We can be like gods, knowing what is best for us in 2004!

The saga of Archbishop Donoghue's enforcement of liturgical instructions contines in Atlanta.

Church Ban on Women in Ritual Protested
Thursday April 8, 2004 1:46 AM
By ELIOTT C. McLAUGHLIN
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) - A day after Archbishop John Donoghue banned Atlanta's Roman Catholic churches from including women in Holy Thursday's foot-washing rite, one priest said he was canceling his parish's foot washings and another said he planned to ignore the ban and include women.

Other priests were looking Wednesday for ways around the order...

Yes, of course! How can we be disobedient without being disobedient? Do we have any legal recourse here? Satan, please help us!

``He's a good man. He just has his opinion, and he's looking at Jesus and the scriptures through a different lens,'' said Patty Caraher, a nun at the International Community School.

Still, Caraher plans to join a protest Thursday outside Atlanta's Cathedral of Christ the King, where Donoghue will celebrate Mass.

Caraher and others say his strict interpretation of liturgy is inappropriate in 2004.

The Holy See has decreed what the liturgical rite entails, yet people, supposedly professed Catholics, refuse obedience to the one chosen by God to be the spiritual shepherd of the people on earth.

``It feels unjust; it feels unkind. It seems to imply that men were more important to Jesus than women,'' said Lalor Cadley, a Catholic who is organizing Thursday's song-and-prayer protest.

The real problem is that this is exactly what happens when people ignore or disobey liturgical law. False expectations became realities when they never should have and when a bishop or priest follows the law, in perfect fidelity and obedience to the lawgiver, people become hurt or offended. Sin can never bring joy and peace - only humble obedience to Christ and his Church will do that.

[Updated article here]