The C of E’s church in Rome to host fake ordination of a woman

Posted on 13 May 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From the Times comes this telling tale about the future of Anglican/Vatican relations:

May 13, 2010
Italy to ordain the first woman priest near Vatican

Italy’s first woman [fake] priest is [not] to be ordained a stone’s throw from the Vatican later this month. [You would have to throw that stone pretty hard.]

Maria Vittoria Longhitano, 35, a member of the Italian Old Catholic Church, a breakaway group not recognised by the Vatican, will be ordained at All Saints Church, near the Spanish Steps in Rome, on 22 May. [This is the Church of England church in the City.]

A spokeswoman for All Saints Church said Ms Longhitano, who is married, was not being ordained as an Anglican. “We are offering our church as the venue because the Old Catholics have no venue of their own in Rome,” she said. “They use our facilities for their regular worship.” [But consider what they are going to do in their church.]

The Old Catholics, founded in the early 19th century in an attempt to set up a national Italian denomination separate from Rome, do not accept a number of central Catholic doctrines including papal infallibility and the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. [And apparently some other things too.]

Ms Longhitano, a teacher in Miian with a degree in philosophy and theology, became a [fake] deacon last year. She will [not] be ordained by Bishop Fritz-René Müller of the Union of Utrecht, to which the Italian Old Catholics are affiliated.

She said that she had dreamed of being a priest since childhood, and her [pretend] ordination “represents a great opportunity for women of faith”. [The greatest opportunity to endanger souls, perhaps.] She hoped that it would “stimulate a debate among Catholics” on female ordination, which has been definitively ruled out by successive Popes, including Pope Benedict XVI.

The C of E’s church in Rome, allowing this to take place in their church, in Rome.

Niiiiice.

UPDATE 14 May 0047 GMT:

The great Fr. Blake, P.P. of Brighton has a great comment on his blog about this:

When the Archbishop of Canterbury wanted a largish celebration in Rome to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the All Saints Anglican Centre in Rome, the diocese of Rome allowed him to use a Roman Basillica of S Sabina, [Which was wrong.] it even allows him to carry a crozier, a symbol of authority. How does All Saints respond? It makes itself available for the ordination of an Old Catholic women priest, who herself claims it is a stunt, "to stimulate a debate amongst Catholics".

Maybe Benson had something when he coined the phrase, "Old Mother Damnable".