WOC Statement on Penalties Imposed on Sister Louise Lears, SC by Archbishop Raymond Burke
View WOC petition for Sr. Louise with nearly 1,500 signatures
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 30, 2008
Contact: Erin Saiz Hanna, 202 675-1006, woc@womensordination.org
WOC Statement on Penalties Imposed on Sister Louise Lears, SC by Archbishop Raymond Burke
Aisha Taylor, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, issued the following statement about the penalties imposed on Sister Louise Lears, SC by Archbishop Raymond Burke on Thursday, June 26. After six months of proceedings, the decree was issued the day before Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Burke to head the highest court in the Catholic Church, as the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome.
The penalties callously doled out to Sister Louise Lears – a woman who has dedicated her entire life to serve the Church – is a prime example of the way women are often wrongly treated by the Catholic hierarchy, where dangerous secrecy runs rampant and preserving power in the hands a few ordained men reigns supreme.
The Women’s Ordination Conference supports Sister Louise in her life and ministry in the Church. We oppose these penalties as a way of dealing with differences. Such misuse of church discipline will not intimidate women into accepting marginal status within the Church. Sister Lears remains steadfast in her faith and loyalty to the Church, and she has the support of millions of Catholics who seek only the gospel promise of equality.
Archbishop Burke imposed two penalties on Sister Lears, 1) the penalty of interdict, which means that she cannot participate in public worship in a ministerial capacity and cannot receive the Sacraments and 2) the penalty of prohibition from reception of a mission anywhere in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, which means she can no longer serve in her positions as a member of the Pastoral Team at St. Cronan’s Catholic Church and as the Coordinator of Religious Education.
The decree announcing the penalties states the reason for this action is due to Sister Louise’s support of Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie McGrath, the two women who were ordained priests in a St. Louis synagogue on November 11, 2007. The Vatican’s stance on ordination is based on arguments that have been refuted time and again. In 1976, the Vatican’s own Pontifical Biblical Commission determined that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit women’s ordination. Jesus included women as full and equal partners in his ministry, and the hierarchy would do well to follow suit.
This is not the first time Archbishop Burke has used the Sacraments as weapons, stepping way beyond the line of his pastoral duties and out of sync with most of his brother bishops. In addition to these insensitive and unnecessary penalties, he has consistently worked to denigrate Catholics who use their conscience to inform their actions, as canon law requires. From the excommunications of Hudson and McGrath to his unwavering position on actions taken by Catholic politicians to his disputes with members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in St. Louis, Archbishop Burke has done nothing more than violate every aspect of the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.
It is long overdue for the Vatican to respond to the church’s need for an inclusive clergy, which embraces women – all of whom are created equal and can be called by God to serve God’s people as priests in an accountable and inclusive Catholic Church.
Related Statements
- Decree of Extra-Judicial Adjudication In the matter of Sister Louise Lears, S.C. read here
- Archdiocesan Statement regarding the Canonical Discipline of Sister Louise Lears, S.C. read here
- Archdiocesan Questions & Answers read here
- Statement of Sister Louise Lears, SC read here
- Statement of Sister Barbra Hagedorn, SC read here
- Statement of the Parish Council of Saint Cronan Church read here
- View WOC petition for Sr. Louise with nearly 1,500 signatures
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Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference is the oldest and largest national organization that works to ordain women as priests, deacons and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Catholic Church. WOC represents the 63-70 percent of US Catholics that support the ordination of women as priests. WOC also promotes new perspectives on ordination that call for more accountability and less separation between the clergy and laity.