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SWISS-ORDAIN Jun-28-2006 (630 words) With photo. xxxi
Swiss priest says woman claiming to be ordained faces excommunication
By Jonathan Luxmoore
Catholic News Service
OXFORD, England (CNS) -- A Swiss church leader said a lay Catholic theologian faces automatic excommunication after she claimed she was ordained to the priesthood June 24.
"If she's been a Catholic before, she is clearly aware of the church's discipline and knows it isn't possible at present for a woman to be ordained," said Father Agnell Rickenmann, secretary-general of the Swiss bishops' conference. "Such women have tried to attract publicity by provoking as many reactions as possible. But in acting this way she's leaving the Catholic Church, so we ourselves are not directly concerned."
Monika Wyss became the first Swiss woman to be declared a priest after a ceremony aboard a passenger ship on Lake Constance, between Switzerland and Germany.
Father Rickenmann told Catholic News Service June 28 that women's ordination had been "much discussed" in Switzerland since the 1970s and had caused disagreements with the country's Protestant denominations, which officially admit female ministers.
"As our ecumenical cooperation grows, it's natural this question should be raised," said Father Rickenmann. "But attempts are also being made to stir up conflicts by accusing our church of being highly conservative. Even if you're not a Catholic, you have to realize there's a 2,000-year tradition here. The center of Christian existence isn't the priesthood, but the search for holiness, and this is possible for a women as much as for a man."
Wyss, a divorced mother of four, was pronounced a priest with two others -- Jane Via, an American, and Regina Nicolosi, a German citizen living in the U.S. -- after the shipboard ceremony conducted according to Catholic rites by three alleged female German bishops.
The Basel-based theologian told the Swissinfo news agency June 24 she had wanted to be a Catholic priest since age 12 and hoped to "carry out normal priestly duties," including celebrating the Mass and conducting baptisms and weddings.
She added that her "ordination" was "normal and not a rebellion against the church."
"In Christ's time, women were accepted in the church. It was only when it came under Roman influence that they were excluded," Wyss said. "I will still be a Roman Catholic, but I will no longer be accepted by the church. I have no chance of getting a job within the church with my ideas, so in real terms it makes no difference for me."
Father Rickenmann said none of the ordaining bishops were Catholics, adding that the ceremonies had "nothing to do with the church."
"It's a mistake to overvalue the ordained priesthood -- although priests are very important, nonordained women have often influenced church history more than any male clergy," he said. "I don't think it would be helpful for the church to issue any formal statement about this matter. Every Catholic knows we don't have women priests. Nor should we react with shock whenever someone pretends to ordain someone else."
A total of 25 women have been declared deacons, priests or bishops since 2002 by a U.S.-based organization, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, while 60 others are reported undergoing preparation for "ordination."
Canon law limits the Catholic priesthood to baptized men; Pope John Paul II reaffirmed this in a 1994 apostolic letter, "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis" ("Priestly Ordination").
However Roman Catholic Womenpriests said in a June 15 statement that the three "bishops," Gisela Forster, Ida Raming and Patricia Fresen, would ordain another 12 women from the U.S. July 31 on a chartered boat, which would sail from Pittsburgh. They added that the three German "bishops" had been consecrated "by bishops in full apostolic succession" and said the organization aimed "to lift up the issue of gender equality before the Roman Catholic Church" by affirming "that women, as well as men, can and do image Jesus Christ."
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