A Sudbury woman has been elected bishop by a group of dissident Catholics who believe women should be able to serve as priests.
The
ordination of Rev. Marie Evans Bouclin by Roman Catholic Women Priests
Canada will take place in October at an as-yet-unspecified location.
"I
accepted the nomination because I am aware of the need to have a
bilingual person in Canada to continue the work started in Europe and in
the United States," Bouclin said.
"I have been involved in the movement for the ordination of women for 20 years; therefore, I could not refuse."
Roman
Catholic Women Priests have ordained more than 100 women as priests
around the world. Nine others are bishops.
The mission of Roman Catholic
Women Priests is to prepare, ordain and support women and men from all
states of life who are theologically qualified, committed to an
inclusive model of church and feel the need to serve the church.
However,
the bishop of the diocese of Sault Ste Marie, Jean-Louis Plouffe, said
the ordination of women, as well as the nomination of Marie Bouclin as
bishop, are not valid.
" These ordinations and nominations are not re cognized by Rome (and) therefore are not valid," Plouffe said.
"
The ordinations are reserved to men only who must be ordained by a male
bishop in communion with Rome," he said, adding that only the pope can
name bishops.
Bishop Plouffe did say Pope Benedict XV1 has commissioned a study into the role of women in the early church.
"Some
people maintain that there were women deacons and priests, while others
state that women who were called deacons and priests were identified
that way because of their marriage to a deacon or a priest. The study
will clarify these situations."
Bouclin, 70, a former secondary
school teacher and freelance translator, has a master's degree in
theology and has written about the abuse of power in the Catholic Church
and women who have suffered sexual violence, harassment and
exploitation at the hands of priests.
She was ordained to the priesthood in 2007
by Roman Catholic Women Priests. For two years she served as assistant
pastor in Christ the Servant church in Cobourg, Ont.
Bouclin has been married to Albert Bouclin for more than 40 years and they have three children and two grandchildren.
She
said the first women were ordained to the priesthood by a bishop in
good standing with Rome who remains anonymous.
The same bishop also
ordained three women as bishops -- Gisela Forster of Germany, Christine
Mayr of Lumetzberger in Austria and Patricia Fresen of South Africa.
Since then, six women have been ordained as bishops for the United
States.
Roman Catholic Women Priests has now more than 100 women
priests, some of them who serve in secrecy, across the world.
Eight are
Canadians.
"The next ordination to the priesthood will be held in
Ontario next October and another woman (is) to be ordained in 2012.
There are currently four women from Ontario registered in the training
program," said Bouclin.
She said some Catholic women feel called to the priesthood and do not want to move to another denomination.
"That
is why Bishop X began ordaining women in Europe in 2002. He then
ordained three women bishops in full apostolic succession to continue
this work. He believes it is a question of justice for women, but also
of sur vival for the church."
Bouclin will succeed Bishop Patricia
Fresen, a former Dominican nun from South Africa who has been the Roman
Catholic Women Priests bishop for Canada since 2009.