Back in the fall, I wrote a longish post on women wanting to be priests. In brief, I criticized women ” for whom the ordination was a ‘thing’ that [they] wanted and a career path [they] desired, rather than a call to serve in a community,” but at the same time suggested that “What is missing in the Catholic Church, and could be a real benefit, is a “Protestant-style” ordination — that is, a means of formally recognizing and commissioning both men and women who serve in these non-sacramental ministry roles.”
And the issue is back in the news, via an article from NBCnews.com: “Wife, Grandma, Catholic Priest? Rebel Women Defy Church Ban.” What’s interesting is this: the main NBC article describes these women as pioneering fighters of injustice, though it gives plenty of space to opponents of their actions. At the same time, the author chooses her language carefully: these are women who have “branded themselves priests.” And, indeed, the summary of the article, from the Chicago NBC affiliate, and shared on facebook, chooses its language even more carefully (quoted in full):
“Women Declare Themselves Priests, Defying Catholic Church”
An 80-year-old Florida woman defied the Catholic Church by declaring herself a Catholic priest on Saturday, joining with a breakaway group of about 200 Catholic women worldwide who have ceremonially ordained themselves priests despite the Church’s traditional ban and threat of excommunication, NBC News reported. In a ceremony that draws on the Catholic rite, Rita Lucey prostrated herself in the aisle of a (borrowed Protestant) church, and afterward gave out Communion. “It’s the Rosa Parks movement of the Catholic Church,” said Bridget Mary Meehan of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests. “The Vatican cannot continue to discriminate against women and blame God for it.”
I don’t have a big point here, but it is interesting that this article is careful not to say that these women are priests, just that they have declared themselves to be so.
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