The ultra-lefty dissenting National Catholic Reporter has particularly shameful coverage of another false-ordination ceremony for a woman who wants to be a Catholic priest.
The facts of the story go along the usual track: woman wants to be a Catholic priest, some other woman who want the same thing pretend to ordain her, they are now excommunicated.
However, it was the tone of the article in the National Catholic Reporter that just as shameful.
The writer uses terms like "priest" and "ordination" without making any distinctions. And then speaks about the juridical effects of their actions as if the Church is the unjust oppressor of brave pioneers.
Let’s have a look at the article with my emphases and comments.
Sixth Catholic woman priest ordained [Note the two incorrect terms from the onset. She is not a priest and she was not ordained.] this year
By DENNIS CODAY, NCR staff writer
Published:
August 9, 2008Janice Sevre-Duszynska was [NOT] ordained a priest Saturday, Aug. 9, in Lexington, Ky., making her the sixth woman [NOT] to be ordained in the United States this year as part of the Roman [NON] Catholic Womenpriests movement.
The movement has [NOT] ordained 32 priests in the United States over the last two years. Saturday’s event was noteworthy because for the first time, a male, [Here is another problem. They distinguish him as "male", … as if there were any other kind!] Roman Catholic priest in good standing publicly joined the ceremony. Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois [a very strange guy] concelebrated at the ceremony and was a homilist. (See related story and read Bourgeois’ homily.)
Sevre-Duszynska, 58, is married. She has said she will serve as an itinerant [fake] priest “speaking out for the voiceless and challenging the powers that be to hear the call of nonviolence and cooperation in our world community.”
Marjorie Maguire, a longtime friend of Sevre-Duszynska from Milwaukee, talked with NCR by phone from Lexington after the [fake] ordination. About 150 people attended the [fake] ordination, which was held in the Unitarian Universalist [figures] Church in Lexington.
She said that at the end of the [pretend] ceremony, Sevre-Duszynska told the congregation that she often thinks of something Dominican Sr. Marge Tuite told her many years ago: “Never stop making the connections between sexism, racism, militarism, nationalism and all forms of violence.”
Making those connections, Maguire said, was really the theme of the day’s [fake] ordination. “Roy and Janice represent the merging of these (struggles of justice), of making these connections,” Maguire said.
During the Litany of the Saints, which is part of [in this case fake] ordination rite, as Sevre-Duszynska lay prostrate on floor, she held two objects: a wooden cross that she held during protests at SOA Watch demonstrations and an alb made of sackcloth that she wore at demonstrations for women’s ordinations that she staged during the meetings of the U.S. Catholic Bishops conferences.
[Now watch how the language shifts.]
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington condemned the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement as “in opposition to the church’s authentic teaching” and warned that “members of the Catholic faithful should not support or participate in Saturday’s event.” Participation in the event, “carries with it very serious penal sanctions in Church Law,” a statement on the diocese’s Web site warned. [See how menancing, oppressive and unjust the official male dominated sexist Church is?]
The event, the diocese said, “has no connection to Roman Catholic Liturgy or Sacraments and cannot in any way be recognized as a valid reception of Sacred Orders.”
Despite such threats, this has been a busy year for the Womenpriests movement. Three women were [NOT] ordained in Boston July 20. A woman was ordained in Portland, Oregon June 7 and another in Winona, Minn., May 4. A woman and a man were [NOT] ordained in Canada May 29. The Roman Catholic Womenpriests claim [finally a word that get’s closer to the truth] 26 priests and a dozen deacons in the United States. A California woman, Dana Reynolds, was elected and [NOT, and laughably so] ordained a bishop for the movement earlier this year. Reynolds presided at the Lexington [fake] ordination.
The movement has at least two more [fake] ordinations planned for this year, in St. Barbara, Calif., in September and in Chicago in November.
Vatican formally condemns [again the tenor of the language is indicative of the position of the NCRep on this issue] ordinations
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a decree May 30 formally declaring that a woman who attempts to be ordained a Catholic priest and the persons attempting to ordain her are automatically excommunicated.
