Diocese of Venice in Florida Statement Regarding Those Involved in Attempted Ordinations

It has come to the attention of Officials of the Diocese of Venice in Florida that advertisements attributed to an organization known as “Roman Catholic Womenpriests” have appeared regarding a purported attempt to “ordain” women to the ministerial priesthood here in Sarasota.

The Catholic Church has always taught that the Church has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women. The Church shares this teaching with our Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters. The ministerial priesthood is a gift from God, not something that someone “earns,” “deserves” or has a “right” to, due to advanced education, devoted service in the Church, or simply because of one’s own personal desire.

In calling only men as His Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. Throughout His earthly ministry, Our Lord also emphasized the dignity and the vocation of women, and in so doing, did not conform to the prevailing customs, traditions, and legislation of the time. Still, among His twelve Apostles, Jesus Christ did not include any women.

Sacred Scripture further reveals that Jesus did include the participation of women in His public ministry in ways that shows a differentiation of roles between men and women. Together both worked to build up the unity of the Church, avoiding divisiveness. Specific to the role of women, the Church gives thanks for the feminine “genius”, appearing in the course of history, in the midst of all peoples and nations, and for the charisms of the Holy Spirit on women’s manifestations of faith, hope and love. However, the attempt to “ordain” women by the organization titled “Roman Catholic Womenpriests” brings division, and fractures unity in the Church.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued a General Decree stating that those who attempt to confer Holy Orders on a woman, and women who attempt to receive Holy Orders, incur automatic excommunication. Excommunication is knowingly and willingly to place oneself outside the communion of the Catholic Church.

This statement is issued out of pastoral and spiritual concern for those who present themselves for such an invalid ritual, those who conduct it, and those who are direct participants, since their actions place them outside the Church.

This situation is sad for the entire Church. The Diocese prays that all those involved in this attempt to “ordain”, “Roman Catholic Womenpriests” will be reconciled with the Church, and that the harm and division caused will be healed, with the help of God's grace.

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