There they go again

A theologian has become the first Swiss woman to be ordained a Roman Catholic priest, despite Church laws decreeing only men can enter the priesthood.

Monika Wyss, a divorced mother of four, feels she has the right to become a priest even though she will probably be excommunicated.

The ceremony, organised by the West European Roman Catholic Womenpriests organisation, took place on Saturday on board a passenger ship on Lake Constance between Switzerland and Germany.

In addition to Wyss, two other women joined the priesthood: Regina Nicolosi, a German living in the United States, and Jane Via, an American. Another woman from the US, who wishes to remain anonymous, was ordained a deacon, a rank below a priest.

For Wyss, currently a deacon, becoming a priest has been a lifelong ambition.

"It was an idea that came to me at the age of 12," she told swissinfo. "At the time, my brothers could be Mass servants but I couldn't, so I played the priest at home and they were my servants."

Well I guess some things don't change, she is still play-acting being a priest as a grownup. Though I can see how this attitude has been growing since so many people never get past the idea that fairness means being openly available to both sexes. I guess men can really be equal to women if they can't get pregnant. In an age that sees the fact that Jesus was a man as unfortunate or a detail that holds no significance the rise of these stories is predictable. The fact that from the Old Testament to the New Testament that it was only men who were ordained to the priesthood is seen as just an cultural artifact despite the fact that the Israelites were surrounded by religions that pretty much all had priestesses. Again I can understand this view since this teaching is one of the more difficult ones to easily understand as to why God choose that only men should be ordained. But the fact is that this is the case and the Church has no ability to change this.

Once again though these mock ceremonies have been on a ship. I guess this has become a tradition for those who have jettisoned tradition or maybe they think by doing this they come under the authority of the Holy Sea. Possibly it is a Freudian slip and and unconscious acknowledgment that there theology is all wet. Though I once parodied this inclination in my Sea Priestess post.

Here is the part of the ceremony where they undergo a lice inspection.

The thing that most annoys me about these articles is that they are usually so gushy with enthusiasm with no critical eye to the facts. Sure sometimes they will quote somebody that the Church just doesn't have the authority to ordain women, but it is usually just an afterthought sentence. I am sure that if I showed up for work at one of these newspapers and said my lifelong ambition was to be a reporter and I decided I was called to be one at this particular newspaper that they would soon throw me out. They would understandably argue that I had no authority to do this. If I subsequently went around town claiming that I was a reporter working for their paper I am sure that I would be sued or that a court order would be issued to prevent me from such a claim. But if a women decides that she should be a priest and a Catholic priest at that then the paper sees no problem with this situation.