Dominican Fr. Augustine Di Noia, undersecretary of the congregation, told Catholic News Service May 30 that the decree makes clear that people directly involved in an attempted ordination of a woman excommunicate themselves automatically; it is not a penalty imposed by the local bishop or the universal church.
Since the excommunication is not imposed, there is no possibility of appeal, he said: "The only recourse is repentance. [No recourse! How mean.]
"The problem is not that all of a sudden there was a tsunami of attempted ordinations of women," Di Noia said, but that the Code of Canon Law and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches "never anticipated that such a thing would happen." . [Because it is so very weird.]
The decree was needed "for the good of the church and to ensure bishops have a common way of responding" when such ceremonies are held in their dioceses, he said.
The media spokeswoman for Womenpriests, Bridget Mary Meehan, says the punishments and excommunications are actually helping the movement. [I doubt that.]
Such extreme treatment [Okay… these bizarre women simulate an ordination ceremony in direct defiance of the Holy See, the local bishop, and 2000 years of Christianty. They go to some odd sect’s church to do it. They commit scandal by trumpeting what they do. They have all been informed of the juridical consequences…. and they do it anyway. And the excommunication is "extreme treatment"?] doesn’t make sense to many ordinary Catholics, Meehan told NCR. “They ask, ‘Why would you excommunicate someone who just wants to serve God?’ ” [That’s pretty clear and this pretend confusion is hypocritical.] More and more Catholics are accepting the idea of women priests, she said. [So what? Lot’s of people think that all sorts of sinful behaviors are okay. They are still wrong. The numbers of people who think this or that are not the basis of doctrine.]
“We are building a renewed model of priesthood for a renewed Roman Catholic Church in a community of equals in which all are welcome at the sacred Eucharistic table” said Meehan, [NOT] ordained two years ago, is a [fake] priest for house churches in Sarasota, Florida, and northern Virginia. [Note here the imagery from the early Church: "house churches". The idea is that the early roots of Christianity, in its first phase of growth, is somehow more authentic than what we have now. Note the tone of words like "renewed" and "equals" and "welcome", whereas the official Church was into threats and warnings.]
“Excommunications are not keeping people from seeking us out,” [too bad] she said by phone from Lexington. “There is no punishment, there is nothing the institutional church can do to stop this movement,” she said. [I’ve been using the word "official", but here is the code in another form: "institutional".]
Meehan had high praise for Bourgeois. She said that he is the first active male priest to take a public role in a woman’s ordination. [He should be instantly suspended a divinis, if he is really in good standing at this time.] She said he, like many other Catholics, are examining their consciences and finding that they must support a more inclusive church. [I repeat what I sai above: there is code language here. However, the NCRep has actually taken the side of the excommunicated separatists and trying to legitimize their movement.]
Sevre-Duszynska events leading up to ordination
* In January 1998, Sevre-Duszynska made national news by interrupting an ordination ceremony at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Lexington and asking for ordination herself. “I am called by the Holy Spirit to present myself for ordination,” she said when the male [there are no other kind] candidate for priesthood was called forward by the bishop. “My name is Janice. I ask this for myself and for all women.”
Sevre-Duszynska holds a master’s degree in theater from the University of Kentucky and is an award-winning playwright and received a fellowship to the Yale School of Drama.
Even before her dramatic act at the cathedral she had worn blue arm bands to protest outside the site of ordinations, particiated [sic] in for-women-only eucharistic celebrations, written to bishops and carried placards promoting women priests.
* In 2000, during the U.S. bishops’ November meeting in Washington, Sevre-Duszynska grapped [sic] a microphone after Cardinal Bernard Law, then of Boston, had proposed a statement on the situation in the Middle East. “I’m here to use my voice for many who cannot speak,” she said.“There’s an injustice within our church that affects the whole world.” She urged the bishops to be “compassionate to your sisters … women called by God to ordination.”
Her microphone was turned off. She refused to leave the gathering, sitting there as the bishops continued their meeting in the large hotel ballroom. When that portion of the meeting ended, police escorted her out of the hotel. [What a class act.]
The following year, as the prelates, again gathered for their November meeting, assembled for a Mass for Peace, Sevre-Duszynska interrupted the service [classy!] to answer the responsorial psalm: “Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.” She responded: Justice for women in the church.” She refused to sit down and was led from the church by a group of five men, including a priest.
