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Written by The Presbyterian Outlook
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Monday, 23 August 2010 14:41 |
WASHINGTON, D.C. (RNS) — U.S. Catholic bishops are defending the Vatican's decision to include the ordination of women with the sexual abuse of children in a long-awaited revision of the church's most serious crimes, “delicta graviora.”
The “attempted ordination” of women as Roman Catholic priests will lead to the women’s automatic excommunication, and participating priests could be booted from the priesthood.
The Vatican is not implying that ordaining women and the sexual abuse of children are equivalent offenses, said Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's chief prosecutor in punishing clergy for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “There are two types of ‘delicta graviora’: those concerning the celebration of sacraments, and those concerning morals,” Scicluna told reporters at the Vatican. “The two types are essentially different, and their gravity is on different levels.”
Still, some Catholics said it was a public relations mistake to include women's ordination into a document that was expected to focus on sex abuse.
“This is apples and oranges,” said Sister Christine Schenk, executive director of Cleveland-based group FutureChurch, which advocates increased lay leadership in the Catholic Church. “The phenomenon of women wanting to serve God does not belong in same category as priests abusing children. I am frankly stunned.”
— Daniel Burke and Richard Allen
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