Seven Catholic women illicitly ordained as priests

The Tablet, 6 July 2002, pp. 25-26.

As part of the ‘Church in the World’ section

Seven Catholic women ignored warnings from the Church in Austria and proceeded with their ordination on 29 June as planned, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt. The ordination took place on board a boat moored on the Danube south of Passau, in the presence of the women’s families and 300 invited guests and media.

After weeks of speculation as to who would ordain them and where the event would take place, seven of the original group of 12 women candidates - two Austrians, four Germans and one woman from the United States - were ordained priests by Romulo Braschi, 61, a former Catholic priest from Argentina who was excommunicated in the Seventies. The location on the German-Austrian border was chosen so as to evade the jurisdiction of any particular diocese.

The second bishop to lay hands on the women was Ferdinand Regelsberger, a former Benedictine monk from Kremsmünster Abbey in Upper Austria. Braschi consecrated him bishop in Upper Austria on 9 May (The Tablet, 8 June) “so that the women would have a local bishop to take care of them”.

The third bishop scheduled to ordain the women, a practising Catholic priest, Dusan Spiner, failed to show up as he was delayed by heavy traffic. He was clandestinely consecrated bishop by the late Bishop Felix Davidek in Czechoslovakia under the Communist regime. Davidek’s own clandestine consecration was recognised by the Vatican. After the fall of Communism Spiner agreed not to practise as a bishop and today works as a parish priest in Slovakia. He clandestinely ordained the women as deacons in Upper Austria on Palm Sunday this year and had promised to ordain them priests on the Danube boat.

At a press conference after their ordination, the women said that in a few days’ time they would be ordained in a second ceremony “in case anyone should officially question our first ordination”. Spiner is expected to perform the second ordination. During the ceremony, Braschi declared his respect for the Pope but said there was also a universal Catholic Church to which he and the women were ordained.

Television coverage of the ceremony and of the following press conference attracted much attention in Austria and generated numerous round table discussion on the subject of women’s ordination.

Most theologians, including Peter Hünermann of Tübingen University and Paul Zulehner of Vienna University, said they could fully understand the women’s frustration, but thought their action would work against them as it would provoke the official Church.

Austrian-born Bishop Erwin Kräutler of Xingu in Brazil, who was in Austria on leave, said that in view of the acute shortage of priests, many Catholics were unable to receive communion regularly. Already two-thirds of the 600 parishes in his diocese were run by women. He and many of his fellow Brazilian bishops were therefore in favour of women’s ordination.

The Austrian bishops’ conference and Bishop Maximilian Aichern of Linz repeated their previous warnings that by going ahead with their ordination, the women had “put themselves outside the Catholic Church”. Bishop Aichern said he had passed the case on to Rome. The Austrian Catholic Women’s Association, which has 200,000 members, and Austrian Catholic Action with 300,000 members said the women’s action showed how important it was to step up discussion of women’s ordination in the Church.

The seven women concerned said they considered themselves Catholic priests. Some said they would say Mass if asked to and hear confessions. Ida Raming, one of the German women who was ordained, is a wellknown theologian.

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