* In 2002, Sevre-Duszynska was arrested and charged with trespass after she refused to leave a diaconate ordination [elegant] in Atlanta where she and several others protested sexism in the church. She told NCR in an interview at the time that she had entered the cathedral to pray. When told the service was invitation only, she said she told the ushers: “What are you talking about? I have been to many ordinations, and they’re never by invitation only. Besides, I’m a daughter of the church, and Christ welcomes everyone to the table.” The archdiocese of Atlanta filed suit seeking a permanent injunction barring her from entering any archdiocesan property.Her protests have not been limited to ecclesiastical matters. That same year she was arrested and sentenced to three months in federal prison and fined $500 for a non-violent protest at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga. She and more than two dozen others trespassed onto fort property in an organized protest calling for the closing of the school.
(Dennis Coday is an NCR staff writer. His e-mail address is dcoday@ncronline.org)
So, I think you can see why this article is so bad. It is not simply that they present the facts of what happened, or what people said. It is fair to relate a person’s position, no matter how strange it is. But this paper, which has the word "Catholic" in its name, has taken the position of the fake ordination of women, which is heresy. By doing so they also commit scandal.
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Not a story worthy of press coverage.
Ho hum.
Sounds like “by by,” to “Father” Bourgeios. He’s really helped his brethren in the Maryknoll Order. Look, this woman sounds disturbed, but so is the National Anti-Catholic Reporter, fighting the last war for over 40 years. Father Z, I’m not sure I’d waste my time fisking this publication anymore. Serious Catholics simply do not take it seriously. Just like real Americans no longer takes the New York Slimes personally. They are both cut out of the same clothe – ideology- which trumps facts and the truth. Regards, Tom
Any publication that would report this as an actual event is simply not
to be taken seriously. Fr. Z, you make this point by inserting “[not]” where
needed, and your point is well taken. But the manner in which the liberal
[non]Catholic press (yes, that includes the NC Reporter) “reports” this
Apostolic “secession” is heretical in and of itself. How can this publication
state, as fact, that there have been 32 women ordained! They have [not] ordained
bishops, [not] ordained women, so why even bother to go against the Holy Father and the teachings of the Church. They should just [not] elect their own [fake] pope. How does
the NCR take this more seriously than [fake] pope Earl Pulvermacher?
When you post stories like this (by the way thanks for the commentary!) it makes me so thankful for the blogosphere. As recently as 10 years ago, a shamefully dishonest article like that would have been uncommented on. It’s great that Fr. Z (and others like him) are out in force telling the Truth. And it doesn’t make me feel alone “out here”. Thank God for blogs, and the truth.
From what the newspaper has said, Is someone going to report Fr. Roy Bourgeois to his Local Bishop or Holy Mother Church in Rome. what is the Canonical punishment he may incur, and is this automatic, like the women etc are automatically excommunicated?
I will pray that he acts in communion with Holy Mother Church.
As for the NCR, and other newspapers who claim Catholic status, yet, say things contrary to the Teaching of the Church, why are they allowed to carry the name Catholic. What is the NCRs standing in the diocese in which they operate from?
Would that Bishop Finn or Higher Authority require the NCReporter to do what was required a few years ago of U.S. Catholic (a publication of the Claretians, of the same “orthodoxy” as the Maryknolls)- a retraction, followed by a complete, word-for-word publication of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.
There is nothing pastoral about letting NCRep. go unchallenged.
I wonder what, if anything, Bishop Finn could do (the paper is based in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese) to try and curb this sort of reprehensible behavior. Can he, for example, make them stop using the word “Catholic” in the same way he could make a college or university stop? It seems pretty clear that they favor wymynpriests and other positions inconsistent with the Magisterium, but I wonder if they could hide by feigning ignorance or relying on journalistic independence.
When I navigated to the NCR website, I was amused to see that they are calling for donations. I wish it were possible to give a negative donation and bankrupt them. As Lenin said in another context they are a bunch of useful idiots
There’s something radically wrong with these clowns.
