I had a chance to interview Rev. Bridget Mary Meehan (click here to listen to the interview!). She is one of the about 200 and more Catholic women priests around the world. Yes, you have read right! Catholic woman priest. How is it possible?
The theme of the women ordination in the Catholic Church is not new. Many popes since Vatican II had discussed this issue. In general, the first reason that theologians give to obstacle women ordination is that “Jesus did not choose any women among his apostles… and the Church is not allowed to change this option” (Cit. Ordinatio Sacerdotalis – Pope John Paul II – 1994).
Despite this decision in 2002 in the US, 12 women were ordained priests by a Catholic bishop. Among them, there was Bridget as well. These women claim that their ordination is valid because they were ordained by a Catholic Bishop in communion with Rome. Moreover, they follow the “Apostolic Succession” because this bishop was ordained in that succession as well. In fact, the apostolic succession is one of the most important parameters for an ordination to be considered valid in the Catholic Church. It represents the link with the apostles, the ones that Jesus chose at the beginning of his ministry “for they would stay with him, and they will preach the Gospel around the world” (Mk 3:14-15).
Although the ordination of Bridget and their brethren are not considered valid by the institutional Church, they are a great sign that can make the Church thinking about it. For example, Pope Francis, at the beginning of his pontificate, created a group in the Vatican to reflect upon the possibility to re-allow women to be ordained deaconesses. In fact, there were women ordained deaconesses in the ancient Church until the 4th century. Also, Paul’s letter certified their presence in the Church (Cit. Rm 16:1-2). So, it is not something new in the Church the presence of women as a deaconess. On the other hand, in the history of the Catholic Church, we have never had a Catholic woman priest. However, the presence of the Bridget movement and others around the world may help the Church to make a step forward in this direction.
To learn more about this topic visit these pages as well:
– https://arcwp.org/ (Website of the movement)
– http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/ (Bridget’s Blog)