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+Joan Clark Houk Bishop for the Great Waters Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests Joan Houk web-page |
The Catholic Church needs female priests
by Bishop Joan Hauk (RCWP)
published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
January 2, 2015 12:00 AM
Two recent letters (“Jesus and Women” by Jane Pillar on Dec. 22 and “The Gospel Truth” by Tim Killmeyer on Dec. 27) dealt directly with women as priests. I am a Roman Catholic, a woman and a priest. As Ms. Pillar pointed out, Jesus was counter-cultural when it came to women. Women loved him, followed him and supported him because he treated them as fully human persons. And, yes, the famous 12 apostles were all men. However, there were also other apostles, including women. That was 2,000 years ago, and this is today. Today our church needs female priests.
Our church is worried about a priest shortage. Women are answering their call to priestly service. There are 24 women in my region who have either been ordained or are in preparation for ordination. These women have been theologically educated, are emotionally stable, spiritual, prayerful and, most importantly, joyful Catholics. Angry women need not apply!
For years there has been extensive research by biblical scholars and theologians of the official church on the subject of female priests. Even the July 1976 Pontifical Biblical Commission found no scriptural reason for excluding women from sacred orders. Having exhausted other avenues for change, some of us have chosen to break church law that excludes women from ordination in order to change it. This is an old and honorable strategy for change. Today we female priests often serve those who feel left out. This is Christ’s work.
Bishop Joan Clark Houk
Roman Catholic Womenpriests
McCandless
by Bishop Joan Hauk (RCWP)
published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
January 2, 2015 12:00 AM
Two recent letters (“Jesus and Women” by Jane Pillar on Dec. 22 and “The Gospel Truth” by Tim Killmeyer on Dec. 27) dealt directly with women as priests. I am a Roman Catholic, a woman and a priest. As Ms. Pillar pointed out, Jesus was counter-cultural when it came to women. Women loved him, followed him and supported him because he treated them as fully human persons. And, yes, the famous 12 apostles were all men. However, there were also other apostles, including women. That was 2,000 years ago, and this is today. Today our church needs female priests.
Our church is worried about a priest shortage. Women are answering their call to priestly service. There are 24 women in my region who have either been ordained or are in preparation for ordination. These women have been theologically educated, are emotionally stable, spiritual, prayerful and, most importantly, joyful Catholics. Angry women need not apply!
For years there has been extensive research by biblical scholars and theologians of the official church on the subject of female priests. Even the July 1976 Pontifical Biblical Commission found no scriptural reason for excluding women from sacred orders. Having exhausted other avenues for change, some of us have chosen to break church law that excludes women from ordination in order to change it. This is an old and honorable strategy for change. Today we female priests often serve those who feel left out. This is Christ’s work.
Bishop Joan Clark Houk
Roman Catholic Womenpriests
McCandless
Feast of the Assumption
August 15, 2013
A reflection from my experience of making and chasing huge bubbles with my grandson while on vacation last week:
Just as the bubble floats upward and then disappears, where is it now? It had been here where I could touch it, wetting my hand--where it would sting my eyes with its soap if its bursts in my face--where I could see the direction of its travels. It was here; where is it now?
Mary was here--where she gave birth to Jesus--where he touched her face--where people saw her with Jesus, and watched her walk with him on his journey. She was here; where is she now?
When the bubble is gone, we only have memories of it--we tell the story of watching or chasing the bubble. Mary is gone to a place where we cannot touch or see her; we only have memories and stories handed down from the people who knew her. The stories of joy and sorrow, anticipation and worry, fulfillment and loss, hope and promise.
When we are gone, what will the memories be? What stories will be shared with others? Yes, there will be the stories of joy and sorrow, anticipation and worry, fulfillment and loss. Will there be memories of love and compassion? Will there be stories of helping and caring, of faith and hope? What memories are you creating today?
In joy and hope,
+Joan
August 15, 2013
A reflection from my experience of making and chasing huge bubbles with my grandson while on vacation last week:
Just as the bubble floats upward and then disappears, where is it now? It had been here where I could touch it, wetting my hand--where it would sting my eyes with its soap if its bursts in my face--where I could see the direction of its travels. It was here; where is it now?
Mary was here--where she gave birth to Jesus--where he touched her face--where people saw her with Jesus, and watched her walk with him on his journey. She was here; where is she now?
