St. Mary Magdalene, Pray for us!

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In an emotional ceremony filled with tears and applause, a 70-year-old Kentucky woman was ordained a priest on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority.

Rosemarie Smead is one of about 150 women around the world who have decided not to wait for the Roman Catholic Church to lift its ban on women priests, but to be ordained and start their own congregations.

In an interview before the ceremony, Smead said she is not worried about being excommunicated from the Church — the fate of other women ordained outside of Vatican law.

"It has no sting for me," said Smead, a petite, gray-haired former Carmelite nun with a ready hug for strangers. "It is a Medieval bullying stick the bishops used to keep control over people and to keep the voices of women silent. I am way beyond letting octogenarian men tell us how to live our lives."

To read the full article, Click Here.

Sigh… Last week I came across this article on Facebook and I couldn't stop shaking my head. This is very sad. As I had written in a previous article on the Catholic Vita, I honestly can't believe this still exists, especially after Blessed John Paul II's infallible statement in his 1994 Apostolic Letter: Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. Yet there still exists women like these who wish to defy Rome. Very sad.

Here are my comments on the points made in this article. First and foremost, the comment that these women are not waiting "for the Roman Catholic Church to lift its ban on women priests" is completely misguided. There is no so-called "ban" on women priests. Thus would suggest that it was once allowed and now has been banned, which is on the contrary. As the late Holy Father made it clear, the Church herself "has no power to ordain women", therefore throughout all it's history has kept with this tradition set forth by Jesus Himself. Even though this argument is often countered with the idea that Jesus didn't ordain women as priests because of the times, which as I stated previously is a very lame and uneducated statement! We know that Jesus did many things that went against the times and norms of the culture He lived in, and therefore to say such a thing is really preposterous! The Church throughout all time has never once ordained a woman and never will. It's not a "ban" that can be lifted… Its just the way it is because that's how it was set up.

In this article they also made the comment that Jesus "chose women, like Mary Magdalene, as disciples, and that the early Church had women priests, deacons and bishops." This again is way off. For one, Mary Magdalene was a disciple, that is true… But she was not an Apostle. There were only 12 Apostles and they were the first Bishops of the Church, and they were all men. Mary Magdalene was a follower of Jesus like you and me, and is most noteworthy in the Bible because she turned away from sin and followed Jesus and His teachings. In the Roman Catholic Church she is Saint, which is no small recognition from the Church. She is one of many Holy Women that the Church looks at very favorably. And you know what is the most interesting fact about every single one of these Holy Women… Not one of them were priests, nor did they ever want to be! As I've stated before, the mere fact that Jesus didn't even ordain His own Mother who herself was the only perfect woman who ever lived, is clear-cut proof that Jesus wanted this to be a male thing only. And if Mary is the model for all women, why wouldn't these women want to live like her? Do they think they are better?

In the second point they state that there were once women priests, deacons and bishops. Again… This is not true. There were such things as women deaconesses, yet they were not ordained. Rather the women "deaconesses" were rather appointed during the time in cases where the sacrament of Baptism or Extreme Unction were to be carried out to an woman who may have been in an indecent condition for a male priest or deacon to minister to.

Council of Nicaea I:
"Similarly, in regard to the deaconesses, as with all who are enrolled in the register, the same procedure is to be observed. We have made mention of the deaconesses, who have been enrolled in this position, although, not having been in any way ordained, they are certainly to be numbered among the laity" (Canon 19 [A.D. 325]).


Epiphanius of Salamis:
"It is true that in the Church there is an order of deaconesses, but not for being a priestess, nor for any kind of work of administration, but for the sake of the dignity of the female sex, either at the time of baptism or of examining the sick or suffering, so that the naked body of a female may not be seen by men administering sacred rites, but by the deaconess" (ibid.).

So there you have it, once again this argument is debunked. Yet sadly, there are those 150 women "priests" out there that don't believe it nor accept it. One would only pray that they would look to St. Mary Magdalene, and turn away from this sinful heresy and follow Christ as she did.

God love you all! Pray the rosary daily!