The [NON]Catholic Reporter is dying a slow death due to its own disavowal of Catholic orthodoxy. The rising laity and clergy want little or nothing to do with these types of groups. We will take our money and give it to newspapers/magazines that faithfully transmit the teachings of the One True Church.
I send my money to the NCRegister, Latin Mass Magazine, the FSSP, Faith and Family, Magnificat, <Homiletic and Pastoral Review, and soon, Christian Order and Usus Antiquitor. I avoid Catholic Digest and NCReporter. I’m just tired of mentally editting everything that I read in those journals.
Oy.Vey.
When will we be free of this “stiff-necked generation?”
Did anybody find it ironic that Sevre-Duszynska has a masters in theatre? I just wonder how deluded they must be to think that this isn’t all merely a bad act.
“Her protests have not been limited to ecclesiastical matters. That same year she was arrested and sentenced to three months in federal prison and fined $500 for a non-violent protest at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga. She and more than two dozen others trespassed onto fort property in an organized protest calling for the closing of the school.”
Trespassing onto Fort Benning to protest the School of the Americas (now officially the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation WHISC) is not trespassing it is a criminal act. For one thing, you can actually arrange to (legally) go onto Ft. Benning and attend classes for a day and talk with students. You can take your grievances right to the heart of the matter. For another you can legally stand outside the post and protest to your heart’s content. Crossing that makes you no longer a protester, just a criminal.
So… I guess it would be wrong for women to show up at wymynpreeste ordinations and do a Sevre-Duszynska? Even if it would be really amusing to come in a white alb, invade the ceremony, and proclaim breathily, “I am called by the Holy Spirit to tell you to quit pretending to be priests. I ask this for myself and for all women. I am here for all those who cannot speak,” and start gesticulating in Ameslan?
Oh, and don’t forget that nobody can keep you out with mere invitation lists. “I’m a daughter of the Church, and Christ welcomes everyone to His table.”
Heh. Heh. Heh.
Modern Paradigm of Journalism: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
How many articles of this kind have they published?
By the way, the bishop of that diocese did take the National Anti-Catholic Reporter to court back in the 1960s in an attempt to get the name “Catholic” our of its title. Unfortunately, the court ruled against the Church. Given free speech rights in the US it would be very difficult to accomplish. Tom
Reading the article with Fr Z’s comments is a reminder how much computers (and the Internet) have changed the situation.
There was a time when newspapers had the last word, no matter how uninformed or narrow minded the writers were. This was especially true in Catholic matters, where articles by hacks like Frs McBrien and Greeley were given national circulation.
Now the NCR can publish its garbage, and someone like Fr Z, who knows more than anyone on the NCR staff and has international exposure via the Internet, can very quickly lift the lid on the can so everyone can experience the stench.
Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois [a very strange guy] concelebrated at the ceremony and was a homilist.
He has excommunicated himself (along with the woman), correct? Lexington\’s Bishop Gainer is a no-nonsense shepherd who likely will implement whatever disciplines are required by this sham.
I botched the italics; the second two sentences from my post above are from me.
Italics off.
The Church will not be influenced by this type of circus. Her automatic and public excommunication will likely prevent her fellow travelers inside the Church from benefiting from this in any way.
I wish I could say the same about the “Priestless Sunday” celebrations being promoted in places that have a shortage of priests. Many lay men and women are being certified to lead them, and it’s not exactly clear if these will be rare or frequent celebrations. Who’s to say that they will not find acceptance among the laity? Combine this with pitiful catechesis, only a vague notion of what a Mass is, or why we have priests, and the stage is set for a quiet and less dramatic “female priesthood”.
Do they moderate comments? I tried to comment, but my comment didn’t show up.
I don’t mean this as a personal attack – can there be much doubt that Sevre-Duszynska is unbalanced?
Barring a psychological impediment, it is sad that people who could better direct their considerable energy to the building up of the Kingdom instead waste so much effort on promoting an agenda that divides, confuses and possibly damns the souls of others.
Point of fact: the wymynpreests, by denying the authority and teaching of the Church, are denying Christ. They claim an authority superior to the God-given authority of the Chair of Peter. That’s wacky. That’s protestant.
