Call to Action is the largest group of progressive Catholics with roots in the liberalizing reforms of Vatican II, originally sanctioned by the American Council of Bishops, but which became an outsider organization as conservative retrenchment set in during the papacy of John Paul II.
Pope John Paul II repeatedly dashed hopes for any internal liberalizing during his lifetime, and he prepared for the future by appointing as bishops only men who upheld his views on contraception and the ordination of women. Meanwhile, there were crackdowns on theologians like [Hans] Kung and an insistence from Rome that diversity of opinion was not to be tolerated.
The organization is stronger than ever and continues to a thorn in the flesh of the patriarchal and hierarchal Vatican:
We appeal to the institutional church to reform and renew its structures. We also appeal to the people of God to witness to the Spirit who lives within us and to seek ways to serve the vision of God in human society.
We call upon church officials to incorporate women at all levels of ministry and decision-making.
We call upon the church to discard the medieval discipline of mandatory priestly celibacy and to open the priesthood to women and married men…so that the Eucharist may continue to be the center of the spiritual life of all Catholics.
We call for extensive consultation with the Catholic people in developing church teaching on human sexuality.
We claim our responsibility as committed laity, religious and clergy to participate in the selection of our local bishops, a time-honored tradition in the church.
We call for open dialogue, academic freedom, and due process.
We call upon the church to become a model of financial openness on all levels, including the Vatican.
We call for a fundamental change so that young people will see and hear God living in and through the church as a participatory community of believers who practice what they preach.
Another group of progressive Catholics has moved beyond advocacy to open defiance of the Vatican by ordaining women despite excommunication. Called Roman Catholic Womenpriests, the organization now has five female bishops who are actively ordaining women to the priesthood around the US.
The Sarasota Florida Herald Tribune offered a lengthy article on Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan and her ordination of two women as priests and one as a deacon over the weekend.
A former nun who the Vatican says has been excommunicated will ordain two women priests and one deacon in Sarasota today, part of a growing and controversial movement claiming to be an offshoot of the Catholic church.
The ordinations will be the first in Florida by the group known as Roman Catholic Womenpriests, which preaches equality for women by allowing them into the priesthood and plays down allegiance to the pope.
The official Catholic church calls the movement and the ordinations illegitimate, and the local diocese sent letters to parishes saying any Catholics who support the ordination of women by attending today’s ceremony will be automatically excommunicated — a banishment from participating in church sacraments such as baptism and communion until forgiveness is given by a priest.
“Good!” said Bridget Mary Meehan, the former nun who is performing today’s ordinations and is one of five bishops in the national movement. “They’re upping the ante. People will have to be courageous to support us and that is what this is about. Like our sister Rosa Parks, we refuse to sit on the back of the bus any longer.”
A similar story comes from the Sacramento Bee newspaper in California.
To parishioners in her small Sacramento congregation, Elizabeth English is their Catholic priest: She presides over their Sunday Mass, leads them during Communion and baptizes their babies.
To the Roman Catholic Church, English symbolizes a topic that church leaders consider closed: the ordination of women priests.
English left the Roman Catholic Church five years ago to pursue her calling to the priesthood. She is now a priest in the Independent Catholic Church, a group not recognized by the Vatican. She is the only female Catholic priest in the Sacramento region.
“I had to leave the church; there was no place for me,” she said. “I wish there was.”
Another of the five Womenpriest bishops, Andrea M. Johnson, will appear tomorrow at the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University. Bishop Johnson will speak and participate in a blue ribbon panel discussion about female ordination. This information comes from blogger Wild Hair whose self description is “Roman Catholic Priest, still in reasonably good standing; aka: eminence, the cardinal archbishop of HGN.”
Finally, Bishop Bridget mentioned earlier has her own blog with lots of info and links about the Womenpriest movement. Check it out.
This article is cross posted at The Open Tabernacle.
Wow. The reforms of Vatican II were not “liberalizing” in the sense you think. I’m not even Catholic, and I know that.
And these “womenpriests” are not Catholic priests. Clearly. They should just become anglican or lutheran rather than claim to be something they are not.
What you call “conservative entrenchment” is simply Catholic orthodoxy. You don’t have to like it, but don’t mistake American political categories with Church doctrine.
Diversity of opinion is valued in the catholic church – the large number of orders and various streams is evidence of this. But you still have to pass a basic test of Catholic orthodoxy to be considered “Catholic.” That’s simply church discipline at its most basic. If Episcopalians had the same rules, John Spong would not be allowed to call himself a Bishop, and that would be a great victory for the Church. But alas, no such luck.
@pastor mack
You’re right; conservative retrenchment has become Catholic orthodoxy, and that is what is so upsetting to progressive Catholics. If you think there has been no rightward twist to Catholic policy, away from the spirit of Vatican II, then you are ignoring or revising history. This shift is no where more evident than in the attempt to quiet Hans Kung, one of the progressive intellects behind the scenes of Vatican II. Listen to his 2005 words, if you disagree with mine:
This reminds me of a Catholic priest I know. He was probably once being groomed to become a bishop but no longer. He considers the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church to be sycophants, including those working to be come bishops and cardinals. After all the stories I’ve heard from him, I totally believe it.
@Obie Holmen
The other option is that Vatican II was never the great liberal moment that many on the left took it to be. It was an opening, yes, but not a great turn left. Kung was rightly censured – he wrote a book questioning papal infallibility! I’m a Methodist, I’d be better off writing a book questioning whether or not John Wesley was English. And there was no conspiracy to “silence” Kung – this is not a Dan Brown novel – he simply had his license to teach Catholic theology revoked, a consequence that could not have taken him by surprise.
And of course a progressive catholic is going to think the Vatican is a vast right-wing conspiracy. The Vatican would simply say it is remaining true to the teaching of the Holy Mother Church. Vatican II is much like the Bible – reading it is one thing, determining its meaning is another. Have you read anymore of Kung than that wikipedia quote? Moreover, have you read anything by John Paul II or Benedict? If you read some of their written work, I think you would find it doesn’t quite fit the mold you are trying to force it into. But I don’t want to burst your bubble.
@Pastor Mack
Your condescending tone is not necessary. Nor is it necessary to put words in my mouth. I have suggested no conspiracy. Yes, I have read Kung extensively, and I also studied with one of his compatriots behind the scenes at Vatican II, Father Godfrey Diekmann.
I recall your angry posts earlier and your claim that you are a recovering fundamentalist. As I suggested then, I think you might have relapsed.