U.S. Supreme Court To Decide Womenpriests For Catholic Church

Dissident Vested Laywomen Lobby Vatican To Do What It Cannot

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I know this title sounds crazy, but that is exactly what is going on in the United States Supreme Court right now. The Obama administration has sued in a case charging that the federal government's anti-discrimination laws apply to churches and religious organizations. Thus, if the Obama administration gets what its asking for, than the United States Federal Government will be able to legally ORDER the U.S. Catholic Church to ordain women to the priesthood, apply quotas, and prosecute dioceses for failing to comply. This of course wouldn't just apply to the Catholic Church, but to every single denomination and Christian affiliation in the United States. However, we shouldn't expect the federal government to apply such rules fairly, as certain denominations (the U.S. Catholic Church in particular) would certainly be targeted for enforcement over and above others that already allow female clergy....

(CNA/EWTN News) - A Lutheran teacher's lawsuit led to a provocative question being asked in the Supreme Court on Oct. 5: could government efforts to end job discrimination jeopardize the all-male Catholic priesthood?

The case pitting the commission against Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School does not directly concern the issue of women and the priesthood. But justices were quick to connect the matter at hand – involving the Lutheran group's right to hire and fire ministers at their discretion – with the issue of Catholics' and other groups' right to determine who will exercise ministries....

read full story here

The Supreme Court justices picked up on the implications of this immediately, and repeatedly described the Obama administration's stand as 'extraordinary.' I believe it is highly unlikely the U.S. Supreme Court will side with the Obama administration on this issue. If it does however, we Catholics here in the United States will be faced with a very big problem

Let's assume the U.S. Supreme Court sides with the Obama administration, and allows the federal government to begin enforcing gender quotas among clergy in religious institutions. As my very astute and well-educated readers may already know, in 1994 Pope John Paul II infallibly affirmed that the Catholic Church does not have the authority to ordain women. Therefore, any women 'ordained' by civil mandate would automatically be null and void. The woman 'priestess' would in reality be nothing more than a vested laywoman. Whenever said 'priestess' confects the Eucharist, that confection would be invalid and non-existent. Thus the bread and the wine would remain just that -- bread and wine. While the bishop who 'ordained' her might be able to be forgiven with confession, because he was legally forced to do it against his will, parishioners would have to abstain from any mass offered by such a 'priestess' or risk committing both idolatry and blasphemy by adoring a 'host' that has not been consecrated, and is thus not really an Eucharistic 'host.'

So the end result would be this. Mass at St. Anyone's Church would be offered at 8 AM and 10 AM. St. Anyone's has two priests, a male and a female. Mass at the male priest time would be packed wall to wall, while mass at the female priestess time might only have one or two pews filled at most (these are the dissident 'spirit of Vatican II' Catholics). But to make matters worse, suppose the male priest at St. Anyone's Church is transferred somewhere else. Than the parishioners at St. Anyone's have no place to go for mass in their town. Some will drive an hour to find another parish, most will not. Thus faithful Catholics will be deprived of the sacraments, while dissident Catholics will be free to blaspheme and commit idolatry at will in Catholic parishes across the United States.

Theoretically, we should have first amendment protection, and the Supreme Court justices will likely toss this case out and give the Obama administration a blistering opinion that will shame Obama beyond imagination. However, in this republic there are no guarantees. Anything can happen, and we are talking about the same branch of government that gave us Dred Scott and Roe v. Wade. So based on historical precedence -- anything goes!