A Portland woman, ordained in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement three years ago, says the Vatican announcement earlier this month listing pedophilia and women's ordination as grave offenses is an insult to clerical abuse victims and women seeking ordination."The sexual abuse of children is morally reprehensible by any possible standard," says Toni Tortorilla, 63.
"The ordination of women has been happening for decades in many denominations." She says pairing the issues in one statement "shows how out of touch with reality the Vatican really is."
On July 15, the Vatican announced revisions in the way it handles clerical sexual abuse. Many Catholics were stunned that the official statement listed attempts to ordain women alongside pedophilia as "grave delicts," along with heresy, apostasy and schism.
At a press conference on the same day, a Vatican spokesman explained that sexual abuse and pornography "are more grave delicts" and women's ordination is "grave, but on another level."
The same day, Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, chairman of the U.S. bishops' committee on doctrine, said the Vatican statement referred to "the seriousness with which it holds offenses against the sacrament of holy orders" and was not a sign of disrespect toward women.
"The Catholic Church, through its long and constant teaching, holds that ordination has been, from the beginning, reserved to men, a fact which cannot be changed despite changing times," Wuerl said.
But dozens of groups supporting women's ordination have denounced the Vatican statement.
Polls say a majority of American Catholics favor ordaining women: 59 percent, according to a May 2010 survey by The New York Times and CBS News.
Tortorilla, ordained July 28, 2007, serves Sophia Christi Catholic Community in Portland and Eugene. About 40 people attend the Portland services on the second Saturday of the month. About 30 gather in Eugene on the second Sunday. Locations are published online at the Roman Catholic Womenpriests website.
In May 2008, the Vatican announced that women who attempted to be ordained and those who tried to ordain them were automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Tortorilla told The Oregonian at the time that she rejected the excommunication and would continue to serve her community.
Tortorilla spoke recently about the role of women in the Catholic Church. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: What did you make of Archbishop Wuerl's observation that women "offer unique insight, creative abilities and unstinting generosity" within the church?
A: I think he and many members of the hierarchy speak out of both sides of their mouths. At the same time they say those kinds of things, there is an investigation of women religious in the United States. It looks very much like the Vatican feels threatened by the fact that women are following their call -- the gospel, the social justice teachings of the church -- without paying attention to the hierarchy.
Q: Is there a biblical basis for ordaining women?
A: In 1976, a report of the Pontifical Biblical Commission looked at Scripture and found no justification in the New Testament for excluding women from the priesthood. There is historical evidence of women having been deacons. In the letters of Paul, Phoebe was a deacon. But the history of ordination doesn't go back to the time of the Gospels. There is no Scriptural evidence of anyone -- man or woman -- being ordained.
One thing usually used as a reason why men are ordained and women can't be is that Jesus called only men as apostles. But Mary Magdalene was the first witness to the Resurrection, and Jesus sent her to the apostles to tell them he had risen from the dead. She was an apostle to the apostles. If she's seen as an apostle, we would also have to say that she was called and commissioned by Jesus.
Q: The Vatican has excommunicated women who are ordained and may excommunicate those who help them. Is that a threat to Roman Catholic Womenpriests?
A: Our ordinations are valid. They are not legal. But our first bishops (in Roman Catholic Womenpriests) were ordained by male bishops in good standing with Rome. Criminalizing our ordinations gives the Vatican a mechanism to quickly defrock someone like (the Rev.) Roy Bourgeois, a priest who boldly supports women's ordination.
Simply saying we're excommunicated has no effect whatsoever on people flocking to our ordinations. It's not changing people's behavior. They can't stop women from being called to serve the church as deacons, priests or bishops.
Q: Why is it that some people no longer see excommunication, which the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" defines as an impediment to "the reception of the sacraments," as a real threat?
A: We live in a different world. At the time when excommunication made people quake, they lived in communities where everyone knew everyone. People didn't move around the way they do now. If you were excommunicated, you couldn't receive the sacraments and there was no other church you could go to. But excommunication doesn't mean you're thrown out of the church. If you go to another parish, and the priest doesn't know who you are, and if in good conscience you feel you are in God's good graces, there's no reason not to receive the sacrament.
Q: How many women have been ordained in Roman Catholic Womenpriests' rituals?
A: We've gone from seven ordained women in 2002 to 100 in 2010 -- 75 in the United States. Four women are ordained as priests in Oregon.
Q: What challenges have you faced as a woman priest?
A: Because I'm ordained, I can no longer lead retreats in Catholic parishes. My community has been refused space to meet in some non-Catholic churches because of relationships between those churches and the Archdiocese of Portland.
But when we talk about the church, we're not just talking about the hierarchy. The church is the whole people of God. And the grass roots are calling for women priests. A shift is happening, but it's a slow, slow process.
But we're all about hope. The prophetic voice is always going to be one of hope.
SIC: OrLive