"Protestant pastor apologizes to Catholics over minister’s role in female ‘ordinations’"

So welcome to see this.

First, the context:

Just over a week ago, the dissident group Womenpriests claimed to “ordain” three women as priests at a Boston-area Church of Christ location. The move was condemned by the Archdiocese of Boston and now the Rev. David Runnion-Bareford, a Church of Christ minister, is apologizing to the archdiocese for his fellow minister’s sanctioning of the event.

On Sunday, July 20, Roman Catholic Womenpriests held an alleged ordination ceremony of three women at the Church of the Covenant, which is affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ (UCC).

Now, the response:

Rev. David Runnion-Bareford, Executive Director of the Confessing Movement in the United Church of Christ, responded to the situation by sending an open letter to Boston area Catholics via Cardinal Sean O'Malley. In his letter, he apologized for the "division and confusion" caused by Rev. Nancy Taylor and the Church of the Covenant—the church were the ceremony was held.

"Please accept our deepest and sincere apology for the behavior of Rev. Nancy Taylor of Old South Church, UCC and the UCC related Church of the Covenant. They do not reflect the heart and mind of our United Church of Christ whose premise is 'that all may be one.' Those of us who truly value the unity of all Christians and treasure our ecumenical relationships with you as Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ are grieved,” Runnion-Bareford wrote.

Right, anytime a protestant minister facilitates such an action it is a slap in the face to the discipline and doctrine of the Catholic Church.

He continues:

The Confessing Movement UCC pastor also said that his movement is also “fully aware that this event was not motivated by a sincere desire to honor the call of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the ministry of committed Christian women.”

Rev. Runnion-Bradford further criticized the women for refusing to take a vow of chastity and for promoting a self-centered gospel, citing the “Body, Sex and Gender” section of the group’s web page.

“We know that 'Womenpriests' openly include candidates who are engaged in the practice of sexual license. It is significant that the participants would not take the vow of obedience or chastity. We are aware of the statements on their website proclaiming a false gospel of self and mutual affirmation, denying the fall of humanity and our need for repentance from sin and personal transformation through the atoning crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

"We note that it is not incidental that this event was hosted in Boston by a church that is prideful about its aggressive religious sanction of homosexual, bi-sexual and transgender relationships and same gender 'marriage.' We also note that the pansexual activist group Integrity participated and assisted with hospitality," Runnion-Bradford observed in his letter.

Would that the official Catholic response similarly took these women to task for these factors.

Unearthed Vatican Letter to Bishops Emphasizes Choice of Defiance

Wow, I knew this happened, but the documentation makes it crystal clear:

During the tumultuous years of the 1960's Pope Paul VI published a controversial encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which addressed the issue of birth control in light of the arrival of the birth control pill.

Today LifeSiteNews.com is publishing a recently unearthed letter which was sent to Bishops with a pre-release copy of the encyclical. The letter, dated July 19, 1968, is signed by the late Amleto Giovanni Cardinal Cicognani, who was then-Secretary of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The outright defiance of many priests and even bishops to Pope Paul VI's encyclical - which restated and reinforced the Church's long-time opposition to artificial birth control - is even graver in light of the carefully worded letter the bishops received specifically pointing to the urgent need for unity on the matter.

[Read more about the letter.]

[Read the actual text of the letter.]

Meanwhile? Are Catholics ready to hear about the Church's teaching?

Maybe not everwhere, but sometimes ... they applaud.

Trouble on the homefront: CUA & Georgetown

Two stories, sadly, taking place in my backyard.

First, John Kerry has been invited to speak at the Catholic University of America:

LifeSiteNews:

Pro-Abortion John Kerry to Speak at Catholic University of America: Invitation violates principle unanimously agreed upon by US Bishops in 2004

WASHINGTON, September 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Catholic University of America (CUA) has invited former presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry to speak on environmentalism and the Iraq war this semester, despite initial opposition by the office of University Center, Student Programs and Events (UCSPE).

The Tower, the campus paper of Catholic University, said the UCSPE had initially objected to Kerry's appearance, saying there is an "unwritten" campus rule banning political candidates during an election year.

Kerry, who still receives Communion regularly, has a 100 per cent pro-abortion voting record according to NARAL Pro-Choice America. During the 2004 presidential debates, Kerry claimed that he was "personally against abortion", but would not "take what is an article of faith for me and legislate it for someone who doesn't share that article of faith."

[Related: U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference Says Pro-Abortion Politicians Should be Shunned - LSN]

Carl Olson has commentary at InsightScoop.

