Vatican Excommunication of Ordained Women

We all have questions about where we belong, but sometimes it gets easy. Yesterday's Vatican edict of excommunication of any bishop ordaining a woman, or of any woman being ordained makes it clear that they don't want women to share sacred leadership. Of course we have known that forever, but it is always fascinating to watch the dynamics between Rome and its people. Such edicts makes the Roman church's identity clear, and helps its leadership, both men and women, to discern where they really belong.

The question I was faced with in the late 1960's was whether I would stay with the church and try to reform it, or leave. I am so grateful that I was able to cut loose of that church in my early 20's.

How good it is that my current faith tradition, Unitarian Universalism (UU), put that matter of ordination of women to rest in the mid 1800's. We have so many needs in this world, to assure the world's very survival, that it is refreshing to belong to a faith that I don't have to apologize for--it is so great to have as our first UU principle the worth and dignity of all people. We can concentrate on deepening our understanding of what that means in our daily life, discovering our current blinders, rather than putting up barriers to the dignity of woman. Below, the press release about the Vatican:

Vatican, May. 30, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has announced that
any Catholic bishop who attempts the ordination of a woman to the
priesthood, and any woman who participates in such a ceremony, is
subject to automatic excommunication.
The decree from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
published in the May 30 issue of L'Osservatore Romano, takes effect
immediately and applies throughout the universal Church. The document
was signed by Cardinal William Levada and Archbishop Angelo Amato,
the prefect and secretary, respectively, of the Congregation.
"Both the one who attempts to confer a sacred order on a woman, and
the woman who attempts to receive a sacred order, incurs
excommunication latae sententiae."