Women's Ordination -- Bishop Andrea M. Johnson

UPDATE--February 10, 2010--Bishop Andrea Johnson is snowbound. Another womanbishop, Bishop Joan Houk will be substituting for her.

Here is a story about the event at the blog of the Nashville Scene...

http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2010/02/another_event_you_wont_read_ab.php

Bishop Andrea M Johnson will be coming to speak in Nashville on the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church.

Bishop Johnson was ordained a womanpriest in 2007 and a womanbishop in 2009.

She will be speaking at Vanderbilt University on Wednesday evening February 10, 2010 at 8:00 PM in the Arts Room of the Divinity School.

This event is being sponsored by Anawim , the Vanderbilt Office of Women’s Concerns, the Vanderbilt Carpenter Program, the Vanderbilt Office of Religious Life, and the Society of St. Cornelius (DIV Catholic student organization).

A Follow-up Disscussion

On Thursday afternoon February 18th. from 4:00 PM until 5:30 PM there will be a follow-up panel discussion on the broader topic of women’s ordination in other denominations. The panel will include Professors Patout Burns (Catholic studies chair), Doug Meeks (Methodist studies chair), Ted Smith (PC-USA clergy and very active in Covenant Network), Eileen Campbell-Reed (her disertation was on the effects of the controversy over women's ordination in the SBC on women seeking ordination; she is also active in progressive Baptist circles on lesbian and gay ordination). Ellen T. Armour who is the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair in Feminist Theology and Director of the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality will be the panel moderator. The location for this discussion will be announced later.

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Peace Filled New Year!

Yes, that is me, aka emenence, in Santa hat and gold cardinal Rode look alike garb, next to Barry playing the accordion. I joined some of the neighbors to go caroling last Sunday. Here we are on the front porch of one of our neighbors bringing the tidings of the Season.

Pope and Bishops Grasping for Political Power As Credibility Wanes

Stephen Fry

UPDATED WITH NEW YOUTUBE LINK 12/26/2009

With the pope and some American Roman Catholic bishops getting more and more political, I wonder if this movement into the political arena is a way to compensate for a loss of power and authority because of the huge exodus of Catholics from the church.

With people leaving the Catholic Church the bishops still seem to need to satisfy their power urges. The pope and many American bishops are now overstepping into the political realm.

Some of these American bishops are involved in trying to criminalize abortion or taking away or taking back legal marriage for gays. Some use the Eucharist as a weapon. It seems they are grasping for the power and control they are losing because within the church their teaching is without credibility and folks are leaving.

The following is a video of Stephen Fry in a debate on whether the Catholic Church is a force for good in the world. It aired on November 7, 2009 on the BBC World News. He rather eloquently presents the case why these bishops should get back to being shepherds and not politicians.

UPDATED 12/26/2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL5WVecNdhk


Fry says that because of all the politicization by the pope and bishops even the Galilean carpenter would not be welcome in today’s Catholic Church.

Stephen Fry’s remarks begin at about 1:30 in the video clip.

A Response To The Manhattan Declaration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usF2HOn8R_Q

From Davey Wavey in Rhode Island

I'd offer this as one response to all those serious minded hierarchs who signed the Manhattan Declaration.

November Bishops' Meeting Is All About Control

As the American bishops prepare to hide behind closed doors this afternoon to try to figure out how to better control universities like Notre Dame, and newspapers, like the National Catholic Reporter, I am reminded of this quotation from Emerson.

You have probably heard it. I think it fits this crop of bishops. In his essay on "Self Reliance," Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a now oft-quoted admonition that, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

Here is a further comment about this meeting. I have also posted this at Enlightened Catholicism. http://enlightenedcatholicism-colkoch.blogspot.com/


When Cardinal George leads the American bishops behind closed doors this afternoon to, in his words, love Notre Dame, the National Catholic Reporter, and some of us back into uniformity with what the bishops think, he will do so by ignoring reality and some other principles that exist for Catholics. He will have to ignore the reality that universities and even Catholic universities like Notre Dame exist for research and the free exchange of ideas in the search for truth. The same can be said for Catholic newspapers like the National Catholic Reporter. Good newspapers exist to uncover the facts in the search for truth. And finally Cardinal George will have to ignore or make light of the fact of the right of individual conscience in the pursuit of truth.

Cardinal George might talk of love, but does not seem to know much about love. What he does seem to know a lot about is uniformity and control. I am sure Cardinal George is a very smart man. He is also slick when he tries to couch the closed door session in terms of love. Here he is more like a used car salesman than a pastoral leader.

Actually, this closed executive session may be good for the bishops to talk to one another, and they will come from the meeting and say there was a good exchange among them. They will feel good. The Catholic Church on the other hand will not benefit. A better use of those three hours would have been to invite the president of Notre Dame and perhaps several other presidents of Catholic universities to talk with them. A better use of the time would have been to invite the editor of the National Catholic Reporter and several other editors of independent Catholic newspapers to talk with them. A better use of the time would have been to invite a group of Catholic blogger to talk with them. It will not happen, not with this crowd of bishops. They are about control, not love, even if that is what Cardinal George says the meeting is all about.