From the blog Ten Reasons, with my emphases and comments:
"Carries an imprimatur from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati"
Carol Ann Morrow, assistant managing editor [and thus not just a staff writer or sometime contributrix] of St. Anthony Messenger magazine, published locally [that is, in Cincinnati] by the Franciscans at St. Anthony Messenger Press, defends the Catholic priestess movement in the Cincinnati Enquirer: [Does that sound like giving public scandal? The Cincinnati Archdiocese has had more than its share of this goofy though bothersome problem, by the by.]Gail Finke (”Your Voice” 1/7/10) will not soon be eligible to be a doctor OR a priest. [Watch the reasoning here…] She would need to study for BOTH professions. [See a problem with that? Being a doctor is surely a profession and a "vocation", in some real senses of the word. But it is not one to which one is called by a divinely instituted Church. Graduating from med school does not impart an indelible mark on the soul. Being a doctor might change your way of seeing the world and people, and even expose you to maladies, but it does not effect an ontological change. Once you die, you are no longer a doctor.] She implies that the women who are ordained are not prepared by both study and by calling to be so. That is an incorrect assumption on her part. She thinks the refusal of any competent medical licensing board to give her a medical license is comparable to the Roman Catholic Church’s refusal to ordain women. It is not. The licensing board checks education, credentials and worthiness and probably does a background check. If one meets all those criteria, one will receive a license whether man or woman.
The “licensing board” of the Church is being challenged to reconsider its criteria. [See any problem with this? The "licensing board" of a profession, say, medicine, law, etc., can determine their own criteria for those who would join them. In the case of the Church’s "licensing board", they received their criteria from a higher authority. The Church’s "licensing board" doesn’t have the authority to change those criteria.] This challenge is rooted in a study of Scripture and the ancient traditions of the Church. They are subject to debate in the view of many members of the Church, members who wish the Church and the vocation of the priesthood well, not ill. [Ummm…. no, not really. They are not subject to debate. They are to be accepted as defined, definitively taught by the Church. The Church does not have the authority to change that teaching.] Ms. Finke’s readiness for either profession is inadequate.
It is not clear to many women and men that women are unqualified–by education, calling or gender–for the priesthood. [A woman can be exceptionally well educated in all the things priests must be concerned with, but no woman ever has a "call" from the Church. No woman can ever be ordained a priest.] It may be that the licensing boards are not in touch with their ultimate supervisor. [This seems to be a suggesting that the Church is not doing what Jesus Christ wants by not simulating the ordination of women. Is that a good suggestion for someone who edits a Catholic publication should be making?] That requires openness to dialogue and faithfulness to prayer. [So… the idea here is, "Let’s dialogue until the Church agrees with my desires.]
Carol Ann Morrow
Union
She is also the author of the publisher’s "Quick Look at the New U.S. Catechism" and a Catholic Update devoted to Mary Magdalene (‘natch). [The idea here is that Mary Magdalen was the "apostle to the apostles". I think you are supposed to glean from this that women can be ordained.] As I’ve written before, one of the small but certain things our new shepherd can do to indicate a new direction for the diocese is revoke the rubber stamp imprimatur his predecessor gave to St. Anthony Messenger Press.
I don’t think that the St. Anthony Messenger should be judged by the aberrant musings of an editor in a different publication. You don’t have to be a faithful Catholic to check spelling and formatting.
However, this would be a good occasion to start paying very close attention to what St. Anthony Messenger is publishing and judge them fairly based on what they produce.