When the bubble is gone, we only have memories of it--we tell the story of watching or chasing the bubble. Mary is gone to a place where we cannot touch or see her; we only have memories and stories handed down from the people who knew her. The stories of joy and sorrow, anticipation and worry, fulfillment and loss, hope and promise.
When we are gone, what will the memories be? What stories will be shared with others? Yes, there will be the stories of joy and sorrow, anticipation and worry, fulfillment and loss. Will there be memories of love and compassion? Will there be stories of helping and caring, of faith and hope? What memories are you creating today?
In joy and hope,
+Joan
Ash Wednesday
February 13, 2013
Dear Friends,
Yesterday was "Fat Tuesday" and in the Polish tradition, a day to eat filled donuts. Now I am a believer in tradition, and I like using "large symbolism" in rituals; therefore, I had two Polish donuts for dessert yesterday!
I am writing to you on Ash Wednesday. With the news of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation to take effect on February 28, I am asking you to join with me this lenten season to pray for our Pope and our Church. I believe that the Pope did what was best for our Church through his resignation, whether the resignation was because of health or some other reason or reasons. I respect him for making this choice. Choosing to do something that hasn't been done in 600 years says to me that he was willing to risk criticism, and let people experience some progressiveness in our Church. This is good as a step towards accepting future change.
Pray with me because this is a time of opportunity. I have hope that we will see some change, maybe not all the change that we would like to see, but some movement towards a Vatican II Church living out the Gospel message. This is a time for respect, forgiveness, conversion, collaboration; a time for positive energy grounded in the Spirit. Pray that the Spirit will guide you and me in using our gifts for the common good of the faith community and for the common good of society. May our prayers bring us a new beginning with a new pope this Easter.
Lenten blessings,
+Joan Clark Houk
Bishop for the Great Waters Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests
February 13, 2013
Dear Friends,
Yesterday was "Fat Tuesday" and in the Polish tradition, a day to eat filled donuts. Now I am a believer in tradition, and I like using "large symbolism" in rituals; therefore, I had two Polish donuts for dessert yesterday!
I am writing to you on Ash Wednesday. With the news of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation to take effect on February 28, I am asking you to join with me this lenten season to pray for our Pope and our Church. I believe that the Pope did what was best for our Church through his resignation, whether the resignation was because of health or some other reason or reasons. I respect him for making this choice. Choosing to do something that hasn't been done in 600 years says to me that he was willing to risk criticism, and let people experience some progressiveness in our Church. This is good as a step towards accepting future change.
Pray with me because this is a time of opportunity. I have hope that we will see some change, maybe not all the change that we would like to see, but some movement towards a Vatican II Church living out the Gospel message. This is a time for respect, forgiveness, conversion, collaboration; a time for positive energy grounded in the Spirit. Pray that the Spirit will guide you and me in using our gifts for the common good of the faith community and for the common good of society. May our prayers bring us a new beginning with a new pope this Easter.
Lenten blessings,
+Joan Clark Houk
Bishop for the Great Waters Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Letter from our Bishop. At our request, Bishop Joan Clark Houk (RCWP), has agreed to write a series of letters to the Community of St. Bridget. Joan is going to share with us reflections on her spiritual journey, her call to ordination, and what her life has been like as a Priest and Bishop.
October 16, 2012
Journeying in the Spirit of Vatican II
Our Roman Catholic Church is often described in terms of Pre-Vatican II and Post- Vatican II. I am a bridge spanning those two time periods. What a blessing! Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1940, I was educated in Catholic schools from first grade until graduation from high school in 1958. During those years St. Francis Xavier Church was my second family, and the local Catholic high schools were my teen social clubs. My school friends and I were taught about God’s love for us, how we were to treat others with respect, to share our material goods with the poor, and to support the missions around the world with our coins and prayers. “Hearing” mass, receiving the sacraments, praying the rosary, fasting, following the commandments and rules of the Church would help us to get to heaven. Everything was spelled out for us in black and white. We were cautioned to avoid occasions of sin, and avoid friendships with young people who were not Catholic so as not to lose our faith. We were told that the Catholic Church was the only true Church, and that non-Catholics would not go to heaven.