TheTower (CUA's newspaper) reports:

Former presidential candidate John Kerry will speak on campus this semester despite initial opposition by the office of University Center, Student Programs and Events (UCSPE).

The College Democrats will host the Massachusetts senator, who has been approved to speak specifically on environmental concerns and the Iraq war.

UCSPE initially rejected the College Democrats' request in early August, according to junior Mark Arnone, chairman of the College Democrats. Bill Jonas, the director of UCSPE, sent an e-mail to Arnone as well as Michael Nardi, chairman of the College Republicans, highlighting an unwritten University policy banning candidates from campus during an election year.

... Patrick Reilly, the founder of the Cardinal Newman Society which is dedicated to the renewal of Catholic identity in Catholic higher education in the United States, learned about Kerry's scheduled appearance in a phone call with a reporter yesterday.

"This is wrong on so many levels," said Reilly. "For a Catholic university that accepts Catholic moral teachings as truth to invite or to host an active political candidate who intends to uphold and possibly expand the incidents of abortion in the United States is entirely contrary to its Catholic morals."

... When contacted yesterday, Kerry's senate office said that his speech had not been finalized and an exact date for his appearance had not been set, and deferred comment to a later date.

TheTower article, laudably, is very critical of Kerry and disapproves of his invitation. You have to think that Kerry is accepting the invitation out of spite. The College Democrats at CUA, I believe, are a small segment of the campus. Is he rubbing his status in our face? It seems so.

Second, across town, news that the Vatican & U.S Bishops are investigating a Georgetown professor:

John Allen:

Both the Vatican and the U.S. bishops are investigating a book by a prominent American Catholic theologian, Vietnam-born Fr. Peter Phan of Georgetown University.

The book raises issues about the uniqueness of Christ and the church, issues that were also behind recent censures of other high-profile theologians, as well as a recent Vatican declaration that the fullness of the Christian church resides in Catholicism alone.

The case confirms that no subject is of greater doctrinal concern for church authorities, including Pope Benedict XVI, than what they see as “religious relativism,” meaning the impression that Christ is analogous to other religious figures such as the Buddha, or that Christianity is one valid spiritual path among others.

Critics of writers such as Phan, who offer a positive theological evaluation of non-Christian religions, assert that their work courts confusion on these points, while others believe church authorities are drawing the borders of theological discussion too narrowly.

Phan, a priest of the Dallas diocese, is a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. The book in question is Phan’s 2004 Being Religious Interreligiously, published by Orbis.

This should all sound oddly-familiar to CUA. (*cough* Charlie Curran *cough.*)

Sherry W at Intentional Disciples reacts:

My initial concern with Phan's work was staggeringly bad history and worse statistics. Phan's ahistorical reading of contemporary Christian missions systemically ignored massively documented realities like the explosive growth of Christianity in the third world which a casual reader could uncover with a 60 second Google search.

I knew that it was almost certainly theology that was driving this strange obtuseness on Phan's part because "missionary failure" would enable him to portray his theological positions as "realism" - the stoic acceptance of the fact that Asians had voted with their feet and rejected Christianity en masse - rather than an ideology that he was asserting in the teeth of overwhelming evidence that Asia (especially China) is on the verge of becoming one of the evangelizing dynamos of the Christian world.

So I'm relieved that serious questions are being raised at the highest level about the theological issues behind the lousy missiology.

The mainstream media is hot on the story. Associated Press:

The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine has traded correspondence with Phan since July 2005 seeking clarification on his writings, said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"There was not complete satisfaction with his response, which is why the dialogue continues," Walsh said. She did not go into further detail.
Phan declined comment Wednesday.

Mind-bogglingly stupid quotation:

The issues underpinning Phan’s case are causing great debate among Catholic theologians grappling with how Catholicism relates to other faiths outside a European context, said Terrence Tilley, chairman of the theology department at Fordham University and president-elect of the Catholic Theological Society of America.

"To come to judgment as the Vatican seems to be doing so quickly, before theologians have had time to work out and critique the positions ... it’s just premature," Tilley said. "It’s in a sense cutting off debate before the debate’s started."

You have to be kidding me. The debate concerning the nature of the Church has been going strong for, oh, about 1,900 years. Easy. How can Terrence Tilley expect to get away with such a claim?

Hmm, let's think about this. Terrency Tilley, "president-elect of the Catholic Theological Society of America" ... Peter Phan former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America.

There, now it's beginning to make sense.

More news from the front as it emerges....