Defiant female priest says Mass

[hunter]

RENEGADE GROUP HOLDS SERVICES; DIOCESE SAYS SACRAMENTS INVALID
By Kim Vo
Mercury News

The fledgling congregation gathered in a circle at Sunday Mass at Spartan Memorial Chapel to introduce themselves. A woman in a long, white robe spoke first.

"My name is Victoria Rue," she said. "And I am a Roman Catholic woman priest."

Rue belongs to a renegade movement that is ordaining women as Catholic priests, in defiance of the Vatican. Today, Rue celebrates Mass at the non-denominational chapel at San Jose State University.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/14688209.htm

I don't expect this will be the branching that brings women and married priests into Roman Catholicism because this group is openly defiant of the Vatican. But so long as the numbers remain small, I imagine the Vatican will be relatively quiet about this, going little further than to say they are not Roman Catholic. To do more would bring attention to the issue.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. How can they call themselves Roman Catholic

if they are open defiant of the Vatican? That's what the Church of England did centuries ago. They broke away. Very little changed except the Pope thing.

[hunter]

3. I was thinking that too.

A few of the Episcopal Churches in our area are very Catholic, and even advertise that way. A person who grew up in a post Vatican II Roman Catholic tradition would be very comfortable there.

[DELUSIONAL]

2. Go SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY !!!!

Sorry -- but that's where I went to college and I know that chapel well after walking past it going and coming from classes.

I'm not a Catholic -- but I see no reason why women cannot be priests if this is their perceived mission in life.

San Jose State also lead the anti war movement (Vietnam war) so many years ago. Also a car was buried on the campus during the first Earth Day observance. That was a long long time ago -- in a different era. RayGun hated San Jose State and college students.

[G2099]

4. Women should be allowed to say mass

I am not Catholic, though as a child i went to church. Does god really give 2 cents if the so-called mass is said by a man or women? I am sure the big guy/women (if such exist) has bigger things to worry about.

[GrumpyGreg]

5. If every female stopped donating to the RCC we would have

women priests,and fast.

[okasha]

6. They're following the same path as the Episcopal Church

The first women (the "Philadelphia 11") were ordained "irregularly" to the Episcopal priesthood in 1974; two years later their ordinations were confirmed and another hundred women ordained within the following year. Unfortunately, Rome will probably take longer; there will have to be a change of Pope, just for starters.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I have RC friends

who have moved to the American Catholic Church (I think that's the name) because the rituals are the same, but priests can be married and there is no gender discrimination.

[hunter]

8. There's a rich history here.

Let's see what kind of trouble I can get into today:

Independent Catholic Churches International was formed in 1980, by a group of bishops from the Liberal Catholic Church International led by the late Archbishop Bernard Dawe, at the request of bishops of several independent Catholic churches who were looking for a fellowship which was truly Catholic, with a solid set of core beliefs and valid Apostolic Succession, yet flexible enough to allow creative and innovative ministry and to bring together jurisdictions with differing styles, emphases, rules, practices, and liturgies. Most members of the ICCI are descended from the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht, which broke with Rome in 1870's over the dogmas of Vatican I, including that of the infallibility of the Pope. It adheres to the spirit of the Utrecht Declaration and upholds the ancient tradition of the independence and interdependence rather than hierarchy of bishops. Our members have carefully guarded the Catholicity of our faith and the validity of our Apostolic Succession.

http://www.independentcatholics.org/about.html

So much of the debate here in this forum lies along the axis of atheism and Christian Evangelical "Fundamentalism." This does not reflect the abundant diversity of faith and spirituality within the United States.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Thank you so much, hunter!

I wish the R/T forum gave us more time to explore these different facets of faith. I have been to an Old Catholic Church service-in fact, it is the only Catholic service I have attended! I was charmed by the fact that the husband led the service and his wife served as altar person.