood,(6) the Church has always acknowledged as a perennial norm her Lord's way of acting in choosing the twelve men whom he made the foundation of his Church (cf. Rv 21:14). These men did not in fact receive only a function which could thereafter be exercised by any member of the Church; rather they were specifically and intimately associated in the mission of the Incarnate Word himself (cf. Mt 10:1, 7-8; 28:16-20; Mk 3:13-16; 16:14-15). The Apostles did the same when they chose fellow workers(7) who would succeed them in their ministry.(8) Also included in this choice were those who, throughout the time of the Church, would carry on the Apostles' mission of representing Christ the Lord and Redeemer.(9)
Furthermore, the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, received neither the mission proper to the Apostles nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the non-admission of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them. Rather, it is to be seen as the faithful observance of a plan to be ascribed to the wisdom of the Lord of the universe.
In short -- Christ ordained men, and the Lord did not ordain his own mother, who, sinless, would have been the most perfect woman priest possible. In that the BVM was sinless, she would have most perfectly represented the sacrifice of Christ in the Mass; there could be no better female priest than her. And yet, she was not a priest.
Why not?
To question this is to question the Lord, not the Church. Why did Jesus deny his mother priesthood?
We have to assume he did so in accordance with a divine plan.
The New Testament and the whole history of the Church give ample evidence of the presence in the Church of women, true disciples, witnesses to Christ in the family and in society, as well as in total consecration to the service of God and of the Gospel. "By defending the dignity of women and their vocation, the Church has shown honor and gratitude for those women who-faithful to the Gospel-have shared in every age in the apostolic mission of the whole People of God. They are the holy martyrs, virgins and mothers of families, who bravely bore witness to their faith and passed on the Church's faith and tradition by bringing up their children in the spirit of the Gospel."(11)Moreover, it is to the holiness of the faithful that the hierarchical structure of the Church is totally ordered. For this reason, the Declaration Inter Insigniores recalls: "the only better gift, which can and must be desired, is love (cf. 1 Cor 12 and 13). The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the ministers but the saints."(12)
Exactly right. Priests are servants. No priest imagines himself higher than the Virgin Mary in the hierarchy of heaven, except, or course, for the eternal priest, the Lord Himself.
The women in the news story, however, believe that priestly service is something they are being denied by the hierarchy of the church.
The ceremony, like several others that have taken place around the world over the last six years, was denounced by the Roman Catholic church, and critics said the event was a stunt with no religious significance. The Catholic Church has consistently taught that only men can be ordained as priests, and the Archdiocese of Boston said that the women who participated in today’s ceremony had automatically excommunicated themselves by participating in what it said was an invalid ordination ceremony.But the women who participated in the event, along with the several hundred people who spent nearly three hours in the sweltering, non-air-conditioned Church of the Covenant, said they rejected the excommunications, and believed that the women had been validly ordained. The women were vested with white chasubles and red stoles and greeted with a standing ovation as they were declared to be priests; they then helped preside over a service at which they declared bread and wine to be consecrated and offered what they said was Communion to anyone who wished to receive it.
They are automatically excommunicated by virtue of this "ceremony".
But let us suppose for a moment that they were not, and even, arguendo, that they are correct that the laying on of hands "works", and that they are in fact, priests. Their first act was to consecrate a Eucharist and give it "to anyone who wished to receive it."
This is itself a violation of canon law. To give communion to people not in communion with the church is an act of sacrilege against the host.
Fine priests they are, eh? Fine theological formation there.
C.J. Doyle, of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, called the ceremony “a sacrilegious parody of Holy Orders conducted at a Protestant church by a collection of apostates misappropriating the Catholic name.”“One must not only be a male to be a Catholic priest, one must be a Catholic,'' Doyle said. "The performers in this theater of propaganda are neither. These women ought to have the intellectual honesty to admit that they left the Catholic Church some time ago. Whatever publicity value today's exercise has, it must be measured against both the manifest fraudulence and the irredeemable hopelessness of their cause.”
I've never met C.J. Doyle, but that's an excellent quote there. You can sense the Catholic training in that paragraph, what with the use of "manifest" and "irredeemable hopelessness". Tip of the hat there.
The women did not pledge obedience or chastity – the promises made by Roman Catholic priests. One was introduced to the congregation by her daughter; another by her husband.
Well, if we've thrown out Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, and decide that the sacrament itself is open to anyone, why not? No celibacy, no obedience, no canon law whatsoever.
In other words, Protestantism.
The ceremony was held in a venerable Protestant church, the Church of the Covenant, which is affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ.The interim pastor of the church, the Rev. Jennifer Wegter-McNelly, declared the ordination of women “an important part of this church’s identity,’’ and said “we stand with you today.’’
The former president of the Massachusetts conference of the United Church of Christ, the state’s largest Protestant denomination, was among several Protestant clergy who attended the ceremony to express their support for the women seeking ordination as Catholic priests.
“If it looks like discrimination, if it acts like discrimination, and if it feels like discrimination, it is discrimination,’’ said the Rev. Nancy S. Taylor, the former conference president, who is now senior minister of Old South Church. “Prejudice in liturgical clothing is still prejudice.’’
Take it up with the Lord, Nancy. That's who you are claiming is prejudiced.