It is supremely charitable that the Church should confirm that these women have put themselves outside the Church and, by their actions, are putting the souls of others at risk. An unequivocal affirmation of the Faith of the Church gives Sevre-Duszynska the opportunity to evaluate her actions against the official standard (Apostolic Tradition). Sevre-Duszynska and others may deny the constant teaching of the Church and choose to live in a fantasy land of their own design, but the standard remains so that others may know where they stand (with Christ and His Church, or…).
What I don’t understand is how these women can still call themselves Catholic when they know what the teachings are regarding this matter and know what the consequences of their actions will be. If they were such loyal daughters of the Church, how could they possibly think that what they’re doing wouldn’t result in immediate excommunication? And why, in knowing that, would they still go ahead with this stupidity? The inner workings of these women’s minds (and those who are sympathetic to their “cause”) simply eludes me.
I note that both the orthodox and the wimminpreestz think time is on their side.What’s the trend in the circulation of the Notionally Catholic Reporter?
Can a diocese sustain a policy of trying to do without priests if its only vocations are coming from its TLM-friendly minority?
A lie is just that, no matter how many believe it.
Those who would attempt to become women priests, are trying to change the Church and Christ’s assignment of the Apostles to carry on in His name.
Perhaps, they think it coincidence that they were all males. Or, sadly, they themselves wish to have been born male. Either way, they cannot change the tenets of the Church. So, why don’t they just begin a new movement outside of the Roman faith?
Why pretend to be something that can never be?
I pray for their souls because of their ex-communication and that they will come to be in the light, admit their error and return to the fold.
Superb fisking, Father.
Rich Leonardi, the italics problem is actually due to RichR, who accidentally had an open bracket before “homiletic and Pastoral Review” and no closing bracket. I’m sure he meant [bracket-i-bracket] etc. The blog software should flag these “meaningful typos”, but possibly the anti-spam routine gets in the way.
I respectfully suggest that posters use the Preview button and verify formatting before using the Submit button! From past experience, Fr. Z will have to edit that comment in order to stop the rogue italics.
“Marjorie Maguire, a longtime friend of Sevre-Duszynska from Milwaukee…”
Yes, we’re very familiar with Marjorie here in Milwaukee. She is the ex-wife of the notorious Dan Maguire, Professor at Marquette University. And Sevre-Duszynska had a good teacher. Marjorie was known to interrupt Dan’s lectures at Marquette during their acrimonious divorce.
As my mother used to say: “You’re known by the company you keep.”
By the way, I believe Dan Maguire’s son is now a Muslim. I guess he isn’t quite the teacher
after all. Tom
The clock is ticking: The NCR admitted last year what the average ago of its readership was: 68 years old.
I wonder if they’ve cracked 70 yet.
Years ago, I would see this newspaper in literature racks in the back of churches. I haven’t seen that for a long time, but I’ve become more adept at avoiding places with their agenda. Is NCR still being distributed in parishes?
In Christ,
In lieu of “official” and “institutional”, Father, perhaps we should just say “real”.
Trying close italics tags again.
Again, the operational word is not “pretend”, but “Catholic”. There are other religions, they can anoint, ordain, declare what they want, have pretend ceremonies, call earth spirits, dance naked around fires.
We hope to bring them to the True Faith, but don’t necesarily have to condemn them in the meantime. The problem with these groups, and this individual, and MOST ESPECIALLY NCR, is that they claim they are Catholic, when they have decided to no longer be one. And, of course that they are committing a great evil in trying to confuse the Faithful.
The wymynprysts, mynwymynprysts, wymnbyshyps are obvious, and shouldn’t be such a scandal or media event. NCR and an ACTUAL Priest misleading the Faithful is another matter.
TJM wrote: “Father Z, I’m not sure I’d waste my time fisking this publication anymore. Serious Catholics simply do not take it seriously.”
Let’s just say — better to keep your enemies close! This is a fading journal that still has a certain amount of clout among diocesan workers and those in university settings. We definitely need to know what they are saying.
B. Knotts — I have never had my comments published at NCRep — so they definitely censor . . . er, moderate the comments. Because they are oh so inclusive.
What the distrust of Holy Mother Church and Christ her spouse!
More people trust their own limited intellects than the Holy Spirit who both guides the Church and will not allow her either to teach error in matters of faith and morals or cease to be a source of sacramental holiness.
