God's calling, Maryland women feel compelled to join priesthood, despite opposition from Roman Catholic officials
By Diane Reynolds, Times Staff Writer
Monday, September 24, 2007
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For Gloria Carpeneto, being faithful to God's call meant being ordained as a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. The ordination took place July 14 in New York City, where Carpeneto, a Catonsville resident, joined three other women who were ordained by Bishop Patricia Fresen - despite the fact the church officially forbids female ordination.The women belong to a growing movement that no longer simply argues for women's rights but is creating an alternative Catholic church, whether the official church likes it or not."Women, thank God, are coming to value themselves as full human beings, fully in the image of God like men," said Andrea Johnson of Annapolis, one of the four to be ordained. "You can't put that back in the bottle."The women bishops performing the ordinations were themselves ordained by an Argentinean Catholic priest who has broken ranks with the Vatican, and by European priests whose names are not public, Johnson said.It is the custom and long tradition of the Catholic church that it takes three bishops to ordain a new bishop, Johnson said.But according to Helen Osman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, only the pope can appoint a bishop.The women ordained accept that their ordinations are illicit under canon law 1024, which forbids female ordination.However, they argue that, while illicit, the ordinations are valid because they can be traced back to the apostles of Jesus and because it has only been in recent years that only the pope could appoint bishops.
By Diane Reynolds, Times Staff Writer
Monday, September 24, 2007
[xmlslideshow:300:240:4:0]
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For Gloria Carpeneto, being faithful to God's call meant being ordained as a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. The ordination took place July 14 in New York City, where Carpeneto, a Catonsville resident, joined three other women who were ordained by Bishop Patricia Fresen - despite the fact the church officially forbids female ordination.The women belong to a growing movement that no longer simply argues for women's rights but is creating an alternative Catholic church, whether the official church likes it or not."Women, thank God, are coming to value themselves as full human beings, fully in the image of God like men," said Andrea Johnson of Annapolis, one of the four to be ordained. "You can't put that back in the bottle."The women bishops performing the ordinations were themselves ordained by an Argentinean Catholic priest who has broken ranks with the Vatican, and by European priests whose names are not public, Johnson said.It is the custom and long tradition of the Catholic church that it takes three bishops to ordain a new bishop, Johnson said.But according to Helen Osman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, only the pope can appoint a bishop.The women ordained accept that their ordinations are illicit under canon law 1024, which forbids female ordination.However, they argue that, while illicit, the ordinations are valid because they can be traced back to the apostles of Jesus and because it has only been in recent years that only the pope could appoint bishops.