When the Second Vatican Council opened on October 11, 1962, I was 22 years old, and a married woman with a daughter. I could have never imagined how my Church was going to change, and therefore, how my life was going to change because of the Holy Spirit moving through the Church. I embraced the council and Gaudium et Spes, i.e., joy and hope, that moved out through the Church doors thrown open by Pope John XXIII. As an adult Catholic I had new questions in search of answers, and I found other adults who met in groups in the parish meeting rooms to discuss our questions. The “mass” was now in English instead of Latin, and it was called Eucharistic liturgy. We learned that “liturgy” meant “work of the people” because we were all called to conscious active participation with the priest in celebrating Eucharist. Laity proclaiming the scriptures led to laity gathering for Bible study. Laity distribution of communion at the liturgy led to laity distribution of communion in hospitals or to the shut-ins in homes. In time, John and I, as parents, were encouraged to prepare our children for the sacraments of Eucharist, reconciliation and confirmation. We became parish catechists, and then leaders of parish youth groups. We were representatives on parish councils, and participated in diocesan events. Our children were involved in the children’s classes, liturgical ministries and other activities. The parish facility became our family’s second home. Along with praying for and sending money to the missions, we were invited to serve the hungry at the soup kitchen. We marched for human rights, and lobbied against discrimination. We could now attend a friend’s wedding in a Church of a different denomination, and it was probable that my Presbyterian grandfather was in heaven after all. We were actually encouraged to become involved in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue with our brothers and sisters in the global Family of God. Yes, I am a bridge between two very different views of Church. One looks inward with the windows and doors closed, and the other looks outward with the windows and doors open to the world.
+Joan Clark Houk
Bishop for the Great Waters Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests
October 16, 2012
Journeying in the Spirit of Vatican II
Our Roman Catholic Church is often described in terms of Pre-Vatican II and Post- Vatican II. I am a bridge spanning those two time periods. What a blessing! Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1940, I was educated in Catholic schools from first grade until graduation from high school in 1958. During those years St. Francis Xavier Church was my second family, and the local Catholic high schools were my teen social clubs. My school friends and I were taught about God’s love for us, how we were to treat others with respect, to share our material goods with the poor, and to support the missions around the world with our coins and prayers. “Hearing” mass, receiving the sacraments, praying the rosary, fasting, following the commandments and rules of the Church would help us to get to heaven. Everything was spelled out for us in black and white. We were cautioned to avoid occasions of sin, and avoid friendships with young people who were not Catholic so as not to lose our faith. We were told that the Catholic Church was the only true Church, and that non-Catholics would not go to heaven.
When the Second Vatican Council opened on October 11, 1962, I was 22 years old, and a married woman with a daughter. I could have never imagined how my Church was going to change, and therefore, how my life was going to change because of the Holy Spirit moving through the Church. I embraced the council and Gaudium et Spes, i.e., joy and hope, that moved out through the Church doors thrown open by Pope John XXIII. As an adult Catholic I had new questions in search of answers, and I found other adults who met in groups in the parish meeting rooms to discuss our questions. The “mass” was now in English instead of Latin, and it was called Eucharistic liturgy. We learned that “liturgy” meant “work of the people” because we were all called to conscious active participation with the priest in celebrating Eucharist. Laity proclaiming the scriptures led to laity gathering for Bible study. Laity distribution of communion at the liturgy led to laity distribution of communion in hospitals or to the shut-ins in homes. In time, John and I, as parents, were encouraged to prepare our children for the sacraments of Eucharist, reconciliation and confirmation. We became parish catechists, and then leaders of parish youth groups. We were representatives on parish councils, and participated in diocesan events. Our children were involved in the children’s classes, liturgical ministries and other activities. The parish facility became our family’s second home. Along with praying for and sending money to the missions, we were invited to serve the hungry at the soup kitchen. We marched for human rights, and lobbied against discrimination. We could now attend a friend’s wedding in a Church of a different denomination, and it was probable that my Presbyterian grandfather was in heaven after all. We were actually encouraged to become involved in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue with our brothers and sisters in the global Family of God. Yes, I am a bridge between two very different views of Church. One looks inward with the windows and doors closed, and the other looks outward with the windows and doors open to the world.
+Joan Clark Houk
Bishop for the Great Waters Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests
July 20, 2012
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Rabbi Susan Talve, a woman I know and admire, and her congregation hosted the ordination of two women priests from the Great Waters Region, Elsie McGrath and Ree Hudson, in November 2007. Her experience and the consequences of following her conscience in providing hospitality needs to be known. I hope you will read the story: Sacred Solidarity, Radical Hospitality: Women Priests & a Woman Rabbi.
