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Woman to defy church law
Plans to be ordained in Ganonoque
It's a rights issue, B.C. lecturer says
DIRK MEISSNER
CANADIAN PRESS
VICTORIA—An English literature instructor from Vancouver Island says she will be ordained as Canada's first woman Roman Catholic priest in a ceremony conducted on the waters of the St. Lawrence River.
Michele Birch-Conery of Parksville said yesterday she expects the church to threaten her with excommunication, but she believes she is fighting a human rights issue.
Birch-Conery, 65, is one of eight woman from North America who will attend a special ordination service July 25 on the river between the United States and Canada, where no church diocese has jurisdiction.
The proceedings will be held near the Ontario vacation community of Gananoque.
Birch-Conery said she wants to become part of the struggle to change church canon law that prohibits women from entering the priesthood.
"We're taking a stand that to keep that canon law which says women cannot be ordained is a violation of our human rights as women in the church," she said. "We'll have to see what it unfolds into. I don't know where it is going to go."
The church hierarchy, from the Vatican down, officially rejects women priests, but there is a movement within the Catholic church, including unnamed bishops, who quietly support the efforts of the women, she said.
"People privately are all over the lot on this issue," Birch-Conery said. "If the church continues to hold these stands people will be saying, ` you can't do that,' this is against our civil rights, our human rights."
The Victoria diocese of the Catholic church could not be reached for comment.
The Vatican, which doesn't allow women to serve as priests, excommunicated seven women ordained in 2002 in Europe. At least two male Catholic bishops secretly participated in the European ceremony, Birch-Conery said.
The names of the bishops will not be made public until their deaths, she said.
Three of the women ordained in 2002 will be part of the Ontario ceremony later this month, Birch-Conery said.
"The Vatican is in a tough position, as are we, so hopefully we get it all sorted out as time goes by," she said. "Until we address this gender issue we're actually going nowhere in this church, except round and round in circles."
Birch-Conery said she thinks Pope Benedict XVI knows about the July 25 ceremony.
"Of course he knows," she said. "He's the person who excommunicated the first seven (women priests) in 2002. It was Benedict, who was then Cardinal (Joseph) Ratzinger."
Birch-Conery, who has spent the last 18 years teaching English literature courses at North Island College in Port Alberni, said she has been involved in the church for most of her life.
She received her doctorate in English literature from the University of Iowa. She writes poetry when she gets the chance.
Birch-Conery said she was born in Vancouver, but left Canada for the United States when she was 23 years old to join a congregation of religious sisters in the United States.
The gender issue in the church also caused her to stay away from religion for years, but her academic background, especially her study of women's rights and equality issues, pulled her back to the church to attempt to force change, she said.
"If I've been teaching women's studies and gender equality all this time, I suppose I should come back in and address these issues," said Birch-Conery.
Birch-Conery said she has attended Catholic churches on Vancouver Island in Parksville, Port Alberni and Duncan.
She said she is willing to conduct some church rites with followers, but doesn't expect to be invited to preach sermons at local churches.
Plans to be ordained in Ganonoque
It's a rights issue, B.C. lecturer says
DIRK MEISSNER
CANADIAN PRESS
VICTORIA—An English literature instructor from Vancouver Island says she will be ordained as Canada's first woman Roman Catholic priest in a ceremony conducted on the waters of the St. Lawrence River.
Michele Birch-Conery of Parksville said yesterday she expects the church to threaten her with excommunication, but she believes she is fighting a human rights issue.
Birch-Conery, 65, is one of eight woman from North America who will attend a special ordination service July 25 on the river between the United States and Canada, where no church diocese has jurisdiction.
The proceedings will be held near the Ontario vacation community of Gananoque.
Birch-Conery said she wants to become part of the struggle to change church canon law that prohibits women from entering the priesthood.
"We're taking a stand that to keep that canon law which says women cannot be ordained is a violation of our human rights as women in the church," she said. "We'll have to see what it unfolds into. I don't know where it is going to go."
The church hierarchy, from the Vatican down, officially rejects women priests, but there is a movement within the Catholic church, including unnamed bishops, who quietly support the efforts of the women, she said.
"People privately are all over the lot on this issue," Birch-Conery said. "If the church continues to hold these stands people will be saying, ` you can't do that,' this is against our civil rights, our human rights."
The Victoria diocese of the Catholic church could not be reached for comment.
The Vatican, which doesn't allow women to serve as priests, excommunicated seven women ordained in 2002 in Europe. At least two male Catholic bishops secretly participated in the European ceremony, Birch-Conery said.
The names of the bishops will not be made public until their deaths, she said.
Three of the women ordained in 2002 will be part of the Ontario ceremony later this month, Birch-Conery said.
"The Vatican is in a tough position, as are we, so hopefully we get it all sorted out as time goes by," she said. "Until we address this gender issue we're actually going nowhere in this church, except round and round in circles."
Birch-Conery said she thinks Pope Benedict XVI knows about the July 25 ceremony.
"Of course he knows," she said. "He's the person who excommunicated the first seven (women priests) in 2002. It was Benedict, who was then Cardinal (Joseph) Ratzinger."
Birch-Conery, who has spent the last 18 years teaching English literature courses at North Island College in Port Alberni, said she has been involved in the church for most of her life.
She received her doctorate in English literature from the University of Iowa. She writes poetry when she gets the chance.
Birch-Conery said she was born in Vancouver, but left Canada for the United States when she was 23 years old to join a congregation of religious sisters in the United States.
The gender issue in the church also caused her to stay away from religion for years, but her academic background, especially her study of women's rights and equality issues, pulled her back to the church to attempt to force change, she said.
"If I've been teaching women's studies and gender equality all this time, I suppose I should come back in and address these issues," said Birch-Conery.
Birch-Conery said she has attended Catholic churches on Vancouver Island in Parksville, Port Alberni and Duncan.
She said she is willing to conduct some church rites with followers, but doesn't expect to be invited to preach sermons at local churches.
Psst, there is no God and Christianity is a sham. Trying to reform the Catholic Church is a waste of energies better spent elsewhere.
^-^
. BK can run, but he can't hide. Sooner or later, breasts are gonna get him!
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