Woman rabbi takes the heat for Catholic ordinations

What a title from the National Catholic Distorter...But I suspect that there will be a litttle more "heat" after the so-called ordinations occur - if you catch my drift.

Pamela Schaeffer writes:

Two Catholic women are being ordained by Roman Catholic Womenpriests here Nov. 11, prompting outrage from Catholic officials -- outrage that, surprisingly, is directed less at the women aspiring to the Catholic priesthood, or at the movement ordaining them, than toward a rabbi who agreed to host the event.

The women to be ordained are Elsie Hainz McGrath, a retired writer and editor for a Catholic publishing house, and Rose Marie Dunn Hudson, a former teacher. Bishop Patricia Fresen, who was for many years a Dominican nun, ordained the women as deacons Aug. 12 and will perform the ceremony here. The women are among a growing number of deacons, priests and bishops ordained in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement. Based on responses to formal invitations, Hudson said organizers are expecting 300 to 400 to attend.

Quite the gala, this pretend ordination will be.

In keeping with a form developed by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, both McGrath and Hudson have completed a course of pre-ordination studies and were previously ordained as deacons. Both women are converts and both have long been involved in service to the church. Each has four children and 11 grandchildren....

Hudson, a longtime teacher, was certified by the St. Louis archdiocese as a lay pastoral minister in 1998, after completing a two-year formation program,...

A 'lay pastoral minister' - How nice!

and received a master’s degree in pastoral studies in an extension program offered by Loyola University, New Orleans. She was the first woman to serve as parish council president at her former parish, St. Joseph Catholic Church in Farmington, Mo.

As others have repeatedly stated, this 'ordination' sham is all about power and pride...

McGrath worked with the St. Louis archdiocese to develop a family life commission, earned an undergraduate degree in theology at St. Louis University while working as a secretary in the theology department in the 1980s.

Might be part of the problem...? Maybe others know about the 1980s theology department at SLU?

Invited to join the editorial staff at Liguori, the Catholic publishing house, she stayed for 12 years, while earning a master’s degree from Aquinas Institute of Theology in 2002. Her late husband was an ordained deacon in the St. Louis archdiocese, and she attended courses with him throughout a rigorous formation program.

And let's not forget that Liguori was still selling her pamphlets and booklets as of last week.

And is a master's from AI something of which to be proud? And how "rigorous" exactly was the diaconate program years ago? Mind you, I'm asking questions because I do not know? What I do know is that there has been a miserable failure in the past about some of these programs which has led, it seems, to an attitude of rebellion and dissent...It's no wonder there are so many so-called Catholics who pick and choose what they believe - if they believe anything at all.

One can only hope and pray that the Archbishop of St Louis addresses this scandalous behavior, if and when the event occurs. There's still time for these two ex-Catholic women to repent and be reconciled with the Church.

NCR article here.

More articles on this subject are here.