Now here's an image of what one old priest used to call The Church Effervescent, a video promoting ordination of women as Catholics priests. It is sponsored by the Women's Ordination Conference, so it is not a parody. At least not intentionally.*
Pretty well everything you need to know about the movement is here...All right here.
Pretty well everything you need to know about the movement is here...All right here.
I had a dream as a girl
Like Therese of Lisieux
I need to give this whirl
So I can lead the way
Woman priest is my call
Women preaching for all
Don't listen to St. Paul
'Cuz I can lead the way
My ministry is growing
Excommunication? I'm still glowing.
M.Div, chasuble flowing
Where you think the Church is going?
Hey, I was baptized, and this is crazy,
But God just called me, so ordain a lady!
Justice doesn't look right, with only male priests,
But God just called me, so ordain a lady!
My call is a fact, but some Pope in a hat,
Closed discussion on that, and now he's in my way
I pray, sing, and feel
At first communion it's real
I but I refuse to kneel,
To Patriarchy's way
Justice doesn't look right with only male priests
But God just called me, so ordain a lady!
With women priests in my life, I was so glad
I missed them so bad, I missed them so, so bad
With women priests in my life, I was so glad
We want our Church back, we want it all, all back
Well, it's really stunning in its combination of arrogance, ignorance and stupidity. No wonder people thought it was a parody by the orthodox. Screw St Paul and get "some Pope in a hat" out of "my way" and this is supposed to induce the Church of Rome to ordain these "Catholic" women?
The Girl Power generation apparently really do believe that they are entitled by right towhatever they want.
Plus, this is the first time I have ever heard feminists describe themselves as "ladies".
And ladies in drag, at that. The priestly vestments are male, made for men and only worn by men. Just because they're flowing does not make them unisex. Ask Lawrence of Arabia.
Wow. Old White Man with more than a passing knowledge of a 2000 year old institution shakes head.
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*Watch this all the way to the end!
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6 comments:
Everyone at school is sharing this on facebook and over meals. Every time they talk about it I feel like Patrick Bateman at the dinner scene at Espace in American Psycho (which I love). They just cant stop talking about how wonderful, and funny, and lovely, and great, and brilliant, and fucking amazing it is. I just have to smile and nod and regurgitate what they say because I know that if I tell them how I really felt then my reputation would be wrecked and no one would talk to me - (I've already had open professor stop talking to me because I turned a 15 page assignment into in a 40 page insult about Elizabeth johnson and the un-respectable state of Catholic academic theology) I cant feel what they feel or make sense of what goes on in their head so I just have to memorize what everyone else likes and match the corresponding performance with the corresponding person and act like I am part of the group - even though every word is a painful lie and every smile is a mask for bewilderment and contempt. What does it mean that spending time at "Catholic" theology school has caused me to identify more with a fictional psychopath than with the people I am supposed to be in community with?
I don't know what your resources are, AD, but it seems pretty clear you need to get out of there. There must be some other school you can transfer to, no?
I suppose - its kind of against my nature to admit defeat though. I am torn between staying and just leaving church/religion entirely, but my whole world feels wrong and forced when I am not doing something deeply involved with the church (or physically involved with men). My problem is that what I am intellectually drawn toward is not good for my emotional health, and vice-versa. I am emotionally fulfilled by the left, and intellectually satisfied by the right. New Left Liberalism is as unnatural to me as dating women. The only two things I have ever experienced that feels natural, right, and satisfying to me (the only things that calm restlessness and defuse my neuroticism) are Traditional(ist) Catholicism and physical intimacy with men - I know I have to choose one or the other, but excluding one or the other makes my life feel vapid and incomplete somehow. If I was straight it would be easy - I would just go join SSPX and be happy. If I didnt have this unshakeable draw to the priesthood/church then it would be easy - I would be able to be a typical 24 year old queer in the 21st century and be happy (and probably even vote democrat - eww). The crowd that accepts my orientation rejects my religion, and the crowd that accepts my religion rejects my orientation. So I dont think that there is any where I could go that I would make a huge difference, no matter where I go I will have to lie and act my way into acceptance. I am like stuck between two worlds (my advisor calls it "a state of hybridity"), which is why I am so drawn to your blog - you are the only person I have ever heard of who comes even close to sharing, or at least understanding, my combination of incompatible "callings"; add to that an unusually strong dose of education and some extra helpings of intelligence (I suspect you are likely even more intelligent than I am), and you might be able to see why I find your blog such a breath of fresh air - its the only place I can go to and feel like there might be at least one other person on the planet with whom I can relate. Im not sure that there is any school that will be able to do that for me.
Also, I have a great family, but very few personal resources. I only am able to attend this school because I got a fellowship. And without student loans I would basically be homeless. So, where I can go is determined completely by the good-will of admissions offices.
Such a cross to be on. That was somewhat like my own contradiction years ago. I was much more of a liberal back then, to be sure, but I still felt the conflict...it was why I had to leave the Dominican Order, where I felt more at home than any other place I can remember. Very painful and exhausting, as I can tell from your words.
You (and I) are certainly not the first or only men to feel this double attraction as both being perfectly natural to us, but discovering that in the external world, they are in tension. I think of the Oxford Movement converts to Catholicism, of Gerard Manley Hopkins. I feel for your plight, AD.
Thanks Dr. Andro, your support/sympathy is always uplifting. If I were closer I would definitely schedule some appointments, because nothing is more frustrating than being unable to find a therapist who is more well-read and has superior analytical ability than I do. Constantly feeling more intelligent than the people trying to 'help' you leads more to despair than it does progress. Anyway, Ill quit ranting, this blog is your space not mine.
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