Vatican threatens to excommunicate female preists

I know this is making the blog rounds, but I have to have my say in this because this is just flat out stupid. The Vatican has now decided that any woman who takes part in ordinations will be excommunicated. Here’s what Yahoo! News has to say:

The Vatican insisted Friday that it is properly following Christian tradition by excluding females from the priesthood as it issued a new warning that women taking part in ordinations will be excommunicated.

[…]

The church has always banned the ordination of women by stating that the priesthood is reserved for males. The new decree is explicit in its reference to women.

“The church does not feel authorized to change the will of its founder Jesus Christ,” Amato said in an interview prepared for Vatican Radio that was released to reporters. The reference is to Christ’s having chosen only men as his Apostles.[emphasis mine]

Asked whether the Roman Catholic Church was going “against the tide” in respect to other Christian confessions, Amato said the church was in “good company” with Orthodox and ancient Eastern churches and that it was the Protestants who are breaking with tradition.

In March, the archbishop of St. Louis excommunicated three women — two Americans and a South African — for participating in a woman’s ordination. They were part of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement, which began in 2002.

Here’s my problem with this statement. Firstly, nobody knows the true will of Jesus Christ because what was written in the New Testament was written by followers of Jesus Christ years after his death, and was written biasedly. The true word of Jesus Christ is not known, so to say that they’re following the will of Jesus Christ is horseshit. Secondly, as stated above, we only know from what was written and also from the books that the Vatican approved worthy for the bible. There are several other books that were not included into the bible, so who’s to know the truth of whether or not there was a female apostle, especially considering since Mary Magdalene is rumored to be an apostle as well, but the church is trying to keep that hush, hush.

My BIGGEST problem with this is the Roman Catholic Church has been so full of shit for so long that they’re losing parishioners. Between the priests molesting everyone, they’re barbaric views on the roles of women in society, and now their random excommunications, they are their own worst enemy. To not allow their priests to marry I think is causing men to not only not become priests, but is becoming a good refuge for pedophiles (hence the molestation of little boys). They’re views are so backwards that they’re not realizing what they’re doing to themselves. Most people I know who are Catholics are not devout Catholics because of all the stupid rules they randomly come up with and those who are devout Catholics are pissed off with the church sweeping major issues under the rug and paying people off, and the others are just flat out freaking fanatical loonies that don’t know their head from a hole in the ground. It’s totally ridiculous. Not to mention, how in the world can the church decide what you’re beliefs are? Just because you’re excommunicated that does not mean that you will stop believing the teachings of Jesus Christ. In my opinion the church has veered so far off from the teaching of Jesus that stupid shit like excommunications are occurring. I really don’t think that’s what Jesus had in mind when he decided to teach people his philosophies.

Here’s what Aisha Taylor, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference had to say:

The Women’s Ordination Conference is outraged by yesterday’s Vatican decree, which reminds Catholic women once again of the animosity they face from the hierarchy, despite being the backbone of most Catholic parishes throughout the world.

Out of fear of the growing numbers of ordained women and the overwhelming support they are receiving, the Vatican is trying to preserve what little power they have left by attempting to extinguish the widespread call for women’s equality in the church. It will not work. In the face of one closed door after another, Catholic women will continue to make a way when there is none.

We reject the notion of excommunication. In our efforts to ordain women into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church, we see it as contrary to the gospel itself to excommunicate people who are doing good works and responding to injustice and the needs of their communities. While the hierarchy prattles on about excommunication, Catholic women are working for justice and making a positive difference in the world.

This inappropriate use of excommunication and the Vatican’s stance on ordination are based on arguments that have been refuted time and again. In 1976, the Vatican’s own Pontifical Biblical Commission determined that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit women’s ordination. Jesus included women as full and equal partners in his ministry, and so should the hierarchy.

The call for women’s equality in the Catholic Church is reverberating loudly in the public consciousness. Around the world, over sixty women have been ordained as priests, deacons or bishops by the group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP), and there are nearly 100 women in the RCWP preparation program. There are 16 national organizations from 11 different countries that advocate women’s ordination, and the vast majority of US Catholics support the ordination of women.

The refusal to ordain women is nothing more than an egregious manifestation of sexism in the church. It is time for the Vatican to listen to its own research, its own theologians and its own people who say that women are equally created in the image of God and are called to serve as priests in a renewed and inclusive Catholic Church.

As found in Feministing and The Female Impersonator