The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #111650   Message #2354328
Posted By: Alice
01-Jun-08 - 10:40 AM
Thread Name: Women and church crime
Subject: RE: Women and church crime
It was my impression that most Catholics think women should be able to be ordained as priests... so I googled it to see.
Gallup poll, 64% of US Catholics support women's ordination as priests.

Here is also another interesting example of women's ordination:

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These ordinations call to mind the Roman Catholic women who have been ordained in the recent past. On December 28, 1970, Ludmila Javorova was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in the underground church of Communist Czechoslovakia. The decision to do so was made during a secret synod called by Bishop Felix Davidek that was composed of bishops, priests and laity. Bishop Davidek ordained the first woman priest, Javorova, who served as Vicar General of the underground diocese for 20 years. She was one of up to six women who were ordained in this way.

After the fall of Communism, the Vatican declared all of the underground ordinations invalid. The single men were allowed to be re-ordained, and the married men to be re-ordained into the Eastern Rite where marriage is allowed, yet the women were given no such options. Javorova accepts that she cannot function as a priest without the official church's mandate, but she clearly maintains the validity of her orders.

Catholic women are called to ordination and some are moving forward with ordination without Vatican approval. Catholics are accepting these women as priests, and they are serving in Catholic communities by administering the sacraments. The broad consultation that occurred in the underground synod in Communist Czechoslovakia — where all members of the church community were included in the decision making process — serves as a model of the way an inclusive and accountable Catholic Church could operate. Catholics need to be aware of this history and the Vatican needs to be reminded of it.