To say that the Church has been in error on the very matter of the sacraments for so long is not only heresy but arrogance.
These twisted people knowingly or unknowingly serve the powers of Hell, but they should realize they will not prevail!
The “Priestless Sunday”, that Mark commented on, is another practice that also should not be allowed ( communion services with lay or deacons. ) This is part of the enemies desire to get rid of the MASS as Daniel prophetically speaks…another step to complete desecration.
Oh, my! The National Catholic “Distorter” is at it again – ’nuff said!
Father, in you title you refer to this as their “dress-up day.” Dress-up? Are you kidding? Have you seen what these wymen wear? I thought tie-dying went out with the 60’s.
“What I don’t understand is how these women can still call themselves Catholic when they know what the teachings are regarding this matter and know what the consequences of their actions will be.”
People, please! These are not faithful Catholics fighting for justice, they are feminist activists attacking what they see as a “male-dominated” institution that “suppresses women”. They don’t give a @#$% about apostolic succession, or about your soul or mine, they don’t care about the magisterium or even about Catholicism. They care about advancing their feminist agenda. As you said, if they were faithful Catholics, this would seem as ridiculous to them as it does to you and me.
My apologies if my above comment seems harsh… my point was that these people are not uninformed, or even misinformed. They simply disagree with the facts and have made a conscious decision to use this issue to attack the Church.
I wrote over at my blog that there were over 150 people critically injured last Saturday in Kentucky, making it the single-largest tragedy in the state this year (if not ever).
And the comment I submitted to the NCR was published in toto – in favor of Church teaching. I suppose it was just a token comment though, since comments in favor of the fauxrdination outnumbered comments such as mine by a 10:1 ratio, at least.
The statement of the Diocese of Lexington (my home diocese) on the subject:
An attempted ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska by a “bishop” of the so-called “Roman Catholic Womenpriests” organization is scheduled for August 9 in the Unitarian Universalist Church in Lexington.
The name notwithstanding, “Roman Catholic Womenpriests” is not an entity of the Roman Catholic Church. It does not have any standing in nor connection with the Roman Catholic Church or the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington. Its philosophy and actions stand in direct opposition to the Roman Catholic Church’s authentic teaching on Sacred Orders.
In the Roman Catholic Church, only a baptized male is capable of receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders validly. What will take place on Saturday, August 9, 2008, has no connection to Roman Catholic Liturgy or Sacraments and cannot in any way be recognized as a valid reception of Sacred Orders. Simulation of a sacrament carries with it very serious penal sanctions in Church Law. Members of the Catholic Faithful should not support or participate in Saturday’s event.
I have been reading the same dumb article in NCR – only the names change – for 20+ years.
Nothing changes, they are still on the cutting edge of the 1970s!
Start looking at the numbers for NCR circulation. Without institutional readership (public libraries and unis) they would be dead in the water long ago.
A horse has a better chance of being ordained than a woman does.
I read the NCR’s website for the first time just a few minutes ago, and was repulsed by how dissenting they were. I guess I should not have been suprised.
I am wondering if we really should pay any attention to them. I was listening to a tape today by Fr. Groeshel from 1986, in which he was complaining about the state of the Church and NCR critisizing Mother Teresa, calling her “Mother Alba” because she was from Albania.
That’s right!! In 1986 NCR was poking fun of MOTHER THERESA and calling her “Mother Alba” and saying that her nuns wear “picnic blankets” or something to that effect. How in the world could anyone riducule a saint like Mother Teresa?? And this was back in 1986!!
Why we pay any attention to these imposters is beyond me. Maybe Fr. Z hopes to defend the truth and win some over, I don’t know. Perhaps we can spend our time better by praying and not letting our head be cluttered by their twisted thinking. Then again, we must know the other side’s arguments and know how to answer them. It will be great when NCR finally goes belly up, though – less heresy to deal with.
God bless y’all. Ryan.
We pay attention to them Ryan because they are part of a movement that is a serious threat to the Faith, we underestimate them at our peril. Ignore them and they will not go away, they will subvert the Church. I give you the last 40 years as proof of that statement.