In joy and hope,
+Joan Clark Houk
Bishop for the Great Waters Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Rabbi Susan Talve, a woman I know and admire, and her congregation hosted the ordination of two women priests from the Great Waters Region, Elsie McGrath and Ree Hudson, in November 2007. Her experience and the consequences of following her conscience in providing hospitality needs to be known. I hope you will read the story: Sacred Solidarity, Radical Hospitality: Women Priests & a Woman Rabbi.
In joy and hope,
+Joan Clark Houk
Bishop for the Great Waters Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests
June 12, 2012
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
In recent weeks the LCWR has been in my thoughts and prayers. I respect the sisters for living the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the Church in the modern world. They call for dialogue within their congregations, and with others in the Church and in the world. I affirm their example of dialogue and collaboration is a model for each of us in renewing the Roman Catholic Church. However, what are we to do when others refuse to dialogue? I would like to share with you an additional time honored model, which some faithful Catholics have chosen.
When dialogue and all other means have been exhausted resulting in failure to change an unjust law, then the law must be broken to bring about change. After 50 years of requests by Catholic laity and clergy for dialogue on women’s ordination were refused, we in the international movement Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) have chosen to break Church law, Canon 1024 that says only a baptized male can be ordained. We follow a powerful Church tradition: Joan of Arc who was burned at the stake and later canonized; Mother Mary MacKillop who founded the women’s religious order of Josephites in Australia, and was excommunicated by Bishop Sheil in 1871 and canonized by Benedict XVI in 2010; and Fr. Claude Maistre who was removed from priestly ministry by Archbishop Jean-Marie Odin of New Orleans 1863 for calling for the abolition of slavery and having a mixed race parish during segregation in the South, and is now respected as a prophetic priest. In civil affairs, the Dominican Sisters in South Africa during apartheid refused to send the People of Color away from their schools, one of many actions resulting in the dismantling of the apartheid system. Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks all used non-violent disobedience to change systems oppressing people. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, drawing upon the Church’s teaching on the primacy of conscience, affirmed this time honored strategy when on April 12, 2012 they wrote:
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
In recent weeks the LCWR has been in my thoughts and prayers. I respect the sisters for living the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the Church in the modern world. They call for dialogue within their congregations, and with others in the Church and in the world. I affirm their example of dialogue and collaboration is a model for each of us in renewing the Roman Catholic Church. However, what are we to do when others refuse to dialogue? I would like to share with you an additional time honored model, which some faithful Catholics have chosen.
When dialogue and all other means have been exhausted resulting in failure to change an unjust law, then the law must be broken to bring about change. After 50 years of requests by Catholic laity and clergy for dialogue on women’s ordination were refused, we in the international movement Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) have chosen to break Church law, Canon 1024 that says only a baptized male can be ordained. We follow a powerful Church tradition: Joan of Arc who was burned at the stake and later canonized; Mother Mary MacKillop who founded the women’s religious order of Josephites in Australia, and was excommunicated by Bishop Sheil in 1871 and canonized by Benedict XVI in 2010; and Fr. Claude Maistre who was removed from priestly ministry by Archbishop Jean-Marie Odin of New Orleans 1863 for calling for the abolition of slavery and having a mixed race parish during segregation in the South, and is now respected as a prophetic priest. In civil affairs, the Dominican Sisters in South Africa during apartheid refused to send the People of Color away from their schools, one of many actions resulting in the dismantling of the apartheid system. Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks all used non-violent disobedience to change systems oppressing people. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, drawing upon the Church’s teaching on the primacy of conscience, affirmed this time honored strategy when on April 12, 2012 they wrote:
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An unjust law cannot be obeyed. In the face of an unjust law, an accommodation is not to be sought, especially by resorting to equivocal words and deceptive practices. If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them. (“Our First, Most Cherished Liberty”)
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Therefore, we women priests following our consciences, in prophetic obedience to God, embrace our ordinations in apostolic succession and the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. Not everyone marched in Selma, but some felt called. Let us gather in dialogue about what women’s ordination can mean for our Church and for women.
If you have not seen the excellent documentary, Pink Smoke Over the Vatican, I encourage you to see it when the Community of St. Bridget shows it in September.
In joy and hope,
+Joan Clark Houk
Bishop for the Great Waters Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests
If you have not seen the excellent documentary, Pink Smoke Over the Vatican, I encourage you to see it when the Community of St. Bridget shows it in September.
In joy and hope,
+Joan Clark Houk
Bishop for the Great Waters Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests
