The Church's Tug of War (Page 3)

As for the progressive reformers, they see in the current crisis dramatic evidence of the need for change. They are incensed by the hierarchy's scapegoating of homosexual priests as the cause of the scandals. In fact, they point out, that contention cannot be separated from the Church's denial of the rampant sexual abuse of girls and women by Catholic priests, which some contend far outstrips the abuse of male children in its incidence. Half the members of both SNAP and Linkup are women. Last year internal Church documents revealed a pattern of sexual abuse and exploitation of nuns--and other girls and women--by priests in some twenty-three countries, on five continents. What's more, according to the research of psychotherapist and former Catholic monk Richard Sipe, at any one time, at least a third of priests, regardless of sexual orientation, are sexually active with adults. Whether those relationships are exploitative or consensual, they indicate the depth of the hypocrisy inherent in the claim of a celibate priesthood.

Progressive reformers see women's overall subordinate role in the Church--including the ban on ordination--as contributing to this crisis. Another Call to Action spokeswoman, Linda Pieczynski, suggests that if women--particularly mothers--had been at the table, "We wouldn't have tried to save Father Bob's reputation. We would have protected the children." Indeed, we have seen how women in male-dominated institutions--Sherron Watkins at Enron, Coleen Rowley at the FBI--have blown the lid off secret shenanigans. But integrating women into positions of power in the Church means taking on an issue absent from the public dialogue: misogyny. As Chittister has observed, the Roman Church "built a bad theology of male superiority on a bad biology that defined women as passive incubators of male sperm...inferior by nature and deficient of soul, the servants of men and the seducers of civilization."

While reformers in the new middle are trying to force the hierarchy to share power, plenty of progressive reformers have chosen to go their own way, while continuing obstinately to call themselves Catholic. Last November Mary Ramerman lay prostrate on a stage before 3,000 jubilant supporters in Rochester, New York's Eastman Theatre, where she was ordained a Catholic priest. While Ramerman was ordained in the Old Catholic rather than the Roman Catholic Church (the Old Catholics broke with Rome when it declared the doctrine of papal infallibility in 1870), she took that action against the orders of Rochester Bishop Matthew Clark, who directed her "to abandon your leadership role" at Spiritus Christi. A vigorous congregation of 1,500, Spiritus grew out of the smoldering ashes of another Catholic parish, Corpus Christi. That was after Clark dismissed both its pastor, in part for allowing Ramerman on the altar during mass, and Ramerman for refusing to step off.

"They are a real problem [for the Catholic Church] because that's the most alive faith community in that whole area," says Sister Maureen Fiedler, advisory board member of Catholics Speak Out and host of the radio show Interfaith Voices. CFFC president Frances Kissling agrees. "What is the best example of Church reform in the United States right now? Spiritus Christi. They have a vital, lively church that is not connected to the institution, but that views itself as Catholic."

Revving up the rebellion, on June 29 seven women--four Germans, two Austrians and one with dual Austrian-American citizenship--were ordained Roman Catholic priests on a cruise ship, the MS Passau, on the Danube River, just outside of Passau, Germany. Romulo Braschi of Argentina was the presiding bishop. While Braschi was ordained a Catholic priest and later, a bishop, he leads a splinter sect and has no standing with the Vatican. As a result, some reformers distanced themselves from the ordination. Others, like Fiedler, who attended, saw it as an important step forward. "I think what Rome worries about is that this could start breaking out all over," she says.

While much smaller than Spiritus Christi--some have only a handful of members--hundreds of Catholic intentional eucharistic communities exist around the country. In the tradition of the early Christian church and Latin America's small base communities, these worship communities--some decades old--meet regularly, often in people's homes; celebrate the eucharist, with their own liturgies; and choose their own worship leaders, including married Catholic priests, openly gay Catholic priests and Catholic women.

Reformers also labor outside the Church to curb its power in the world. No group has worked longer to challenge the institutional Church's attempts to restrict access to reproductive healthcare than Catholics for a Free Choice (I served for a time on CFFC's board). More recently, secular women's groups have joined in this work.

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